Статті в журналах з теми "Masonry apparatu"

Abstract Reducing heat loss through the envelope of the building had been an efficient way to save on heating and reduce energy consumption of buildings. In Europe, typical exterior walls need to prevent heat loss during cold weather but more and more allow comfortable temperature condition during the hot season. Indoor comfort in hot seasons is dependent on the thermal transmittance and on its dynamic response during hot days. The study presents guarded hot-box measurements of exterior walls build with insulating masonry and insulation boards made of innovative mineral foam used as an insulation material. The masonry is a composite system of concrete block filled with mineral foam to reduce the thermal transmittance. Insulation boards are made of mineral foam and are added to achieve the overall thermal transmittance targeted. Static and dynamic measurements were performed in order to compare thermal transmittance and decrement delay. The results are compared with those obtained from calculations carried out of the same walls through the application of European standards and a finite volume simulation. Uncertainties of the guarded hot-box measurement and calculation methods are discussed. Results shows that with equivalent U-values, the solution offer higher decrement delay compared to a traditional wall using conventional masonry and polystyrene insulation boards.

Purpose – Experimental field test apparatus has been used to determine the inter-variability and intra-variability floodwater ingress rates of the masonry wall of a domestic building, before and after preparation with an improved surface treatment procedure. The purpose of this paper is to discuss this issue. Design/methodology/approach – Replicated and repeated simulations of floodwater conditions (600 mm head) outside a building were created, before and after the wall was treated with a combination of mortar admixture and surface impregnation. Findings – Untreated and treated floodwater ingress rates were 4.99 litres/hour (234.99 litres/hour/m2) and 1.74 litres/hour (81.90 litres/hour/m2), respectively, and display high intra-variability before treatment. These preliminary results indicate water penetration through masonry is linked to the initial rate of absorption of brick units and perceivably the workmanship of the bricklayer. Originality/value – Reductions in floodwater penetration from outside a building, by the impregnation and admixture treatments of masonry walls, can be achieved to manageable levels. However, the target for rates of water ingress through permeable masonry of < 10 litres/hour/m2, to accord with values for kitemark products, still needs further work.

One of the most well-known non-destructive methods for inspection and diagnosis in historical masonry walls is the flat-jack testing. Although it gives qualitative and valuable results about the local stress level and the deformability of the masonry material, when testing on irregular masonry walls, or walls with larger stone units, experimental and practical problems might occur, leading to inaccurate or useless results. In addition, the testing apparatus is labor, with difficulties in sawing task. Another limitation is the difficulty to test multi-leaves walls. To overturn these problems and to achieve more reliable information, an enhanced type of jacks is proposed in the paper. The new testing system consists of tube-jacks instead of the usual flat-jacks. As part of the preliminary research, analyses with FE models to simulate the differences between the conventional and the enhanced method are presented in the paper. The advantages and disadvantages of both methods are discussed and further research steps are presented.

Historical masonry structures during the decades, were composed with a variety of brick and mortar types according to materials availability of each region and the desirable mechanical properties in each specific case. Different composition of mortars leads to another masonry behavior, and each one is suited for different structural purposes. A crucial aspect in damage evaluation of masonry structures is the analysis of long-term behavior which has a great influence on safety assessment of these structures. In this study, cement, hybrid lime cement, hydraulic lime and lime hydrate mortars were assembled with solid red clay bricks to compose four masonry walls of dimensions 515 × 376 × 90 mm. They were tested under cyclic compression loading. Acoustic Emission (AE) allowed in situ monitoring of damage progression. AE is a powerful non-destructive technique applied to identify micro and macro-defects and their temporal evolution in several materials. This technique permits to estimate a variety of characteristics during fracture propagation to obtain information on the criticality of the ongoing process. Specifically, analyzing and comparing AE parameters among the loading cycles of each wall specimen and among the different masonry compositions, an integrity assessment can be achieved. Furthermore, in each loading and unloading step, pulse velocity measurements were conducted using the AE apparatus in order to gain a velocity distribution mapping among the sensors. Each sensor was pulsed in turn, with all other sensors acting as receivers, generating a velocity matrix from one sensor to another. This provided an insight into the damage severity of masonry walls with the increasing number of loading cycles. This measurement was also necessary for refining AE source location accuracy by using either the horizontal or the vertical velocity. Two different cases were investigated. The use of one uniform velocity for the whole masonry wall and the assumption that the velocity differs in the two vertical directions due to the heterogeneity of the structure. These two cases result in differences in the quantity and the position of the localized events. Furthermore, applying direct ultrasonic pulse velocity measurements, in the direction of the width of masonry walls, another integrity investigation was feasible. The presented results further demonstrate the relationships between AE parameter-based analysis, velocity distribution and source location during cyclic compressive loading in masonry specimens. The identification of the nature of damage through the entire dataset of all sensor arrays provides a promising example for structural health monitoring applications on larger scale masonry specimens. As a conclusion, AE activity analysis proved to be a very efficient approach to evaluate fracture progress in masonry.

Two series of post-tensioned concrete masonry walls subjected to uniform lateral loading were tested to investigate their flexural strength behaviour. Each series of walls consisted of four full-scale prestressed specimens, with varying levels of prestressing force, and one reinforced specimen. Of particular interest were the load–deflection curves, initial cracking loads, wall stiffness, crack patterns, and ultimate failure loads. An air bag test apparatus was used for applying lateral uniform pressures to the specimens. Results of this experimental investigation showed that, for a given wall thickness, increased prestressing force increases the cracking load, initial wall stiffness, and ultimate failure load. The results have established a linear relationship between increased prestressing force and initial cracking load, initial wall stiffness, and ultimate failure load. The proposed model, which takes into account changes in wall stiffness after initial cracking of the wall, accurately predicts wall behaviour. Key words: masonry, prestressed, walls, strength, behaviour, uniform, pressure, experimental, analytical.

The design criteria for a new, low-cost base dissipation technique for simple masonry buildings are presented together with the results of some numerical analyses. The proposed apparatus, termed the “reinforced cut wall” (RCW), is made up of a layer of weak mortar (50 mm) and a 4- mm-thick elastomer membrane sheath laid between the foundation and base of the wall, which is further reinforced by a series of vertical steel rods (8–12 mm in diameter) connecting it to the foundation. Experimental trials have been performed on a sample set of dissipators in order to establish their mechanical properties and define suitable assembly techniques. Numerical simulations, consisting of incremental nonlinear static analyses, of several types of masonry buildings highlight the system's efficient performance in terms of force-displacement law. For moderate horizontal actions, the RCW does not cause relevant foundation-base displacement. However, when a prescribed force limit is exceeded, friction behavior of the weak layers of the RCW permit inelastic deformation along both horizontal directions, while the vertical steel rods ensure an elastic restoring force for rocking movements as well. Furthermore, the RCW provides the added benefit of isolating the structure from ground humidity.

The construction market has at its disposal more and more technical solutions in sealing materials that allow cost reduction and short term execution for construction companies. Among these solutions are the so called gypsum blocks. In spite of their countless advantages when it comes to their use as masonry sealing material, there are limits to the use of gypsum blocks: due to their low resistance to deterioration by rain, their use as external sealing is not recommended. Therefore, the aim of the present work was the development of experimental apparatus for the analyses of capillary phenomena in representative samples of gypsum blocks for sealing. The development of these apparatus for capillarity tests was based on models for tests of liquid water flow in porous media – standardized by procedure 11.2 according to RILEM TC 25-PEM (1980). By means of the obtained results it was possible to verify the high accuracy of the apparatus, seeing that considerable differences were observed in values of capillary absorption coefficient for specimens with water/gypsum ratios of 0.5; 0.6; 0.7 and 0.8 (results varied from 14.75 g cm-2h-0,5 for ratio 0.5 and 58.99 g cm-2h-0,5 for ratio 0.8). Additionally, tests with water repellent additives were carried out, verifying that the developed apparatus is able to identify the influence of these additives in representative specimens of gypsum blocks.

A series of structural tests were conducted to examine the seismic performance of masonry infills strengthened with particular materials on infilled reinforced concrete (RC) frame structures. Six 1:4 scaled-down RC frame specimens had been prepared, including one brick-infilled frame without strengthening and five brick infills strengthened with innovative strengthening materials. The materials were steel wire mesh, chicken hexagonal wire mesh, plastic wire mesh, fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP), and plastic stretch film. The strengthening was diagonally applied on both surfaces of the masonry infill. The steel wire mesh, chicken hexagonal wire mesh, and plastic wire mesh were sewn using steel wire, while the FRP sheet was glued using epoxy resin and the plastic stretch film was glued using synthetic rubber adhesive. The specimens were tested following the FEMA 461 standard testing protocol, which involved applying lateral static cyclic loading to the specimens. The displacement transducer apparatus measured the deformations of the specimens, and crack propagation was observed during experimental works. The experimental results showed that most specimens exhibited an increase in their lateral strength, secant stiffness, deformation capacity, and energy dissipation. Among all prepared specimens, the specimen using plastic stretch film showed the best and most promising results, i.e., long deformation and steady lateral strength after yielding. This result suggests that using plastic stretch for strengthening can increase ductility performance. It is expected to withstand earthquake shaking, has low application costs, and is feasible for application even by unskilled local laborers.

The present research is focused on an experimental investigation to evaluate the mechanical, durability, and thermal performance of compressed earth blocks (CEBs) produced in Portugal. CEBs were analysed in terms of electrical resistivity, ultrasonic pulse velocity, compressive strength, total water absorption, water absorption by capillarity, accelerated erosion test, and thermal transmittance evaluated in a guarded hotbox setup apparatus. Overall, the results showed that compressed earth blocks presented good mechanical and durability properties. Still, they had some issues in terms of porosity due to the particle size distribution of soil used for their production. The compressive strength value obtained was 9 MPa, which is considerably higher than the minimum requirements for compressed earth blocks. Moreover, they presented a heat transfer coefficient of 2.66 W/(m2·K). This heat transfer coefficient means that this type of masonry unit cannot be used in the building envelope without an additional thermal insulation layer but shows that they are suitable to be used in partition walls. Although CEBs have promising characteristics when compared to conventional bricks, results also showed that their proprieties could even be improved if optimisation of the soil mixture is implemented.

Civilization is a concept that ontologically defines the individual and the communities in which it develops. The most global civilization is the one that has emerged in the West. Civilization is not something static, but an organism that draws its roots from the distant past. In this sense, it is fundamental to answer the question of what are the constitutive elements that define Western civilization. This question only makes sense if it is asked in a historical perspective. In this direction the Freemasonry, A Very Short Introduction is a crucial one. It presents the analysis revealing how the history of freemasonry is related to the evolution of Western identity. It has to be read in the light of Niall Ferguson’s monograph The West and the Rest. The present text does so. The book then brings to light the contribution of the brotherhood to the intellectual habitus of what is called the Judeo-Christian civilization, at the present time still predominant on the Planet. The intellectual apparatus of the Freemasonry, A Very Short Introduction permits to elucidate the history of the masonic movement and its influence on events that seem unconnected and coincidental. Thus, this article tries to explain certain historical turning points in South-Eastern Europe, precisely in the light of the masonic alliances, in particular the case of the Illyrian Provinces and the first Slovenian poet, Valentin Vodnik, and secondly, what concerns the emergence of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, which the author of the article defines as the result of the masonic strategy (the Grand Lodge of France and the Grand Orient of France).

The main objective of this study was to understand the effect of aging on the penetration resistance of freshly deposited sands. Two types of sand, locally available river sand used as masonry sand and Beaufort Sea sand, were selected for the study. The sands were allowed to age under a constant stress of 100 kPa in a specially designed apparatus in a dry state, as well as submerged in distilled water and in simulated sea water. Penetration resistance of the sand beds was measured periodically by pushing 4 probes into the sand bed. Mineralogical and fabric studies on freshly deposited and aged sand samples were conducted to detect the effect of aging, if any, on sand grains. The results indicate that aging significantly increases the penetration resistance of sands. The rate of increase in penetration resistance was higher for the submerged sand as compared with the dry sand. The increase in penetration resistance of the sand in a dry state was attributed to rearrangement of sand grains. In the submerged state, besides the rearrangement of sand particles, partial cementation caused by precipitation of salts and probably also silica on the sand grains and in the pores resulted in the larger increase in the penetration resistance. Key words : sand, aging, penetration resistance, freezing and thawing, sea water, distilled water.

To obtain the maximum yield of winter wheat, it is necessary to further optimize the existing cultivation technologies in the direction of their adaptation to changing environmental conditions. One of the areas of adaptation of plants to adverse abiotic factors is the active functioning of the photosynthetic apparatus, which depends on the amount of nutrients introduced. The influence of fertilizer application on the condition of the pigment complex of winter wheat plants in the conditions of the Southern Steppe of Ukraine has been studied. Two varieties of winter wheat were selected for the study: Shestopalivka and Mason. The experiment scheme involved the application of fertilizers at sowing (K0; K12) and foliar treatment with various tank mixtures (urea; urea + magnesium sulfate; urea + magnesium sulfate + potassium monophosphate). The pigment content has been determined by grinding fresh leaves of winter wheat, followed by the addition of a solvent in the form of acetone. Measurements of pigments were performed using a spectrophotometer. According to the research results, it was established that before the foliar treatment the a-chlorophyll content and carotenoids was higher in the plant leaves of the Shestopalivka variety. At the same time, the b-chlorophyll content on the contrary was higher for plants of the Mason variety by 17%, which may be due to the adaptation of plants of this variety to lack of light. On the 3rd day after foliar treatment, a decrease in the pigment content in the plant leaves of all experimental variants has been observed, which was due to the active growth of the photosynthetic surface and a decrease in the total dry matter mass. There was no significant difference between the varieties of the content of photosynthetic pigments in this period. On the 10th day after foliar treatment, an increase in a- and b-chlorophyll content has been observed for both studied varieties, which may be the result of adaptation of the photosynthetic apparatus of winter wheat plants to lighting conditions. Foliar treatment of winter wheat plants with a tank mixture of urea with magnesium sulfate and potassium monophosphate contributed to a further increase in the content of a-chlorophyll by 12-23%, and b-chlorophyll by 5-37% depending on the variety compared to the control. The results of the research testify to the high efficiency of complex application of nitrogen-phosphorus-potassium fertilizers for foliar treatment of winter wheat plants in the BBCH 31 stage, both against the background of pre-sowing application of potassium fertilizers and without it.

1. Cyclofenil diphenol (F6060), a weak non-steroidal oestrogen, was shown previously to inhibit [35S]proteoglycan synthesis [Mason, Lineham, Phillipson & Black (1984) Biochem. J. 223, 401-412] and to induce fragmentation of the Golgi apparatus into small vesicles [Lancaster, Fryer, Griffiths & Mason (1989) J. Cell Sci. 92, 271-280] in cultures of Swarm chondrosarcoma chondrocytes. Two structurally related compounds, F6204 and F6091, show a similar concentration-related effect, with complete inhibition of [35S]proteoglycan synthesis at 90 micrograms/ml. The apparent [3H]protein synthesis is only approx. 40% inhibited with [3H]lysine as precursor. Stilboestrol, clomiphene and tamoxiphen are also potent inhibitors of [35S]proteoglycan synthesis. 2. Syntheses of chondroitin 4-[35S]sulphate and chondroitin 6-[35S]sulphate, which are Golgi-mediated events, are inhibited 40-68% and 3-48% respectively by concentrations of cyclofenil between 50 and 70 micrograms/ml. [3H]Hyaluronan synthesis, which occurs by a different mechanism at the plasma membrane, is inhibited by 47-66%. These results suggest that cyclofenil may act via more than one inhibitory mechanism. Cyclofenil diphenol inhibits polymerization of chondroitin sulphate on to p-nitrophenyl beta-xyloside even when the chondrocytes are loaded with the initiator prior to treatment. 3. Cyclofenil diphenol interferes with the cellular uptake of amino acids via the system A carrier, as shown by inhibition of uptake of methylaminoisobutyric acid, a specific substrate for this system. The drug had no effect on the uptake of 2-deoxyglucose by the cells. 4. Cyclofenil diphenol (90 micrograms/ml) caused a decrease in the pool size of UDP-N-acetylglucosamine, UDP-N-acetylgalactosamine and UDP-hexoses, but this was insufficient to account for the accompanying profound inhibition of [35S]proteoglycan synthesis. Entry of [3H]glucosamine into the cell and into the UDP-N-acetylhexosamine pool did not appear to be affected. 5. Cyclofenil diphenol inhibited the substitution of 3H-labelled proteoglycan core protein with chondroitin sulphate chains. Core protein was identified in treated cultures on the basis of immunoprecipitation with an antiserum against the hyaluronate-binding region and distinguished from precipitated proteoglycan on SDS/PAGE.

Abstract Suspended from the edge of a horizontally rotating 27 inch bicycle wheel, four 35 mm x 35 mm elm bark chips were sprayed with an insecticide during 1 pass before a compressed air paint spray gun beneath the wheel axle. The gun delivered 2.2 ml/sec and the wheel turned 4 rpm. This apparatus was in the opening of a laboratory evacuation hood. Bark chips, including some sapwood, had been cut with a band saw from 100 mm dia log disks from a recently felled tree. When each sprayed chip was nearly dry it was dropped into a 0.5 pt tapered Mason glass jar having a 100-mesh screen lid and the bottom covered with a disk of paper towel. Beetles react abnormally on glass as compared with paper. The jar was placed in a randomized position on the first of 4 parallel lines on a laboratory table; the next jar was placed on the next line; etc. A draft of air from a household fan covered the table. The foregoing procedure was repeated for each insecticide. Sprays of all insecticides were agitated and buffered to pH 6. On each of the following 4 days a separate line of jars was infested with 25 beetles per jar from a laboratory culture of infested elm logs in 5 gal lard cans; each day represented 1 of 4 replicates. Moribund and dead beetles were counted after 24 h and data analyzed once in 1977 and twice during 1978.

The family Phasmatidae Gray, 1835 is reviewed and the subfamily Phasmatinae shown to be polyphyletic. Based on features of the exosceleton of the insects, egg-morphology and copulation habits a new arrangement of Phasmatidae is proposed. The monophyly of Lanceocercata Bradler, 2001 is confirmed but this name shown to be a synonym of Phasmatidae, hence Lanceocercata is here referred to as Phasmatidae sensu stricto. Six subfamilies belong in Phasmatidae sensu stricto all of which share several common and supposedly apomorphic characters: Phasmatinae, Tropidoderinae, Extatosomatinae (stat. nov.), Xeroderinae, Pachymorphinae and “Platycraninae”. The other two subfamilies contained in Phasmatidae sensu Bradley & Galil, 1977 (Eurycanthinae and Cladomorphinae) are not cosely related and here regarded as subfamilies of Phasmatidae sensu lato. The subfamily Phasmatinae sensu Bradley & Galil, 1977 is shown to be polyphyletic. The two tribes Pharnaciini and Clitumnini (= Baculini Günther, 1953) are removed from Phasmatinae and shown to be closely related to each other. They are transferred to the here established subfamily Clitumninae, a subordinate clade of Phasmatidae sensu lato. The subfamily Lonchodinae is closely related to Clitumninae, hence removed from Diapheromeridae and transferred to Phasmatidae sensu lato. The tribes Achriopterini and Stephanacridini (formerly in Phasmatinae) are shown to be not closely related to either Phasmatinae sensu stricto, Clitumninae or Lonchodinae, and provisionally must be treated as tribes of Phasmatidae sensu lato (incerte sedis). A re-arrangement of Phasmatidae sensu stricto is proposed along with determinating keys to all subfamilies and their tribes. The subfamilies Phasmatinae, Tropidoderinae and Extatosomatinae stat. nov. are re-described and discussed in detail. Full lists of genera are provided for each tribe. Only three of seven tribes formerly in Phasmatinae remain in the subfamily, this is Phasmatini, Acanthomimini and Acanthoxylini. The subfamily Tropidoderinae contains three tribes: Tropidoderini, Monandropterini and Gigantophasmatini trib. nov. The tribe Extatosomatini Clark-Sellick, 1997 is removed from Tropidoderinae and raised to subfamily level (Extatosomatinae stat. nov.). Several genera are transferred to other tribes or subfamilies. Didymuria Kirby, 1904 is removed from Tropidoderini, since it differs by having a closed internal micropylar plate in the eggs (open in all Tropidoderini). It here remains as a genus incerte sedis of Tropidoderinae and its systematic position clearly deserves further clarification. Gigantophasma Sharp, 1898 from the Loyalty Islands is removed from Pharnaciini, and becomes the type genus of the tribe Gigantophasmatini trib. nov.. Anophelepis Westwood, 1859 is removed from “Platycraninae” and shown to belong in Phasmatinae: Acanthomimini. The two Australian genera Arphax Stål, 1875, and Vasilissa Kirby, 1896 are removed from Acanthoxylini and provisionally transferred to Acanthomimini, but their position remains as yet debatable. Echetlus Stål, 1875 is misplaced in “Platycraninae” and shown to be a likely member of Phasmatinae. The two Brazilian species Echetlus evoneobertii Zompro & Adis, 2001 and Echetlus fulgens Zompro, 2004b are obviously misplaced and belong in the New World Diapheromeridae: Diapheromerinae: Diapheromerini. The subfamily Pachymorphinae is briefly discussed and considered polyphyletic. Two genera of Pachymorphinae: Gratidiini Bragg, 1995 (Parapachymorpha Brunner v. Wattenwyl, 1893 and Cnipsomorpha Hennemann et al., 2008) are transferred to Clitumninae: Medaurini trib. nov. The genus Gongylopus Brunner v. Wattenwyl, 1907 is transferred from Pachymorphinae: Gratidiini to Clitumninae: Clitumnini. The subfamily Xeroderinae is briefly discussed and shown likely to be polyphyletic, due to it contains two fundamentally different types of genitalia in the males. Only the genera Xeroderus Gray, 1835 and perhaps Epicharmus Stål, 1875 clearly belong in Phasmatidae sensu stricto. Both, the Pachymorphinae and Xeroderinae certainly deserve more detailed investigation to clarify their systematic positions with confirmation. Two generic groups are recognized within Clitumnini (subfamily Clitumninae). Due to differing by genital features and egg-morphology Medaura Stål, 1875 and Medauroidea Zompro, 2000 are removed from Clitumnini and transferred to the newly described Medaurini trib. nov.. The new tribe furthermore contains two genera formerly included in Pachymorphinae: Gratidiini and transferred here, Cnipsomorpha Hennemann et al., 2008 and Parapachymorpha Brunner v. Wattenwyl, 1893. Phryganistria Stål, 1875 is removed from Clitumnini and transferred to Pharnaciini. Nesiophasma Günther, 1934 is shown to belong in the tribe Stephanacridini. The Australasian subfamily Lonchodinae Brunner v. Wattenwyl, 1893 has formerly been included in Diapheromeridae Zompro, 2001 (= Heteronemiidae by Bradley & Galil, 1977). However, numerous features of the genitalia and egg morphology show close relation to the Oriental subfamily Clitumninae instead. Thus, Lonchodinae is here transferred to the family Phasmatidae (sensu lato). Within Lonchodinae the new tribe Neohiraseini trib. nov. is recognized and contains the five genera formerly placed in the “Neohirasea-complex” of that subfamily, namely Andropromachus Carl, 1913, Neohirasea Rehn, 1904, Pseudocentema Chen, He & Li, 2002, Qiongphasma Chen, He & Li, 2002 and Spinohirasea Zompro, 2001. It differs from all other Lonchodinae (= tribe Lonchodini) by the well developed vomer of males and the lack of a capitulum in the eggs. The genus Cladomimus Carl, 1915 was previously misplaced in Clitumninae: Pharnaciini and is here transferred to Lonchodinae: Lonchodini. It appears to be close to the Australian Hyrtacus Stål, 1875. Leprocaulinus Uvarov, 1940 and Phenacocephalus Werner, 1930 are removed from the subfamily Necrosciinae and transferred to Lonchodinae: Lonchodini. Extensive research on the genera which belong to the tribe Pharnaciini Günther, 1953 and taking features of the genital exosceleton and egg-morphology into account, has shown this tribe to be polyphyletic. Based on such features two generic groups are easily recognized within Pharnaciini sensu Günther, 1953. Males of the first group have a longitudinally split anal segment, which consists of two separate, more or less elongate semi-tergites and forms a clasping apparatus, the vomer is strongly reduced or lacking, the profemora have a prominent, lamellate medioventral carina which is strongly displaced towards the anteroventral carina and the eggs have an open internal micropylar plate with a clear median line. Only the genera falling into this group remain in Pharnaciini. Males of the second group in contrast have an anal segment which is not split, but possess a clearly visible, well sclerotised, triangular or hook-like external vomer, an indistinct medioventral carina on the profemora and eggs with a closed internal micropylar plate. Most of the genera which fall into the second group are here transferred to the tribe Stephanacridini Günther, 1953, this is Diagoras Stål, 1877b, Eucarcharus Brunner v. Wattenwyl, 1907, Phasmotaenia Návas, 1907 and Sadyattes Stål, 1875. A detailed discussion of the differences between Pharnaciini and Stephanacridini is provided along with distinguishing keys, illustrations and maps showing the distinct geographic distributions. The five genera that belong in Pharnaciini are: Baculonistria gen. nov., Pharnacia Stål, 1877a, Phobaeticus Brunner v. Wattenwyl, 1907 (= Baculolonga Hennemann & Conle, 1997a, = Lobophasma Günther, 1934b syn. nov. , = Nearchus Redtenbacher, 1908 syn. nov. ), Tirachoidea Brunner v. Wattenwyl, 1893 stat. rev. and Phryganistria Stål, 1875. Pharnacia annulata Redtenbacher, 1908 and Pharnacia enganensis Redtenbacher, 1908 were misplaced in Pharnacia Stål, 1877 (tribe Pharnaciini) and are transferred to the genus Sadyattes Stål, 1875 (tribe Stephanacridini, comb. nov.). Phobaeticus kuehni Brunner v. Wattenwyl, 1907 is removed from Phobaeticus Brunner v. Wattenwyl, 1907 (Phasmatinae: Pharnaciini) and shown to belong in Nesiophasma Günther, 1934c (tribe Stephanacridini, comb. nov.). Phobaeticus incertus Brunner v. Wattenwyl, 1907 (= Nearchus grubaueri Redtenbacher, 1908 syn. nov.) is unlikely to belong in Pharnaciini and here only retained in the original genus Phobaeticus Brunner v. Wattenwyl, 1907 with doubt, it may belong in Nesiophasma Günther, 1934c (tribe Stephanacridini). Based on a total of almost 700 examined specimens, the Oriental tribe Pharnaciini Günther, 1953 is revised at the species level. The new genus Baculonistria gen. nov. (Type species Baculonistria alba (Chen & He, 1990) comb. nov.), is described to contain three species from Central and Eastern China. Tirachoidea Brunner v. Wattenwyl, 1893 was erroneously synonymised with Pharnacia Stål, 1877 and is here re-established as a valid genus (stat. rev.). All five genera are re-diagnosed and differentiated, their systematic position within Pharnaciini discussed, and complete synonymic and species-listings as well as distribution maps and determination keys to the insects and eggs are provided. Detailed descriptions, diagnoses, synonymic listings, illustrations, material listings, distribution maps and measurements are provided for all 42 valid species. The type material of a further two species appears to be lost. Seven new species are described: Pharnacia borneensis spec. nov. from Borneo; Pharnacia palawanica spec. nov. from Palawan, Phobaeticus mucrospinosus spec. nov. from Sumatra, Phobaeticus palawanensis spec. nov. from Palawan, Tirachoidea herberti spec. nov. from Borneo, Tirachoidea siamensis spec. nov. from Thailand and S-Vietnam and Phobaeticus chani Bragg spec. nov. from Borneo. Phobaeticus chani Bragg spec. nov. is the world’s longest known insect with a maximum body length of 357 mm and an overall length of 567 mm in the female. Twelve new synonymies were discovered: Bactridium grande Rehn, 1920 = Phobaeticus serratipes (Gray, 1835) syn. nov.; Pharnacia rigida Redtenbacher, 1908 = Phobaeticus sumatranus Brunner v. Wattenwyl, 1907, syn. nov.; Clitumnus irregularis Brunner v. Wattenwyl, 1907 = Phibalosoma tirachus Westwood, 1859, syn. nov.; Pharnacia magdiwang Lit & Eusebio, 2008 = Pharnacia ponderosa Stål, 1877 syn. nov.; Pharnacia spectabilis Redtenbacher, 1908 = Phibalosoma hypharpax Westwood, 1859, syn. nov.; Pharnacia semilunaris Redtenbacher, 1908 = Eucarcharus inversus Brunner v. Wattenwyl, 1907, syn. nov.; Pharnacia chiniensis Seow-Choen, 1998c = Pharnacia biceps Redtenbacher, 1908, syn. nov.; Nearchus grubaueri Redtenbacher, 1908 = Phobaeticus incertus Brunner v. Wattenwyl, 1907, syn. nov.; Phibalosoma maximum Bates, 1865 = Cladoxerus serratipes Gray, 1835, syn. nov.; Phobaeticus lambirica Seow-Choen, 1998a = Eucarcharus rex Günther, 1928, syn. nov.; Phobaeticus sichuanensis Cai & Liu, 1993 = Baculum album Chen & He, 1990, syn. nov. and Phobaeticus beccarianus Brunner v. Wattenwyl, 1907 is shown to represent the previously unknown female of Phobaeticus sobrinus Brunner v. Wattenwyl, 1907 (syn. nov.) Lectotypes are designated for: Nearchus redtenbacheri Dohrn, 1910, Pharnacia biceps Redtenbacher, 1908, Pharnacia ingens Redtenbacher, 1908, Pharnacia heros Redtenbacher, 1908, Phibalosoma westwoodi Wood-Mason, 1875, Phobaeticus sinetyi Brunner v. Wattenwyl, 1907, and Phobaeticus sumatranus Brunner v. Wattenwyl, 1907. A neotype is designated for Nearchus maximus Redtenbacher, 1908 and Phobaeticus magnus nom. nov. introduced as a replacement name for Nearchus maximus Redtenbacher, which is a junior homonym of Phibalosoma maximum Bates, 1865.The previously unknown males of Pharnacia heros Redtenbacher, 1908, Phobaeticus ingens (Redtenbacher, 1908), Tirachoidea jianfenglingensis (Bi, 1994), Pharnacia sumatrana (Brunner v. Wattenwyl, 1907), Phryganistria fruhstorferi (Brunner v. Wattenwyl, 1907) and Tirachoidea westwoodii (Wood-Mason, 1875) as well as the females of Pharnacia ponderosa Stål, 1877a and Pharnacia tirachus (Westwood, 1859) are described and illustrated for the first time. A brief description on the basis of colour photos of the so far unknown male of Pharnacia kalag Zompro, 2005 are presented. Detailed descriptions and illustrations are provided for the eggs of 24 species. The eggs of the following 18 species are described and illustrated for the first time: Phobaeticus magnus nom. nov., Pharnacia borneensis spec. nov., Pharnacia palawanica spec. nov., Pharnacia ponderosa Stål, 1877a, Pharnacia sumatrana (Brunner v. Wattenwyl, 1907), Pharnacia tirachus (Westwood, 1859), Phobaeticus hypharpax (Westwood, 1859), Phobaeticus chani Bragg spec. nov., Phobaeticus incertus Brunner v. Wattenwyl, 1907, Phobaeticus magnus nom. nov., Phobaeticus philippinicus (Hennemann & Conle, 1997a), Phobaeticus sinetyi Brunner v. Wattenwyl, 1907, Phryganistria grandis Rehn, 1906, Phryganistria virgea (Westwood, 1848), Tirachoidea biceps (Redtenbacher, 1908), Tirachoidea herberti spec. nov., Tirachoidea jianfenglingensis (Bi, 1994) and Tirachoidea siamensis spec. nov.. Several species were originally placed in or subsequently transferred into wrong genera by various authors. Consequently, numerous taxa are here transferred or re-transferred to other genera, which results in 22 new or revised combinations or status of genera and species (comb. nov. / stat. rev. / stat. nov.). A list of the taxonomic changes made in this revision is provided in the summary ( 9.2), which in all lists 70 nomenclatural changes.

This article aims to characterize empirically the constructive typologies of the Kasbah of Dellys, Algeria and the damage associated with them following the 2003 earthquake. Visual recognition is essential as a prerequisite for the definition of experimental programs and simulation tools based on the typological characteristics of these discrete structures. From the corollary of the data collected, there are categories of vulnerabilities involving building scales ranging from masonry apparatus to built aggregates and structural components. To this end, an adapted theoretical experimental protocol is outlined, combining several methods and levels of urbanfabric, structures and material investigations in accordance with the heritage character and the progress of research on weak masonry structures.

This paper presents the design and construction of a Guarded Hot Plate (GHP) apparatus for the accurate assessment of thermal conductivities of some Nigerian local building materials. The GHP apparatus is a steady-state measurement device. This apparatus is designed to measure the thermal conductivities of masonry building materials of different compositions. The design features included hot and cold plates fabricated with aluminum plates of 6 mm thickness and varying dimensions; the guard plates also made of aluminum, but of 6.35 mm thickness, forms a rigid enclosure for the specimen all encased in a mild steel housing. The operating measuring temperature range is from -20 for varying specimen thickness up to 60mm. Results are presented for concrete, laterite, and a mixture of cement with laterite, clay, and sand respectively, and it covers a range of thermal conductivities of 0.77W/mK to 1.80 W/mK. Moisture effect on concrete was recorded for the lightweight concrete as the thermal conductivity value reduced from 1.80W/m.K to 1.32W/m.K for the oven-dried concrete sample over a 1.5% (by weight) reduction in water content. The performance evaluation of the locally fabricated GHP apparatus showed a 3.03% percentage difference over ASHRAE’s published data on oven-baked concrete thermal conductivities

The demand on reducing energy consumption of buildings, recently became tighter and tighter, as well as the need of shortening the building materials’ supply chain. It is generating a growing attention to natural and local construction materials and opening new and interesting research scenarios. The use of novel materials makes necessary reaching a deeper and appropriate understanding of their thermal performances by means of an accurate thermal characterization. The present research has been addressed at testing and verifying the thermal performance of Sardinian local masonry materials (hollow clay blocks and adobe bricks) and three different natural insulations: cork, sheep-wool and reeds. By the use of a dedicated hot box apparatus, working on full-scale wall models, the thermal resistance of eight different samples has been measured and then compared with the theoretical values calculated according to current standards. The results show that the measured values are by far higher than the calculated ones and that the use of local natural materials, if not accompanied by a rigorous standardization of production and installation procedures, can lead to overestimate their thermal performances.

An article “Krekenava Case” (Sprawa krekenowska) originally published in the monthly magazine Przegląd powszechny (Zesz. 9. No. 51) in Lviv by Jan Michał Witort (b. in Pauslajys manor in 1853 – d. in Panevėžys in 1903) under the nickname of Jan Syracomla is translated from Polish into Lithuanian and published with explanations and commentaries. Witort’s article presents the story of getting a permission by the Russian imperial government to build a masonry Catholic church in Krekenava (Lithuania), which lasted for eight years. This publication by Witort is accompanied by an introductory article prepared by the translator. The introductory article presents the author of the publication, his “Krekenava Case”, the historical context of its emergence and its publicistic significance at the time it was published. The value of the article by Witort as a source of sacral architecture, political history as well as anthropological and cultural studies is presented. The introductory article and the original article by Witort together form a small study providing data about the development of Lithuanian sacral architecture in the second half of the 19th c., the hostile politics of the Tsarist Empire against the Catholic Church, operation of the bureaucratic apparatus of the Empire and the awakening of social activism in the Lithuanian countryside at the end of the 19th c.

Mid-20th century transitions from industrial product society to postindustrial information society have marked profound but now familiar conversions to service economy, knowledge workers, and cybernetic reasoning. Second order, but equally important consequences of this change involve the transformation from predominantly human-machine heroics to human-human collaboration. Collectively, these events have revolutionized the bases of production and value across the developed world. Less appreciated however, are the more subtle shifts of postindustrialism and their ultimate epochal transformations of contemporary life. The short list of these more elusive transitions includes local scale isolation to macro and global scale interaction, mechanistic routine to systemic reasoning, static to dynamic assumptions, short-termism to scenario planning, profit to value motives, hero to team attribution, intuitive to cybernetic decisions, and a move away from rote procedural expertise in favor of reasoned principle, wisdom, and theory. Our historical perspective thus argues for the relevance of postindustrial society in the emergence of a sustainable future, with particular reference to the built environment and to the complex, collaborative, evidence based and cybernetic processes it involves. The difficulty here is that without a vivid and operational understanding of the aesthetic connections and ethical mandates inherent in these more sublime postindustrial events; it is entirely possible that all the best scientific, technical, and political efforts toward sustainability are hampered by old habits of piecemeal procedures, mechanistic approaches, individual expertise, quick profit, and simplistic short-termism. Postindustrial ethics and aesthetics, on the other hand, offer a new and different apparatus by embracing complexity and dynamic interaction. Within that new aesthetic lies a set of principles and sensitivities towards postindustrial and sustainable era ethics. As such, this present argument attempts to form a cohesive framework contextualizing sustainability, societal trends and nascent evolutions within an aspirational agenda. The underlying theory of this framework describes, explains, and predicts the co-evolution of sustainability and postindustrial events. Finally, the aesthetic basis of the theory is functionally aligned with human cognition. Just as humankind did not quit building with masonry at the end of the Stone Age however, the argument presented here does not demonize the progress of the industrial era that has doubled life expectancy in the last hundred years; nor does it belittle the advent of antibiotics, space travel, telecommunications, rapid transit and the like. It is now necessary however to acknowledge that the pioneer era nature-as-antagonist and industrial era of nature-as-resource have given way to an era of nature-as-model-and-host relation.

Screens, as technological but also narrative and social devices, alter reading and writing practices. Users consume vids, read stories on the Web, and produce creative contents on blogs or Web archives, etc. Uses of seriality and transmediality are here discussed, that is watching, reading, and writing as interpreting, as well as respective and reciprocal uses of iteration and interaction (with technologies and with others). A specific figure of users or readers will be defined as a skilful and literate audience: fans on archives (FanFiction.net-FFNet, and Archive of Our Own-AO3). Fans produce serial and transmedia narratives based upon their favourite TV Shows, publish on-line, and often produce discourses or meta-discourse on this writing practice or on writing in general.The broader perspective of reception studies allows us to develop a three-step methodology that develops into a process. The first step is an ethnographic approach based on practices and competencies of users. The second step develops and clarifies the ethnographic dimension into an ethno-narrative approach, which aims at analysing mutual links between signs, texts, and uses of reading and writing. The main question is that of significance and meaning. The third step elaborates upon interactions in a technological and mediated environment. Social, participative, or collaborative and multimodal dimensions of interacting are yet regarded as key elements in reshaping a reading-writing cultural practice. The model proposed is a socio-narrative device, which hangs upon three dimensions: techno-narrative, narratological, and socio-narrative. These three dimensions of a shared narrative universe illustrate the three steps process. Each step also offers specific uses of interacting: an ethnographic approach of fictional expectation, a narrative ethnography of iteration and transformation, and a socio-narrative perspective on dialogism and recognition. A specific but significant example of fans' uses of reading and interacting will illustrate each step of the methodology. This qualitative approach of individual uses aims to be representative of fans' cultural practice (See Appendix 1). We will discuss cultural uses of appropriation. How do reading, interpreting, writing, and rewriting, that is to say interacting, produce meaning, create identities, and build up our relation to others and to the (story)world? Given our interest in embodied and appropriated meanings, appropriation will be revealed as an open cultural process, which can question the conflict and/or the convergence of the old and the new in cultural practices, and the way former and formal dichotomies have to be re-evaluated. We will take an interest in the composition of meaning that unfolds a cultural and critical process, from acknowledgement to recognition, a process where iteration and transformation are no longer opposites but part of a continuum.From Users' Competencies to the Composition of Narrative and Social Skills: A Fictional ExpectationThe pragmatic question of real uses steers our approach toward reading and writing in a mediated environment. Michel de Certeau's work first encourages us to apply his concepts of strategies and tactics to institutional strategies of engaging the audience and to real audience tactics of appropriation or diversion. Real uses are traceable on forums, discussions groups, weblogs, and archives. A model can be built upon digital tracks of use left on fan fiction archives: types of audience, interactions, and types of usage are here considered.Media Types Interaction Types Usage Types Media audienceConsumerSkilfulViewingReadingInformation searchContent production (informative, critical, and creative)Multimedia audienceConsumerSkilful+Online readingE-shoppingSharingRecommendationDiscussionInformative content productionCross-media audienceConsumerSkilful+SerendipityPutting objects in perspectiveNetworkingCritical content productionTransmedia audienceConsumerSkilfulInvolvedPrecursor+Understanding enhanced narrativesValue judgments, evaluationUnderstanding economic dimensions of the media systemCreative content productionTable 1 (Cailler and Masoni Lacroix)Users gear their reading and writing practices toward one medium, or toward multiple media in multi-, cross-, and trans- dimensions. These dimensions engage different and specific kinds of content production, and also the way users think about their relation to the media system. We focus on cumulative uses needed in an evolving media system. Depending on their desire for cultural products issued from creative and entertainment industries, audiences can be consumer-oriented or skilful, but also what we term "involved" or "precursor." Their interactive capacity within these industries allows audiences to produce informative, narrative, discursive, creative (or re-creative), and critical content. An ethnographic approach, based upon uses, understands that accumulating, crossing, and mastering different uses requires available and potential competencies and literacies, which may be immediately usable, or which have to be gained.Figure 1 (Masoni Lacroix and Cailler)The English language enables us to use different words to specify competencies, from ability to skill (when multiple abilities tend towards appropriation), to capability and competency (when multiple skills tend towards cultural practice). This introduces an enhancement process, which describes the way users accumulate and cross competencies to enhance their capability of understanding a multimedia or transmedia system, shaped by multiple semiotic systems and literacies.Abilities and skills represent different literacies that can be distributed in four groups-literacy, graphic literacy, digital literacy and interactive literacy, converging to a core of competencies including cognitive capability, communicative capability, cultural capability and critical capability. Note that critical skills appear below in bold italics. Digital LiteracyTechnical ability / Computational ability / Digital ability or skill Informational skill Visual LiteracyGraphic abilityVisual abilitySemiotic skillSymbolic skill Core of CompetenciesCognitive capabilityCommunicative capabilityCultural capabilityCritical capability Interactive LiteracyInteractional abilitySpectatorial abilityCollective abilityAffective skill LiteracyNarrative ability or skill / Linguistic ability / Reading and interpreting ability / Mimetic and fictional ability Discursive skillTable 2 (Masoni Lacroix and Cailler)Our first illustration exhibits the diversity, even the profuse and confused multiplicity, of cultural influences and preferences of a fan, which he or she comprehends as a whole.Gabihime, born on 6 October in Lafayette, Louisiana, in the United States, joined FFNet in 2001, and last updated her profile in September of 2010. She has written 44 stories for a variety of fandoms, and she belongs to two fandom communities. She has written one story about Twin Peaks (1990-) for an annual fandom gift exchange in 2008. Within Twin Peaks, her favourite and only romantic pair is Audrey Horne and Dale Cooper. Pairing represents a formal and cultural use of fan fiction writing, and also a favourite variation of the original text. Gabihime proposes notes to follow the story:I love Twin Peaks, and I love Audrey Horne particularly, and the rich stilted imagery of the show certainly […] I started watching my favourite season one episodes and reading the script notes for them. When I got to the 4-5 episode break (when Cooper comes back from visiting Jacques's cabin to the delightful sounds of the Icelandic junket roaring at their big shindig and finds Audrey in his bed) I discovered that this scene was originally intended to be left extremely ambiguous.Two main elements can be highlighted. Love founds fans' relation to the characters and the text. Interaction is based on this affect or emotion. Ambiguity, real or presumed, leads to what can be called a fictional expectation. This strong motive to interact within a text means that readers have to fill in the blanks of the text (Jenkins, "Transmedia"). They fill it with their desire for a character, a pairing, and a story. Another illustration of a fan's affective investment, Lynzee005 (see below) specifies that her fiction, "shows what I hope happened in between the scenes to which we were treated in the series."Gabihime does not write fan fiction stories anymore. She has a web site where she posts her stories and links to other fan art, vids, or fiction, as well as a blog where she writes her original fiction, and various meta-narrative and/or meta-discursive productions, including a wiki, Tumblr account, LiveJournal page, and Twitter account.A Narrative Ethnography of Fans' Production Content: Acculturation as Iteration and TransformationWe can briefly focus on another partial but significant example of narratives and discourses of a fan, in the perspective of a qualitative and iterative approach. We will then emphasise that narratives and discourses circulate, in other words that they are written and reformulated in and on different periods and platforms, but also that narratives use iteration and variation (Eco 1985).Lynzee005 was born in 1985 in Canada. She joined FFNet in 2008 and last updated her profile in September 2015. She has a beta profile, which means that she reads and reviews other fans' work-in-progress. We can also clarify that publishing chapter-by-chapter and being re-read on FFNet appears to be a principle of writing and of writing circulation. So, writing reveals an iterative and participative practice.Prior to this updating she wrote:When I read, I look for an emotional connection with the characters and I hope to be genuinely invested in where the story is going. […] I tackle everything in chunks, concentrating on the big issues (consistent characterization, believable plot lines, etc.) before moving down to the smaller ones (spelling, punctuation). Once I finish reading a "chunk," I put it together in the whole and see if it works against the other "chunks," and if not, then I go back and start over.She has written 17 stories for 7 different fandoms. She wrote five stories for Twin Peaks including a crossover with another fandom. She joined AO3 in December 2014 and completed her Twin Peaks trilogy. Her profile no longer underlines this serial process of chunking and dispersal, stressed by Jenkins ("Transmedia"), but only evokes how scenes can be stitched together. She now insists on the outcome of unity or continuity rather than on the process of serialization and fragmentation.Stories about fans, their affective and interpretive relations to a story universe and their uses of reading and writing in and out a fandom, can illustrate a diversity of attachments and interests. We can briefly describe a range of attachments. Attachment to the character, described above, can move towards self-narration, to the exhibit of self both as a person and a character, to a self-distancing, an identity affect. Attachment also has interpretative and critical dimensions. Attached to a narrative universe, attached to storytelling, fans promote a writing normalisation and a narrative format (genre, pairing, tagging, memes, etc.). Every fan seems to iterate and alter this conduct. This appropriation renews self-imposed narrative codes. The use of writing by fans, based on attachments, is both iterative and transformative. The Organization for Transformative Works (OTW), AO3's parent apparatus, asserts that derivative fans' work is transformative.According to Umberto Eco's vision of a postmodern aesthetics of seriality, "Something is offered as original and different […] this something is repeating something else that we already know; and […] just because of it we like it" (167). There is an "enjoyment of variations" (174). "Seriality and repetition are not opposed to innovation" (175). Eco claims a dialectic between repetition and innovation, that is to say a: "dialectic between order and novelty -in other words, between scheme and innovation," where "the variation is no longer more appreciable than the scheme" (173). We acknowledge the "inseparable knot of scheme-variation" he is stressing (Eco 180), and we intend to put narrative fragmentation and narration dispersal forward to their reconstruction in a narrative universe as a whole, within the socio-narrative device. The knot illustrates the dialogical principle of exceeding dichotomies that will be discussed hereunder.The plurality of uses and media calls for an accumulation of competencies, which engage users in the process of media acculturation. A "literate" or skilful user should be able to comprehend "the flow of content across multiple media platforms," the media industries' cooperation, "the migratory behavior of media audiences," and the "technological, industrial, cultural, and social changes" that the word convergence manages to describe (Jenkins, Convergence, 3).Acculturation conveys an appropriation process, borrowed from "French" sociology of uses. Audiences become gradually intimate with the context of the evolving media environment. Scholars progressively understand how audiences are familiarizing themselves with competencies until they master literacies, where competencies are gathered. Users become sensitive, as well as mindful of time and space in literacy (Literacy), and of how writing can be spatialised (Graphic Literacy), of how the media space is technologized (Digital Literacy), and of what kind of structural interactions are emerging (Interactive Literacy).Thus, the research question takes shape: "What kind of interactions can users establish with objects that are both technical and cultural?" Which also means: "In a study of effective uses, can the researcher find appropriation logics or tactics in the way users, specifically here readers and writers, improve their cultural practices?" As Davallon and Le Marec furthered it, uses have to be included in a process of cultural growth. Users can cross technical and cultural dimensions of an object in two main ways: They can compare the object with other cultural products they are used to, or they can grasp its novelty when engaging a cognitive and cultural capability of adaptation. Acknowledgment and adaption are part of the social process of cultural growth. In this sense, use can be an integrated activity or a novel one.The model of cultural growth means that different and dispersed uses are progressively entering a meaning-making process. The question of meaning holds together, even unifies, multiple uses of reading and writing in a cultural practice of reading-writing. With this in mind, the core of competencies described above accurately displays the importance of critical skills (semiotic, informational, affective, symbolic, narrative, and discursive) nourishing a critical capability. Critically literate, users are able to question the place to which they have been attributed and the place they can gain, in an evolving (and even uncertain) media system. They can elaborate a critical reflection on their own practices of reading and writing.Two Principles of a Socio-Narrative Device: Dialogism and RecognitionUses of reading and writing online invite us to visualize and think through the convergence of a narrative object (technical, visual, and cultural), its medium and format(s), and the audiences involved. Here, multimodality has to be (re)considered. This is not only a question of different modes but a question of multiplicity in reading and writing uses, that leads us to the way a fan attachment creates his or her participation in the meaning of the text, and more generally leads us to the polyphonic form of writing questions. Dispersed uses converging into a cultural and social practice bring to light dialogical dimensions of writing, in the sense pointed out by Bakhtin in the early 1930s. Dialogism expands the notion of intertextuality to a social practice; enunciation appears polyphonic, and speakers are interacting. Every discourse is oriented to other discourses, interacting and responding to pre-existing discourses addressing the same object. Discourse is always others' discourse and shows a multiple and inter-relational subject.A fan producing meta-narratives or meta-discourses on media and fan fiction is an inter-relational subject. By way of illustration, Slaymesoftly, displays her stories on AO3, on her own Web site, and on specialized archives. She does not justify fan fiction writing through warnings or disclaimers but defines broadly what fiction is and how she uses fiction in her stories. She analyses publishing, describes her universe and the alternative universes that she explores, and depicts how stories become a series. Slaymesoftly can be considered a literate fan, approaching writing with emotion or attachment and critical rationality, or more precisely, leading her attachment to writing with the distance that critical thought allows. She writes "Essays -about writing, vampires, and whatever else I decide to blather on about" on her Web site or on her LiveJournal, where she also joined a community. In the main, Slaymesoftly experiences multiple variations, in the sense of Eco, variations that oppose and tie a character to a canon, or a loving writing object to what could be newly told. Slaymesoftly also exposes the desire for recognition engaged by fans' uses of interaction. This process of mutual recognition, stated in Hegel's Phenomenology of Spirit highlights and questions fans' attachment, individual identity, and normative foundation. Mutual recognition could strengthen communitarianism or conformism in writing, but it can also offer a way for attachments to be shared, a way to initiate a narrative, and a social practice of dialog.Dialogical dimensions of cultural practices of reading-writing (both in production and reception) design a fragmented narrative universe, unfinished but one, that can be comprehend in a socio-narrative device.Figure 2 (Masoni Lacroix & Cailler)Texts, authors, writers, and readers are not opposed but are part of a socio-narrative continuity. This device crosses three complementary and evolving dimensions of the narrative universe: techno-narrative, socio-narrative (playful, creative, and critical, in their interactivity), and narratological. Uses of literacy generating multimedia, cross-media, and transmedia productions also question the multimodal form of writing and invite us to an iterative, open, dialogical, and interrogative practice of multimodality. A (post)narratological activity opens up to an interrogative practice. This practice dialogs with others' discourse and narrative. The questioning complexity remains open. In a proximate meaning, a transmedia narrative is fragmented, open to incompletion, but enrolled in a continuum (Jenkins, "Transmedia").Looking back, through the overtaken dichotomy between production and reception, a social and narrative process has been described that leads to the reshaping of multiple uses of literacies into cultural practices, and further on, to a cultural and social practice of reading-writing blended into interactivity. Competencies, dictated uses of reading and writing and alterna(rra)tive upsurges (as fans' production content) can be questioned. What can be questioned is either the fragmentation, the incompletion, and the continuity of narratives, that Jenkins no longer brings into conflict ("Transmedia"). This is also what the social and narrative form of dialogism teaches us: dichotomies, as a tool or a structure of thought, appear suspect or no longer significant. There is continuity in the acculturation process, from acknowledgement to recognition, continuity in the multiple uses of interacting, continuity from narrative to discourse, continuity from emotion to writing critically, a transformative continuity in iteration and variation, a polyphonic continuity.ReferencesBakhtin, Michaïl, and V.N. Volosinov. Marxism and the Philosophy of Language. Cambridge: Harvard UP, 1973.Cailler, Bruno, and Céline Masoni Lacroix. "El 'French Touch' Transmediatico: Un Inventario." Transmediación: Espacios, Reflexiones y Experiencias. Eds. Denis Porto Renó et al. Bogotá, Colombia: Editorial Universidad del Rosario, 2012. 181-98.Davallon, Jean, and Joëlle Le Marec. "L'Usage en son Contexte. Sur les Usages des Interactifs des Céderons des Musées." Réseaux 101 (2000): 173-95.De Certeau, Michel. L'Invention du Quotidien. Paris: Folio Essais, 1990.Eco, Umberto. "Innovation and Repetition: Between Modern and Postmodern Aesthetics." Daedalus 114 (1985): 161-84.Hegel, G.W.F. Phénoménologie de l'Esprit. Trans. Bernard Bourgeois. Paris: Vrin, 2006.Jenkins, Henry. Convergence Culture. Where Old and New Media Collide. New York UP, 2006.———. "Transmedia 202: Further Reflections." 2011. <http://henryjenkins.org/2011/08/defining_transmedia_further_re.html>.Masoni Lacroix, Céline. "Mise en Récit des Fictions de Fans de Séries Télévisées: Variations, Granularité et Réflexivité." Tension narrative et Storytelling. Eds. Nicolas Pélissier and Marc Marti. Paris: L'harmattan, 2014. 83-100.———. "Narrativités 2.0: Fragmentation-Organisation d'un Métadiscours." Cahiers de Narratologie 32 (2017). <http://journals.openedition.org/narratologie/7781>.———, and Bruno Cailler. "Fans versus Universitaires, l'Hypothèse Dialogique de la Transmédialité au sein d'un Dispositif Socio-narratif." Revue française des sciences de l'information et de la communication 7 (2015). <http://journals.openedition.org/rfsic/1662>.———, and Bruno Cailler. "Principes Co-extensifs de la Fiction Sérielle, de la Distribution Diffusée à une Pratique Interprétative Dialogique: une Nouvelle Donne Socio-narrative?" Cahiers de Narratologie 31 (2016). <http://narratologie.revues.org/7576>. TV Show Fandoms ExploredBuffy The Vampire Slayer (Joss Whedon).Sherlock (Mark Gatiss & Steven Moffat).Twin Peaks (Mark Frost & David Lynch).Wallander (from Henning Mankell to Philip Martin).

Introduction «I have never worked in the technocratic exaltation, solving a constructive problem and that’s it. I’ve always tried to interpret the space of human life» (Vittorio Garatti). Vittorio Garatti (Milan, April 6, 1927) is certainly one of the last witnesses of one “heroic” season of Italian architecture. In 1957 he graduated in architecture from the Polytechnic of Milan with a thesis proposing the redesign of a portion of the historic centre of Milan: the area between “piazza della Scala”, “via Broletto”, “via Filodrammatici” and the gardens of the former Olivetti building in via Clerici. These are the years in which Ernesto Nathan Rogers established himself as one of the main personalities of Milanese culture. Garatti endorses the criticism expressed by Rogers to the approval of the Rationalist “language” in favour of an architecture that recovers the implications of the place and of material culture. The social responsibility of architecture and connections between architecture and other forms of artistic expression are the invariants of all the activity of the architect, artist and graphic designer of Garatti. It will be Ernesto Nathan Rogers who will offer him the possibility of experiencing these “contaminations” early: in 1954, together with Giuliano Cesari, Raffaella Crespi, Giampiero Pallavicini and Ferruccio Rezzonico, he designs the preparation of the exhibition on musical instruments at the 10th Milan Triennale. The temporary installations will be a privileged area in which Garatti will continue to experiment and integrate the qualities of artist, graphic designer and architect with each other. Significant examples of this approach are the Art Schools in Cuba 1961-63, the residential complex of Cusano Milanino in 1973, the Attico Cosimo del Fante in 1980, the fittings for the Bubasty shops in 1984, the Camogli residence in 1986, his house atelier in Brera in 1988 and the interiors of the Hotel Gallia in 1989. True architecture generates itself1: an approach that was consolidated over the years of collaboration with Raúl Villanueva in Venezuela and is fulfilled in Cuba in the project of the Art Schools, where Garatti makes use of a plurality of tools that cannot be rigidly confined to the world of architecture. In 1957, in Caracas, he came into contact with Ricardo Porro and Roberto Gottardi. Ricardo Porro, who returned to Cuba in 1960, will be the one to involve Vittorio Garatti and Roberto Gottardi in the Escuelas Nacional de Arte project. The three young architects will be the protagonists of a happy season of the architecture of the Revolution, they will be crossed by that “revolutionary” energy that Ricardo Porro has defined as “magical realism”. As Garatti recalls: it was a special moment. We designed the Schools using a method developed in Venezuela. We started from an analysis of the context, understood not only as physical reality. We studied Cuban poets and painters. Wifredo Lam was a great reference. For example, Lezama Lima’s work is clearly recalled in the plan of the School of Ballet. We were pervaded by the spirit of the revolution. The contamination between knowledge and disciplines, the belief that architecture is a “parasitic” discipline are some of the themes at the centre of the conversation that follows, from which a working method that recognizes architecture as a “social transformation” task emerges, more precisely an art with a social purpose. Garatti often cites Porro’s definition of architecture: architecture is the poetic frame within which human life takes place. To Garatti architecture is a self-generating process, and as such it cannot find fulfilment within its disciplinary specificity: the disciplinary autonomy is a contradiction in terms. Architecture cannot be self-referencing, it generates itself precisely because it finds the sense of its social responsibility outside of itself. No concession to trends, to self-referencing, to the “objectification of architecture”, to its spectacularization. Garatti as Eupalino Valery shuns “mute architectures” and instead prefers singing architectures. A Dialogue of Luigi Alini with Vittorio Garatti Luigi Alini. Let’s start with some personal data. Vittorio Garatti. I was born in Milan on April 6, 1927. My friend Emilio Vedova told me that life could be considered as a sequence of encounters with people, places and facts. My sculptor grandfather played an important role in my life. I inherited the ability to perceive the dimensional quality of space, its plasticity, spatial vision from him. L.A. Your youth training took place in a dramatic phase of history of our country. Living in Milan during the war years must not have been easy. V.G. In October 1942 in Milan there was one of the most tragic bombings that the city has suffered. A bomb exploded in front of the Brera Academy, where the Dalmine offices were located. With a group of boys we went to the rooftops. We saw the city from above, with the roofs partially destroyed. I still carry this image inside me, it is part of that museum of memory that Luciano Semerani often talks about. This image probably resurfaced when I designed the ballet school. The idea of a promenade on the roofs to observe the landscape came from this. L.A. You joined the Faculty of Architecture at the Milan Polytechnic in May 1946-47. V.G. Milan and Italy were like in those years. The impact with the University was not positive, I was disappointed with the quality of the studies. L.A. You have had an intense relationship with the artists who gravitate around Brera, which you have always considered very important for your training. V.G. In 1948 I met Ilio Negri, a graphic designer. Also at Brera there was a group of artists (Morlotti, Chighine, Dova, Crippa) who frequented the Caffè Brera, known as “Bar della Titta”. Thanks to these visits I had the opportunity to broaden my knowledge. As you know, I maintain that there are life’s appointments and lightning strikes. The release of Dada magazine provided real enlightenment for me: I discovered the work of Kurt Schwitters, Theo Van Doesburg, the value of the image and three-dimensionality. L.A. You collaborated on several projects with Ilio Negri. V.G. In 1955 we created the graphics of the Lagostina brand, which was then also used for the preparation of the exhibition at the “Fiera Campionaria” in Milan. We also worked together for the Lerici steel industry. There was an extraordinary interaction with Ilio. L.A. The cultural influence of Ernesto Nathan Rogers was strong in the years you studied at the Milan Polytechnic. He influenced the cultural debate by establishing himself as one of the main personalities of the Milanese architectural scene through the activity of the BBPR studio but even more so through the direction of Domus (from ‘46 to ‘47) and Casabella Continuità (from ‘53 to ‘65). V.G. When I enrolled at the university he was not yet a full professor and he was very opposed. As you know, he coined the phrase: God created the architect, the devil created the colleague. In some ways it is a phrase that makes me rethink the words of Ernesto Che Guevara: beware of bureaucrats, because they can delay a revolution for 50 years. Rogers was the man of culture and the old “bureaucratic” apparatus feared that his entry into the University would sanction the end of their “domain”. L.A. In 1954, together with Giuliano Cesari, Raffella Crespi, Giampiero Pallavicini and Ferruccio Rezzonico, all graduating students of the Milan Polytechnic, you designed the staging of the exhibition on musical instruments at the 10th Milan Triennale. V.G. The project for the Exhibition of Musical Instruments at the Milan Triennale was commissioned by Rogers, with whom I subsequently collaborated for the preparation of the graphic part of the Castello Sforzesco Museum, together with Ilio Negri. We were given a very small budget for this project. We decided to prepare a sequence of horizontal planes hanging in a void. These tops also acted as spacers, preventing people from touching the tools. Among those exhibited there were some very valuable ones. We designed slender structures to be covered with rice paper. The solution pleased Rogers very much, who underlined the dialogue that was generated between the exhibited object and the display system. L.A. You graduated on March 14, 1957. V.G. The project theme that I developed for the thesis was the reconstruction of Piazza della Scala. While all the other classmates were doing “lecorbusierani” projects without paying much attention to the context, for my part I worked trying to have a vision of the city. I tried to bring out the specificities of that place with a vision that Ernesto Nathan Rogers had brought me to. I then found this vision of the city in the work of Giuseppe De Finetti. I tried to re-propose a vision of space and its “atmospheres”, a theme that Alberto Savinio also refers to in Listen to your heart city, from 1944. L.A. How was your work received by the thesis commission? V.G. It was judged too “formal” by Emiliano Gandolfi, but Piero Portaluppi did not express himself positively either. The project did not please. Also consider the cultural climate of the University of those years, everyone followed the international style of the CIAM. I was not very satisfied with the evaluation expressed by the commissioners, they said that the project was “Piranesian”, too baroque. The critique of culture rationalist was not appreciated. Only at IUAV was there any great cultural ferment thanks to Bruno Zevi. L.A. After graduation, you left for Venezuela. V.G. With my wife Wanda, in 1957 I joined my parents in Caracas. In Venezuela I got in touch with Paolo Gasparini, an extraordinary Italian photographer, Ricardo Porro and Roberto Gottardi, who came from Venice and had worked in Ernesto Nathan Rogers’ studio in Milan. Ricardo Porro worked in the office of Carlos Raúl Villanueva. The Cuban writer and literary critic Alejo Carpentier also lived in Caracas at that time. L.A. Carlos Raul Villanueva was one of the protagonists of Venezuelan architecture. His critical position in relation to the Modern Movement and the belief that it was necessary to find an “adaptation” to the specificities of local traditions, the characteristics of the places and the Venezuelan environment, I believe, marked your subsequent Cuban experience with the creative recovery of some elements of traditional architecture such as the portico, the patio, but also the use of traditional materials and technologies that you have masterfully reinterpreted. I think we can also add to these “themes” the connections between architecture and plastic arts. You also become a professor of Architectural Design at the Escuela de Arquitectura of the Central University of Caracas. V.G. On this academic experience I will tell you a statement by Porro that struck me very much: The important thing was not what I knew, I did not have sufficient knowledge and experience. What I could pass on to the students was above all a passion. In two years of teaching I was able to deepen, understand things better and understand how to pass them on to students. The Faculty of Architecture had recently been established and this I believe contributed to fuel the great enthusiasm that emerges from the words by Porro. Porro favoured mine and Gottardi’s entry as teachers. Keep in mind that in those years Villanueva was one of the most influential Venezuelan intellectuals and had played a leading role in the transformation of the University. Villanueva was very attentive to the involvement of art in architecture, just think of the magnificent project for the Universidad Central in Caracas, where he worked together with artists such as the sculptor Calder. I had recently graduated and found myself catapulted into academic activity. It was a strange feeling for a young architect who graduated with a minimum grade. At the University I was entrusted with the Architectural Design course. The relationships with the context, the recovery of some elements of tradition were at the centre of the interests developed with the students. Among these students I got to know the one who in the future became my chosen “brother”: Sergio Baroni. Together we designed all the services for the 23rd district that Carlos Raúl Villanueva had planned to solve the favelas problem. In these years of Venezuelan frequentation, Porro also opened the doors of Cuba to me. Through Porro I got to know the work of Josè Martì, who claimed: cult para eser libre. I also approached the work of Josè Lezama Lima, in my opinion one of the most interesting Cuban intellectuals, and the painting of Wilfredo Lam. L.A. In December 1959 the Revolution triumphed in Cuba. Ricardo Porro returned to Cuba in August 1960. You and Gottardi would join him in December and begin teaching at the Facultad de Arcuitectura. Your contribution to the training of young students took place in a moment of radical cultural change within which the task of designing the Schools was also inserted: the “new” architecture had to give concrete answers but also give “shape” to a new model of society. V.G. After the triumph of the Revolution, acts of terrorism began. At that time in the morning, I checked that they hadn’t placed a bomb under my car. Eisenhower was preparing the invasion. Life published an article on preparing for the invasion of the counterrevolutionary brigades. With Eisenhower dead, Kennedy activated the programme by imposing one condition: in conjunction with the invasion, the Cuban people would have to rise up. Shortly before the attempted invasion, the emigration, deemed temporary, of doctors, architects, university teachers etc. began. They were all convinced they would return to “liberated Cuba” a few weeks later. Their motto was: it is impossible for Americans to accept the triumph of the rebel army. As is well known, the Cuban people did not rise up. The revolutionary process continued and had no more obstacles. The fact that the bourgeois class and almost all the professionals had left Cuba put the country in a state of extreme weakness. The sensation was of great transformation taking place, it was evident. In that “revolutionary” push there was nothing celebratory. All available energies were invested in the culture. There were extraordinary initiatives, from the literacy campaign to the founding of international schools of medicine and of cinema. In Cuba it was decided to close schools for a year and to entrust elementary school children with the task of travelling around the country and teaching illiterate adults. In the morning they worked in the fields and in the evening they taught the peasants to read and write. In order to try to block this project, the counter-revolutionaries killed two children in an attempt to scare the population and the families of the literate children. There was a wave of popular indignation and the programme continued. L.A. Ricardo Porro was commissioned to design the Art Schools. Roberto Gottardi recalls that: «the wife of the Minister of Public Works, Selma Diaz, asked Porro to build the national art schools. The architecture had to be completely new and the schools, in Fidel’s words, the most beautiful in the world. All accomplished in six months. Take it or leave it! [...] it was days of rage and enthusiasm in which all areas of public life was run by an agile and imaginative spirit of warfare»2. You too remembered several times that: that architecture was born from a life experience, it incorporated enthusiasm for life and optimism for the future. V.G. The idea that generated them was to foster the cultural encounter between Africa, Asia and Latin America. A “place” for meeting and exchanging. A place where artists from all over the third world could interact freely. The realisation of the Schools was like receiving a “war assignment”. Fidel Castro and Ernesto Che Guevara selected the Country Club as the place to build a large training centre for all of Latin America. They understood that it was important to foster the Latin American union, a theme that Simón Bolivar had previously wanted to pursue. Il Ché and Fidel, returning from the Country Club, along the road leading to the centre of Havana, met Selma Diaz, architect and wife of Osmany Cienfuegos, the Cuban Construction Minister. Fidel Castro and Ernesto Che Guevara entrusted Selma Diaz with the task of designing this centre. She replied: I had just graduated, how could I deal with it? Then she adds: Riccardo Porro returned to Cuba with two Italian architects. Just think, three young architects without much experience catapulted into an assignment of this size. The choice of the place where to build the schools was a happy intuition of Fidel Castro and Ernesto Che Guevara. L.A. How did the confrontation develop? V.G. We had total freedom, but we had to respond to a functional programme defined with the heads of the schools. Five directors were appointed, one for each school. We initially thought of a citadel. A proposal that did not find acceptance among the Directors, who suggest thinking of five autonomous schools. We therefore decide to place the schools on the edge of the large park and to reuse all the pre-existing buildings. We imagined schools as “stations” to cross. The aim was to promote integration with the environment in which they were “immersed”. Schools are not closed spaces. We established, for example, that there would be no doors: when “everything was ours” there could not be a public and a private space, only the living space existed. L.A. Ricardo Porro recalled: I organised our study in the chapel of the former residence of the Serrà family in Vadado. It was a wonderful place [...]. A series of young people from the school of architecture came to help us […]. Working in that atmosphere, all night and all day was a poetic experience (Loomis , 1999). V.G. We felt like Renaissance architects. We walked around the park and discussed where to locate the schools. Imagine three young people discussing with total, unthinkable freedom. We decided that each of us would deal with one or more schools, within a global vision that was born from the comparison. I chose the Ballet School. Ivan Espin had to design the music school but in the end I did it because Ivan had health problems. Porro decided to take care of the School of Plastic Arts to support his nature as a sculptor. Gottardi had problems with the actors and directors, who could not produce a shared functional programme, which with the dancers was quite simple to produce. The reasons that led us to choose the different project themes were very simple and uncomplicated, as were those for identifying the areas. I liked hidden lands, I was interested in developing a building “embedded” in the ground. Ricardo, on the other hand, chose a hill on which arrange the school of Modern Art. Each of us chose the site almost instinctively. For the Classical Dance School, the functional programme that was provided to me was very meagre: a library, a deanery, an infirmary, three ballet classrooms, theoretical classrooms and one of choreography. We went to see the dancers while they were training and dancing with Porro. The perception was immediate that we had to think of concave and convex spaces that would welcome their movements in space. For a more organic integration with the landscape and to accommodate the orography of the area, we also decided to place the buildings in a “peripheral” position with respect to the park, a choice that allowed us not to alter the nature of the park too much but also to limit the distances to be covered from schools to homes. Selma Diaz added others to the first indications: remember that we have no iron, we have little of everything, but we have many bricks. These were the indications that came to us from the Ministry of Construction. We were also asked to design some large spaces, such as gyms. Consequently, we found ourselves faced with the need to cover large spans without being able to resort to an extensive use of reinforced concrete or wood. L.A. How was the comparison between you designers? V.G. The exchange of ideas was constant, the experiences flowed naturally from one work group to another, but each operated in total autonomy. Each design group had 5-6 students in it. In my case I was lucky enough to have Josè Mosquera among my collaborators, a brilliant modest student, a true revolutionary. The offices where we worked on the project were organised in the Club, which became our “headquarters”. We worked all night and in the morning we went to the construction site. For the solution of logistical problems and the management of the building site of the Ballet School, I was entrusted with an extraordinary bricklayer, a Maestro de Obra named Bacallao. During one of the meetings that took place daily at the construction site, Bacallao told me that in Batista’s time the architects arrived in the morning at the workplace all dressed in white and, keeping away from the construction site to avoid getting dusty, they transferred orders on what to do. In this description by we marvelled at the fact that we were in the construction site together with him to face and discuss how to solve the different problems. In this construction site the carpenters did an extraordinary job, they had considerable experience. Bacallao was fantastic, he could read the drawings and he managed the construction site in an impeccable way. We faced and solved problems and needs that the yard inevitably posed on a daily basis. One morning, for example, arriving at the construction site, I realised the impact that the building would have as a result of its total mono-materiality. I was “scared” by this effect. My eye fell on an old bathtub, inside which there were pieces of 10x10 tiles, then I said to Bacallao: we will cover the wedges between the ribs of the bovedas covering the Ballet and Choreography Theatre classrooms with the tiles. The yard also lived on decisions made directly on site. Also keep in mind that the mason teams assigned to each construction site were independent. However the experience between the groups of masons engaged in the different activities circulated, flowed. There was a constant confrontation. For the workers the involvement was total, they were building for their children. A worker who told me: I’m building the school where my son will come to study. Ricardo Porro was responsible for the whole project, he was a very cultured man. In the start-up phase of the project he took us to Trinidad, the old Spanish capital. He wanted to show us the roots of Cuban architectural culture. On this journey I was struck by the solution of fan windows, by the use of verandas, all passive devices which were entrusted with the control and optimisation of the comfort of the rooms. Porro accompanied us to those places precisely because he wanted to put the value of tradition at the centre of the discussion, he immersed us in colonial culture. L.A. It is to that “mechanism” of self-generation of the project that you have referred to on several occasions? V.G. Yes, just that. When I design, I certainly draw from that stratified “grammar of memory”, to quote Luciano Semerani, which lives within me. The project generates itself, is born and then begins to live a life of its own. A writer traces the profile and character of his characters, who gradually come to life with a life of their own. In the same way the creative process in architecture is self-generated. L.A. Some problems were solved directly on site, dialoguing with the workers. V.G. He went just like that. Many decisions were made on site as construction progressed. Design and construction proceeded contextually. The dialogue with the workers was fundamental. The creative act was self-generated and lived a life of its own, we did nothing but “accompany” a process. The construction site had a speed of execution that required the same planning speed. In the evening we worked to solve problems that the construction site posed. The drawings “aged” rapidly with respect to the speed of decisions and the progress of the work. The incredible thing about this experience is that three architects with different backgrounds come to a “unitary” project. All this was possible because we used the same materials, the same construction technique, but even more so because there was a similar interpretation of the place and its possibilities. L.A. The project of the Music School also included the construction of 96 cubicles, individual study rooms, a theatre for symphonic music and one for chamber music and Italian opera. You “articulated” the 96 cubicles along a 360-metre-long path that unfolds in the landscape providing a “dynamic” view to those who cross it. A choice consistent with the vision of the School as an open place integrated with the environment. V.G. The “Gusano” is a volume that follows the orography of the terrain. It was a common sense choice. By following the level lines I avoided digging and of course I quickly realized what was needed by distributing the volumes horizontally. Disarticulation allows the changing vision of the landscape, which changes continuously according to the movement of the user. The movements do not take place along an axis, they follow a sinuous route, a connecting path between trees and nature. The cubicles lined up along the Gusano are individual study rooms above which there are the collective test rooms. On the back of the Gusano, in the highest part of the land, I placed the theatre for symphonic music, the one for chamber music, the library, the conference rooms, the choir and administration. L.A. In 1962 the construction site stopped. V.G. In 1962 Cuba fell into a serious political and economic crisis, which is what caused the slowdown and then the abandonment of the school site. Cuba was at “war” and the country’s resources were directed towards other needs. In this affair, the architect Quintana, one of the most powerful officials in Cuba, who had always expressed his opposition to the project, contributed to the decision to suspend the construction of the schools. Here is an extract from a writing by Sergio Baroni, which I consider clarifying: «The denial of the Art Schools represented the consolidation of the new Cuban technocratic regime. The designers were accused of aristocracy and individualism and the rest of the technicians who collaborated on the project were transferred to other positions by the Ministry of Construction [...]. It was a serious mistake which one realises now, when it became evident that, with the Schools, a process of renewal of Cuban architecture was interrupted, which, with difficulty, had advanced from the years preceding the revolution and which they had extraordinarily accelerated and anchored to the new social project. On the other hand, and understandably, the adoption of easy pseudo-rationalist procedures prevailed to deal with the enormous demand for projects and constructions with the minimum of resources» (Baroni 1992). L.A. You also experienced dramatic moments in Cuba. I’m referring in particular to the insane accusation of being a CIA spy and your arrest. V.G. I wasn’t the only one arrested. The first was Jean Pierre Garnier, who remained in prison for seven days on charges of espionage. This was not a crazy accusation but one of the CIA’s plans to scare foreign technicians into leaving Cuba. Six months after Garnier, it was Heberto Padilla’s turn, an intellectual, who remained in prison for 15 days. After 6 months, it was my turn. I was arrested while leaving the Ministry of Construction, inside the bag I had the plans of the port. I told Corrieri, Baroni and Wanda not to notify the Italian Embassy, everything would be cleared up. L.A. Dear Vittorio, I thank you for the willingness and generosity with which you shared your human and professional experience. I am sure that many young students will find your “story” of great interest. V.G. At the end of our dialogue, I would like to remember my teacher: Ernesto Nathan Rogers. I’ll tell you an anecdote: in 1956 I was working on the graphics for the Castello Sforzesco Museum set up by the BBPR. Leaving the museum with Rogers, in the Rocchetta courtyard the master stopped and gives me a questioning look. Looking at the Filarete tower, he told me: we have the task of designing a skyscraper in the centre. Usually skyscrapers going up they shrink. Instead this tower has a protruding crown, maybe we too could finish our skyscraper so what do you think? I replied: beautiful! Later I thought that what Rogers evoked was a distinctive feature of our city. The characters of the cities and the masters who have consolidated them are to be respected. If there is no awareness of dialectical continuity, the city loses and gets lost. It is necessary to reconstruct the figure of the architect artist who has full awareness of his role in society. The work of architecture cannot be the result of a pure stylistic and functional choice, it must be the result of a method that takes various and multiple factors into analysis. In Cuba, for example, the musical tradition, the painting of Wilfredo Lam, whose pictorial lines are recognisable in the floor plan of the Ballet School, the literature of Lezama Lima and Alejo Carpentier and above all the Cuban Revolution were fundamental. We theorised this “total” method together with Ricardo Porro, remembering the lecture by Ernesto Nathan Rogers.