Because architectural decision making is increasingly dependent on research, we introduce here two aggregators of scientific papers, Science Daily and Science Direct. Their formats are similar: each presents the abstract and a summary of a scientific paper, with brief profiles of the authors (most scientific papers have multiple authors). Science Daily gives the story source (often the university of the principal author) at the bottom of the page, along with the journal reference, if the paper has been published. The reference link is an inscrutable series of numbers preceded by “DOI,” the Digital Object Identifier. Science Direct puts the journal citation at the top of the page, above the article title, and in some cases offers a direct download of a PDF of the paper. When that is not offered, look for the DOI. Many papers are available free of charge; some are behind pay walls.
A couple of examples from Science Daily:
“Buildings can become a global CO2 sink if made out of wood instead of cement and steel,” from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK), January 2020. The image above, of which the cover image is a detail, shows the institute’s home, the Astrophysical Observatory in Potsdam, Germany, designed by architect Paul Spieker, which began operation in 1878. The image is by H. Raab, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
“Building materials come alive with help from bacteria,” from the University of Colorado at Boulder, 15 January 2020.
. . . and from Science Direct:
“Evaluation of ferrock: A greener substitute to cement,” from Frontiers of Architectural Research, September 2017.
“Using nature in architecture: Building a living house with mycelium and trees,” from Materials Today: Proceedings, 2020.
Search tip: “buildings” may be a better term than “architecture,” which often yields such things as “Blockchain architecture: A design that helps CPA firms leverage the technology,” although a recent search for “architecture” at Science Direct elicited, as the first item, “Complexities of practicing architecture in India: an interview study.”
From arcCA DIGEST Season 06, “Materials.”
