Discussion on applying trombe wall technology for wall conservation and energy saving in modern historic buildings

Previous studies on modern historic buildings protection have been mainly conducted from the view of building history, culture and aesthetic, but rarely focus on the green building technology and energy-saving. With the increasingly serious crises of environment and energy, it is valuable to research how to carry out ecological protection to effectively reduce energy consumption in modern buildings while ensuring the authenticity and readability of building heritage information.

This article describes a new technical scheme to apply Trombe wall technology for wall conservation in modern historic buildings. The feasibility, key construction technologies and operating conditions in different seasons were demonstrated by an actual case in Beijing. Key findings show that the technical scheme not only protects the skin texture of the wall but also makes full use of passive solar energy. Energy consumption simulation results show that saving energy in winter is significant. Compared with the original building, the total energy consumption of the building that adopted the technical scheme was reduced by 10.77%, the heating energy consumption was reduced by 21.86%, and the cooling energy consumption was reduced by 1.02%. The research findings provide new inspiration and reference for studies on the protection of modern historic buildings, and serve as a technical reference for architects.     

传统廉洁文化的历史局限性

传统廉洁文化虽然是建设当代廉洁文化的重要思想资源,但要看到其历史局限性:专制独裁下的理想主义,封建官场“潜规则”表面的漂亮旗帜,存在以“礼”、“德”为主的偏颇意识。认识其局限性是为了实现反腐败方式的现代性转变。     

Recognising values of China’s scenic and historic interest areas as world heritage cultural landscapes: Lushan case study

ABSTRACT

China’s Scenic and Historic Interest Areas are a major contributor to the State’s World Heritage lexicon. However, understanding of their values has led to confusion internationally and in China, not least with controversy over China’s latest promotion of the Natural Protected Areas System. This paper discusses values of China’s Scenic and Historic Interest Areas from the cultural landscape perspective through an in-depth case study of Lushan. A theoretical framework for recognising values of China’s Scenic and Historic Interest Areas has been set up and tested at Lushan, including exploring stakeholders’ understanding of its values as a world heritage site by using semi-structured interviews and questionnaires. The findings reveal that Lushan clearly represents cultural values inextricably associated with Scenic and Historic Interest Areas, and also need for supplementary advice on its Outstanding Universal Value (OUV). It suggests that the ideology driving management of China’s Scenic and Historic Interest Areas as national parks or natural parks focusing mainly on objective nature-related conservation without regard to the traditional Chinese philosophy of the culture-nature binary will adversely affect China’s Scenic and Historic Interest Areas as cultural landscapes and their community values.     

Numerical Modeling of a Church Nave Wall Subjected to Differential Settlements: Soil-Structure Interaction,Time-Dependence and Sensitivity Analysis

ABSTRACT

Historic masonry structures are particularly sensitive to differential soil settlements. These settlements may be caused by deformable soil, shallow or inadequate foundation, structural additions in the building and changes in the underground water table due to the large-scale land use change in urban areas.

This paper deals with the numerical modeling of a church nave wall subjected to differential settlement caused by a combination of the above factors. The building in question, the church of Saint Jacob in Leuven, has suffered extensive damage caused by centuries-long settlement. A numerical simulation campaign is carried out in order to reproduce and interpret the cracking damage observed in the building.

The numerical analyses are based on material and soil property determination, the monitoring of settlement in the church over an extended period of time and soil-structure interaction. A sensitivity study is carried out, focused on the effect of material parameters on the response in terms of settlement magnitude and crack width and extent. Soil consolidation over time is considered through an analytical approach. The numerical results are compared with the in-situ observed damage and with an analytical damage prediction model.     

England’s trade with the Continent in the early thirteenth century: customs and the port of Dover

ABSTRACT

This article identifies and prints the earliest detailed customs list from northern Europe, which was prepared for the port of Dover in 1233 or soon after, and it gives fuller and more detailed information about trade than for any other northern European port at this date. The list shows a remarkable diversity of trade, including some of the earliest references to particular goods in English documents, and widespread sources of trade including Flanders, Germany and Italy. The depiction of such trading links prompts questions about the ‘commercial revolution’ and the development of European trade, for it shows how varied trade and consumption could be in the era of the fairs of the Champagne towns, before the establishment of direct maritime links from the Italian cities to northern Europe. The appearance of commodities and trading links in the Dover list suggest that commercial development was earlier and more evolutionary.     

Pacifism and the Question of Responsibility

ABSTRACT

This article explores the relationship between pacifism and responsibility through conversations with four white U.S. women formed in historic peace church traditions. The conversations resist the dominant tendency to present pacifism and responsibility as dichotomies. For these women, responsibility is not an absolute criterion to which a pacifist position must answer; nor is it a worldly commitment shunned by faithful adherence to the gospel. Rather, responsibility is a crucial yet highly contextual consideration in the pacifist life one cannot but live. This article concludes that it is a mistake to utilize responsibility as an external criterion by which to judge pacifism and a mistake to deny the importance of responsibility in a pacifist life. Both of these dichotomous arrangements mischaracterize the lived experience and moral reflection of the interviewees. The question of responsibility is not whether one should be a pacifist, but how to live nonviolently in a violent world.