Enquiry The ARCC Journal for Architectural Research

Building Energy Performance Gap: A Bibliometric Analysis and Systematic Review of Global Research Themes

2025-05-01T20:32:40-04:00

Building energy simulations are useful for analyzing decisions impacting energy performance. However, significant discrepancies exist between simulated building energy performance and real-world measured performance, thus inhibiting progress towards sustainability. This paper examines recent Building Energy Performance Gaps (BEPG) research trends using bibliometric measures. It also aims to assess global research trends by examining global research engagement and thematic development to build a more comprehensive understanding of BEPG. The systematic review of the Web of Science (WoS) database identified 331 relevant articles published between 2012 and July 2023. A quantitative approach of bibliometric procedures (including title, abstract and keywords) was used for analyzing the documents, alongside the VOSviewer software program. This methodology enabled the authors to produce scientometric maps, showcasing the relationships in authorship, citation, occurrences, and bibliometric coupling. The results indicate that BEPG research is primarily conducted in more developed regions such as Europe and North America, while severely lacking in many developing countries within the Global South (GS). Results further indicate a broadening research scope, with less than ten percent of the 1,118 keywords used by authors three times or more. Solutions towards resolving BEPG need to be highly contextualized. Therefore, this study identifies major BEPG research areas and highlights the multidisciplinary nature of the field. Additionally, fostering international collaborations and developing building energy performance standards could aid in creating a more sustainable built environment and developing capacities, focusing critically on the needs of GS countries.

Designing with Medium: Exploring the Agency of Representational Media in Architectural Design

2025-05-05T11:00:07-04:00

This study attempts to elucidate the relative impact of the designated representational medium on architectural design knowledge during design activity by focusing on the relation between designers' cognitive processes and revealed design information corresponding to different representational media during the design process.

The assertion here is that designing, specifically the act of representation, occurs absolutely with the existence of a medium and that representational media have agency, which affects the information content of the designers during design activity. Designing is defined as a process of construction of representations, where the act of representing facilitates a reflective dialogue between the designer and the object of representation. The framework of the study is aimed at revealing the agency of representational media through a community of practice within the shared sociocultural, and environmental contexts. The interaction between the designer and the media of representation has been structured upon the theoretical model -Activity Theory-, which offers a framework for analyzing human actions oriented toward specific purposes through instruments within particular conditions.

Within the framework of the article, two workshop sessions and semi-structured interviews related to the sessions were conducted. The data derived from the interviews are examined using the reflexive thematic analysis method; information content related to various representational media within the common sociocultural and environmental context are revealed.

Urban Transformation Towards Premature Obsolescence Of Buildings

2025-05-05T11:01:47-04:00

A circular development in cities aims to create ecologically regenerative and resilient environments to transition towards a more sustainable future. This involves rethinking how we design, build, and disassemble, favoring reuse and regenerative cycles. The result is longer building lifespans and, therefore, helps reduce CO₂ emissions from the construction sector. For architects and city planners, the challenge lies in balancing between developing densification strategies to limit urban sprawl with preserving the built environment by extending lifecycles.

How does densification affect the demolition and lifespan of buildings in neighborhoods, and what are the possible circular transformations? The objectives of this research are to discuss changes in the built environment in relation to densification strategies and reflect on how these changes might support or hinder circular practices. The paper explores the evolution in building stock over time, using the city of Trondheim, Norway, as a case study. First, data on the existing building stock is analyzed to understand the location and age of various building types across different neighborhoods. Buildings are classified into five categories: low-density housing, high-density housing, public services, industrial and work-related buildings, leisure, and smaller constructions (such as garages, cabins, or sheds). This data is then compared with historical records of buildings being demolished and newly built structures from 2012 to 2021 to trace the transformation of the built environment. It includes information on building type, square meters, construction and demolition dates, and location. The data collected from the municipal cadaster is visualised using Geographical Information System (GIS) software to support a spatial neighborhood-based analysis. The results first present differences in the number of demolitions, building projects, and densification across city areas. Next, the study examines the age distribution within the five building categories. Two main findings emerge: variations in the neighborhood densification over the past decade, and differences in building lifespans across areas. This analysis supports projections for future urban developments, and identifies opportunities for circularity. Additionally, comparing the age of the current building stock with that of demolished buildings highlights the premature obsolescence of certain building types. The findings show that some categories are more prone to demolition or new construction. These results are discussed alongside urban planning and densification strategies, offering policy insights and supporting a contextualised approach to circular development.

Bridging The Digital Divide: Methodological Strategies For Conducting Remote Urban Research

2025-01-21T17:20:43-05:00

This article examines methodological approaches for conducting community-engaged research remotely with participants who have limited internet access. Community-based urban research must include the voices of all stakeholders to ensure representation and equitable decision-making. The digital divide, characterized by varying levels of digital literacy and limited access to technology, often excludes disadvantaged stakeholder groups from remote data collection. While extensive studies have been conducted on both analog and digital data collection methods, few have focused on adapting these approaches to include digitally marginalized groups in architecture and urban studies.

This article reflects on data collection adaptations made to bridge the digital divide in a project that was designed before, but conducted during, the COVID-19 pandemic, between November 2020 and May 2021. Grounded in a mixed-income, informally developed settlement in India, the study aimed to examine how residents in informal settlements met their social and recreational needs.

The pandemic lockdowns made on-site data collection infeasible, prompting the research to be adapted for remote implementation using a mixed-methods approach tailored to participants’ levels of digital literacy and access. Multiple strategies were employed to collect representative data and ensure data validity, including online and telephone-based surveys, telephone interviews, and participant-generated visual data. Residents with phone and internet access were employed as intermediaries to help navigate trust and accessibility challenges and to recruit participants without digital access. In addition to presenting the study’s remote data collection methods, this article also identifies ethical challenges that may arise when using intermediaries to bridge the digital divide in qualitative research where the researcher is not physically present.

Perception Of Healing Architectural Elements In Women’s Healthcare Facilities In Lagos, Nigeria

2025-01-22T11:14:55-05:00

This study looked at the use and influence of healing elements in the Women’s Health Facilities (WHFs) architecture in Lagos, Nigeria. It investigated the extent to which healing architecture has been adopted and its implications on patient healing by assessing their perception and the perspectives of practitioners on its effect on patients. The study collected data from selected WHFs in Lagos using a questionnaire-based survey, allowing for an in-depth examination of the efficacy of healing architectural elements in enhancing patient and practitioner experiences. It employed structured questionnaires shared among 101 respondents out of the estimated 237 users in the seven WHFs by assessing the perceptions of two key respondent groups, patients and healthcare practitioners, on the effect of healing architectural elements. Data were analysed based on themes and statistical software (SPSS v26) for descriptive statistics. Findings revealed that most users were highly aware of the adopted healing elements, and practitioners reported significant effects of these elements on the patients’ stress levels, blood pressure, heart rates, autonomic function, and mental engagement. Based on these findings, proposals for advancing the inclusion of healing elements in WHFs are given, including the use of natural elements, flexible spaces, colour and cultural sensitivity, and highlighted useful insights for future design considerations and healthcare practices.