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THE PLACEMAKER'S GUIDE TO BUILDING COMMUNITY

TIME-BASED ARCHITECTURE

METHODOLOGIES IN HOUSING RESEARCH

AT WAR WITH THE CITY

DESIGNING SOCIAL INNOVATION-PLANNING-BUILDING-EVALUATING

The purpose of this paper is to construct a series of narratives by assessing a selection of the key literature generated by Open House International (OHI) over a period of 15 years. The paper also presents a brief review of the latest developments of the journal while introducing concise observations on the articles published in this edition – Volume 45, Issues 1 and 2.

Through a classification procedure of selected special issues published by OHI since 2006, 10 issues were identified based on the currency of the issues they generated. Following the review of the editorials, the key content of more than 100 articles within these special issues, the content of this edition and relevant seminal literature, the analysis engages, through critical reflection, with various themes that echo the polyphonic nature of built environment research.

The analysis conveys the plurality and diversity in built environment research where generic types of narratives are established to include three categories, namely, leitmotif, contextual/conceptual and open-ended narratives. Each of which includes sub-narrative classifications. The leitmotif narrative includes design studio pedagogy, sustainable environments for tourism, responsive learning environments, affordable housing environments, diversity in urban environments and urbanism in globalised environments. The contextual/conceptual narrative encompasses architecture and urbanism in the global south and the tripartite urban performance and transformation. The open-ended narrative embraces thematic reflections on the contributions of this edition of OHI.

Constructing polyphonic narratives in built environment research based on contemporary knowledge is original in the sense of capturing the crux of the themes within these narratives and articulating this in a pithy form. The elocution of the narratives stimulates a sustained quest for re-thinking concepts, notions and issues of concerns while invigorating research prospects and setting the future direction of OHI.

This is the last issue of Open House International, which was prepared by Nicholas Wilkinson, who was the chief editor of the journal for many years.

HOUSING AND ENVIRONMENTAL CONDITIONS IN POST-COMMUNIST COUNTRIES

The editor of Open House International, Nicholas Wilkinson died on Thursday the 28th of September, at 6.15 am in Famagusta, Cyprus. He was 75 years old and owned and edited Open House International for 42 years, since 1975.

There is an article in this issue about the contribution of balconies to thermal comfort in Indonesia. This article presents how the balconies have been used in very different ways in Indonesia. Finally, the authors suggest designing balconies for the sake of thermal comfort. This article was accepted by the founder and editor of Open House International-Nicholas Wilkinson-before he passed away, because he was very interested in the use of balconies in Cyprus. When I read this article about balconies in Indonesia, I remembered our conversations regarding balconies.

CLIMATE CHANGE ETHICS – Navigating the Perfect Moral Storm

This is not a theme issue of Open House International and it contains articles on various different subjects. One of these articles is based on a recent improvement in research approaches and methods: post-phenomenology. Because of this, I preferred to base this editorial on the general changes in research and architectural research methods.