Dpto. Proyectos, Teoría y Técnica del Diseño y la Arquitectura

Dentro de su extensa producción arquitectónica, Frank Lloyd Wright tuvo ocasión para experimentar con la industrialización de la madera, trabando un material tradicional con el sentido moderno de la arquitectura. La madera y Frank Lloyd Wright son inseparables del sistema balloon frame, sistema que utilizará en sus primeras viviendas y a través del cual materializará su concepto de descomposición espacial. La investigación del caso concreto de las American System-Built Houses servirá para mostrar las experiencias más tempranas de Wright con la industria, cuyas conclusiones utilizaría para sus posteriores investigaciones sobre prefabricación. / Within his large architectural production, Frank Lloyd Wright had the opportunity to experiment with the timber industrialization, linking a traditional material with the modern sense of architecture. Wood and Frank Lloyd Wright are inseparable from the balloon frame system, a system which he will use at his first housing and through which he will materialize the spatial decomposition concept. The research on the particular American System-Built Houses case will serve to show the earliest experiences of Wright with the industry, whose conclusions he would use for subsequent researches on prefabrication.

El último año que Carlo Scarpa impartía clase en el IUAV propuso como tema del curso un museo cívico, concretamente en el antiguo Convento di Santa Caterina en Treviso, que actualmente es la sede del archivo del arquitecto. El tema sobre la museografía fue desarrollado durante las lecciones impartidas en la Universidad y trató varios de sus proyectos más reconocidos, con el fin de exponer las directrices de su enfoque museográfico. El mensaje que trasladaba en sus clases no describía tanto detalles concretos como estrategias de actuación. Sin embargo, la aproximación a la obra de Carlo Scarpa nos descubre una escala del detalle museográfico que nunca antes se había experimentado. Ese cuidado por las soluciones de encuentros y por la idoneidad de los planteamientos expositivos constituye un verdadero aporte a la historia de la arquitectura, y es por tanto un modelo de la teoría museográfica contemporánea. El interés de las intervenciones de Scarpa radica en la abstracción y depuración, tanto de sus espacios expositivos como de los elementos de soporte de las obras a exponer, permitiéndose en ocasiones recrearse en matices que enriquecen las piezas con una extrema delicadeza que casi podríamos calificar de orfebrería. / The last year that Carlo Scarpa taught at the IUAV, he proposed a civic museum as the topic of the course, in particular in the old Santa Caterina Convent in Treviso, which is currently the headquarters of the archive of the architect. The issue of the museology was developed during the lessons given at the University and dealt with several of his most recognised projects, in order to expose the guidelines of his museology approach. The message he conveyed in his classes did not describe precise details as much as acting strategies. But nevertheless, the approach to the work of Carlo Scarpa reveals a scale of museum detail that has never been experienced before. This care for the solutions of encounters and for the suitability of expositions constitutes a true contribution to the history of architecture and is, therefore, a model of the contemporary museology theory. The interest of the interventions of Scarpa, lies in the abstraction and refinement, both of his exhibition spaces and of the support elements of the works to be exhibited. This allows on occasions to be recreated in nuances that enrich the pieces with a delicacy that we could almost describe as a work of goldsmithing.

Introduction: The widespread emergence of resistance to insecticides used to control adult Aedes mosquitoes has made traditional control strategies inadequate for the reduction of various vector populations. Therefore, complementary vector control methods, such as the Sterile Insect Technique, are needed to enhance existing efforts. The technique relies on the rearing and release of large numbers of sterile males, and the development of efficient and standardized mass-rearing procedures and tools is essential for its application against medically important mosquitoes. Methods: In the effort to reduce the cost of the rearing process, a prototype low-cost plexiglass massrearing cage has been developed and tested for egg production and egg hatch rate in comparison to the current Food and Agriculture Organization/International Atomic Energy Agency (FAO/IAEA) stainless-steel cage. Additionally, an adult-index was validated and used as a proxy to estimate the mosquito survival rates by counting the number of male and female mosquitoes that were resting within each of the 6 squares at a given point of time each day in the cage. Results: The study has shown that the prototype mass-rearing cage is cheap and is as efficient as the FAO/IAEA stainless-steel cage in terms of egg production, with even better overall egg hatch rate. The mean numbers of eggs per cage, after seven cycles of blood feeding and egg collection, were 969,789 ± 138,101 and 779,970 ± 123,042, corresponding to 81 ± 11 and 65 ± 10 eggs per female over her lifespan, in the prototype and the stainless-steelmass-rearing cages, respectively. The longevity of adult male and female mosquitoes was not affected by cage type and, the adult-index could be considered as an appropriate proxy for survival. Moreover, the mass-rearing cage prototype is easy to handle and transport and improves economic and logistic efficiency. Conclusion: The low-cost mass-rearing prototype cage can be recommended to produce Ae. aegypti in the context of rear and release techniques. The proposed adult-index can be used as a quick proxy of mosquito survival rates in mass-rearing settings.

Background: Several mosquito population suppression strategies based on the rearing and release of sterile males have provided promising results. However, the lack of an efficient male selection method has hampered the expansion of these approaches into large-scale operational programmes. Currently, most of these programmes targeting Aedes mosquitoes rely on sorting methods based on the sexual size dimorphism (SSD) at the pupal stage. The currently available sorting methods have not been developed based on biometric analysis, and there is therefore potential for improvement. We applied an automated pupal size estimator developed by Grupo Tragsa with laboratory samples of Anopheles arabiensis, Aedes albopictus, Ae. polynesiensis, and three strains of Ae. aegypti. The frequency distribution of the pupal size was analyzed. We propose a general model for the analysis of the frequency distribution of mosquito pupae in the context of SSD-sorting methods, which is based on a Gaussian mixture distribution functions, thus making possible the analysis of performance (% males recovery) and purity (% males on the sorted sample). Results: For the three Aedes species, the distribution of the pupae size can be modeled by a mixture of two Gaussian distribution functions and the proposed model fitted the experimental data. For a given population, each size threshold is linked to a specific outcome of male recovery. Two dimensionless parameters that measure the suitability for SSD-based sorting of a specific batch of pupae are provided. The optimal sorting results are predicted for the highest values of SSD and lowest values of intra-batch variance. Rearing conditions have a strong influence in the performance of the SSD-sorting methods and non-standard rearing can lead to increase pupae size heterogeneity. Conclusions: Sex sorting of pupae based on size dimorphism can be achieved with a high performance (% males recovery) and a reasonably high purity (% males on the sorted sample) for the different Aedes species and strains. The purity and performance of a sex sorting operation in the tested Aedes species are linked parameters whose relation can be modeled. The conclusions of this analysis are applicable to all the existing SSD-sorting methods. The efficiency of the SSDsorting methods can be improved by reducing the heterogeneity of pupae size within rearing containers. The heterogeneity between batches does not strongly affect the quality of the sex sorting, as long as a specific separation threshold is not pre-set before the sorting process. For new developments, we recommend using adaptive and precise threshold selection methods applied individually to each batch or to a mix of batches. Adaptive and precise thresholds will allow the sex-sorting of mixed batches in operational conditions maintaining the target purity at the cost of a reduction in performance. We also recommend a strategy whereby an acceptable level of purity is pre-selected and remains constant across the different batches of pupae while the performance varies from batch to batch to fit with the desired purity.

Vector-borne diseases are responsible for more than one million deaths per year. Alternative methods of mosquito control to insecticides such as genetic control techniques are thus urgently needed. In genetic techniques involving the release of sterile insects, it is critical to release insects of high quality. Sterile males must be able to disperse, survive and compete with wild males in order to inseminate wild females. There is currently no standardized, fast-processing method to assess mosquito male quality. Since male competitiveness is linked to their ability to fly, we developed a flight test device that aimed to measure the quality of sterile male mosquitoes via their capacity to escape a series of flight tubes within two hours and compared it to two other reference methods (survival rate and mating propensity). This comparison was achieved in three different stress treatment settings usually encountered when applying the sterile insect technique, i.e. irradiation, chilling and compaction. In all treatments, survival and insemination rates could be predicted by the results of a flight test, with over 80% of the inertia predicted. This novel tool could become a standardised quality control method to evaluate cumulative stress throughout the processes related to genetic control of mosquitoes.

En 1962, Raili y Reima Pietilä ganaron el concurso convocado para la construcción del conjunto residencial de Suvikumpu, en Tapiola, con una propuesta a contracorriente que logró abrir un debate social sobre los principios que habían orientado el desarrollo de esta ciudad experimental finlandesa durante los años cincuenta. Sin embargo, este proyecto, también contribuyó a situarlos intelectualmente en la solitaria tierra de nadie abierta entre el organicismo liderado por Aalto y el colectivo de arquitectos constructivistas que aspiraban a conformar una alternativa racional como contrapeso de la subjetividad e individualismo que apreciaban en el trabajo del maestro. El presente artículo analiza, a través de dicha propuesta, el ejercicio de una reflexión crítica sobre la arquitectura que no se plantea desde una voluntad explícita de ruptura, sino como la búsqueda de una síntesis capaz de reunir polaridades escindidas: lo objetivo y lo subjetivo, lo individual y lo colectivo. Una reflexión abordada desde la disidencia y la libertad de pensamiento, que en su caso se concretó en la exploración de alternativas viables capaces evidenciar la insuficiencia de las soluciones que se nos presentan como las únicas avaladas por la razón o por la experiencia. Un ejercicio, en definitiva, que aun hoy nos muestra la capacidad operativa de las alternativas para contribuir a una transformación positiva de la realidad. / In 1962, Raili and Reima Pietilä won the competition for the construction of the Suvikumpu housing development in the town of Tapiola with a design that bucked contemporary trends and prompted public discussion about the guidelines that had underpinned the development of this experimental Finnish town in the 1950s. This project, however, also helped situate the Pietiläs in the intellectual no man’s land between the organic architecture championed by Aalto, and the group of constructivist architects seeking to create a reasonable alternative that could offset the subjectivity and individualism they observed in the master’s work. By examining the Pietiläs’ design, the present article offers an insight into the process of critical thinking about architecture – not from the perspective of a deliberate attempt to break away, but as a search for a synthesis able to reunite polarities driven asunder: objective and subjective considerations, individual and collective concerns. An approach broached from viewpoints of dissidence and freedom of thought – which in the case of the Pietiläs consisted of exploring feasible alternatives able to reveal the failings of solutions put forward as the only ones endorsed by reason or experience. In short, an exercise which, even today, demonstrates how alternatives can effectively help change the world for the better.

La historia de la construcción no siempre ha estado repleta de éxitos en el desarrollo de nuevos sistemas constructivos, sin embargo, todos ellos han servido para desarrollar los avances que hoy en día conocemos. A finales del siglo XIX y principios de XX, la incipiente industria comenzará a dotar de nuevos materiales hacia la optimización constructiva. La arquitectura industrial hará uso de todos estos nuevos productos, formulándose como crisol de experimentación y desarrollo. El estudio de estos elementos prefabricados que materializaron las edificaciones hoy abandonadas de la línea ferroviaria Teruel-Alcañiz, permite, además de comprobar su estrategia para hacer frente a la ejecución de un elevado número de edificaciones en tiempo y presupuesto limitados, afrontar bajo su conocimiento futuros trabajos de intervención. / The development of new construction systems has not always been successful, however, every system has served to develop the advances that we know today. Regarding the development of prefabricated architecture, the emerging industry will begin to provide new materials towards constructive optimization. Industrial architecture will serve as a crucible of experimentation of all these systems. The objective of this paper focuses on the observation of a fragment of the constructive historical evolution in the use of prefabricated elements, through the special case of the buildings in the Teruel-Alcañiz railway, which resorted to prefabrication as a strategy to deal with the execution of a large number of buildings, under limited conditions of time and budget.

Durante la etapa americana de Mies se acentúa la belleza de la precisión constructiva y la esencialidad del espacio, lo que subordina el programa a la pureza formal. La forma no se inventa, ni es el corolario de la función o la tecnología, sino que es el resultado de anteponer valores trascendentes e intemporales sobre cuestiones secundarias. El arquitecto debe establecer un orden que afiance la formalidad de la obra, pero en la modernidad ya no rige la norma sistemática clasicista. Así que la bondad del resultado es consecuencia de la capacidad del arquitecto y del usuario para compartir códigos visuales. El esfuerzo de Mies en esta etapa será fijar algunas certezas, universales y claras, desarrolladas alrededor de la relación entre el espacio, la estructura y la forma. La casa 50x50 señala un punto de inflexión en dichas intenciones y marca el camino de sus últimas obras. / During the American stage of Mies the beauty of the constructive precision and the essentiality of space is emphasized, which subordinates the program to formal purity. Form is not invented, nor is it the corollary of function for technology, but is the result of placing transcendent and timeless values on secondary issues. The architect must establish an order that assures the formality of the work, but in modernity the systematic classicist rules no longer run. So the goodness of the result is a consequence of the ability of the architect and the user to share visual codes. The effort of Mies in this stage will be to establish certain certainties, universal and clear, developed around the relation among space, structure and shape. The Fifty by Fifty feet house marks a turning point in these intentions and points the path of his latest works.