Admittedly engineers simply continue to calculate the projects they are given by architects, but engineers also draw or redraw, gauge aesthetics and reinvent the production of the form. Is it the architect or the engineer who designs the structure, lays its foundations and establishes the intentionality of the project?

As architectural projects have grown larger and more complex, as materials have become more specialized and advanced, as the world's cities have developed in size and density, the collaborative partnership of architects and structural engineers has gained prominence. Many of the major works of the early twenty-first century would have been difficult to build or even conceive without the contributions of firms like Ove Arup & Partners, Buro Happold, and Mutsuro Sasaki & Partners, to name just a few. Support and Resist is the first book to focus on the revolution in engineering culture in which structure shares the stage with design.In profiles of fourteen American and international engineers and more than thirty case studies, Nina Rappaport details facets of this revolution: collaboration, intuition, structural integration, hybrid structures, structure as decoration, computer workflow, and fabrication technologies.

The Swiss engineer Jurg Conzett designs bridges in wood, steel and concrete. He also collaborates with Switzerland's leading architects including Peter Zumthor and Meili & Peter. This book concentrates on the engineering of such structures as an art.

Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Computed Tomography, and other image modalities are routinely used to visualize a particular structure in the patient's body. The classification of the image region corresponding to this structure is called segmentation. For applications in Neuroscience, it is important for the segmentation of a brain scan to represent the boundary of the brain as a single folded sheet. However the segmentation of the brain generally exhibits many erroneous holes. Consequently we have developed an algorithm for automatically removing holes in segmented medical scans while preserving the accuracy of the image. Upon concepts of Discrete Topology, we correct the holes based on the smallest modification to the image. First we detect each hole with a front propagation and a Reeb graph. Then we search for a number of loops around the hole on the isosurface of the image. Finally we select the loop that minimizes the modification to the image and correct the hole in the image. At each step we limit the size of the data in memory. With these contributions our algorithm removes every hole in the image with high accuracy and low complexity even for images that do not fit into the main memory. To help doctors and scientists to obtain segmentations without holes, we make our software publicly available.

In the recent years, Independent Component Analysis has become a fundamental tool in signal and data processing, especially in the field of Blind Source Separation (BSS); under mild conditions, independent source signals can be recovered from mixtures of them by maximizing a so-called contrast function. Neither the mixing system nor the original sources are needed for that purpose, justifying the "blind" term. Among the existing BSS methods is the class of approaches maximizing Information-Theoretic Criteria (ITC), that rely on Rényi's entropies, including the well-known Shannon and Hartley entropies. These ITC are maximized via adaptive optimization schemes. Two major issues in this field are the following: i) Are ITC really contrast functions? and ii) As most of the algorithms look in fact for a local maximum point, what about the relevance of these local optima from the BSS point of view? Even though there are some partial answers to these questions in the literature, most of them are based on simulations and conjectures; formal developments are often lacking. This thesis aims at filling this lack as well as providing intuitive justifications, too. The BSS problem is stated in Chapter 1, and viewed under the information theory angle. The two next chapters address specifically the above questions: Chapter 2 discusses the contrast function property of ITC while the possible existence of spurious local maximum points in ITC is the purpose of Chapter 3. Finally, Chapter 4 deals with a range-based criterion, the only “entropy-based” contrast function which is discriminant, i.e. free from spurious local maxima. The interest of this approach is confirmed by testing the proposed technique on various examples, including the MLSP 2006 data analysis competition benchmark; our method outperforms the previously obtained results on large-scale and noisy mixture samples obtained through ill-conditioned mixing matrices.

"The legacy of the Modern Movement has gained legendary status, largely as a result of the appreciation of the masterworks and the visionary architectural concepts. In the reality of everyday life, however, it has been difficult to maintain the architectural creations of the Modern Movement in such a way that they still reflect the original intentions of their designers. Many buildings and ensembles of the Modern Movement have already been saved; the icons amongst these have even become so precious that they are treated like pieces of art rather than as buildings in everyday use. But despite the successes that have been achieved, many buildings and ensembles are still at risk of demolition or maltreatment. The bi-annul international conference is one means by which it is possible to continue furthering the aims of Docomomo. Knowing that many modern architects aimed at functionality and changeability, the challenge for today is how to deal with the modern heritage in relation to its continuously changing context, including physical, economic and functional changes, as well as socio-cultural, political and scientific ones. It is with this in mind that conservation in general, and the conservation of modern architecture in particular, has become a new challenge. Rather than attempting to return a modern building to its presumed original state, our challenge is to revalue the essence of the manifold manifestations of modern architecture and redefine its meanings in our changing world of digital revolution, worldwide mobility and environmental awareness."--Jacket.

This collection of essays serves as an introduction to modern architectural heritage and the specific problems related to the conservation of modern structures. It covers policy, planning and construction. A selection of case studies elaborates on these issues and illustrates how problems have been addressed. This volume celebrates the first 5 years of DoCoMoMo's role and influence in this important area of building conservation.

The Modern Movement was a clarion call to embrace new building technologies, to meet the needs of the masses and to advance a new aesthetic of universality and openness. Pioneers like Le Corbusier, Walter Gropius and Mies van der Rohe created a sober, hard-edged architecture with a utopian urgency. Decades later, we have witnessed both the positive and the negative results of their endeavors. After the condemnations of the Modern Movement by postmodernist architects and critics, it is time for a balanced reassessment. Back from Utopiagathers more than 40 contributions by leading voices from the world of architecture and architectural history to reassess the modernist legacy across the world--from Eastern and Western Europe to India and Japan.

The book describes the story of Clarté, Le Corbusier’s first apartment building, continuing the narrative into the 21st century. The steel skeleton building completed in Geneva in 1930/1932 is a prototype of the Moderne style and a precursor of the Unité d’Habitation. The building was neglected for many decades and not listed as a historic building until the 1990s. In 2007 the external envelope was repaired as the first step, followed by refurbishment of the interior, in which building preservation requirements were taken into account in an exemplary manner. The building log book by the architects and structural engineers is illustrated with numerous new and historic drawings and photographs, and has been supplemented with an account of the building’s history. The renovated building is presented in large photographs.

The importance of protecting significant buildings from decay and destruction would seem to be undeniable. Yet whilst the majority of buildings of merit constructed before the Second World War have been highlighted as worthy of protection there is much indifference, and in some cases hostility towards many important post-war buildings. These deserve to receive wider formal recognition but in many cases continue to be mistreated or even demolished.This book examines many of the philosophical and practical issues surrounding the conservation of modern buildings and also the problems faced by building practitioners in dealing with buildings constructed in a wider range of styles and materials than at any other time. Climate change in particular has forced change in the way in which we think about buildings, with the pressures to address issues of energy efficiency becoming more urgent and likely to have consequences that may alter the perceived architectural and historic interest of modern and traditional buildings alike.