A dynamic economy contributes to the increase in the number of workers exposed to mechanical vibration caused by machines and transport equipment. As the means of transport are insufficiently recognised sources of mechanical vibrations, this article presents the results of whole-body and hand-arm vibration tests of 30 most common means of in-house transport. An analysis of vibration signals recorded at each workstation according to PN-EN 14253 and PN-EN ISO 5349 made it possible to determine the weighted values of components of directional vibration acceleration and the values of daily vibration exposure A(8).

In order to assess exposure to whole-body and hand-arm vibration at the tested workstations of in-house transport, indices of vibration hazard related to admissible values, the total evaluation index (developed in a previous study at CIOP-PIB) and a three-degrees scale for assessing exposure to vibrations were used. The assessment showed that the workstations were a major hazard. Vibration hazards at all those workstations were classified as either medium or high.

The text comprises the evaluation of relationship between the qualitative planning tools and the Irish housing policy in the pre-crisis period, during the crisis (2009-2013) and the recovery. The tools that affect housing are understood as spatial planning, including governmental regulations on densification of the development and the housing quality as well as the special tools such as the urban design. Those regulatory tools were deployed with aims to safeguard the sustainable and socially viable housing structures. The Irish case illustrates the considerable innovation in introducing new housing standards and challenges with their efficiency. This can be attributed to the lack of integration with other elements that shaped the market – financing and actions of the private market, low efficiency of planning or the lack of the scale effect for the model developments. Despite their drawbacks these tools are continuously being used, as their foundational principles are still valid.

In the article the question about the issue of beauty and energy in Polish architecture is considered in the context of experience in the design of buildings and housing estates collected in the last twenty years by the Warsaw studio Grupa 5 Architekci. The conceptual, urban and architectural assumptions are illustrated by three examples representative of different, key problem issues.

This article examines the impact of economic factors, such as changes in interest rates and inflation, on the primary housing market in Poland from January 2019 to September 2022, with particular focus on the Covid-19 pandemic. The research problem is to understand howthese economic factors have affected the housing market, and the research objective is to analyze the activity of developers, building permits issued, investments started, and housing loans granted. The research methodology involves the analysis of data from various sources, including official statistics and reports from developers and investment funds. The research findings suggest that the decreased demand for housing loans has led to a significant decline in the allocation of new housing. However, the emergence of new major players, such as leading European and global investment funds, could provide opportunities for developers. The study concludes that caution is warranted in starting new construction activity and that the best performance in housing production in the transition period to 2021 is unlikely to be exceeded in the current or subsequent years. The implications of this study are that developers need to consider economic factors and market trends when making decisions about new construction and that investment funds may play an increasingly important role in the housing market.

The paper deals with the problem of acoustic correction in historic opera theatres with the auditorium layout in the form of a horseshoe with deep underbalcony cavities limited with a semicircular wall surface. Both geometry of the cavities and excessive sound absorption determine acoustic phenomena registered in this area of the hall. The problem has been observed in the Theatre of Opera and Ballet in Lviv, Ukraine, where acoustic tests were carried out, simulation calculations performed, and finally a diffusion panel worked out designed for the rear wall of the underbalcony space. Acoustic measurements carried out after installation of the diffusers revealed favourable changes in the sound strength factor G within the range of medium and high frequencies in the underbalcony and auditorium centre area. By replacing textile tapestry with diffusion panels, a significant reduction of sound absorption was achieved for the frequency range above 1 kHz and an increase of uniformity of acoustic parameters registered in the hall. The method presented in the paper can be applied in historic halls of the similar type as well as contemporary rooms where there is a need for correction of acoustic flaws related to sound focusing or the echo effect.

As a result of introduction of the Directive 2010/31/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 19 May 2010 on the energy performance of buildings, all of the EU member states are obliged to introduce legal regulations for energy performance of all newly constructed buildings. The key aim is to achieve close to zero energy use starting from the year 2021. Estimating effectiveness of the actions and the new possibilities requires an analysis of the multiple criteria. They comprise both the current conditions as well as the changes that have occurred in the recent years due to new legislation, the eff ects of the subsidies and the development of the housing stock. This paper presents a broad overview and diagnosis of current situation. The development of the energy-efficient and passive housing in Poland is considered in the context of financial incentives, availability of design knowledge and building technology as well as the role of the green building certification.

Housing resources as an element of material infrastructure determine socio-economic development on a local, regional and national scale. Their economic and physical accessibility affects the development of human, social and relational capital, determines the competitiveness of the territory and can be seen as a generator of income both in the individual sense and in relation to the whole society. The article has a theoretical character and its aim is to identify the relationship between satisfying the housing needs of local communities and the development of territorial capital. The article also analyzes factors that allow the qualification of housing resources as a strategic resource for the development of a territory.

W sytuacji niestabilności i zmian, które charakteryzowały Związek Radziecki w latach dwudziestych ubiegłego wieku, grupa architektów-konstruktywistów pod przewodnictwem Moisieja Ginzburga zajmowała się problemem braku mieszkań dla pracowników w dużych sowieckich miastach. Rozwiązania wypracowane przez zespół Ginzburga zostały opracowane pod patronatem Sowieckich platform OSA i Strojkom. Zostały przeprowadzone w trzech kolejnych etapach zwieńczonych budową Domu Narkomfinu. Niemniej, architektoniczna nowoczesność osiągnięta w Narkomfinie była związana z postępami w sektorze budownictwa mieszkaniowego poczynionymi przez ich kolegów z Europy. Niniejszy artykuł podejmuje analizę faktycznych powiązań pomiędzy owym moskiewskim prototypem a zachodnimi modelami, które zaczynały być opracowywane w Europie, a zwłaszcza w Niemczech. Przedmiotowa koncepcja umieszcza badania prowadzone przez zespół Ginzburga w procesie skomplikowanej i niezwykle ważnej asymilacji, która integrowała nowe modernistyczne techniki Zachodu.

Like other harbour cities in Europe, Lisbon has an axial development anchored in pre-existing confi gurations which dot from east, more industrial areas, to the west, a more monumental and urban type. The diversity of fabrics and the overlapping of various time layers become decoded through a functional specialization infrastructural line, which, from rural, becomes increasingly infrastructured as part of the on-going reinvention of the city of Lisbon.

The article presents a comprehensive analysis of technology, time and costs of three methods of building a single-family house; traditional brick, reinforced concrete prefabrication and timber frame. The goal of this study was to determine if prefabricated and timber frame building methods and materials have the potential to replace traditional method of construction in the context of cost and time. For this purpose, a qualitative analysis was performed, including a list of benefits of each of the analysed construction technologies and a quantitative analysis in which the cost of finished houses per 1 m2 of usable area was compared. The analyses were conducted for two single-family houses with similar characteristics using scheduling and cost estimation software. The conducted analyses have shown that the shortest time to build a house is in the prefabricated reinforced concrete technology. The used construction technology from ready-made prefabricated elements affects the time of building house and thus, the costs of its construction. The construction time for the house in case of a timber frame structure and made of ready-made reinforced concrete prefabricated elements is similar but the cost of a timber frame structure is much higher. It takes longest time to build a house in traditional brick technology and requires the involvement of the largest financial resources from all three analysed construction technologies. Despite this, traditional brick technology is the most used in construction in Poland and other Central and Easter Europe countries. This is due to the widespread belief of investors about the durability of a building made in this technology and the habits of investors resulting from a long-standing tradition of construction. However, the study’s results in the world showed that a change in build technology is a step in addressing the concerns of poor quality and reduce construction costs and time, increasing the construction sector’s productivity and sustainability.

House prices are of special importance for monetary policy since their sudden falls are usually associated with credit crunch followed by long-lasting and painful recessions. Despite several spectacular episodes of such events, each time house prices exhibit long-lasting growth trend with little volatility around it, it is argued that this pattern is a “new normal”. This paper shows that a central bank following this view would increase the volatility of inflation and output as compared to a policy that assumes high volatility of house prices. In the former case the monetary authority would conduct too accommodative monetary policy during abrupt house price expansions significantly increasing output and inflation fluctuations. In the latter situation, in turn, the policy would work well irrespective of the realized house price volatility.

Contemporary challenges related to rapid urbanization, migration, deepening inequalities and climate change inspire to contemplate the future of dwelling. The article aims to present particular solutions in housing that use advantages created by the relation to the water. The aquatic neighbourhoods become a field of experience for residential architecture, where traditional systems are enriched with new elements and solutions. Some of these solutions can be brought back to the sys-tem and improve the overall catalogue of answers for the development of traditional dwelling.

The analysis discusses contemporary housing projects 1998–2005 and includes: the program overview, basic numerical parameters, accessibility details and relation to the context. Current water-related examples are accompanied by a reference to standard solutions developed in the modern era. All presented designs use traditional components of dwelling program, grouping day zone elements and separate them from private spaces. In basic parameters development is visible in bigger areas of living space. In terms of accessibility housing on or close to water gives new opportunities, as well as in relation to the context.

The paper presents research on different types of dwelling located by the water, with particular emphasis on functional and architectural advantages, which may be used to improve contemporary housing models. The proposed guidelines can be used in further studies on housing typologies in aim to develop more open and flexible spatial layouts.

Persistent air pollution (SMOG) in large cities in countries based on energy and coal heating is a serious and growing problem. Improving air quality is currently the main challenge for the metropolises of Central and Eastern Europe. Despite intensive efforts, the average annual concentration of PM2.5 in this area exceeds the standard recommended by the World Health Organization (recommended standard – 25 μg). Data from environmental institutions show that, for example, in Kraków (Poland), the number of days with PM 2.5 concentrations drastically exceeding the permissible standards in the last year was 96. The article describes the method of controlling air purification in the apartment using automation devices, control software and applications available for smartphones, tablets and personal computers. The presented solution uses technologies that can use free (alternative) software, extending the functionality of devices and increasing the flexibility of the control system. The main goal is to maximize the comfort of home users and to minimize the cost of electricity consumption. Additionally, the existing air cleaning devices are adapted to the needs of the air cleaning control system.

The paper is devoted to the description of the methodology and research by design carried out to identify solutions enhancing the functional flexibility of a high-rise building located in Warsaw at. Grzybowska Street. The work presents the theoretical background as well as the conducted research and methodology. The scope of solutions related to functional flexibility concerned the interchangeability of service functions in the podium part of the building, changes in the use of the parking lot, and the provision of the means of changes in the arrangement of types and variants of types of apartments on the apartments levels. The investigation was carried out in the pre-design and design phases. Objectives and criteria of solutions were defined, and research works were carried out through iterations and checking in terms of the cost-effectiveness . The adopted solutions consist in designing the optimal hard portion of the building – the core, the structural system, the arrangement of zones and installation rooms, and the use of structural and spatial over-designed systems. An optimal facade module has been developed. The research aims to introduce the design practice to the issue of flexibility, which is nowadays important for economic and environmental reasons.

The research problem of the article refers to the question of the sense of using concrete prefabrication to create a new quality of architecture for single-family houses. Known and referenced projects from the past — from the period of early architectural Rationalism (Modernism and Functionalism) — seem appropriate to show, recall and update the idea of concrete prefabrication of single-family houses in the present day. This point of reference, having its source in the vision of the housing revolution from the beginning of the 20th century, can today be the subject of direct references and the search for further variants of rational patterns of modern prefabrication of single-family houses. The article is based on the most important items from the beginnings of concrete prefabrication technology, including Vers une architecture (1923) by Le Corbusier and articles and manuscripts by Walter Gropius following new concepts in German construction. Newer items include the Gilbert Herbert’s text that summarizes the heritage of Gropius’ prefabrication entitled The Dream of the Factory Made House by Walter Gropius and Konrad Wachsmann (1984).
The research method was the analysis of selected historical and contemporary houses built either in whole or in part in the precast concrete technology (a multiple-case study). The presentation of new examples shows the possibility of adapting the rational ideas and aesthetics of architecture from the early 20th century with the use of the latest concrete technologies. According to the author, the sense of concrete prefabrication in the construction of single-family houses is to return to the idea of ‘developed’ technology rationalization and Modernist architectural aesthetics. Although prefabrication is associated with the domain of economization, modularity, standardization and typification, thanks to advanced technologies, a prefabricated house in the 21st century can be a proof of the multitude of possible configurations.

Villa architecture after 1914 comprises a diverse and extensive group of buildings. The lack of a system of valuating them leads to their analyses being a time-consuming and complex process. Their justification can refer primarily to architectural and urban planning tendencies, including: the impact on the space of previously built estates, the assessment of the quality of their architecture in the landscape context and the continuity of design traditions, contemporary interventions associated with renovation work. The protection of villas from the interwar period, appears to be particularly important. Their cultural value and the quality of the landscape, that they co-create with their accompanying gardens is highly significant to the identity of the city.

The article discusses examples of concrete houses made in Poland after 2000. The aim of the article is to present the thesis on the increasing importance of concrete for the creation of architecture of single-family houses. After decades of rejecting concrete as a material to live and live in, concrete has once again become an intermediary material in the search for new elementary residential structures in the Polish landscape. An important element in this mental transformation is the belief in the essence of the importance of forms and technologies of concrete architectural details. A detail is a tool that shows the originality of the idea and the meaning of concrete formations.

The article describes the design principles, the course of work on the project and the implementation of the Nowe Żerniki district, in the context of the theory of sustainable housing complexes. By comparing the settlement to the Aspern Seestadt, which is considered to be the leading European example of new district development, the author tries to find out, if Nowe Żerniki meets the latest European urban standards and can be called innovative on a European scale. Not only the final shape of the settlement was assessed, but also the design process and functional assumptions of the estate.

The article presents probable consequences for the protection of deposits and other mining needs, related to the entry into force of the Act of July 5, 2018 on the Facilitation of the Preparation and Implementation of Housing Investments and Accompanying Investments. This act introduces facilities for the preparation and implementation of housing as well as related projects, including the possibility of introducing investments incompatible with the existing local plans. In addition, it does so in a situation where land reserves for housing development, both in local plans and in studies of conditions and directions of spatial development, many times exceed the future needs of our country.

The article presents the fundamental changes introduced by the Act to the existing planning and spatial planning system, as well as the risks associated with the mining industry. Among the latter, the following can be mentioned: lower stability of local law regulations, the possibility of resolving changes in spatial development at a very fast pace, without providing an effective way to inform subjects that may be threatened by these changes and increase the probability of the appearance of investments in the area of mining, the neighborhood of which may lead to limit or even liquidate these installations, due to even their disadvantages to housing. Some remedies have been proposed to mitigate some of the threats in the article.

The Act in question was prepared and passed at an express pace, with a large opposition from many environments. At the same time, a number of legal solutions were applied in it, which were not applied in the Polish law. As a result, there are many doubts about the effects of its introduction.

We consider a monetary DSGE model featuring a borrowing constraint such that the amount of debt cannot be larger than a fraction - the debt-to-income (DTI) limit - of borrowers' labor income and the DTI limit is endogenous. The coexistence of financial amplification mechanisms warranted by this model provides a role for a specific macroprudential tool: a countercyclical DTI limit. Conditional on the pre-crisis sample and in a more recent out-of-sample period, our ex-post normative analysis shows that when this policy is implemented the cooperation between central bank and macroprudential authority in pursuing the “two instruments for two goals” strategy delivers an efficient performance in terms of macroeconomic stabilization, significantly outperforming the central bank's policy of “leaning against the wind”. This implies that a central bank should only be focused on its standard objectives (inflation and output stabilization) while financial stability be monitored by a macroprudential authority.

Waterfront regeneration of port districts emerge as a tool for prestigious development of cities in urban re-imaging and growth. Creation of prestigious housing in these areas are part of a broader strategy of mixed-use and property-led development, but in absence of a holistic approach in planning and design, the urban landscapes may be developed merely on basis of the real estate frameworks. This article looks at how development trends of port cities can take an unintended stance in property-led regeneration of port districts, creating gated communities and failing to succeed in achieving the pre-determined objectives in urban planning. The discussion, which will address to issues of place-making, commodification of public space and planning policies, will take the port city of Izmir as the case. It is suggested that the adoption of a holistic approach to urban planning should guide the regeneration processes and design should take place-making into consideration.

The article concerns problems with shaping contemporary housing estates. By analyzing housing structures designed in recent years, the aim was to demonstrate the importance of creating the continuity of public spaces in order to achieve places seen as attractive and presenting features of high quality urban space. Essential for the research is the question about the conditions which should be fulfi lled when creating the ideal residential place which then leads to a series of answers. These included indicating a good location with functional and aesthetic urban/architectural solutions. Environmental issues are important as well. Regardless of whether it is a multi-family dwelling or a single family house, a good neighborhood and its location in a well-connected place with necessary basic services within walking range are important. It is also signifi cant how the public space was shaped and whether a natural network was created. Due to factors such as the specifi city of the structure’s location in the city and diff erent surfaces of designed estates, as well as the variety of residential buildings being constructed, it is often diffi cult to assess them unambiguously. Importantly, this assessment also includes social and economic aspects as well as technical issues. However, by using multi-directional research it can be noted that the forms of public spaces within housing complexes play an important role in the creation of high-quality structures, perceived as attractive not only by the residents.

The state of development, the existing and emerging forms of development, the intensity and legibility of settlement systems, all this is essential for the living conditions of urban residents, their surroundings and peripheral systems. The purpose of the article is to assess the accessibility to market and public services by estimating the distance to these services from housing facilities in Poland. The use of the residential dispersion ratio (RDR) and an analysis of the spatial distribution of municipalities with the highest values of the coefficient allows to identify areas where accessibility to public and market services is weak.

The paper discusses the methods for calculating the power parameters of a line start permanent magnet synchronous motor (LSPMSM). The calculations have been performed using the author’s specialized FEM software and professional FEM packages, ANSYS Maxwell and COMSOL Multiphysics. The author’s algorithm for solving equations of the electromagnetic field based on the FEM has been presented. The in-house software developed on this algorithm and professional software have been used to analyse the power parameters of the LSPMS motor. In addition, both calculation time and accuracy were analysed. The calculation results were compared to the measurement results.