Search Results (5)

The study of the architectural heritage of the Chinese diaspora has an important role and significance in China’s historical and cultural background in the preservation of cultural data, the restoration of images, and in the analysis of human social and ideological conditions. The images from the architectural heritage of the Chinese diaspora usually include frescos, decorative patterns, chandelier base patterns, various architectural styles and other major types of architecture. Images of the architectural heritage of the Chinese diaspora in Jiangmen City, Guangdong Province, China are the research object of this study. A total of 5073 images of diaspora Chinese buildings in 64 villages and 16 towns were collected. In view of the fact that different types of image vary greatly in features while there are only small differences among the features of the same type of image, this study uses the depth learning method to design the Convolutional Neural Network Attention Retrieval Framework (CNNAR Framework). This approach can be divided into two stages. In the first stage, the transfer learning method is used to classify the image in question by transferring the trained parameters of the Paris500K datasets image source network to the target network for training, and thus the classified image is obtained. The advantage of this method is that it narrows the retrieval range of the target image. In the second stage, the fusion attention mechanism is used to extract the features of the images that have been classified, and the distance between similar images of the same type is reduced by loss of contrast. When we retrieve images, we can use the features extracted in the second stage to measure the similarities among them and return the retrieval results. The results show that the classification accuracy of the proposed method reaches 98.3% in the heritage image datasets of the JMI Chinese diaspora architectures. The mean Average Precision (mAP) of the proposed algorithm can reach 76.6%, which is better than several mainstream model algorithms. At the same time, the image results retrieved by the algorithm in this paper are very similar to those of the query image. In addition, the CNNAR retrieval framework proposed in this paper achieves accuracies of 71.8% and 72.5% on the public data sets Paris500K and Corel5K, respectively, which can be greatly generalized and can, therefore, also be effectively applied to other topics datasets. The JMI architectural heritage image database constructed in this study, which is rich in cultural connotations of diaspora Chinese homeland life, can provide strong and reliable data support for the follow-up study of the zeitgeist of the culture reflected in architecture and the integration of Chinese and Western aesthetics. At the same time, through the rapid identification, classification, and retrieval of precious architectural images stored in the database, similar target images can be retrieved reasonably and accurately; then, accurate techniques can be provided to restore old and damaged products of an architectural heritage. Full article

In Latin American cities, the built environment is facing crucial challenges in the 21st century, not only in terms of the redesign of the physical environment, but also how to remodel public spaces as healthier places for walking and social interaction. The objective of this article is to evaluate the effects of the built environment on walking perceptions in a central neighbourhood in the intermediate city of Valdivia, Chile. The methodology integrates quantitative and qualitative methods to explore which elements of the physical built environment ease and hinder walkability. Depthmap software and Simpson’s Diversity Index are used to evaluate connectivity and diversity of land uses at street level. Additionally, the People Following method and 26 walking interviews are conducted using the Natural Go-Along technique to analyse pedestrians’ perceptions about their mobility environment. The results show that the factors that promote walkability mainly include streets with high connectivity values, wide pavements, diversity of greening, and facade characteristics of buildings with architectural heritage causing tranquillity, longing, and happiness. On the contrary, factors that inhibit walkability are related to poor-quality and narrow sidewalks, cars parked on sidewalks, dirty streets, and motorized traffic and vehicular noise causing negative emotions in walking perceptions such as tiredness, anger, disgust, discomfort, and insecurity, with negative effects on the well-being of residents that vary according to age and gender. Finally, recommendations are oriented to improve public spaces in central areas in southern Chile, to address moving towards more liveable and inclusive environments and support well-being through urban design in these types of context. Full article

Over millennia, death was the origin of great funerary constructions that have come down to us. These constructions aimed at ensuring eternity and perpetuating memory. Funeral art thus appears not in the service of death, but in the service of memory. In the modern age, funerary constructions do not have the dimensions and grandeur they did in ancient times, but there are still constructions with relevant architectural interest, built to perpetuate the memory of important families. In Conchada Cemetery, located in Coimbra, Portugal, a vast and diverse funeral heritage exists. Possessing various architectural styles, almost all built with limestone from the region, the narrow mausoleums stand out from this heritage. This work presents a study carried out on the architecture and construction of two types of narrow mausoleums, existing in the Conchada Cemetery, both of the Neo-Gothic style: one with an entrance from the front, and another from the back. As it is not possible to present the photographs of the burial vaults, since it would represent an intrusive approach to the families, the authors have resorted to representing them through Indian ink and watercolor illustrations. Full article

Modern heritage buildings designed in the 1950s and 1960s often feature poor seismic performance capacities and may require significant retrofit interventions. A representative case study in Florence, i.e., the edifice housing the Automobile Club Headquarters, is examined here. The building was designed in 1959 with an articulated reinforced concrete structure and presents some enterprising solutions for the time, including suspended floors accommodating large glazed curtain wall façades in the main halls. The original design documentation was collected with accurate record research and checked with detailed on-site surveys. Based on the information gained on the structural system by this preliminary investigation, a time-history assessment analysis was carried out. Remarkable strength deficiencies in most members and severe pounding conditions between the two constituting wings, which are separated by a narrow technical gap, were found. As a result, a base isolation retrofit hypothesis is proposed in order to improve the seismic response capacities of the building without altering its elegant architectural appearance, being characterized by large free internal spaces and well-balanced proportions of the main structural members. A substantial performance improvement is obtained thanks to this rehabilitation strategy, as assessed by the achievement of non-pounding response conditions and safe stress states for all members up to the maximum considered normative earthquake level. Furthermore, the very low peak inter-storey drifts evaluated in retrofitted conditions help in preventing damage to the glazed façades and the remaining drift-sensitive non-structural components. Full article

Three-dimensional (3D) reconstruction using video frames extracted from spherical cameras introduces an innovative measurement method in narrow scenes of architectural heritage, but the accuracy of 3D models and their correlations with frame extraction ratios and blur filters are yet to be evaluated. This article addresses these issues for two narrow scenes of architectural heritage that are distinctive in layout, surface material, and lighting conditions. The videos captured with a hand-held spherical camera (30 frames per second) are extracted to frames with various ratios starting from 10 and increasing every 10 frames (10, 20, …, n). Two different blur assessment methods are employed for comparative analyses. Ground truth models obtained from terrestrial laser scanning and photogrammetry are employed for assessing the accuracy of 3D models from different groups. The results show that the relative accuracy (median absolute errors/object dimensions) of spherical-camera videogrammetry range from 1/500 to 1/2000, catering to the surveying and mapping of architectural heritage with medium accuracy and resolution. Sparser baselines (the length between neighboring image pairs) do not necessarily generate higher accuracy than those from denser baselines, and an optimal frame network should consider the essential completeness of complex components and potential degeneracy cases. Substituting blur frames with adjacent sharp frames could reduce global errors by 5–15%. Full article