Igor Maraš

This paper investigates the integration of Virgil Abloh’s Personal Design Language (PDL) within the broader context of architectural methodology. Through a series of workshops, architecture students and professionals engaged with Abloh’s principles to examine how subtle aesthetic and functional adjustments, grounded in artistic disciplines, can produce transformative effects on iconic 20th-century architectural forms. These workshops underscored the potential of Abloh’s interdisciplinary approach to enhance architectural discourse by introducing a novel lens through which contemporary design methodologies can be evaluated. The findings reveal that employing weighted coefficients for less commonly utilized design principles enabled novel evaluation processes, fostering creative experimentation and innovation. Additionally, this research highlights discrepancies that may arise when employing differing evaluation methodologies in the assessment of architectural work, thereby initiating a critical discussion on the public acceptance of architectural designs and the implications of varied grading frameworks in professional practice.

The main question proposed in this research is whether different types of organizational approaches could help in shortening the response time needed to analyze advanced design solutions in accordance with the changed circumstances. Approaches that we are considering have been adapted from rapidly changing disciplines—such as the IT industry, and software engineering. This paradigm allows for architectural programming to obtain different positions in the timeline of project planning and realization. We proposed a novel methodology of architectural design and project management as an instrument inspired by the Agile Manifesto and some of its instantiations, most notably by the Scrum framework. This research shows that application of the proposed framework significantly shortens the design process and facilitates the involvement of a larger number of authors within the same project team. This study focused on the specific case of architectural competitions. However, the results showed that the same framework could be applied in a broader design context, details of which have been left for future considerations.

The main question proposed in this research is if different types of organizational approach, adapted from rapidly changing disciplines — such as IT industry, and software engineering in particular — could help overcome this gap by shortening the response time needed to analyze advanced solutions in accordance with changed circumstances, thus allowing for architectural programming to obtain different positions in the timeline of project planning and realization. We propose a novel methodology of architectural design as a self-reliant instrument inspired by Agile Manifesto and some of its instantiations, most notably by the Scrum Framework.

Adaptability and flexibility are popular and wide spread terms when discussing architecture, as well as desirable characteristics of a space. When it comes to housing, Modern Movement has particularly theorized, practiced and underlined the essential need of a space to be adaptable and flexible. However, how can we test if a space indeed possesses these qualities internally, and avoid the mistake of assigning these traits without any experimental confirmation? This paper revolves around a case study of a housing building in Novi Sad (Serbia) where seven apartments placed in the same vertical have been explored. The aim is to test whether the primary spatial layout (IMS system grid) had the possibility to evolve over time, having in mind the hypothesis that different dwellings include different users/family structures that have developed diverse habits, lifestyles and needs. The research method was both analysis and synthesis (firstly, analysis of selected units as examples, and then synthesis in form of intercomparison and conclusions). The case study method has been conducted through interviews with the tenants, current state documentation, and ultimately, graphically represented through diagrams. The analysis focused not only on the adaptability and flexibility of the room/function layout, but on the program openness/closedness, change in square footage and corridors (stiffness/fluidity of connecting spaces and door disposition changes). The results conclude that the original structure is adaptable and flexible, since all seven apartments tested differ from each other considerably. This means that through the exploitation, the users have used the flexibility and adaptability assets of the space to further develop the existing housing framework, and that, consequentially, apartment structures correspond to the family structure.

Recent periods in global history have put some heavy strains on the human condition. Changes in living have subsequently led to spontaneous bottom-up adjustments of housing units. During 2020 and 2021 the definition of spatial features of these changes has been the main objective of three Master's course workshops at the Department of Architecture and Urban Planning, Faculty of Technical Sciences, Novi Sad. Results of those workshops served as a pool of solutions for the research that followed. Using obtained data, abstract diagrams of architectural functionality are transcribed. They are applied to an algorithm and computer software that implements the algorithm, which has produced a wide range of spatial solutions. Both analytical and numerical approaches to the produced solutions, with additional criteria that have been applied and tested against some well-known theoretical thoughts from recent history, provide an insight into the possible future of multifamily housing.