diff --git a/site/_documentation/channels.md b/site/_documentation/channels.md index e43c919c..bd8a421f 100644 --- a/site/_documentation/channels.md +++ b/site/_documentation/channels.md @@ -25,6 +25,6 @@ The second channel component, `Channel Info`, calculates a number of hydraulic c ## Workflows --> -{% include elements/figure.html image='model' alt='Images of the channel tool applied to various geometries' %} +{% include elements/figure.html image='model.jpg' alt='Images of the channel tool applied to various geometries' %} -{% include elements/figure.html image='definition' caption='Grasshopper definition demonstrating how to use the channel region and channel profile components.' credit='Philip Belesky, for https://groundhog.philipbelesky.com' %} +{% include elements/figure.html image='definition.jpg' caption='Grasshopper definition demonstrating how to use the channel region and channel profile components.' credit='Philip Belesky, for https://groundhog.philipbelesky.com' %} diff --git a/site/_documentation/flows-catchments.md b/site/_documentation/flows-catchments.md index 268b4811..f9db8b57 100644 --- a/site/_documentation/flows-catchments.md +++ b/site/_documentation/flows-catchments.md @@ -22,6 +22,6 @@ Each catchment type is assigned a "volume" figure, which represents the proporti The example file for this component demonstrates a number of options for visualisation and extension, such as: -{% include elements/figure.html image='model' alt='Image of the flow catchment component used across two hypothetical landforms' %} +{% include elements/figure.html image='model.jpg' alt='Image of the flow catchment component used across two hypothetical landforms' %} -{% include elements/figure.html image='definition' caption='Grasshopper definition demonstrating how to use and extend the catchment analysis for Surface and Mesh forms.' credit='Philip Belesky, for https://groundhog.philipbelesky.com' %} +{% include elements/figure.html image='definition.jpg' caption='Grasshopper definition demonstrating how to use and extend the catchment analysis for Surface and Mesh forms.' credit='Philip Belesky, for https://groundhog.philipbelesky.com' %} diff --git a/site/_documentation/flows-saturation.md b/site/_documentation/flows-saturation.md index 908ea5f2..aa6dd0b2 100644 --- a/site/_documentation/flows-saturation.md +++ b/site/_documentation/flows-saturation.md @@ -36,6 +36,6 @@ The example file for this component demonstrates a number of options for visuali -{% include elements/figure.html image='model' alt='Image of the flow saturation component used across two hypothetical landforms' %} +{% include elements/figure.html image='model.jpg' alt='Image of the flow saturation component used across two hypothetical landforms' %} -{% include elements/figure.html image='definition' caption='Grasshopper definition demonstrating how to use and extend the catchment analysis for Surface and Mesh forms.' credit='Philip Belesky, for https://groundhog.philipbelesky.com' %} +{% include elements/figure.html image='definition.jpg' caption='Grasshopper definition demonstrating how to use and extend the catchment analysis for Surface and Mesh forms.' credit='Philip Belesky, for https://groundhog.philipbelesky.com' %} diff --git a/site/_documentation/flows.md b/site/_documentation/flows.md index dc6d6d8f..5f10b4e3 100644 --- a/site/_documentation/flows.md +++ b/site/_documentation/flows.md @@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ files: true files_text: model and definition demonstrating the use of these components --- -{% include elements/figure.html image='1' caption='Surface water flow paths across a littoral region' credit='Image via Philip Belesky for the "Processes and Processors" project (http://philipbelesky.com/projects/processes-and-processors/)' %} +{% include elements/figure.html image='1.jpg' caption='Surface water flow paths across a littoral region' credit='Image via Philip Belesky for the "Processes and Processors" project (http://philipbelesky.com/projects/processes-and-processors/)' %} ## Flow Paths @@ -43,5 +43,5 @@ The example file for this component demonstrates a number of options for visuali - Using geometric intersections to test how drainage pits intercept water flows - Fading the color of the paths as they travel further from their 'source' -{% include elements/figure.html image='model' alt='Example model for the flow paths definition.' %} -{% include elements/figure.html image='definition' caption='Grasshopper definition for the flow paths definition.' credit='Philip Belesky, for https://groundhog.philipbelesky.com' %} +{% include elements/figure.html image='model.jpg' alt='Example model for the flow paths definition.' %} +{% include elements/figure.html image='definition.jpg' caption='Grasshopper definition for the flow paths definition.' credit='Philip Belesky, for https://groundhog.philipbelesky.com' %} diff --git a/site/_documentation/plants.md b/site/_documentation/plants.md index 71a9a30f..1ad75dec 100644 --- a/site/_documentation/plants.md +++ b/site/_documentation/plants.md @@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ If considered just in terms of its CAD representation, planting design appears t It is regrettable that in both digital and analogue mediums the typical representations used poorly reflect their subject matter. Depictions of vegetation are rarely spatially explicit, and often rely on fixed and idealised averages that do not reflect the general nature, or the actual reality, of specific species.[@Elkin:2017 60-61][@Raxworthy:2013 113] A plan, once planted, will reach the 'mature' state it depicts after years if not decades. This mature state is itself an abstraction, as each plant's dimensions vary according to the localised conditions that propel or constrain individual growth and are typically altered through ongoing maintenance regimes. -{% include elements/figure.html image='1' caption='Parametric methods can manage vast quantities of plants distributed across a site and evaluate how they change over time.' credit='Philip Belesky, for https://groundhog.philipbelesky.com' %} +{% include elements/figure.html image='1.jpg' caption='Parametric methods can manage vast quantities of plants distributed across a site and evaluate how they change over time.' credit='Philip Belesky, for https://groundhog.philipbelesky.com' %} While many options exist for visualising planting plans with a high degree of fidelity (presuming the correct models for a given species are available) these are typically deployed after the concept design stage, given that they are difficult to implement and modify. As a result, they are often ill-suited to design exploration but useful for evaluating aesthetics. @@ -46,6 +46,6 @@ While these components are relatively simple in their individual calculations, ( The tripartite attribute/placement/simulation process has emerged from extensive iteration as a means to best support planting design workflows by allowing each task to easily interface with the existing methods available in Grasshopper and its broader plugin ecosystem. -{% include elements/figure.html image='definition' caption='Grasshopper definition demonstrating how to select particular species, place them, and simulate basic growth characteristics.' credit='Philip Belesky, for https://groundhog.philipbelesky.com' %} +{% include elements/figure.html image='definition.jpg' caption='Grasshopper definition demonstrating how to select particular species, place them, and simulate basic growth characteristics.' credit='Philip Belesky, for https://groundhog.philipbelesky.com' %} > ***Coming Soon**: further components that allow for more naturalistic or performance-based planting distribution and 3D visualisation methods.* diff --git a/site/_documentation/terrain.md b/site/_documentation/terrain.md index 961389b5..b329a3c3 100644 --- a/site/_documentation/terrain.md +++ b/site/_documentation/terrain.md @@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ Landform is more heterogeneous and complex than contour lines suggest. Seemingly Groundhog provides a number of components for measuring particular characteristics of a given landform. However its worth noting that, as above, such tools for classifying topographic features are only as good as their underpinning 3D representations. Representing a landform as (say) either a `Mesh` or a `Surface` will create different trade-offs in the types of accuracy and detail offered. -{% include elements/figure.html image='1' caption="Visualisations of slope analysis across a `Mesh`, showing each face's grade as a vector, fill, and label" credit='Philip Belesky, for https://groundhog.philipbelesky.com' %} +{% include elements/figure.html image='1.png' caption="Visualisations of slope analysis across a `Mesh`, showing each face's grade as a vector, fill, and label" credit='Philip Belesky, for https://groundhog.philipbelesky.com' %} ## Slope diff --git a/site/_includes/elements/figure.html b/site/_includes/elements/figure.html index 06580a3b..809e81cc 100644 --- a/site/_includes/elements/figure.html +++ b/site/_includes/elements/figure.html @@ -6,8 +6,8 @@ {%- endcapture -%}
- - {{ imageAlt }} + + {{ imageAlt }} {%- if include.caption or include.credit -%}
diff --git a/site/_includes/tile.html b/site/_includes/tile.html index e653740a..a4e46d86 100644 --- a/site/_includes/tile.html +++ b/site/_includes/tile.html @@ -22,7 +22,7 @@ {% assign color = 'rgba(114, 227, 210, 0.90)' %} {% assign thumbnailAssetPath = '/assets/plugin/thumbnail.png' %} {% else %} - {% capture thumbnailFullPath %}/assets/img/{{ item.slug }}/thumbnail-medium.jpg{% endcapture %} + {% capture thumbnailFullPath %}/assets/{{ item.slug }}/thumbnail.jpg{% endcapture %} {% assign thumbnailAssetPath = thumbnailFullPath %} {% endif %} diff --git a/site/_projects/botanical-gardens-of-barcelona.md b/site/_projects/botanical-gardens-of-barcelona.md index 919881b8..d848a000 100644 --- a/site/_projects/botanical-gardens-of-barcelona.md +++ b/site/_projects/botanical-gardens-of-barcelona.md @@ -12,28 +12,28 @@ files_text: model and definition that demonstrate a partial recreation of this p The *Botanic Gardens of Barcelona* show an early example of how a sophisticated model of natural systems can help generate, test, and provide feedback upon the complex design criteria, such as grading and planting, that define the key features of a landscape. -{% include elements/figure.html image='2' alt='Photograph of the Botanic Gardens of Barcelona' %} -{% include elements/figure.html image='3' caption='An irregular triangular grid spreads across the garden, organising the planting typologies and path network.' credit='Image from Ferrater, Carlos, and Borja Ferrater. "Synchronizing Geometry". Actar, 2016.' %} +{% include elements/figure.html image='2.jpg' alt='Photograph of the Botanic Gardens of Barcelona' %} +{% include elements/figure.html image='3.jpg' caption='An irregular triangular grid spreads across the garden, organising the planting typologies and path network.' credit='Image from Ferrater, Carlos, and Borja Ferrater. "Synchronizing Geometry". Actar, 2016.' %} Designed in 1989, the gardens were the product of a collaboration between Bet Figueras (landscape architect), Carles Ferrater and Josep Lluís Canosa (architects), Joan Pedrola (biologist) and Artur Bossy (horticulturist).[@WikiArquitectura:2017] Located on a steep site in Barcelona the design proposed an irregular triangular grid that spread across the site. The grid structure was in part developed to avoid the need for major earthworks, as the triangular geometry could closely follow the existing topography by keeping two of each triangle's vertices at the same elevation but allowing the third to shift vertically to match the pre-existing slope.[@Preziosi:2004 116] The resulting grading, paths, and retaining walls create a highly expressive and architectonic landscape with a complex circulation network[@Ferrater:2016 19] that sees paths split and converge to connect the planar surfaces. -{% include elements/figure.html image='5' caption="The configuration of each of the facet's vertices creates a number of distinct planting conditions correspond to the conditions of various geographic areas represented in the garden's vegetation." credit='Image from Ferrater, Carlos, and Borja Ferrater. "Synchronizing Geometry". Actar, 2016.' %} +{% include elements/figure.html image='5.jpg' caption="The configuration of each of the facet's vertices creates a number of distinct planting conditions correspond to the conditions of various geographic areas represented in the garden's vegetation." credit='Image from Ferrater, Carlos, and Borja Ferrater. "Synchronizing Geometry". Actar, 2016.' %} While the formalism of the triangulation is striking, its design intent is directly tied to the project's key program: to showcase botanical collections drawn from a range of regions whose Mediterranean climates match that of Catalonia. To aid this goal the structure of the grid provides a further function: each facet creates a unique (but internally uniform) set of characteristics according to their differences in slope, solar orientation, and irrigation integration.[@Ferrater:2016 19] The diversity of conditions present across then grid then informs the planting design by allowing for the pairing of species from each geographic region to the corresponding conditions on each facet that best mimic the "ideal growing conditions in the plants' native setting."[@Hansen:2011] The tessellated mosaic thus creates a locally-coherent but globally-diverse distribution of vegetation clusters across the landscape that would develop specific adjacencies to 'allow visitors to compare the various species and note the remarkable phenomena of convergence'[@Preziosi:2004 116] while presenting a diversity of planted form and texture that "mitigate the excessive virtuality"[@Preziosi:2004 117] of the facets. -{% include elements/figure.html image='4' caption="Images produced by the computer program developed to assign species typologies across each of the grid's facets." credit='Image from Ferrater, Carlos, and Borja Ferrater. "Synchronizing Geometry". Actar, 2016.' %} +{% include elements/figure.html image='4.jpg' caption="Images produced by the computer program developed to assign species typologies across each of the grid's facets." credit='Image from Ferrater, Carlos, and Borja Ferrater. "Synchronizing Geometry". Actar, 2016.' %} -{% include elements/figure.html image='8' alt="Computer renders of the project showing topography and plants." credit='Image from Josep Lluis Canosa, Carles Ferrater, Bet Figueras, Quadrens 194, p98, 1992.' %} +{% include elements/figure.html image='8.jpg' alt="Computer renders of the project showing topography and plants." credit='Image from Josep Lluis Canosa, Carles Ferrater, Bet Figueras, Quadrens 194, p98, 1992.' %} Software developed for a small personal computer guided the process of matching the vegetation of each region to the grid by calculating the environmental characteristics of each triangular plane and automatically selecting the region whose species best fit this profile.[@Ferrater:2016 19] Outsourcing this otherwise-tedious task of topographic analysis and species allocation to an automated process allowed the designers to "obtain what we believed to be the most important factor: control of the forms of the future landscape";[@Preziosi:2004 117] presumably because the tool allowed for faster and more precise feedback loops between the different grid configurations that defined the distributions of plant species. At the same time the software helped enable inter-disciplinary dialogue by making the relationship between key landscape features and the horticultural implications of those features explicit — something that had been "impossible in the early days of the project."[@Ferrater:2016 19] -{% include elements/figure.html image='7' caption='The conscious clustering of facets with similar characteristics creates adjacencies within the plan that juxtapose the different geographic regions and vegetation types within each of those regions.' credit='Image from Ferrater, Carlos, and Borja Ferrater. "Synchronizing Geometry". Actar, 2016.' %} +{% include elements/figure.html image='7.jpg' caption='The conscious clustering of facets with similar characteristics creates adjacencies within the plan that juxtapose the different geographic regions and vegetation types within each of those regions.' credit='Image from Ferrater, Carlos, and Borja Ferrater. "Synchronizing Geometry". Actar, 2016.' %} While the power of computer hardware has increased exponentially since 1989 the digital model developed for the Gardens illustrates that "the complex questions regarding the design of the garden"[@Ferrater:2016 117] don't necessitate large amounts of complexity in terms of computational rules or power. The natural systems that define the 'micro-ecology' of each of the planted facets are innumerably complex in their exactitude, but for the purposes of designing viable distributions of vegetation the model only needed to include a (relatively) small number of salient parameters, metrics, and rules. The software was able to provide clear feedback on how each design iteration performed because it had such a clear set of procedures (the spatial grid and planting palette) with clearly-defined relationships between the formal and ecological systems that define the landscape. Recreating the general logic used to help design the *Barcelona Botanic Gardens* is relatively easy to do using modern computer-aided design platforms. Yet, the project remains as a seemingly-rare example of how computational methods can directly generate distinctly landscape architectural design features. As the similarly-faceted forms of Plasma Studio and Groundlab's *Flowing Gardens* project illustrate, the formal epiphenomenon of digital modelling are easily identified and are often stated as having been shaped (indirectly) by landscape conditions and logics.[@Hansen:2011] Yet direct computationally-enabled ties between landscape forms and landscape logics — that is to say a generative processes that mediates between the two — remains rare. Many techniques exist for analysing the different aspects of a landscape in isolation[^iso] but part of the ongoing novelty of the *Barcelona Botanic Gardens* is that it developed a more holistic model that could incorporate the otherwise-isolated aspects of landscape form, landscape analysis, and planting design into a cohesive set of procedures that could help to generate (rather than just validate) a design. -{% include elements/figure.html image='model' alt='Rhinoceros model of the Botanic Gardens of Barcelona' %} -{% include elements/figure.html image='definition' caption='Grasshopper definition recreating the basic analysis of the triangular grid and allocating plants accordingly.' credit='Philip Belesky, for https://groundhog.philipbelesky.com' %} +{% include elements/figure.html image='model.jpg' alt='Rhinoceros model of the Botanic Gardens of Barcelona' %} +{% include elements/figure.html image='definition.jpg' caption='Grasshopper definition recreating the basic analysis of the triangular grid and allocating plants accordingly.' credit='Philip Belesky, for https://groundhog.philipbelesky.com' %} [^iso]: For instance determining surface water flows or solar gain over a given topographic surface. diff --git a/site/_projects/busan-cinema-complex.md b/site/_projects/busan-cinema-complex.md index ea1505b9..2810aed6 100644 --- a/site/_projects/busan-cinema-complex.md +++ b/site/_projects/busan-cinema-complex.md @@ -12,19 +12,19 @@ files_text: model and definition that demonstrate a partial recreation of this p In 2006, James Corner Field Operations worked with architects TEN Arquitectos to develop a competition entry for the design of a new Busan Cinema Centre in South Korea. Although their entry did not win, it is notable as an early example of computational design methods being clearly expressed in a designed landscape. -{% include elements/figure.html image='busan-birds-eye' alt='Perspective of the landscape design' credit="James Corner Field Operations and TEN Arquitectos, from Film and Architecture, p. 215." %} +{% include elements/figure.html image='busan-birds-eye.png' alt='Perspective of the landscape design' credit="James Corner Field Operations and TEN Arquitectos, from Film and Architecture, p. 215." %} The competition entry's landscape features an undulating lawn dotted with planting to guide pedestrian circulation and an adaptive paving system that stretched across the site. The differentiated pavers are designed to be responsive to the landform of the proposal, whereby the orientation and size of each individual set of tiles smoothly shifts according to changes in slope. The result is a [field aesthetic]({% link _techniques/field-conditions.md %}) or "ambient surface"[@JoonKang:2006 208] where the tiles are smallest and most offset from their original horizontal orientation where the topography is highest. -{% include elements/figure.html image='busan-field' caption='Details of the paving system and its relationship to landform.' credit='By James Corner Field Operations and TEN Arquitectos, via scenariojournal.com/article/from-hand-to-land/.' %} +{% include elements/figure.html image='busan-field.png' caption='Details of the paving system and its relationship to landform.' credit='By James Corner Field Operations and TEN Arquitectos, via scenariojournal.com/article/from-hand-to-land/.' %} This tie between surface and object suggests an approach that can establish a direct and intuitive link between a primary design driver — landform — and a secondary design feature — paving — that can be explored in an expressive manner. Once developed, the tiling system would be able to quickly respond to different landforms and so create a feedback loop where the topography and the tile geometries are tied together throughout design development. -{% include elements/figure.html image='busan-pspxv' alt='Perspective of the Busan Cinema competition entry.' credit="By James Corner Field Operations and TEN Arquitectos, adapted from scenariojournal.com/article/from-hand-to-land/." %} +{% include elements/figure.html image='busan-pspxv.jpg' alt='Perspective of the Busan Cinema competition entry.' credit="By James Corner Field Operations and TEN Arquitectos, adapted from scenariojournal.com/article/from-hand-to-land/." %} This tight, or "articulated,"[@Hansen:2011] relationship between the two design features seems especially valuable in the context of developing a competition entry where time constraints often limit the full realisation of a concept. Here, the use of scripting likely allowed the tiling elements to exist at both a conceptual and detailed level of development simultaneously as changes to the topography, tile shape, tile size, or architectural form could be accommodated with ease because the relationships between each were explicitly defined using computational rules. -{% include elements/figure.html image='busan-layers' alt="A number of plans showing the different layers of the proposal." credit='By James Corner Field Operations and TEN Arquitectos, reproduced from Film and Architecture, p. 216-217.' %} +{% include elements/figure.html image='busan-layers.jpg' alt="A number of plans showing the different layers of the proposal." credit='By James Corner Field Operations and TEN Arquitectos, reproduced from Film and Architecture, p. 216-217.' %} ### Reference Model @@ -32,18 +32,18 @@ This tight, or "articulated,"[@Hansen:2011] relationship between the two design While the proposal pre-dated the release of Grasshopper, the software would have offered an easy means of prototyping and iterating upon what was likely developed as a script in Maya or Rhino. Such a parametric model could have proceeded by first referencing contours and `Patch`ing them to become a surface. -{% include elements/figure.html image='step_1' caption='Creating a 3D surface by patching contours allows for later grading adjustments to be easily accommodated.' credit="Albert Rex, for groundhog.philipbelesky.com." %} +{% include elements/figure.html image='step_1.png' caption='Creating a 3D surface by patching contours allows for later grading adjustments to be easily accommodated.' credit="Albert Rex, for groundhog.philipbelesky.com." %} Once defined, the 2D bounding box of the surface can be used to roughly calculate the number of pavers (given a set spacing interval) that will fit comfortably within the paving area. After creating a corresponding grid of points on the `XY` plane, each point is then `Project`ed onto the surface to establish the origins of each tile shape. -{% include elements/figure.html image='step_2' caption='The origin points of each paver are projected onto the topography.' credit="Albert Rex, for groundhog.philipbelesky.com." %} +{% include elements/figure.html image='step_2.png' caption='The origin points of each paver are projected onto the topography.' credit="Albert Rex, for groundhog.philipbelesky.com." %} The vertical distance from the base `XY` plane to each tile-origin is measured and remapped to become the variable data that informs the geometry of the two elements that constitute each individual tile. By controlling the range of numbers that inform the minimum/maximum rotational/scaling factors the designer can 'hone' exactly how the tile system responds to the surface. -{% include elements/figure.html image='step_3' caption='The elevation of each paver is used to define its shape, size and rotation' credit="Albert Rex, for groundhog.philipbelesky.com." %} +{% include elements/figure.html image='step_3.png' caption='The elevation of each paver is used to define its shape, size and rotation' credit="Albert Rex, for groundhog.philipbelesky.com." %} The result is a paving system that responds to and accentuates the topography of site. Moreover, the form of each tile can be quickly iterated upon in response to topographic manipulation, to the parameters that control the geometry of the paving elements, or to the regions that define where the tiling system is deployed. -{% include elements/figure.html image='step_4' caption='The paving system responds dynamically to topography.' credit="Albert Rex, for groundhog.philipbelesky.com." %} +{% include elements/figure.html image='step_4.png' caption='The paving system responds dynamically to topography.' credit="Albert Rex, for groundhog.philipbelesky.com." %} -{% include elements/figure.html image='definition' caption='Grasshopper definition recreating the basic tile effect and distribution.' credit='Albert Rex and Philip Belesky, for https://groundhog.philipbelesky.com' %} +{% include elements/figure.html image='definition.png' caption='Grasshopper definition recreating the basic tile effect and distribution.' credit='Albert Rex and Philip Belesky, for ' %} diff --git a/site/_projects/edaphic-effects.md b/site/_projects/edaphic-effects.md index 75eb2bd1..3675da80 100644 --- a/site/_projects/edaphic-effects.md +++ b/site/_projects/edaphic-effects.md @@ -9,13 +9,13 @@ files: true files_text: model and definition that demonstrate a partial recreation of this project --- -{% include elements/figure.html image='edaphic-materials' caption='The parametrically-controlled geo-textile system following initial regrowth.' credit='PEG Office of Landscape + Architecture, via www.suckerpunchdaily.com/2011/12/26/edaphic-effects/' %} +{% include elements/figure.html image='edaphic-materials.jpg' caption='The parametrically-controlled geo-textile system following initial regrowth.' credit='PEG Office of Landscape + Architecture, via www.suckerpunchdaily.com/2011/12/26/edaphic-effects/' %} The *Edaphic Effects* project demonstrates [PEG's](http://www.peg-ola.com/) fascination with patterns as a design driver and the value of parametric methods in translating those patterns into form and material. "If ecology and systems are common frameworks used to describe the constellations of relationships that we see in the world" write Karen McCloskey and Keith VanDerSys, "then patterns are the 'how', or the means by which we come to know, understand or express these relationships."[@MCloskey:2017 p. 6] They "exist outside such categorical distinctions as nature versus culture"[@MCloskey:2017 p. 6] while offering a framework that can tie ecological and infrastructural requirements without sacrificing aesthetic qualities.[@MCloskey:2017 p. 38] The project itself intended to demonstrate the potential of "incremental infrastructures" to improve the stormwater infrastructure of Philadelphia. To do so, a dispersed network of geo-textiles was proposed as a means of increasing water retention across vacant lots. Unlike the straightforward layering of traditional geo-textiles, the proposed design employs a more complex pattern that sees the geometry and infill of each geo-cell carefully controlled on an individual basis.[@Walliss:2016 170] This, in turn, allows the material profile to be tailored to the needs of each site while also producing a uniquely expressive surface. -{% include elements/figure.html image='edaphic-iso' alt='The geotextiles are fitted to the surface water flows of the site.' credit='PEG Office, from Dynamic Patterns p. 70.' %} +{% include elements/figure.html image='edaphic-iso.jpg' alt='The geotextiles are fitted to the surface water flows of the site.' credit='PEG Office, from Dynamic Patterns p. 70.' %} To achieve this, PEG began by defining two consecutive forms of patterning. @@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ First, they developed a series of "surface patterns that are mapping forces"[@MC Subsequently, a second pattern was introduced to translate this analysis into geometries that could be used to shape and organise the geo-cells. This meant that — unlike a standard geotextile — each cell was parametrically-defined in a way that allowed them to gradually change shape and size in response to the flow of surface water across the site. The geo-cell structure is thus able to respond to areas where more or less water is expected to collect, potentially increasing water retention while also expressing these hydrological dynamics through a complex arrangement of materials. -{% include elements/figure.html image='edaphic-fields' caption='A script calculates the rough paths of surface water flows across the site' credit='PEG Office, from Dynamic Patterns p. 70.' %} +{% include elements/figure.html image='edaphic-fields.png' caption='A script calculates the rough paths of surface water flows across the site' credit='PEG Office, from Dynamic Patterns p. 70.' %} In this project PEG give a clear example of how parametric methods can prove a powerful aid in translating valuable – but often difficult to decipher – quantitative data sets into responsive patterning systems. These can then be applied directly to site in a way that allows them to both reveal and affect the landscape conditions that their pattern initially derived from. Here this was achieved through two consecutive parametric patterning exercises, where "one is a flow pattern based on structuring relationships" and "the other is a module based unit that could be used for construction"[@MCloskey:2016b]. Taken together, these work to define an inter-related rule set where quantitative and qualitative information sets are tightly correlated. @@ -33,12 +33,12 @@ The reference model and definition for this project (downloaded from the link at To begin, a surface is constructed by lofting a series of curves. The script then divides the resultant surface into a grid of point and generates a diamond grid between them. The cells of this grid warp to conform to the surface and thus provide an initial layer of site-specific geometry. -{% include elements/figure.html image='step_1' caption='A surface is lofted through a set of 4 base curves and a diamond grid is fitted across it.' credit='Albert Rex, for groundhog.philipbelesky.com' %} +{% include elements/figure.html image='step_1.png' caption='A surface is lofted through a set of 4 base curves and a diamond grid is fitted across it.' credit='Albert Rex, for groundhog.philipbelesky.com' %} The script then measures the vertical distance between the highest and lowest point of each cell. This difference is taken as a rough interpolation of slope and the value is 'remapped' to influence the width of each cell and thus control cell dilation. That is to say, the steeper the angle of each cell, the more that its inner wall becomes offset from its outer. Note: this mechanism is used speculatively and the actual Edaphic project likely had a different means of articulating the surface that seems to have incorporated the results of a [gradient-descent method]({% link _documentation/flows.md %}) alongside other analytics. -{% include elements/figure.html image='step_2' caption='The offset of each cell\'s inner wall (left) is controlled by each cell\'s vertical range (right). While the first layer of patterning conforms to the topography of a 3D surface, the second responds in size to a specific environmental input (in this case, slope).' credit='Albert Rex, for groundhog.philipbelesky.com' %} +{% include elements/figure.html image='step_2.png' caption='The offset of each cell\'s inner wall (left) is controlled by each cell\'s vertical range (right). While the first layer of patterning conforms to the topography of a 3D surface, the second responds in size to a specific environmental input (in this case, slope).' credit='Albert Rex, for groundhog.philipbelesky.com' %} The script has a versatility that allows it to be applied to a range of landscape conditions by re-configuring the underlying surface. This without even taking into consideration the additional variation possible when different data sets are introduced to influence the secondary offset pattern. -{% include elements/figure.html image='step_3' caption='The pattern has a versatility that allows it be applied to a wide range of sites/ shapes.' credit='Albert Rex, for groundhog.philipbelesky.com' %} +{% include elements/figure.html image='step_3.png' caption='The pattern has a versatility that allows it be applied to a wide range of sites/ shapes.' credit='Albert Rex, for groundhog.philipbelesky.com' %} diff --git a/site/_projects/keio-university-roof-garden.md b/site/_projects/keio-university-roof-garden.md index 9d996aa9..a46c7f71 100644 --- a/site/_projects/keio-university-roof-garden.md +++ b/site/_projects/keio-university-roof-garden.md @@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ files: true files_text: model and definition that demonstrates a partial recreation of this project --- -{% include elements/figure.html image='1' alt='Photographs of the Keio University Roof Garden' credit="Image via MBP website's project page (http://micheldesvignepaysagiste.com/en/keio-university-慶應義塾)" %} +{% include elements/figure.html image='1.jpg' alt='Photographs of the Keio University Roof Garden' credit="Image via MBP website's project page (http://micheldesvignepaysagiste.com/en/keio-university-慶應義塾)" %} The most visible impact of computational design techniques on the design of landscapes is often in the formal treatment of 'hard' surfaces or structures — street furniture, paving elements, pavilions, and other items. As manufactured and constructed artefacts, these elements can draw from the design and fabrication techniques typically developed in other disciplines. @@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ The resulting aesthetic is one of a smoothly differentiated surface with semi-en > "One slips into this space, drifting along on the feelings aroused by the water and the light, playing on the same logic. There is no clear separation here (nor was there in Noguchi's garden) between voids and solids. This composition plays with successive planes and textures of variable densities. The even punctuation of the ground gives cadence to these variations. This is a small structure that organizes textures, porosities, densities, and transparencies—the material and the complex spaces, just as in a natural landscape." [@Gilles:2009 175] -{% include elements/figure.html image='2' caption='The different types of granite slab in terms of their dimensions and appearance in the resulting design.' credit='Image via "Intermediate Natures, The Landscapes of Michel Desvigne" (2009) p172' %} +{% include elements/figure.html image='2.jpg' caption='The different types of granite slab in terms of their dimensions and appearance in the resulting design.' credit='Image via "Intermediate Natures, The Landscapes of Michel Desvigne" (2009) p172' %} The project's goals are a productive contradiction: a desire for a roof garden — a tightly bounded and highly sculpted landscape — that at the same time displays some of the rich variety and dynamism that characterise a traditional Japanese garden. The definition and model provided also demonstrate some of the capacity for variation inherent to the parametric model itself, as basic variables (such as tile depth, dimensions, planting palette, etc) are easily modified. At the same time the use of the interpolated image map allows for a more expressive mode whereby the tile pattern can be altered by manipulating the source image by applying either filter effects (i.e. tweaking the overall brightness or contrast) or through specific edits (i.e. using brush tools in Photoshop). @@ -27,5 +27,5 @@ The project's goals are a productive contradiction: a desire for a roof garden {% include elements/files.html %} -{% include elements/figure.html image='model' alt='Rhinoceros model of the Keio University Roof Garden' %} -{% include elements/figure.html image='definition' caption='Grasshopper definition recreating the basic pattern effect and planting distribution.' credit='Philip Belesky, for https://groundhog.philipbelesky.com' %} +{% include elements/figure.html image='model.png' alt='Rhinoceros model of the Keio University Roof Garden' %} +{% include elements/figure.html image='definition.png' caption='Grasshopper definition recreating the basic pattern effect and planting distribution.' credit='Philip Belesky, for https://groundhog.philipbelesky.com' %} diff --git a/site/_projects/max-iv-laboratory.md b/site/_projects/max-iv-laboratory.md index 033d8495..b4189951 100644 --- a/site/_projects/max-iv-laboratory.md +++ b/site/_projects/max-iv-laboratory.md @@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ files: true files_text: model and definition that demonstrate a partial recreation of this project --- -{% include elements/figure.html image='7' caption='The MAX Lab facility uses a rippled spiral of topographic form to surround the main building.' credit="Image via Snøhetta website's project page (https://snohetta.com/projects/70-max-iv-laboratory-landscape)" %} +{% include elements/figure.html image='7.jpg' caption='The MAX Lab facility uses a rippled spiral of topographic form to surround the main building.' credit="Image via Snøhetta website's project page (https://snohetta.com/projects/70-max-iv-laboratory-landscape)" %} In designing this new scientific facility a major concern was that external vibrations from a nearby highway would disrupt the measurements from sensitive laboratory instruments.[@Snohetta:2016 1] The site's pre-existing topography — a flat slope — heightened this fear as it enabled surface vibrations to travel freely.[@Snohetta:2016 2] Thus a key design goal for Snøhetta's design was to maximise the landscape's surface area through a rippled topography that would, in effect, better scatter the vibrations that might interfere with the work of the laboratory. At the same time, such an exuberant grading could provide some ancillary benefits such as managing run-off.[@Snohetta:2016 2] @@ -17,10 +17,10 @@ In designing this new scientific facility a major concern was that external vibr Several Grasshopper definitions were used across the project. In the main definition that drove the base landform, the vibrations from the adjacent roads were implemented as a parametised constraint whose exact value could be honed over many iterations in conjunction with an engineering team.[@Walliss:2016 39] Once set, this constraint allowed the design team to then assess the dampening effects of specific topographic forms and fine-tune them. The resulting topographies could then be further analysed and evaluated according to secondary design criteria that were encapsulated in other definitions that would simulate wind conditions, inform tree planting, visualise a maximum slope gradient, or measure storm-water drainage and retention.[@Walliss:2016 37] -{% include elements/figure.html image='3' alt='Diagram of the Max Lab IV\'s geometry showing the spiralling patterns.' %} -{% include elements/figure.html image='6' caption='The topographic form was designed using an intersecting series of geometric projections that extend as tangents from the outer ring of the main laboratory building.' credit='Image via Snøhetta press release "The MAX IV Laboratory Landscape Design by Snøhetta to Open Summer 2016."' %} +{% include elements/figure.html image='3.jpg' alt='Diagram of the Max Lab IV\'s geometry showing the spiralling patterns.' %} +{% include elements/figure.html image='6.jpg' caption='The topographic form was designed using an intersecting series of geometric projections that extend as tangents from the outer ring of the main laboratory building.' credit='Image via Snøhetta press release "The MAX IV Laboratory Landscape Design by Snøhetta to Open Summer 2016."' %} As compared to other projects discussed, the design process for the MAX Lab IV landscape presents a clearer (or perhaps just more articulated) example of how computational design methods can improve design development. The project makes a case for these tools as a necessary means to achieve crucial levels of precision when producing and testing a complex landscape design against a complex design goal. While the results of this process still need to be assessed by designers and their consultants, the use of parametric models here shows how computational approaches can help to speed that testing and make some of the trade-offs between design criteria more explicit. -{% include elements/figure.html image='model' alt='Rhinoceros model of the MAX IV Laboratory Landscape' %} -{% include elements/figure.html image='definition' caption='Grasshopper definition recreating the basic pattern effect that defines the topographic forms.' credit='Philip Belesky, for https://groundhog.philipbelesky.com' %} +{% include elements/figure.html image='model.png' alt='Rhinoceros model of the MAX IV Laboratory Landscape' %} +{% include elements/figure.html image='definition.png' caption='Grasshopper definition recreating the basic pattern effect that defines the topographic forms.' credit='Philip Belesky, for https://groundhog.philipbelesky.com' %} diff --git a/site/_projects/sony-forest.md b/site/_projects/sony-forest.md index 1ee65909..8a95e53b 100644 --- a/site/_projects/sony-forest.md +++ b/site/_projects/sony-forest.md @@ -9,17 +9,17 @@ files: true files_text: model and definition that demonstrate a partial recreation of this project --- -{% include elements/figure.html image='3' caption="Image from within the 'Sony Forest' landscape that surrounds the NBF Osaki Building." credit="Image via Nikken Sekkei's description of the NBF Osaki Building's facade (https://www.nikken.co.jp/en/expertise/mep_engineering/bioskin_a_facade_system_for_cooling_city_heat_islands.html)." %} +{% include elements/figure.html image='3.jpg' caption="Image from within the 'Sony Forest' landscape that surrounds the NBF Osaki Building." credit="Image via Nikken Sekkei's description of the NBF Osaki Building's facade (https://www.nikken.co.jp/en/expertise/mep_engineering/bioskin_a_facade_system_for_cooling_city_heat_islands.html)." %} ANS Studio developed a "Seed Scattering System" to create a 'natural' distribution of plants for the garden surrounding an office building. The 'natural' stipulation here is not understood in terms of an untended garden or of a naturalistic formal pattern, but as a distribution that locates plants and chooses species in a manner that replicates the end-result of the localised growth and succession processes that occur in a forest. This was not the sole focus though — the model made heavy use of parameterised goals and constraints to allow for other design criteria to affect the distribution. What distinguishes this project from many other approaches is the sophistication of the modelling process and the use of the model as the key design driver spanning from site analysis to design documentation. Rather than using landscape form as the key site of design investigation (and have analysis performed in response to changes) the model itself embodied the process of form development, with the designer instead choosing amongst possible solutions and adjusting input weights. -{% include elements/figure.html image='1' caption='A model of plant growth was used to project the expected plant morphology over time.' credit='(image from paper)' %} +{% include elements/figure.html image='1.png' caption='A model of plant growth was used to project the expected plant morphology over time.' credit='(image from paper)' %} The model itself performed a number of steps when creating a possible design. Broadly speaking the first phase was in identifying how environmental conditions, such as soil composition, building shading, and wind sheltering, affected different portions of the site. Follow from this the design logic was developed, whereby the designer could adjust parameter's values and possible layout patterns for how the plant placement would respond to the environmental conditions. Finally the system would take all of these into account to create the planting plan, with the algorithm's primary outputs being the 'seed' points that represented a plant with a particular spacing and species optimised to the given local conditions.[@Takenaka:2012 431] The location of the pathway system occurs after this distribution and is optimised to work around root systems. -{% include elements/figure.html image='2' caption='The design logic was able to reformulate the tiling and vegetation distributions according to desired entry paths.' credit='(image from paper)' %} +{% include elements/figure.html image='2.png' caption='The design logic was able to reformulate the tiling and vegetation distributions according to desired entry paths.' credit='(image from paper)' %} By developing the bulk of the design within a parameter system, the way in which planting plans were developed changed. The designers were not looking to "manipulate geometries or compositions of tree groupings but to design the fundamental rules that underlie them."[@Takenaka:2012 434-435] Doing so also forced an explicit trade-off between performance-driven and aesthetic-driven design criteria through the weighted parameters of the model. Modifications to the design criteria later on in the process can be easily accommodated by regenerating the design solution with the new parameters, such as when the entrance spaces needed to become more prominent.[@Takenaka:2012 432] @@ -29,5 +29,5 @@ As the design criteria could be encompassed in a relatively complete manner by c {% include elements/files.html %} -{% include elements/figure.html image='model' alt='Rhinoceros model of the Sony Forest landscape' %} -{% include elements/figure.html image='definition' caption='Grasshopper definition recreating the planting and tiling strategies.' credit='Albert Rex and Philip Belesky, for https://groundhog.philipbelesky.com' %} +{% include elements/figure.html image='model.png' alt='Rhinoceros model of the Sony Forest landscape' %} +{% include elements/figure.html image='definition.png' caption='Grasshopper definition recreating the planting and tiling strategies.' credit='Albert Rex and Philip Belesky, for https://groundhog.philipbelesky.com' %} diff --git a/site/_projects/south-park.md b/site/_projects/south-park.md index 5664c623..0ae3dd61 100644 --- a/site/_projects/south-park.md +++ b/site/_projects/south-park.md @@ -9,18 +9,18 @@ files: true files_text: model and definition that demonstrate a partial recreation of this project --- -{% include elements/figure.html image='1' alt='Aerial photograph of South Park.' %} -{% include elements/figure.html image='2' caption='The design of the park utilises a \'path finding\' tool which uses data collected on site to draw the path towards important areas.' credit='Image via Fletcher Studio\'s project page (https://www.fletcher.studio/southpark)' %} +{% include elements/figure.html image='1.jpg' alt='Aerial photograph of South Park.' %} +{% include elements/figure.html image='2.jpg' caption='The design of the park utilises a \'path finding\' tool which uses data collected on site to draw the path towards important areas.' credit='Image via Fletcher Studio\'s project page (https://www.fletcher.studio/southpark)' %} When Fletcher Studio first began work on San Francisco's South Park, the initial design was developed "through iterative analogue diagramming"[@Fletcher:2018 72] with a focus on "an intuitive understanding of the site and embedded in an analogue rule set."[@Fletcher:2018 72] This rule set was derived from on-the-ground observations, where the designers observed and collected data on "land use, park usage, circulation patterns, tree conditions and drainage systems"[@Fletcher:2018 72] as well as "points of entry and desire lines."[@Fletcher:2018 72] This data was then aggregated into a "hierarchy of circulation patterns, access points, social nodes, existing trees and structures to retain"[@Fletcher:2018 72] that worked to inform the width and position of the central path running through the park. While the designers implemented a 'rules based' approach even from the earliest stages of site analysis, they also made of a point of "utilizing a combination of blend tools, manual adjustments, and hand drawings"[@Fletcher:2018 72] which "allowed for idiosyncratic moments while conforming to a robust formal rule set based on environmental, spatial and material logic."[@Fletcher:2018 72] -{% include elements/figure.html image='3' caption='Control points of varying intensity are parametrised to manipulate the alignment of that path which runs through the site.' credit='Fletcher Studio, image from Bentley, Chris, "Follow the Script", Landscape Architecture Magazine 107, no. 7, 2016, p. 72' %} +{% include elements/figure.html image='3.jpg' caption='Control points of varying intensity are parametrised to manipulate the alignment of that path which runs through the site.' credit='Fletcher Studio, image from Bentley, Chris, "Follow the Script", Landscape Architecture Magazine 107, no. 7, 2016, p. 72' %} Analogue rule sets are not — however — without problems of their own. Not only do they take a long time to test, but the very same 'idiosyncratic moments' that allow for the emergence of new and exciting design moves can also lead designers to overlook inconsistencies or failings in their logic. To address this, the system of organisation developed on paper was translated into a Grasshopper script and used to test "the design resiliency" of the diagrammed "tectonic and spatial systems".[@Fletcher:2018 73] This allowed the designers to iron-out any kinks in their logic while also iterating upon the design rapidly, and in detail, without violating the already-established constraints of their design concept. -{% include elements/figure.html image='4' caption='Parametric scripting allows for the rapid generation of highly detailed design iterations.' credit='Fletcher Studio, image from David Fletcher, Parametric and Computational Design in Landscape Architecture, Bradley Cantrell & Adam Mekies (Routledge, 2018), p. 72' %} +{% include elements/figure.html image='4.png' caption='Parametric scripting allows for the rapid generation of highly detailed design iterations.' credit='Fletcher Studio, image from David Fletcher, Parametric and Computational Design in Landscape Architecture, Bradley Cantrell & Adam Mekies (Routledge, 2018), p. 72' %} By translating their rule set into grasshopper and refining it through iterative testing, Fletcher Studio eventually developed what they call a "live model"[@Fletcher:2018a 39] which: @@ -45,36 +45,36 @@ This first section of the script uses data from site to interpolate a line throu 3. The points are then offset along this vector a given distance and the curve is then rebuilt 4. This process is run twice, once with higher amplitude vectors for the 'more important' data points, and again with vectors of a smaller amplitude for the 'less important'. The resultant line trends toward the various data points at differing levels of intensity -{% include elements/figure.html image='step_1' caption='A straight base line is drawn toward control circles by vectors which warp and re-align it.' credit='Albert Rex, for groundhog.philipbelesky.com' %} +{% include elements/figure.html image='step_1.jpg' caption='A straight base line is drawn toward control circles by vectors which warp and re-align it.' credit='Albert Rex, for groundhog.philipbelesky.com' %} This second step generates offsets from the initial line to define the width of the path. These offsets are also influenced by the same input data or 'attractor points' discussed earlier. However, this iteration only includes the attractor points on 1 side of the park so that one line is offset in one direction and another in the opposite. As a result, the path grows wider when it is closer to more powerful attractor points — doubly so when points are present on both sides. -{% include elements/figure.html image='step_2' caption='A path is offset out from the initial line. Offset distances also dependant on control points.' credit='Albert Rex, for groundhog.philipbelesky.com' %} +{% include elements/figure.html image='step_2.jpg' caption='A path is offset out from the initial line. Offset distances also dependant on control points.' credit='Albert Rex, for groundhog.philipbelesky.com' %} After the boundaries of the path are defined, the lines generated in the previous steps are used to produce a detailed paving system that responds to changes in data input. While straight lines are lofted off the initial base line, the 2 offset lines generated in step 2 are used as cutters to fit these lines to the curve of the path. These lines are then offset, capped, and filleted to replicate the shape of the pavers in the original design. Parameters are defined to control the paver's width and spacing before they are trimmed them to the outer boundary of the park. -{% include elements/figure.html image='step_3' caption='A grid allows for the introduction of paving over the designated path area. A site boundary curve clips this paving to stay within site.' credit='Albert Rex, for groundhog.philipbelesky.com' %} +{% include elements/figure.html image='step_3.jpg' caption='A grid allows for the introduction of paving over the designated path area. A site boundary curve clips this paving to stay within site.' credit='Albert Rex, for groundhog.philipbelesky.com' %} The shape of the paved area of the park can then be subtracted from the total site perimeter to define the area that can be given over to garden beds and lawns. -{% include elements/figure.html image='step_4' caption='Area not taken up by the path is identified.' credit='Albert Rex, for groundhog.philipbelesky.com' %} +{% include elements/figure.html image='step_4.jpg' caption='Area not taken up by the path is identified.' credit='Albert Rex, for groundhog.philipbelesky.com' %} The size and shape of garden beds is also determined by the initial input data set: the attractor points of this definition. The beds are generated by offsetting the straight segments of the park boundary along the inverse of the vectors used to define the initial path boundaries. -{% include elements/figure.html image='step_5' caption='Boundary offsets introduced to divide lawns and garden beds. Lawns: Green. Garden Beds: Green yellow overlap.' credit='Albert Rex, for groundhog.philipbelesky.com' %} +{% include elements/figure.html image='step_5.jpg' caption='Boundary offsets introduced to divide lawns and garden beds. Lawns: Green. Garden Beds: Green yellow overlap.' credit='Albert Rex, for groundhog.philipbelesky.com' %} Once defined, the planting of the lawn and garden bed could also be controlled parametrically using a planting mix spreadsheet and a series of Groundhog components. -{% include elements/figure.html image='step_6' caption='Boundary offsets introduced to divide lawns and garden beds. Lawns: Green. Garden Beds: Green yellow overlap.' credit='Albert Rex, for groundhog.philipbelesky.com' %} +{% include elements/figure.html image='step_6.jpg' caption='Boundary offsets introduced to divide lawns and garden beds. Lawns: Green. Garden Beds: Green yellow overlap.' credit='Albert Rex, for groundhog.philipbelesky.com' %} -{% include elements/figure.html image='step_7' caption='The script generates a path, garden beds and lawns, all based on site boundaries and usage data recorded on site' credit='Albert Rex, for groundhog.philipbelesky.com' %} +{% include elements/figure.html image='step_7.jpg' caption='The script generates a path, garden beds and lawns, all based on site boundaries and usage data recorded on site' credit='Albert Rex, for groundhog.philipbelesky.com' %} While *South Park* is a small site, the capabilities of the parametric methods used in its design also have clear implications for larger-scale design scenarios. "In response to the observed resiliency of the rule set" writes David Fletcher, "we foresee application of this system to large scale linear open spaces...Potential sites for this application include: urban waterways, waterfronts, corridors, linear open spaces and right of ways".[@Fletcher:2018 75] As the general logic of the script is agnostic to site-specifics, it could be applied to define a path running along a coastline. This path could then continuously shift its form according to a series of strategic attractors that might add extra span according to adjacent amenities or areas of higher pedestrian traffic. The ability to quickly iterate upon a design by tweaking a small set of parameters becomes more powerful at these larger scales, where it is more difficult to develop a comprehensive understanding of an entire landscape. -{% include elements/figure.html image='iteration_1' caption='The script still operates when site boundary and path are altered. From this we can infer that it is based on a relatively \'resilient\' rule set.' credit='Albert Rex, for groundhog.philipbelesky.com' %} +{% include elements/figure.html image='iteration_1.jpg' caption='The script still operates when site boundary and path are altered. From this we can infer that it is based on a relatively \'resilient\' rule set.' credit='Albert Rex, for groundhog.philipbelesky.com' %} -{% include elements/figure.html image='iteration_2' caption='The script is capable of operating over a wide range of environments. Here it regulates how a path moves through a forest.' credit='Albert Rex, for groundhog.philipbelesky.com' %} +{% include elements/figure.html image='iteration_2.jpg' caption='The script is capable of operating over a wide range of environments. Here it regulates how a path moves through a forest.' credit='Albert Rex, for groundhog.philipbelesky.com' %} -{% include elements/figure.html image='iteration_3' caption='The script can be easily altered to accommodate additional, site-specific. variations. Here an additional path is influenced by the original set of attractor curves and cuts under the first path, while at the same time the definition rebuilds garden beds around it.' credit='Albert Rex, for groundhog.philipbelesky.com' %} +{% include elements/figure.html image='iteration_3.jpg' caption='The script can be easily altered to accommodate additional, site-specific. variations. Here an additional path is influenced by the original set of attractor curves and cuts under the first path, while at the same time the definition rebuilds garden beds around it.' credit='Albert Rex, for groundhog.philipbelesky.com' %} -{% include elements/figure.html image='definition' caption='Grasshopper definition recreating the basic path distortion effect.' credit='' %} +{% include elements/figure.html image='definition.png' caption='Grasshopper definition recreating the basic path distortion effect.' credit='' %} diff --git a/site/_techniques/analogue-computation.md b/site/_techniques/analogue-computation.md index 316a0920..d2e35d0a 100644 --- a/site/_techniques/analogue-computation.md +++ b/site/_techniques/analogue-computation.md @@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ Digital computation makes use of some of the most basic natural laws: that of bi The use of physical models as test-beds for landscapes has a long history.[@Llabres:2014 55] The US Army Core of Engineers built many hydraulic models to investigate how to best implement flood control measures in a manner that accounts for the holistic operation of the chosen area.[@Llabres:2014 56] By using physical models as test-beds, engineers could simulate various landscape conditions at smaller scales that still accurately reflected complex behaviours. -{% include elements/figure.html image='3' caption='The Mississippi River Basin Model.' credit='Image via 99% Invisible, "America\'s Last Top Model", https://99percentinvisible.org/episode/americas-last-top-model/' %} +{% include elements/figure.html image='3.jpg' caption='The Mississippi River Basin Model.' credit='Image via 99% Invisible, "America\'s Last Top Model", ' %} This form of modelling — where real landscape materials are used to test real landscape phenomena — is greatly improved when combined with digital techniques for easily gathering data from physical models. For example, the use of laser-based scanning methods allows for topographic data to be continuously recorded while cheap sensors and actuators precisely control the release of water or light. For many phenomena that depend on the behaviour of fluid flows, this hybridised form of modelling may be one of few accurate options available given the need for high degrees of accuracy that[@Walliss:2016] preclude purely-digital simulations.[^preclude] @@ -18,7 +18,7 @@ Enriqueta Llabres and Eduardo Rico's work at the Bartlett identifies a lineage o Taking Otto's experiments as a point of departure Enriqueta and Eduardo look to new forms of 'proxi modelling' that better approximate the means by which landscapes transform in response to natural and designed events.[@Llabres:2014 54] One project looks at a Canadian site and the hydrological and geomorphological effects of mineral extraction. Here the mining process has dammed and diverted existing rivers to capture water for industrial use, which in turn creates new 'trailing pods' and new patterns of sedimentation. The new and disrupted hydrological flows are a starting point for imagining interventions that better re-naturalise these industrial outputs; a process complicated by the dynamic formation of both the new and existing water courses. [@Llabres:2014 57] -{% include elements/figure.html image='1' caption='The particular topography and substrates present on site inform simulations that examine new potential water flows over time.' credit='Image via Enriqueta Llabres and Eduardo Rico, "Proxi modelling: A tacit approach to territorial praxis," The Journal of Space Syntax 5, no. 1 (August 2014): 60' %} +{% include elements/figure.html image='1.png' caption='The particular topography and substrates present on site inform simulations that examine new potential water flows over time.' credit='Image via Enriqueta Llabres and Eduardo Rico, "Proxi modelling: A tacit approach to territorial praxis," The Journal of Space Syntax 5, no. 1 (August 2014): 60' %} Physical models, working in conjunction with digital sensing systems, explored these dynamics by simulating the process of delta formation that results when sediment infiltrates slower-moving water bodies: @@ -26,7 +26,7 @@ Physical models, working in conjunction with digital sensing systems, explored t The results of these tests were recorded using laser capture and chromatic filtering to create a 3D model that can identify particular patterns in the direction and distance of water flows.[@Llabres:2014 59] Designers can then intervene into the form of the model to their understanding of the sedimentary dynamics against both the existing landscape state and against alternative states that introduce new physical formations.[@Llabres:2014 59] However, there are difficulties in 'miniaturising' such a simulation, in terms of both ensuring the dynamics are correct reflection of the larger scale system[@Llabres:2014 55] and in terms of ensuring the sensing techniques are of sufficient resolution to capture small scale changes.[@Llabres:2014 61] Nevertheless, the hybrid analogue/digital system allows the design process to become more intuitive as seeing and modifying a physical model creates causative relationships between complex non-linear phenomena that can be examined and tested with a specificity that exceeds the designer's immediate understanding.[@Llabres:2014 62] -{% include elements/figure.html image='2' caption="The model tests Hydrological flows against a variety of different morphological interventions (left) while a digital capture of the model's water flows over time depict the water's trajectory and volume (right)." credit='Image via Enriqueta Llabres and Eduardo Rico, "Proxi modelling: A tacit approach to territorial praxis," The Journal of Space Syntax 5, no. 1 (August 2014): 60' %} +{% include elements/figure.html image='2.png' caption="The model tests Hydrological flows against a variety of different morphological interventions (left) while a digital capture of the model's water flows over time depict the water's trajectory and volume (right)." credit='Image via Enriqueta Llabres and Eduardo Rico, "Proxi modelling: A tacit approach to territorial praxis," The Journal of Space Syntax 5, no. 1 (August 2014): 60' %} This method is placed in contrast to traditional methods of simulation. The advantage of the 'proxi' or 'hybrid' model is that it is "constantly in flux and shifting, with sand and water changing the overall configuration of the landscape and the urban environment"[@Llabres:2014 65] creating a method that is not "just a projective tool purely emanating from the designer."[@Llabres:2014 62] To an extent this is a characterisation that derives from the nature of the phenomena investigated and the simulative methods — parametric models themselves are also capable of rapidly changing their configuration in terms of their initial state and the simulated outcomes. What obstructs this in cases of many hydrological- or climate-driven systems is that the computationally taxing complexity of fluid phenomena renders simulations too cumbersome and thus difficult to integrate into rapid feedback systems. Without the ability to quickly test intuitive design decisions, the capabilities of either digital or physical modelling limit the ability of the designer to build up an understanding of the phenomena that consciously informs (rather than just validates) design intent. diff --git a/site/_techniques/field-conditions.md b/site/_techniques/field-conditions.md index ebc6ffdc..c1cf37e9 100644 --- a/site/_techniques/field-conditions.md +++ b/site/_techniques/field-conditions.md @@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ Unlike the hierarchical patterns of classicism or the minimal montages of modern The descriptions of urban phenomena (particularly urban growth) as field conditions are one of the enduring impacts of this notion within landscape architecture, wherein the distinctions between architectural and landscape conditions collapse if seen within a broader milieu of continuous differentiation.[@Moloney:2011 219] Considering sites in this manner was seen as better registering the complexity and dynamism of landscape systems; particularly given contemporary patterns of urbanism that move away from strict spatial and geometric orders and towards other methods of organisation.[@Barnett:2013 69] -{% include elements/figure.html image='1' caption='Diagram of various field compositions.' credit='Peter Hudac (https://peterhudac.wordpress.com/2010/09/22/from-object-to-field/) largely adapted from page 26 of Stan Allen, “From Object to Field,” Architectural Design 67, no. 5 (1997)' %} +{% include elements/figure.html image='1.png' caption='Diagram of various field compositions.' credit='Peter Hudac (https://peterhudac.wordpress.com/2010/09/22/from-object-to-field/) largely adapted from page 26 of Stan Allen, “From Object to Field,” Architectural Design 67, no. 5 (1997)' %} The second enduring impact is in a re-evaluation of figure-ground relationships in mapping. Considered as a field, the figure is understood "not as a demarcated object but as an effect emerging from the field itself — as moments of intensity; as peaks or valleys."[@Allen:1997 28] This approach has lead to strategies that seek to employ the field condition as a generative or analytic device, primarily in plan, as evident in a number of graphic techniques:[^ghn] @@ -24,14 +24,14 @@ The second enduring impact is in a re-evaluation of figure-ground relationships - The use of vector diagrams to measure site information; often paired with variable-length or colored arrows to display site information that has both a spatial direction (say the movement of air) as well as a given magnitude. - The use of grids that transform and transfigure in relation to a site's embedded spatial systems so that they can be appropriated as a structure for generating novelty rather than enforcing order.[@Monacella:2011 44] -{% include elements/figure.html image='2' caption="Lateral Office's study of the ecological characteristics across Baffin Island in Nunavut, Canada." credit='Image via Lateral Office for the Arctic Food Network project, posted on ArchDaily (https://www.archdaily.com/182435/arctic-food-network-lateral-office)' %} +{% include elements/figure.html image='2.jpg' caption="Lateral Office's study of the ecological characteristics across Baffin Island in Nunavut, Canada." credit='Image via Lateral Office for the Arctic Food Network project, posted on ArchDaily (https://www.archdaily.com/182435/arctic-food-network-lateral-office)' %} In each case, the graphic symbols employed attempt to — as much as is possible within a primarily graphic medium — shift away from strictly demarcated geometries towards more distributed and diffuse modes of representation. This parallels a distinction often discussed in relation to field conditions: that of intensive conditions and extensive conditions. In the original (thermodynamics) sense an extensive material property is one that is proportional to quantity: the mass or volume of an object will reduce if that object is divided whereas intensive properties — such as temperature or density — would not.[@DeLanda:2006 152] When talking about more general types of phenomena, rather than individual properties, intensive conditions are described as those that drive or exhibit continuous dynamism, such as meteorological conditions that flux according to constant shifts in pressure differences, air movement, or temperature fronts.[@DeLanda:2006 152] Such "mobile and productive" differences set up a kind of map/territory distinction whereby underpinning intensive conditions — say that of lithospheric lava movements — produce extensive measures — landform.[@DeLanda:2006 152] Traditional forms of mapping document extensive phenomena (by geometrically extensive means) that are the results of these underpinning processes whereas more 'intensive' modes of mapping can begin to "show the process itself."[@DeLanda:2006 152] -{% include elements/figure.html image='4' caption="Plan of the different 'climatic lands' of the Jade Eco Park, as expressed by the different intensities of the heat-shifting (pink) and humidity-shifting (blue) vegetation and devices." credit='Image by Mosbach paysagates, Philippe Rahm architects, and Ricky Liu & Associates for the TAICHUNG GATEWAY PARK competition.' %} +{% include elements/figure.html image='4.jpg' caption="Plan of the different 'climatic lands' of the Jade Eco Park, as expressed by the different intensities of the heat-shifting (pink) and humidity-shifting (blue) vegetation and devices." credit='Image by Mosbach paysagates, Philippe Rahm architects, and Ricky Liu & Associates for the TAICHUNG GATEWAY PARK competition.' %} Complicating this distinction is a characterisation of design strategies and graphic techniques as themselves emblematic of an intensive or extensive process. Codified systems of documentation and drawing — plans, sections, elevations — can be characterised as self-limiting techniques for "domesticating matter within metric space" whose geometric rigour is required for clear communication.[@Reiser:2009 80] In contrast, the lack of constraints found in a sketch[@Reiser:2009 80] or the diagram[@Reiser:2009 122] render it as a method for intensive exploration; whose expressions can be then be translated and evaluated against the constraints of codified techniques. An interplay between intensive and extensive modes of design exploration is often desirable, such as stepping between a plan and an exploratory physical model, as the differences in mode create a reciprocity where the "creative tendency of intensive fields and the codifying tendency of extensive fields do not merely work in succession."[@Reiser:2009 80] As in analogue media, the role of geometry in digital models is to act as a regulator of intensive material conditions. It delimits their properties into a particular fixed scalar, temporal, and spatial limit.[@Reiser:2009 80] At the same time, most digital models can be seen as more extensive in their codification of these properties: they are assemblages of data organised according to highly structured and inflexible properties that define geometric types such as that of a `Surface` or `Mesh`. While parametric modelling would be considered as extensive (if not more so) than standard forms of geometric modelling in terms of implementation and codification, the malleability of that codification (as assemblages of parametric relationships) can enable a generative intensity as previously-fixed geometric properties become dynamic from the perspective of the person creating and operating the model. -{% include elements/figure.html image='3' caption='Mapping of soil conditions across a littoral area according to the parametric analysis of a terrain model and site data.' credit='Image via Philip Belesky for the "Processes and Processors" project (http://philipbelesky.com/projects/processes-and-processors/)' %} +{% include elements/figure.html image='3.jpg' caption='Mapping of soil conditions across a littoral area according to the parametric analysis of a terrain model and site data.' credit='Image via Philip Belesky for the "Processes and Processors" project ()' %}