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In my September column ("Planning for One's Housing Future: Proactive Decision Making," Journal of Financial Service Professionals 77, no. 5 (2023): 38-41), I introduced the concept of being proactive and deliberate in planning for one's housing future, as well as the role financial services professionals can play in encouraging clients to think about housing as a key element of their financial plan. In this column, I continue with this theme, focusing on the importance of home design. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Housing informality in wealthy contexts is an overlooked phenomenon, particularly in the global South. This article addresses the role of public institutions in the production of housing informality among the wealthy. For this purpose, it analyses the operation of public institutions in relation to the proliferation of luxurious villas in the eastern hills of Bogotá. Three villas were selected as archetypes of informal urbanization among the elite in the eastern hills, and their stories—or informality pathways—were reconstructed through interviews, maps and policy documents. The article aims to unveil how public institutions have contributed to the creation of informal spaces, often in collusion with private entities. Specifically, public institutions demonstrated conflicting internal agencies and multi‐level fragmentation, resulting in flexible regulations tailored to fit the construction practices of the elite. These characteristics were instrumental in establishing spaces of exception for the wealthy in the eastern hills of Bogotá and will likely be mirrored in other informal settlements in the global South. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly altered how people work, with an increasing number transitioning to working from home (WFH). This paradigm shift has raised various challenges in adapting living spaces to meet the needs of remote work. Dedicated workspaces or home offices need to be customized for creativity and productivity. Thus, this systematic literature review explores the potential challenges and limitations of implementing modern office design features in residential environments. The study synthesizes findings from 108 peer-reviewed articles published within the last decade, focusing on ergonomics, productivity, work–life balance, and spatial constraints. The study found several challenges in translating office design features to home settings. Firstly, spatial limitations in residential areas often restrict the implementation of open-plan layouts and collaborative zones, which are hallmarks of modern office designs. Secondly, the integration of ergonomic furniture and adjustable workstations are limited by budget constraints and the dual-purpose nature of many home spaces. Furthermore, the review highlights the psychological challenges of maintaining work–life boundaries when professional and personal spaces overlap. Noise pollution and distractions emerge as significant factors impacting productivity in home offices, which contrasts controlled modern office environments. The review suggests that the complete replication of modern office design in homes may be impractical; a hybrid approach that adapts key features to residential constraints could enhance home office productivity. Potential solutions could include modular furniture designs, the simulation of collaborative spaces, and the development of noise-cancelling technologies specifically for home environments. This study contributes to the growing body of knowledge on remote work environments and provides valuable insights for enhancing work–life balance, environmental sustainability, and economic growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractRegarding issues with the majority of home energy-saving applications, the information is often too difficult for users to understand, and they struggle to comprehend communication via graphics or images displayed on the application’s screen. Furthermore, little is known about how users of home energy-saving applications behave. Therefore, this research aims to develop and evaluate a user-friendly design guideline for a home energy-saving application that applies four stages of User-Centered Design (UCD) processes. To identify significant issues and preliminary solutions, this research employed two rounds of co-creation activities involving nine experts and nine non-experts. Subsequently, an application prototype encompassing settings, about, home data, home assessment, and assessment summary was developed. The prototype underwent evaluation through an online questionnaire with 160 participants from four user groups, spanning expert and non-expert age groups. As a results from all four factors, the application received a mean score = 4.35 (good) from both non-experts and experts. This demonstrates that the prototype adopted with the guideline performed well in terms of User Experience, User Interface and User-Centered Design. This research provides developers and stakeholders with valuable guidelines to create applications or programs that are more efficient and user-friendly. This guideline is applicable to a wide range of sectors (eg, residential homes, workplaces, and educational institutions) and various domains (eg, Internet of Things (IoT), Home Energy Management Systems (HEMS), mobile applications, AI-Assisted in IoT-based Smart Microgrids). This would lead to the creation of applications that are easy for users to navigate and presentations that are impactful, ultimately helping to decrease energy usage and promote a more sustainable environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the outbreak and continued spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, people's demand for daily disinfection products has increased rapidly, and its innovative design has received widespread attention. In this context, this study aims to propose a design methodology for home entrance disinfection devices based on AHP-FAST-FBS. Firstly, the design requirements of the home entrance disinfection device were collected and analyzed through in-depth interviews and the KJ method, and a hierarchical model of design demand indicators was constructed. Secondly, the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) was employed to quantify these design demand indicators, and core design demands for home entrance disinfection devices were identified by weight calculations. On this basis, the Functional Analysis System Technique (FAST) method was combined to rationally transform the design demands into product functional indicators, constructing a functional system model for the home entrance disinfection device through systematic decomposition and categorization. Lastly, based on the Function-Behavior-Structure (FBS) theoretical model, the mapping of each function of the product to its structure was realized, the product structure modules were determined, and the comprehensive design and output of the innovative design scheme for the home entrance disinfection device were completed. The results of this study indicate that the design methodology combining AHP-FAST-FBS can effectively improve the scientific rigor and effectiveness of the home entrance disinfection device design, thereby generating an ideal product design scheme. This study provides systematic theoretical guidance and practical reference for designers of subsequent related disinfection products and also offers a new path for improving social health and safety. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Sorrento Peninsula is characterized by a significant occurrence of examples of vernacular architecture, which exhibit distinctive morphological and constructive features. These have been the subject of numerous studies. However, some buildings have undergone a process of transformation over time, the details of which have yet to be investigated. Architectures that initially held a rural character were enlarged and ennobled, thereby becoming what could be termed as "villas of delights". However, these clearly manifest their origin based on the permanence of some vernacular features. This paper focuses on the analysis of a case study, Villa Murat, which is exemplary in illustrating this process. This thorough interdisciplinary research combines historical investigation, based mainly on archival documents, with a direct examination of the Villa. This has enabled the retracing of the building's evolution and of the events that occurred in it. An integrated survey, which employed photogrammetry and laser scanning, enabled the assessment of the current state of conservation. The ultimate objective of this research is to propose conservative interventions which, in conjunction with the suggested new intended use, could ensure the preservation of the Villa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the field of art, color matching is widely used in various art designs, such as images, posters, clothing, and interior home design. Among them, harmonious color matching is the decisive factor in whether a design is popular or not. To solve the problem of estimating color harmony, this study analyzes from the perspective of color pairs and uses the two-layer maximum likelihood estimation method to make preliminary predictions of color harmony by statistically modeling paired color preferences in existing datasets. After obtaining the preliminary estimation of color harmony, multiple linear regression is selected for denoising processing. Subsequently, the preliminary prediction results were refined using a backpropagation neural network, extracting various color features in different color spaces, and ultimately obtaining accurate harmony estimates. The results indicate that, compared with existing methods, the proposed method can simulate the aesthetic cognition of different users towards different color themes. Under the same statistical method, the model can maintain good harmony estimation and experimental results. This method can promote the development of related research fields, such as quickly evaluating the color harmony of an image, and one click color changing in scenes such as clothing, home, 3D models, etc. according to different user needs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the multimedia documentation of architecture. Topics mentioned include the digital restorations of historic sites, the use of remote sensing as digital tools for data gathering, the increase in depiction of architecture and design in film festivals, and the release of architectural documentaries on social media YouTube.

The article reviews the exhibition "The 18th International Architecture Exhibition," held at Giardini della Biennale in Venice, Italy from May 20, 2023 to November 26, 2023.

Paulinus of Nola and Shenoute of Atripe were prolific writers and architectural patrons of ascetic communities in the fourth and fifth centuries CE. Despite their rejection of luxury and elite culture, both were responsible for the construction of lavish church complexes at the hearts of those communities, in which architecture and decoration drew on the visual language of the late Roman elite. The churches shared specific architectural features—a triple-apsed (triconch) sanctuary, a rectangular hall terminating in a single apse, and a colonnaded space connecting them—that were also popular in houses and villas at that time. The architectural and spatial language of these churches would have evoked associations with the luxury and status of late Roman society even as these communities rejected those very things. This article considers the implications of the use of elite architecture and the visual language of convivial domestic spaces in these churches created for ascetic communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explored constraints and opportunities in apartment kitchen design for family home cooking and dining. An online audit of 115 two-bedroom apartments in three Melbourne suburbs of Australia was conducted, with images collected from the audit guiding photo-elicitation interviews on the kitchen designs, with architects from firms involved in apartment complex design. Affordance theory provided a conceptual lens to thematically analyse the design process and outcome in relation to architectural practice. Based on previously developed criteria, results from the audit revealed that only 18 (16%) had adequate kitchen design for families with children across five features assessed, with four themes emerging from interviews that identified constraints and facilitators to kitchen design practice: "Limited policy standards"; Architect assumptions align with market-led preferences"; "Built environment and apartment typology constraints"; and "Small scale design opportunities". Findings provide unique insights into architects' perspectives on apartment design, deepening understandings of how to support healthy family home food preparation and dining. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Spatial resources and environmental problems caused by population growth are increasingly becoming the focus of global concern. The environmental sustainability of building products has become the research frontier of the industry. Previous research has proved that 25% of energy consumption comes from daily use, and realizing low-energy design based on the whole life cycle is of great significance to promoting the transformation of the building industry. This paper focuses on the wasteful energy consumption problem caused by the changes in residents' behavioral requirements due to the changes in family structure. Based on the family life cycle analysis, this paper explores the mechanism of residents' behavioral requirements and spatial function changes at each stage to clarify the relationship between residents' behavior and building energy consumption. Then, by controlling factors, including Light Correction Coefficient, Effective Daylight Area, window-to-ground ratio, and window-to-wall ratio, and applying the passive design methodology, this paper establishes the zero-energy home opening design guidelines based on the family life cycle. This research guides designers in the design of zero-energy house openings and, at the same time, provides new perspectives for related research in the field of building energy consumption, which helps to promote the sustainable development of the field of architectural design. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates a new, popular, award-winning reality television show, Your Home Made Perfect. Drawing on insights from Sara Ahmed's work on the promise of happiness, our thematic analysis of nineteen episodes of Your Home shows how architectural entertainment is uniquely positioned through its use of Virtual Reality (VR) technology to circulate happiness and uplifting emotions and to critique the power imbalances of architect-client relationships. The paper argues how Your Home foregrounds happy emotions to the re-design of homes, where emotions are mobilized through design visualizations that turn both home and architects into "happy objects." Moreover, through "happy objects," this property television show seeks to deflect anxieties of housing precarity and growing wealth disparity. Finally, the paper reveals how architectural TV entertainment reinforces regressive ideas of identity and home ownership. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the ongoing changes in the work environment, specifically turning from fulltime to no time at the office and nowadays pending somewhere in between, there is a need for decision makers to redefine their expectations of a day at the office. Previously, organizations worldwide focussed on creating workplaces that foster interaction and collaboration to enhance knowledge exchange and communication. Both are among the main drivers for stimulating creativity at the workplace, leading to increased innovation activities. Since offices are dramatically changing from lean, work‐focused, and hierarchical workstations into employee‐oriented, creativity‐enhancing spaces with playground artefacts, the need for quantitative research on the effects of workplace design on creativity seems evident for researchers and practitioners. Although prior research has attempted to describe the physical work environment and its impact on creativity, empirical evidence is still lacking on what concrete attributes of a workplace employees perceive as inspiring. We therefore contribute to the existent body of knowledge by establishing a definition for inspiring physical workplaces as perceived by employees in times of digitalization and provide a conceptual model analysing the effects between workplace design, internal knowledge exchange, and creative problem‐solving capacity. We assess our survey data with partial least squares structural equation modelling and provide first empirical evidence that our proposed formative index supports the common research agenda within the context of workplace design, and further, that aspects of workplace design not only enhance creative problem‐solving capacity as an important dimension of creativity itself, but that this relationship is also partially mediated by internal knowledge exchange. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In modern society, with the improvement of people's living standards, the requirements for indoor living environment are also increasing. With its advantages of high speed, high stability, low latency, and large capacity, 5G communication technology achieves a more intelligent, comfortable, and safe indoor environment through intelligent and digital means, which provides the possibility for indoor design to become a new, interactive, and experiential indoor design. This article aimed to explore interactive spatial experiential interior design based on 5G communication. This article explored how to create more comfortable, convenient, and efficient indoor spaces through digital and intelligent methods, and compared them with traditional methods in terms of transmission speed, visualization effects, intelligent interactivity, and spatial fidelity. The experimental results showed that in terms of intelligent interactivity, the maximum and minimum intelligent control sensitivity scores of the five devices under 5G communication technology were 8.74 and 6.31 respectively; the maximum value of response speed score was 8.60 and the minimum value was 6.07; the maximum value of stability score was 8.79 and the minimum value was 6.08; the average scores were 7.69, 7.39, and 7.49, respectively; compared to traditional methods, intelligent interactivity was better. The interactive spatial experiential interior design based on 5G communication can better create a more comfortable, pleasant, and convenient indoor space, and enhance users' perception and interactive experience in the indoor space, thereby meeting users' needs for the living environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the process of using structured light technology to obtain indoor point clouds, due to the limited field of view of the device, it is necessary to obtain multiple point clouds of different wall surfaces. Therefore, merging the point cloud is necessary to acquire a complete point cloud. However, due to issues such as the sparse geometric features of the wall point clouds and the high similarity of multiple point clouds, the merging effect of point clouds is poor. In this paper, we leverage artificially enhanced features to improve the accuracy of registration in this scenario. Firstly, we design feature markers and present their layout criteria. Then, the feature information of the marker is extracted based on the Color Signature of Histograms of OrienTations (Color-SHOT) descriptor, and coarse registration is realized through the second-order similarity measure matrix. After that, precise registration is achieved using the Iterative Closest Point (ICP) method based on markers and overlapping areas. Finally, the global error of the point cloud registration is optimized by loop error averaging. Our method enables the high-precision reconstruction of integrated home design scenes lacking significant features at a low cost. The accuracy and validity of the method were verified through comparative experiments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Domestic architecture is increasingly revisited as a source of data about wealth inequality in the distant past via the Gini coefficient, a statistical tool often used in economics to compare income inequality. Many areas—including South America, Africa, South Asia and Oceania—remain under-sampled, making it difficult to develop a more complete picture of ancient political economies. In this paper we present a first look at this measure in the Hawaiian Islands. These data show that during the period prior to contact with Europeans inequality was extremely high, most similar to autocratic archaic states. We also found geographic patterning that may ultimately be linked to dryland (non-irrigated) farming. On islands reliant on dryland farming (Mau'i, Hawai'i), we find distinctively less inequality than elsewhere, or larger house sizes. We hypothesize these may have been innovations in how wealth was made visible to create and maintain cooperation in places where more labour would have been required to grow surplus. More research is necessary to test this hypothesis, investigate alternative interpretations, and to put these findings in larger regional context within Polynesia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]