Search Results (3)

Shopping malls have become vibrant public spaces, serving as commercial centers and sociocultural hubs. However, the arrangement of stationary elements such as elevators and escalators significantly impacts the visual quality of the atrium and the overall navigation experience within the complex. This research focuses on analyzing the configuration of elevators and escalators in shopping mall atriums and their influence on visual richness and accessibility. Descriptive-analytical and survey methods are employed, utilizing data from 10 successful malls worldwide. The UCL-Depth map software and space syntax variables are used for analysis. Connectivity, clustering-coefficient, and controllability analyses assess visual richness, while integration, mean-depth, entropy, depth, step-depth, and gate-count analyses evaluate accessibility. The research includes a questionnaire to obtain optimal indices for each space syntax variable, enhancing the accuracy of the findings. The results highlight the significant impact of the positioning of vertical access elements within the atrium on its visual richness and the accessibility of shops. The research identifies an optimal configuration: placing the escalator in the middle of the atrium, deviating 30° from the entrance axis, and separately locating the elevators. This configuration provides the highest level of access to shops and the central atrium from any point, minimizing the number of turns required to reach different locations within the mall. Furthermore, the separate placement of elevators improves the flow of individuals between shops and the atrium, resulting in increased integration. In conclusion, selecting an appropriate configuration of elevators and escalators in shopping mall atriums can greatly enhance wayfinding and improve the visual richness and accessibility of the complex. Architects and designers can utilize these findings to optimize the design of public spaces within shopping centers, promoting social interactions and enhancing the overall visitor experience. Full article

Carbon-neutral architectural design focuses on rationally utilizing the building’s surroundings to reduce its environmental impact. Resilient ventilation systems, developed according to the thermal comfort requirements of building energy-saving research, have few applications. We studied the Jin-an Shopping Mall in Harbin and established the middle point height (h), middle point horizontal location (d), roof angle (α), and exposure to floor ratio (k) as the morphological parameters of the atrium. Using computational fluid dynamics (CFD), the mean radiant temperature (MRT), and the universal thermal climate index calculations (UTCI), this program was set to switch off air conditioning when the resilient ventilation met the thermal comfort requirement to achieve energy savings. The energy-saving efficiency (U) was calculated based on the energy consumption of the original model, and U could reach 7.34–9.64% according to the simulation and prediction. This study provides methods and a theoretical basis for renovating other commercial complexes to improve comfort and control energy consumption. Full article

The swimming larva represents the dispersal phase of ascidians, marine invertebrates belonging to tunicates. Due to its adhesive papillae, the larva searches the substrate, adheres to it, and undergoes metamorphosis, thereby becoming a sessile filter feeding animal. The larva anatomy has been described in detail in a few species, revealing a different degree of adult structure differentiation, called adultation. In the solitary ascidian Halocynthia roretzi, a species reared for commercial purposes, embryogenesis has been described in detail, but information on the larval anatomy is still lacking. Here, we describe it using a comparative approach, utilizing 3D reconstruction, as well as histological/TEM observations, with attention to its papillae. The larva is comparable to those of other solitary ascidians, such as Ciona intestinalis. However, it displays a higher level of adultation for the presence of the atrium, opened outside by means of the atrial siphon, and the peribranchial chambers. It does not reach the level of complexity of the larva of Botryllus schlosseri, a phylogenetically close colonial ascidian. Our study reveals that the papillae of H. roretzi, previously described as simple and conform, exhibit dynamic changes during settlement. This opens up new considerations on papillae morphology and evolution and deserves to be further investigated. Full article