In order to convey the meanings contained within artefacts, museums commonly communicate with the general public primarily through the mediation of an audiovisual interpretative framework. In addition to audiovisual mediation, this thesis demonstrates the idea that museum architecture itself can make a significant contribution to various meanings communicated by artefacts. Drawn from a comparative case-study of the detailed interpretive frameworks of two museums, the thesis investigates the extent to which museum architecture itself should be considered as a medium of spatial-storytelling, providing a rich sensory context for the process of mediation and interpretation. This idea contributes towards a more meaningful embodied experience to the general public in order to support the process of ‘self-learning’, as well as passing on intangible culture through both tangible and intangible media. Through an initial survey and conceptual mapping of 130 museums around the world, two examples were selected effectively that offered a unique opportunity for comparative study as they are effectively exhibiting the ‘same’ material in different ways - the Ionic Frieze at the Parthenon Galleries in the British Museum and the recently opened New Acropolis Museum in Athens. Besides this survey of museums, other research methods included a literature review, interviews architectural analysis and observation of visitor behaviour, as the key data collection tools employed in this research, in order to evaluate the effectiveness of museum architecture as a medium. The thesis concludes that museum architecture offers an engaging environment for communicating meanings through ‘self-learning’, not only in terms of audiovisual techniques, but also through a careful organised embodied experience of an entire space. Moreover, museum architecture provides the artefacts a meaningful physical context in which they can ‘speak’. Culture, as an intangible medium, is recorded in the tangible media of artefacts, and buildings, while also being carried forward into an unknown future.

As the aspirations for tall buildings have shifted towards sustainability, architects face newfound challenges in finding sufficient information on environmental strategies and ways in which to apply them, particularly when specific climatic and functional aspects are considered. This research thus aims to find principles of environmentally sustainable design to contribute to the creation of residential tall buildings in the cool temperate climates of Europe and North America and to organize them to best inform architects during the schematic design stage. Generated as an iterative series of trials, which are characterized by the application of a ‘framework’ version in the design of towers for specific sites, the research consists of three stages. All develop the main elements of the framework – the environmental ‘design principles’, the ‘framework matrix’ that organizes the principles based on the interaction of climatic influence and design stage and a ‘step sequence’ that further specifies their placement within each interaction – but each also has a particular focus. Stage 1 concentrates on the strategies of Ken Yeang as a starting point and finds, through a case study comparison, a lack of their comprehensive use in practices. Stage 2 applies the framework on two sites to evaluate the impact of climatic and urban variations within the climate type and provides an assessment with rating systems to examine the framework’s focus within those systems. In Stage 3, students test the framework’s usability; their feedback and a further literature review inform the fourth version of the framework. The research suggests that bioclimatic design principles can be presented comprehensively and organized hierarchically to best inform architects during the schematic design stage. Adequate information is required, including qualifications, limitations, options and links between principles. It recommends further framework development and proposes that research be more fully integrated into teaching modules and practice.

This thesis explores how – over a twenty-year period – the Tongji University-based journal Time + Architecture (Shidai Jianzhu) has engaged in the presentation and production of critical architecture in the contemporary Chinese cultural context. My principal stance is that the journal’s editorial agenda to publish innovative and exploratory work by emerging architects based in private design firms who were committed to new material, theoretical and pedagogical practices has resulted in a particular form of critical practice – what I have termed an ‘intermediate criticality’ – as a response to the particular constraints of the Chinese cultural and political context. The journal’s publications displayed a ‘dual critique’ – a critical attitude to the dominant modes of commercial building practice, characterised by rapid and large-scale urban expansion, and an alternative publishing practice focusing on emerging, independent architectural practitioners through the active integration of theoretical debates, architectural projects, and criticisms. I support this contention following a careful review and analysis of the history and programme of the journal. This is achieved through a focus on the journal’s singular publication on a wide range of topics. By situating the work of emerging architects, including Yung Ho Chang, Wang Shu, Liu Jiakun and Urbanus, among others, within the context of the journal’s special thematic editions on experimental architecture, exhibition, group design, new urban space and professional system, I attempt to discover what contribution the journal has made to the emergence of a critical architecture, in the context of how it was articulated, debated, presented and perhaps even ‘produced’ within the pages of the publication itself. I argue that the protagonists of critical architecture such as architects, critics, academics, editors, publishers and clients, among others, had endeavoured to construct an alternative mode of form and space with strong aesthetic and socio-political implications in such a way as to resolutely repudiate the predominant production of architecture in the urban process under the current Chinese socialist market economy. To rebel against certain forms of domination and suppression by capital and power is by no means to completely reject them; rather, it is to resourcefully use those progressive forces within the dominant structure to transform the problematic reality. This critical position, oscillating between cultural commitment and social, economic, and political circumstances, and uniquely manifest within the pages of the Time + Architecture journal, is what I have described as an ‘intermediate criticality.’

This thesis investigates the effect of, various vaulted and domed roof geometries on their solar behaviour under given summer and winter conditions. Roof is the building-envelope element that is most exposed to the sun as it receives a high amount of solar radiation, which is the main cause of summer overheating in hot-arid climates. In addition, to other climatic and physical factors, indoor thermal comfort in hot-arid climates is also influenced by the intensity of solar radiation received by roof surfaces. Therefore, roof form and geometry should be designed with careful consideration to insolation parameters. Domed, vaulted, and curved roofs have been used for a long time in hot-arid regions for historical, cultural, climatic, and structural reasons. The review of previous research work showed that different explanations have been given to the climatic effects of their forms and the environmental behaviour of their enclosed spaces. The research explores the previous attempts that discussed the relevant principles of solar radiation and solar geometry on horizontal and tilted surfaces with different orientations. The previous work that applied these principles and theories to evaluate the solar behaviour of architectural elements with arbitrary forms was also investigated. In order to evaluate the solar performance of flat and curved roofs geometrical configurations, a parametric study testing the received solar radiation intensity (W/m2) on flat, vaulted, and domed roofs with different span-to-height ratios and orientations was carried out using a published solar computer model. The results of this model were followed by validation tests using other two commercially available computer tools to carry out a brief solar and thermal analysis of selected curved-roof geometries. The evaluated curved-roofs solar performance and main findings of the present research have been compared with recently published independent research. It is believed that this research establishes a sound theoretical basis for the validity of various claims of the climatic advantages of different curved-roof forms in hot-arid regions. As part of this research outcome, solar and architectural design-guidelines for curved-roofs are introduced. The research concludes with a discussion of the architectural and solar potential of curved-roof forms, which is believed to be novel contribution to the knowledge and the understanding of curved-roofs solar behaviour and architectural applications in hot-arid climates.

It seems evident that the geometry of the urban form as an urban design parameter is crucial. The layout of the structure can modify the urban climate through proper design, thus improving the thermal comfort both outside and inside buildings, even reducing energy demands for heating and cooling requirements. Although solar design potentials on an architectural scale are at present well developed, the approach and the techniques applied on an urban scale are yet to be consolidated in order to promote climatic responsive urban design. This thesis is concerned with a method to evaluate solar energy in urban design. The emphasis of the thesis is to study the relationship between the urban form and solar insolation and to establish a comprehensive approach which can evaluate the urban forms, with respect to the generated shadow pattern, and can be applicable to all types of urban configurations. Among the considerations which have also been investigated, is the interrelationship between solar insolation and thermal performance of urban patterns. The thesis discusses the possible application of these forms in Palestine, in order to highlight the way that the derived results can be handled in real practice. While the analysis was mainly related to the Palestinian climate, the techniques employed may be applicable to other countries. The main structure of this thesis is arranged in two parts. The first part identifies the conceptual framework of the sustainable urban design in order to provide the reader with basic information about the subject. The principal aim of this part has been to outline the research area on which the present work was set. Secondly, parametric studies have been performed to bridge the gap in the previous studies. The parametric studies are structured into four chapters. Each study raises separate but overlapping issues and the four studies together cover the basic classified types of urban forms. The first study compares radial and rectangular forms in order to explore the solar behaviour of the radial form, as opposed to the rectangular one and to illustrate the methodology adopted in this research work to evaluate the urban forms with regard to the generated shadow patterns and thermal performance. The second study compares radial and rectangular urban canyons to clarify the influence of the self-shading effect of the radial form. The experiment evaluates the most suitable spacing between buildings to avoid overshadowing and maintain good solar accessibility. The study was also performed to determine the urban fabric that allows the achievement of high urban density under optimal solar insolation conditions. The third part contains studies related to aspects of solar insolation in bilateral types of building. The study compares different radial forms varying in the extent of their concavity to find out the one with the minimum variation of exposed areas between the two opposite facades. The final chapter of the parametric studies deals with the evaluation and analysis of the radial forms and the rectangular V-shape. This experiment aims to prove the capability of the methodology which was developed in this research, to evaluate such complex forms. Simulation studies encompass shading and thermal analyses. Based on the simulations, design recommendations were derived. The resulting framework provides a significant step forward in understanding the built environment and demonstrates the rich potential in using passive design as a means of influencing urban design. Finally, the thesis draws conclusions and identifies areas for further research into the consideration of solar energy in urban design.

Latin American architectural theory has not been successful in dealing with the complexity of Latin American cultures, and in engaging with the whole range of architectural practices that take place in the continent's cities and buildings. On the contrary, in most cases, architectural theories have been used as means to create hegemonic architectural narratives and systems of referentiality through which a sense of homogeneity could be reconstituted. Consequently, architectural theory appears to be in radical opposition to the realities of Latin American cultures and societies. This thesis does therefore engage in detail with cultural theory and postcolonial discourse, and uses post-structuralist methods of critique, as a means to engage with the whole range of politics and socio-cultural practices with which architecture is inherently related. Approached via the work of various cultural theorists, the complex reality of Latin America is not seen as a problem that requires resolution through the elimination of differences. On the contrary, and unlike architects and architectural theorists, cultural theorists aim their efforts at revealing those areas of conflict where the very fractures of Latin American cultures can be found, and where diverse and often antagonistic socio-cultural groups clash while attempting to negotiate their differences. Only in this way would it be possible to create a cultural politics of difference in order to deal with cultural multiplicity in situations of inequality. Engagement with broader aspects of cultural theory will provide the possibility of questioning the validity and sufficiency of existing methods of architectural analysis in Latin America. That is why the most prominent theoretical models that have been created in Latin America during the past twenty- five years will here be placed under scrutiny. Greater engagement with issues outside an exclusively architectural discourse will not only bring to light the shortcomings of existing methods of analysis, but also provide the means to correct and enhance them. In this way, aspects that have been little theorized or which have remained invisible to the eyes of architects and architectural theorists will be revealed. The theories examined throughout this thesis will also provide the means to validate minority architectural practices that have so far been dismissed for not corresponding to parameters established by hegemonic architectural narratives.

By the mid-1990s, a new phenomenon of converting obsolete post-war office space into residential use within city centres was beginning to emerge in London, Melbourne, Paris, Toronto and other global cities. This type of development activity has been seen as a panacea for many problems encountered at the end of the twentieth century, including: the ability to meet the increasing demand for new homes; the need to develop in a more sustainable manner; and the desire to revitalise urban and city centres. This thesis concentrates upon such activity in England and identifies that there are five categories of significant barriers and drivers to this process: physical or design-related; locational; financial or economic; demand-related; and legislative factors. The latter two dimensions of the conversion process are examined in detail to reveal the role and impact of the planning system and the perceptions and demand for city centre living particularly in terms of office conversions. The research reveals that the occurrences of post-war office conversions have spread beyond London in the UK, however, its potential remains under exploited due to the impact of the factors identified above. This research therefore plays an important role in furthering the understanding of the demand for and perceptions of city centre residential accommodation together with the advantages and disadvantages of living in these areas. In addition, this thesis identifies the impact of post-war office conversion at a national level and the extent to which the planning system is facilitating or hindering this process. As such, these two potential barriers to conversion activity that have previously been neglected areas of research are analysed in depth and recommendations are made that can facilitate the development process.

William Cecil held office for the first forty years of Queen Elizabeth's reign, and was the most powerful man in England for most of that time. He was also its most important architectural patron. Not only was he the builder of three great houses, one of which was to become a royal palace, he also played a leading role in the direction of state architecture undertaken by the Office of the Royal Works. Architecturally and historically therefore Burghley, his only surviving house, holds an important position. Research has focused on extending the knowledge of the building history and how this information can contribute to the understanding of the relationship between patron and building in patron-led architectural process. Above all, it stresses how the end product of this process was designed to function for the purposes of its political master. In the historiography of the period Cecil's patronage has been stereotyped within the persistently low estimation of architectural patronage in England Consequently his architectural experience, educational background and intellectual stature, all of which bear comparison with major contemporary European patrons, have tended to be marginalized, and the more complex aspects of the architectural results to be overlooked. The broader context of Cecil's overlapping private and institutional cultural patronage is explored to establish a profile of its nature and the role of Burghley House in his political strategy. New documentary evidence, some in Cecil's own hand, has allowed a more precise understanding of Cecil as the principal intelligence directing and determining the building's form and plan. Analysis of the archaeology of the standing fabric in conjunction with RCHME's new measured plan of the ground floor has unlocked a number of the mysteries of its architectural history, and revealed the sixteenth-century house as a remarkably lucid architectural entity in the concept of its form and plan. Burghley House has emerged as an important, if not seminal building in the development of the country house as a response to the changing pattern of hospitality, self-consciously designed for visiting peer groups and the corporate entertaining of the queen and court. Its context is that of the imported court culture, as much as of the Northamptonshire landscape. The sophisticated classical courtyard architecture with its imperial iconography drawn from classical literature reflects this duality. So too does the development of deer park and gardens simultaneously with the house. The evidence further suggests that the whole environment was planned not only as the ideal sociopolitical amenity, but as a visually as well as physically inter-related complex.

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