science wire

Three EPFL studies on the effects of Switzerland's first COVID-19 lockdown have just been published. The research was based on a survey of Swiss residents carried out during the confinement, and illustrate how the restrictions caused higher stress levels and changed the way people view housing. The Swiss federal government put the country in lockdown from 16 March to 19 June 2020 in order to stem the rapid increase in COVID-19 infection rates.

The lives of people living with dementia in Greater Manchester, alongside carers and loved ones, can be improved through better access to housing that reflects the changing needs and diversity of the population, according to the finding of a new report published today (Friday 10 December) .

City in Colour and Citopia, created by six migrant women of colour from SFU's Urban Studies master's program, aim to create an equitable, inclusive and accessible city and work environment for women.

Business, Law & Society Collins Maina Having a laneway house next door can significantly decrease the value of your Vancouver home, depending on where you live, according to a new UBC Sauder School of Business study. Researchers found the presence of a laneway house within 100 metres of a property on the West Side of the city was associated with a 2.8 per cent lower sale price on neighbouring properties.

When an architect or designer completes a rendering of a building, streetscape or space, the last step in the process is to include human figures to provide a sense of scale and to make the space feel alive.

Carnegie Mellon University Modern architecture is unique for what it is lacking. The clean lines, hard right angles and boxy silhouettes leave little room for detail.

The Artificial Swissness exhibit - a larger than life-sized "design brain" developed by EPFL's Media x Design Lab (LDM) - is currently on display at the Seoul Biennale for Architecture and Urbanism, which runs until 31 October 2021.

In the lead-up to Quebec's municipal elections Nov. 7 - and the next leaders' debate Oct. UdeM professors are available to share their expertise with the media on 10 key issues.

It is a digital map, unique in the world and developed as part of the #MosquitoAlertBCN project, which reports in real time and on a 20-meter scale the likelihood of a mosquito and a person meeting or interacting that day.

A team of researchers in the University of Toronto's Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering has some practical advice for developers, homeowners and urban planners who want to reduce their environmental impact.

EPFL and HEAD researchers have set-up an installation to raise awareness around the importance of exposure to natural light for human health and the role of the architecture in urban settings in modulating that light.

Against a global backdrop of rising energy demands and finite resources, Rihab Khalid set out to understand how buildings can become more energy efficient.

Interview with Prof. Ferdinand Ludwig on functional greenery in the urban environment More urban green helps to cool down cities.

Switzerland's building stock is quite impressive. There are around 1.8 million buildings in the country, but only one percent of this building stock is renovated each year.

By Mag. Beate Mosing The future of animals lies in the city, because private gardens are often the opposite of "ecological".

'Schools for the future' offers sustainable answer to education capacity issues With the increasing population, the education sector is facing a shortage of school buildings.

Throughout the summer, architectural works by first-year students at EPFL's ALICE studio will be on display at four sites in Geneva Canton: Genthod, Aigues-Vertes, Vernier and Onex.

When Charley Andrews addresses the 2021 graduating class of the UCLA School of the Arts and Architecture at the June 12 virtual commencement, she plans to talk about the importance of community.

Berkeley Lab research helps city-cooling measure get test integration with LEED rating system White buildings stand along an alley in Los Angeles, California. Light-colored paints can help reflect sunlight, helping to cool cities and fight the urban heat island effect. (Credit: iStock) Sunlight-reflecting "cool walls" have been shown to reduce energy costs by lowering heat gain in buildings.

The current issue of the Graz Architecture Magazine (GAM) takes a fresh look at the architectural complexity of wood and explores the material's potential for a more climate-friendly building industry.

Prof. Danzl talks about the conservation of the Buzludzha monument in an interview The huge Buzludzha monument in the Bulgarian mountains stands out.

Mobiliscope uses travel survey data to visually present how the social composition of a city or neighbourhood evolves over the course of 24 hours.

In a new monograph, Bruno Marchand and Pauline Schroeter document 25 years of architecture in the Canton of Vaud, from 1975 to 2000.