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Introduction.

This book is about the Architecture Studio held in 2004-2005 at Alicante University by Javier Sanchez Merina

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The objectives.

At the beginning of the course there where set the objectives to achieve

The course were going to be held in English. And were to work on the adaptation of a house to a hypothetic patient of a neuro degenerative disease.

We had to choose threes house among the ones showed in the blog “Re-visiting histories of houses” at blogspot. And explain why those were se-lected

Then one out of these three had to be selected to work in.

And working in groups up to three people. trying to integrate spañissh and foreigner students from the Erasmus program.

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Reading of the “Stories of Houses”

FunctionalityAesthetics

Integration to natureMetaphor

On the basis of these principles 3 dwellings came over the rest

The chosen projects are:

The Bordeaux house.REM KOLHAASBordeaux France

Aktion PoliphileMARGRET HARDARDOTTIR & STEVE CHRISTER

Wiesbaden, Germany,

Stretto houseSTEVEN HOLLDallas, Texas

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The Bordeaux house.REM KOLHAASBordeaux France

The building is located on a hill looking over the city of Bordeaux and the Garonne River, This Project varied due to a father’s disability. So the architect creates a private world in a house for him. Giving total movability to the hand-icapped by creating an elevating platform. The volumes plays with solid mass and empty space, it is confined to create a platform, while the heavy volume seems to hover .Colored concrete, steel and glass are construction materials, openly exposed in a neat and sincere architectural solution. With panoramic views to the landscape, yet keeping the privacy of the family.

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Aktion PoliphileMARGRET HARDARDOTTIR & STEVE CHRISTERWiesbaden, Germany,

This project inspired in an allegory to a 15 century book ‘Hypnerotoma-chia Poliphili’. The characters transform to Saturn and Delia, two opposite entities that represent the complementary opposites. One is strong, ancient, while the other is young, delicate and nimble. From this metaphor the dwelling is created in two different buildings, one that is solid and dark, looking back to the tradition. In contraposition, the other is light and actual

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Stretto houseSTEVEN HOLLDallas, Texas

In this project the landscape includes a river with 3 waterfalls that create a continuous ripple that recalls music, thus, the idea is to materialize the music into building. bass notes become solid masses that bed the service areas, as the strings materializes into curved ceilings that link the spaces rhythmically. The building translates the landscape and its sounds to forms and spaces. Performed with local Texan building materials and tradition.

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The House Aktion Poliphile,

“Escaping from the traffic noise of Wiesbaden, in Germany, the Koe-ning family decided to fulfil their dream of living near the woods. In order to do so, they organized an international competition in 1989 between young architects. In the invitation, they made it clear that they did not look for “the world’s most beautiful house, nor a house for an astronaut, a politician, a painter or a sculptor, but a house for an ordinary citizen.” Through the architecture and design gallery ZB in Frankfurt, the Koening family announced a competition by invitation. The selec-tion for the participating teams was made based on advice from fif-teen prestigious architects, who counted among others; Rafael Mo-neo, Robert Venturi, Tadao Ando, Alvin Boyarsky, Daniel Libeskind and Peter Cook. The competition was received with enthusiasm and forty-two architects participated in total, originating from fifteen different countries. Each participant received three documents for the competition. The first one consisted of information about urban planning and climate as well as including photographs of Wiesbaden. The second one con-sisted of a list of required rooms. They were essentially the same as the couple and their two children had in the old flat in Wiesbaden and which already included space for accommodating two or three guests. The family completed the program for the house with a third element of inspiration: the novel Hypnerotomachaia Poliphili” written by the Ita-lian monk Francesco Colonna in the 15th century. It deals with love and passion, aspects of life that Colonna was not allowed to think about as a monk. The main character was the hero Poliphili, who wandered through the Harz forests where he met Delia, the chaste Roman goddess of you-th, energy and health. Through his dreams, the novel became an allego-rical tale about the struggle of love and the dark side of the human soul. Without looking at our shadows, one cannot understand human reality.

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The houses of Delia and Saturn

Margrét Harðardóttir and Steve Christer, are the founders of Studio Granda in Reykjavík, they won the competition with a house where vices and virtues of every ordinary citizen were reflected.

Their project interpreted Delia as the image of contemporary life - light and modern. They also decided to work on the presentation of the past - mas-sive and primal. Although Saturn did not appear in the novel as a character, they introduced this god who, according to Roman mythology, represents the dark side of the human mind. He symbolizes the idea that time creates and then obliterates its creation.

Together, Delia and Saturn came, in that way, to constitute the symbols of life’s ambiguity in the project,

.Based on these propositions, the project was divided into two houses: the delicate ‘House of Delia’ which became the family dwelling and, one much smaller in scale but heavier, the ‘House of Saturn’, the guest accommodation, which was built in stone.

When entering from the street, the red sandstone of the ‘House of Saturn’ put s a shadow on the visitor. After walking underneath the corner of Saturn, the wall is replaced by unexpected twisted and knotted topiary trees. The strong fragrance from flowering plants intensifies the crossing of a bridge to the main entrance door of the ‘House of Delia’ through which a glimpse of the distant forest is seen.

Delia is a very light and lively building, with its exterior constructed with a play of cedar sticks varying in thickness, twisting and turning gently.

Their density on the north side reminds us of Poliphile roaming in the German forests. It is like a testimony of the confusing world and the agony through which his mind went.

The novel “was a magical device for manipulating a straightforward brief on an extremely difficult site”, explains Studio Granda. Although the main con-cern of the family Koening was to meet all the practical considerations, the architects also engaged them in a lyrical play through the characters of Delia and Saturn. In this way, from the consideration of the dual nature of the human being, they built a house that could well be for any of us.”

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The DREAM OF POLIPHILE that scientists named the HYPNERO-TOMACHIA POLIPHILI is a text pub-lished in Venice in 1499 by the ALDE MANUCCE printer. It is a text written in a curious Tuscan language enam-eled with Greek, Hebrew and Latin words, accompanied by illustrations en-graved according to drawings attributed to the architect AL-BERTI and the paint-er MANTEGNA. In 1546 this book was the subject of an il-lustrated edition of 169 woodcuts due to the sculptor Jean Goujon This book quickly became the Bible of all esoteric of the time. It is divid-ed into two parts. The first tells the dream quest of POLIPHILE, hero and narrator, who looks for his well-loved POLIA, and then finds her in a setting of ruins, ancient architectures and gardens,

This course can be read as free re-plenishment of the stages of the mysteries of love that Diotima was re-ferring in the Banquet, from the awak-ening to the love life of Poliphile, the

hero, until the final unveiling of Venus in its fountain of Kythera

The second book will toggle speech-es of Polia and Poliphile, featuring

parallely the allegorical journey of book I and the evocation of the thwart-ed love of the hero in the Treviso’s Quattrocento In book I, long descrip-tive passages details the structure of the gar-dens, the costumes of the protagonists, the decorations of the Pal-ace, drawing up the decoration of an ideal antiquity, dreamlike ref-

erence of truth and beauty, which will be used for centuries in the constitu-tion of architectural spaces as in the decoration of gardens

Historically the DREAM OF POLI-PHILE seems to be the common work of a group thinkers and theo-logians gathered around the Popes Nicholas V and Pius II PICCOLOMINI in the 1450s, at the time of the cap-ture of Constantinople by the Turks. Then learned Greeks took refuge in Christian land, in Florence as in the Vatican to try to perform a reconcil-

Poliphiles historyHYPNEROTOMACHIA POLIPHILI

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iation of the Catholic and Orthodox doctrines. The two pontiffs, Nicolas V and Pius II cared the project to es-tablish a universal syncretic religion whose rituals go back to Egypt to celebrate the universal power of life such as love, engines of the Earth. These two popes had appointed artists and writers of their entourage to set in narrative form the bulk of millenary education to come give a meaning to life, and hope for the gener-ations to come. This work would have be condensed in the manuscript of the HY-PNETOROMACHIA POLIPHILI traditionally attributed to Frances-co COLONNA, to which ALBERTI would be the driving force behind, and no doubt the author of illustra-tions of the Alde MANUCCIO edition. The dream of POLIPHILE is a funda-mental and dangerous book since it is the summary and synthesis of all religious doctrines and esoteric re-spect at the origin of life as its goal. These doctrines are arranged to form a narrative that is a journey through inspired places, all theatres of a cere-

mony illustrating one of the mysteries of existence. This love story hides in its simplicity the secrets of the world and the cosmology; it reports that the alchemical alliance of the funda-mental elements is prior work in any

incarnation as to any initiation.

As this story takes place outside any

priestly hierar-chy and had no preachy aspect that can blame the insider, this speech was

a real danger for ecclesiastical

structures wishing to assert their au-

thority not through love or truth but rather by fear and

richness..

Moreover since the publication of the POLIPHILE sponsors became immediately suspicious to be propo-nents of a spiritual power in search of temporal power. History of the POLI-PHILE is such exemplary camouflage of an essential truth under an esoter-ic packaging intended to remove all credibility as any impact on an un-suspecting public that will stop or will be stopped by the allegorical form of this story loaded with citations in bad Latin, in an approximate Greek,

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overflowing descriptions increasing action or diverting attention... All this was intended to cover with a com-plex and complicated veil a truth held in a verse of Virgil “OMNIA VINCIT AMOR” or even the last verse of the Commedia “AMOR CHE MOVE IL SOLE E LE ALTRE STELLE. ». The quest or the story of POLI-PHILE is roughly as follows, the hieroglyphic novel which, at first reading will appear as a monstrous esoteric brick, where the esoteric accumulates and where symbolism disappears beneath the abundance of occult material as descriptions. At the beginning of the novel, POLI-PHILE struggles in the maze of a for-est of branches barring sandy paths where wild beasts growl. POLIPHILE mourns the abandonment of his lov-er POLIA, the Wisdom, and ends up falling asleep at the end of a night fe-vered by the grief of the loss of the beloved, POLIA, the DIVINE light. At dawn, the hapless sleeper dreams. He is led in a dream in a silent plain in the blooming meadows. There, in the middle of the prairie, stands a pyr-amid temple placed on 1410 steps. The Temple is topped by an obelisk on which a statue of fortune is turning into all the winds. After having climbed the 1410 degrees, POLIPHILE will enter the temple of FORTUNE where he will hold the head of Medusa, pre-

lude to the teaching of Athena: this logical teaching represents the mas-culine initiation or Dorian. Then PO-LIPHILE will descend into the lower sanctuary guarded by a dragon, the guardian of the threshold, as of the waters of life in a place dedicated to the appearance of life on Earth. Fleeing the dragon POLIPHILE will find a door. This door opens on a room dedicated to Venus and her son Eros. There two al-legorical mosaics make up the paving of two successive rooms. In the first room, called the antrum is the allegory of the “sea world” that represents the first man that popped up from the sea; He heads to the shore while a flame burned on an al-tar at the water’s edge. Indented on a column, a mirror reflects the Sun whose rays are both going to light a flame and get lost in the sea. It is the evocation of the marine origin of life: the spark lit by the fire of the Sun creates a living cell fertilizing the sea. Popping up fish, algae, crusta-ceans, first appearances of the living. The next cave is called the Aula Ab-scondita, or hidden room. Its floor is covered with a mosaic depicting the animals of the Nile. The scene takes over the narrative of the sec-ond book of Ovid’s Metamorphoses: all the animals of the world sur-

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round Orpheus singing the mystery of the creation; while priests wear a chandelier to turn it off in the Nile to renew the union of fire and wa-ter, which is at the origin of life. After having meditated in these deep places POLIPHILE finally finds at the bottom a maze of caves and un-derground corridors “a small shiny splendor through one nar-row bay”. Rushing to the light he found an opening that allows him to get out of the pyramid.

P o l i -phile carries in his race the secret of the appear-ance of life and the memory of his struggle with the guardian of the threshold.

Then POLIPHILE engages in a path leading to an enchanting orchard at the threshold of which contained the motto SEMPER FESTINA TARDE (al-ways make haste slowly).

At the entrance of the orchard is asleep a nymph that a satyr reveals, illustrating again the mystery of life.

POLIPHILE meets then five nymphs, personification of the five senses. They ask him what he is seeking before he faces the motto ‘ know yourself ‘. Then they immerse PO-LIPHILE in a bath where a child naked and smiling splatters him with liquid from his sex, whitewater symbolizing the rebirth of the spirit.

It is when nymphs now lead PO-LIPHILE towards the Pal-

ace of their Queen, ELEUTHERILIDE,

and Queen of free will. In his palace Queen Eleu-therilide makes P O L I P H I L E enter the room of the stars

where planets are represented

and the 360 de-grees of the Zodiac

by which souls choose their destiny before reincarnate.

Here POLIPHILE finds himself be-fore the symbolism of successive incarnations, what is symbolized by the walk performed by POLIPHILE in gardens where varied climates reign, sometimes borrowing Ve-nusian sweetness, or Martian vio-lence, and where events occur illus-trating the symbolism of the stars.

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Meanwhile POLIA, the beloved of POLIPHILE languishes in a con-vent under the tutelage of Diane. POLIA should accept her desire, and decide to live her love before leaving the chaste DIANEs prison to find POLIPHILE in a garden at the island of Kythira, where doves fly, where Swans of Venus float in the middle of roses always bloom-ing. The two lovers have found that beautiful love “CHI MOVE IL SOLE E LE ALTRE STELLE”, source of life, fountain of youth. Each of its symbols must be med-itated, and is facing a beautiful novel of love, of absences and reunion, evocation of the link be-tween love and death, destruction and generation, loss and renewal. POLILPHILE during his quest learns that he must go down to the bottom of him even to find his unity and his roots. That in itself is everything. That he is free to build his destiny, because love alone should guide him towards an incarnation of which he has the keys and the choice.

POLIPHILE returned to ancient poly-theism. He re-discover the creative energies of universal harmony. In this pagan speech POLIPHILE re-stores the mysteries and initiation. He does not appeal more to Rev-elation but to Intuition that passes through the senses to vitalize the Emotion.

It is with their body and their soul that POLIPHILE and POLIA will go in the island of Venus building the ideal city that is not the city of God, but the city of the happiness of men. The book was published in Venice. But in 1546 Francis I had printed the French translation of the dream de POLIPHILE. And all the princes ac-quired it. After reading it they placed in their gardens esoteric factories and caves.

The figures stacked in these gardens transmit the message of the dream that his readers could not re-veal: the initiation path has no validity if emotion does not come along the reason.

The last lines of the novel are:

DON’T KNOW THAT THESE GARDENSGIVE ACCESS TO OTHER GARDENS

THAT WILL OPEN THEMSELVESOVER INFINITE GARDENS.

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House plans

Here I want to thank the enormous help of the Architect Steve Christer from Studio Granda , tha took some time off his agenda to send us the original drawings of the house.

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Photomontages

Important changes from the 90’s to the 21st century, that affect the house

technological advences: changed our everiday way of life and usual ob-jects

Social changes: Fall of the Berlin wall and europes union

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New story of the family

The house that was once “for an ordinary citizen”, will now become the house for a person with a neurodegenerative disorder

The Koening Family: (Parents with two children) have lived in the Aktion Poliphile House since 1992, last year the mother was diagnosed with Parkin-son’s disease, aged 65. The Family have decided to make changes to their house, they know the disorder is progressive and their desire is to prevent the disease from getting worse.

They have contacted an architectural firm to make important and relevant adaptations to the house. Instead of contacting the previous architects (Studio Granda) they have decided to make contact with an architectural practice that has specialized in designing adaptations to houses for people with Neurode-generative disorders. The Family has put importance on using the concept of house of Delia (health, youth, and well-being) in the design of the adaptation, which is most relevant now more than ever. Now the family want to focus on the fact that even when the body is gradually affected, the mind will stay clear, and to give mother the means to keep her intellectually active and in control of the house’s appliances.

The Family believe it was a good decision to move from the inner city to the rural outskirts of Wiesbaden to avoid the stress of the city.

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The disease

Parkinson’s is a progressive neurological condition.People with Parkinson’s don’t have enough of a chemical called dopami-

ne because some nerve cells in their brain have died.There’s currently no cure for Parkinson’s and we don’t know why people

get the condition yet.Without dopamine, people can find that their movements become slower

so it takes longer to do things.The loss of nerve cells in the brain causes the symptoms of Parkinson’s

to appear.Parkinson’s does not directly cause people to die, but symptoms do get

worse over time.Tremors: Slow and rhythmic. Predominate while at rest and reduce to a

voluntary movement. Not all patients have them.Stiff muscles: resistance to move extremities, muscle hypertonia.Bradykinesia: Slowness of voluntary and automatic movements.Lack of facial expression. Slow writing and small (micrograph). Manipulative clumsiness.Postural abnormalities: inclination of the trunk and the head forward. El-

bows and knees are as cramped.Walking abnormalities: idle, shuffling. Sometimes quick steps and short

(accelerating), are difficult to stop. Episodes of lock (toes look like they are stuck to the ground).

Balance disorder: altered reflexes, easy to fall.

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Stages of the disease

Hohen and Yhar established 5 levels (“stage”) classics of progression of Parkinson’s disease.

It should be emphasized again that not all patients who suffer from it won’t evolve until the last few levels:

Stage 1: mild symptoms affect only one half of the body.

Stage 2: Already bilateral symptoms, without the balance disorder.

Stage 3: Postural instability, noticeable symptoms, but the patient is phy-sically independent.

Stage 4: serious inability, although the patient can still get to walk or stand without help.

Stage 5: Need help for everything. He spends time sitting or in bed.

Only 15 percent of the people affected by Parkinson’s comes to suffer a degree of motor impairment so severe that you need help constant to do any-thing, depend on others and stay most of the time in a Chair or in bed, unable to move at all by yourself

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Micro architecture

The exercise was to create a micro architecture that reflects the effects of the disease, while maintaining a connection with the project of the chosen House.

We decided to perform in wood, in allusion to the wooden slats that lining the House and as an allegory to the forest that Poliphile performed his feat. In addition, the use of rudimentary technology, with simple as rope and pulley mechanisms.

Woodwork was adapted to avoid the use of metal items, such as nails, screws, hinges, etc.

The result is a minimum wearable machine, which can only fit one person who will experience the effects caused by the disease over several years in a few steps.

At the beginning the walk is normal.

Immediately the cane that is linked to the forearm starts to go up and down quickly, simulating the trembling in the pulse, which hinders the man-agement of objects.

Rope 1 ranging from front wheels to the back of the machine winds slowly causing back to fold gradually, up to make the user to adopt the typical in-clined position of the patient of Parkinson’s in its final stages.

Rope 2 is wound slowly and will pull the catch that will gradually restricting the length of the step to make it shorter (festination), and finally impossible (paralysis), such as in disease.

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Positive side.

After reflecting over the implications and effects of the disease, came to the conclusion that the disease has a positive sides, respect to other possible diseases:

A.-the patient retains intellectual abilities

Except in the very last stages and in a very small percentage of those affected. It means that patient keeps his memory and cognitive abilities, and that allows you to continue to learn and enjoy intellectually. Is only the body that is gradually affected, and that there are multiple technical aids.

B having it now

Nowadays although Parkinson’s disease has no cure, it is better con-trolled and there is better drugs, therapies and technology to alleviate symp-toms

C. it is not lethal

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Situations

A medical team from North America said that with the help of the Wii could improve symptoms and reduce medication for Parkinson patients.

The most commonly used drugs to treat Parkinson’s disease cause sev-eral adverse effects and its administration is essential once the treatment is started, otherwise symptoms worsen and with them the quality of life of the patient.

The Wii allows patients to work in an environment that is safe, fun and motivational.

Participants showed significant improvements in rigidity, movement, mo-tor ability of precision and energy levels. Perhaps the most impressive thing was that patients reduced their depression level to zero. Results are being so satisfactory that it already begins to be used as part of the rehabilitation and called ‘ Wii hab ‘ therapy.

Games require visual perception and coordination between hands and eyes, so it is a great tool from a therapeutic perspective. Games like ‘Wii Sports’ or the table ‘ Wii fit’ are very beneficial for these patients. ,

Games that encourage exercise, bilateral movement and balance pro-mote socialization and increased self-esteem among those affected by Par-kinson’s. Fun while exercising your body is another thing that stands out, since games allow you to have a good time with your family while exercise.

“Wii age” (calculation that makes console according to the daily exercis-

es) has fallen from 71 to 41. “

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The new Project Proposal

When someone is diagnosed Parkinson, the first recommendation of psy-chotherapists is to keep active lifestyle

Physical exercise is very important for these patients since the muscles and joints tend to become stiff and numb.

so let’s join the excersice, fun, and rest !!!.

1. Take advantage of this new tool and provide adequate space for Wii-ex-ercise for the patient.

2. Adapt the tours of the House to be more fluid, avoiding the corner turns and narrow doorways.

3. Bring Bedroom down to the main floor, in anticipation of an advance of disease and age, preventing the patient from stairs, keeping the access to social areas of the House and not confining him to a room upstairs.

In case of emergency can be evacuated more quickly by not having to descend stairs.

4. Give this room its own terrace where the patient can leave to soak up the Sun and take care of orchard, occupational therapy that would give the patient opportunity to go outside and enjoy the view of the forest without being exhausted

5. Create a separate room for a hypothetical caregiver,

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Drawings

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Team talks

Teamwork has been very nice, Linda Findeiss and Alejandro Abreu, my two companions have been all very participatory and collaborating.

Thanks also to the constant use of the telephone, the wassaps and the Facebook we were constantly in touch

Having the point of view of two students from different universities has helped to have conversations and discussions about the project and its pro-cess of study.

Each part of the process was widely commented on and the contribution of ideas was constant.

From here I want to thank their willingness.

Manifest: This course has given me several things

Get to know interesting residential house projects, having the chance to study them carefully and think on their cultural conditioning.

Get to know and to understand the effects of a neurodegenerative dis-ease and understand disease under an optimistic point of view

Meeting students from other parts and share experiences practicing En-glish

Learning to make printed publications Learning to make video and to use virtual media to communicate as a

team

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Bibliography and sources

http://storiesofhouses.blogspot.com.es/http://www.parkinsonmadrid.orghttp://www.ninds.nih.govhttp://www.fedesparkinson.org/http://www.parkinsons.org.uk/http://www.parkinson.orghttp://www.lukor.com/ciencia/08040801.htmhttp://mundoasistencial.comhttp://www.livescience.com

Agiz J. Consideraciones sobre la enfermedad de Parkinson desde la atención primaria. PM, 2002

Bayés A. Tratamiento integral de la persona afectada por la enfermedad de Parkinson. Barcelona: Fundació Institut Guttmann; 2000.

Bayés A y Linazasoro G. Vivir con la enfermedad de Parkinson. Madrid: Med-itor; 1994.

Iriarte LM, Cuartero E. Epidemiología de la enfermedad de Parkinson. FEP, 2000

Lawson J. Síntomas de la enfermedad de Parkinson. PM, 2003 Micheli F, Scorticati M. Convivir con la enfermedad de Parkinson. Madrid:

Médica Panameña; 2000.Rodríguez del Alamo A, Rives Ch. Calidad de vida para el paciente de

Parkinson. PM, 2002 Tolosa E, Bayes A. La enfermedad de Parkinson, orientaciones para una

vida activa. Barcelona: Sandoz Pharma.Vergara A. Investigación europea sobre los pacientes de Parkinson. PM,

2002

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Index Introduction. 1

The objectives. 3

Reading of the “Stories of Houses” 5

The House Aktion Poliphile, 13

The houses of Delia and Saturn 15

Poliphiles history 17

House plans 23

Photomontages 27

New story of the family 29

The disease 31

Stages of the disease 33

Micro architecture 35

Positive side. 39

Situations 41

The new Project Proposal 43

Drawings 43

Team talks 49 Manifest: 49

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