While the shift towards an architecture of “inexact respiration” means to abandon the standards of comfort provided by mechanical control and assume a more tolerant culture towards the relationship between architecture and the environment, where architecture itself provides or contributes significantly to the solution, this shift does not mean a return to the vernacular. It means the development of a new (or renewed) architecture capable of expressing the Zeitgeist and the central problems of sustainability and the energy crisis that characterize it. If architecture is cyclically mobilized towards its legitimation as a language—as we witnessed in the Enlightenment, in the modern movement and in postmodernism—how is this urge towards a sustainable architecture defining a new, contemporary language? How is architectural practice exploring the legacy of the past in defining critical architectural solutions? What typological and material experiences point to an in-depth revision of carbon-based architectural and building solutions? What is the relationship of these solutions with use and ways of living? Taking into account that the most sustainable position is to maintain existing buildings, what can we learn from the practice of reuse and adaptation?
Issue #16 of Joelho – Journal of Architectural Culture seeks contributions that critically address these and other related topics, particularly in the context of the Mediterranean climate, broadly understood. Topics may range from landscape, urban design and architecture to materials and building systems. Qualitative approaches are expected, taking into account the impact on the perceived comfort of spaces resulting from factors such as the active posture of the user, the thermal sensitivity of different cultures, clothing, the physical properties of materials, specific microclimates, cultural habits, regional economies, material availability, and specific labour, among others. Graphic material illustrating such sought-after critical thinking is encouraged, whether authorial or not.
Submissions
Authors need to register prior to submitting (https://impactum-journals.uc.pt/joelho). If already registered, simply log in and begin the 5-step process.
First stage: potential contributors should submit the full article in English (4,000 to 6,000 words, plus footnotes and captions), an abstract (with no more than 1000 characters, including spaces) and illustrations until 14 April 2024. These will be subject to a blind peer-review process.
Blind peer-reviews will be reported to the authors until May1st, 2024.
Second stage: Articles found suitable for publication must take into account the reviewers’ comments. A revised article must be then submitted until July 1st, 2024.
More information can be found in the full call for papers here.