100211 - analysis

On a continuum without values, everything can dissolve into inconsistency; however if we negotiate its inflections, we can ensure continuities between the most disparate registers, between the most distant eras. 

- Bernard Cache
Earth Moves, The Furnishing of Territories, 1995

The parameters we have used to evaluate the landscape so far (size, density and overall organization) have been general – they have not qualified particularities. Now (expanding on knowledge gained in making cluster diagrams) you will begin analyzing your landscape under more specific environmental and material parameters. The aim of this analysis is to unpack the unique nature of your landscape and articulate how it is different from any other in the studio.

Conceptual shadow drawing
Furuse House, Takefumi Aida

Day-long shadow study, top view,
Ashish Kulkarni

Before beginning the analysis, the landscape must be complete in both physical and digital forms. The physical model must be spray-painted with Krylon indoor/outdoor primer in All-Purpose Gray. This is available at Janovic and other paint/art stores around the city. Call ahead to find a store that has it in stock.

SUNLIGHT ANALYSIS

Study sun path geometries in the Environmental Control Systems handout. Then use Rhino’s ‘One-Day Sun Study’ tool to track sunlight moving across the landscape. Locate the landscape at 40 degrees north latitude, the approximate latitude of New York City. Orient it to north and to gravity. Render shadows in top view for every 20 minutes of each of the following days:

• winter solstice (shortest day)
• summer solstice (longest day
• equinox (equal day and night)

Create a vertical filmstrip of small (approx. 2” high) still images for each of the three days. Crop images to the extents of the landscape.

TERRAIN ANALYSIS

Develop a three-dimensional analytical ‘drawing’ in the wood landscape with piano wire threaded through its pre-drilled holes (do not drill new holes). Install wire procedurally in response to geometries at a range of scales (from molding profile to the landscape as a whole). Explore potentials for the wire to:

• hug the surface of the landscape
• reside in the thickness of the landscape
• project away from the landscape
• thread multiples through single holes
• interact (support, spread, weave, knot) with each other
• utilize different gauges

Wire drawings will reveal latent geometries of the landscape and build on them.

Go here for examples of the final wired landscapes.

Reading:

Sanford Kwinter, Architectures of Time. [excerpts]
Steven Johnson, Emergence. [excerpts]
Fuller Moore, Environmental Control Systems. [excerpts]