university of oregon - school of architecture and allied arts - department of architecture

analog / digital studio – arch 484/584 fall 00 – prof. nancy cheng

Assignment 2: Place

OBJECTIVES

- To examine how media shapes our perceptions of place

- To develop skills for gathering essential site information for design

DESCRIPTION

Understanding the spirit of a place is important for generating a site-responsive design. In visiting a site, a designer collects information about physical, social and cultural conditions while perceiving nuances that may shape the future direction. Traditionally, architects have used sketchbooks to record observations; now a whole spectrum of tools are available, including still cameras, video, tape recorders and measuring tools.

For this exercise, we want see how different tools facilitate recording different aspects and stimulate different perceptions

Can we expediently capture a place while enhancing a designer’s sensitivity? To understand how to gather essential site information in the most efficient and thought-provoking way, we will compare different methods including 1) video camera, 2) digital camera plus audio tape, and 3) sketchbook plus audio tape. The objective is to understand how the tools shape the site surveying process, and eventually understanding how site information can be best gathered or synthesized for Web dissemination.

What technology can help us look at the world in a thoughtful way? How can each media’s limitations and affordances be combined to give us the strongest toolkit for the field?

- Traditional ways of understanding place through film, photos, words and sketches (Laseau, Passini, Tuan, Walter) may be adapted for digital designers.

- Photogrammetry and Image-based modeling and rendering techniques generate 3D models from photographs or video and range-finding equipment. (Debevec, Martini, Hirshberg)

- 3D urban models for planning often include a street-level survey as well as data types such as maps, aerial photographs and typical massing forms. (Day, Radford, Dokonal). The goal of our project differs from image-based modeling and urban models because of a greater interest in site perceptions over geometric form.

- Techniques for publishing and navigating place based information (Gross, E&S Rapidsite, Wombat) make the gathered site information accessible.

REFERENCES

Dokonal, Wolfgang, B. Martens, Reinhard Ploesch, “Graz: The Creation of a 3-D City Model for Architectural Education”, in ECAADE 2000.

Debevec, Paul, SIGGRAPH’99

Ehrhardt, Mark A. and Mark D. Gross, “Place Based Web Resources for Historic Buildings”, in ECAADE 2000.

E&S Rapidsite software

Hirshberg, Urs and Andre Streilein, “CAAD Meets Digital Photogrammetry: Modelling ‘Weak Forms’ For Computer Measurement”, ACADIA ‘95

Laseau, Paul, Visual Notes

Martini, Kirk, ‘Digital Photogrammetry in Archeological Re- and De-construction: Assessing Seismic Damage Scenarios in Pompeii” in ACADIA’99.

Passini, Romedi, Wayfinding in Architecture

Radford, Antony, R. Woodbury, G. Braithwaite et. al., “Issues of Abstraction, Accuracy and Realism in Large Scale Computer Urban Models” in CAAD Futures 1997.

Tuan, Yi-Fu, Space and Place: The Perspective of Experience

Walter, Eugene Victor, Placeways, A theory of the human environment

PROCEDURE

Student pairs or groups will spend time at the site with one of the three toolsets (video, still camera and audio tape, sketchbook and audio tape). The groups will gather information about:

Spatial configuration (panoramas,

Sensory perceptions (views, sounds, smells)

Materials (textures, colors, density, contrasts, adjacencies)

Natural forces (sun, light, wind)

Human activities and Cultural meaning (in the larger Brookings area)

As you work, document the process, noting difficulties and successes. If time allows, you will switch toolsets and try out the other media.

SATURDAY SITE VISIT SCHEDULE:

The drive to Brookings takes about 4 hours and 15 minutes according to the bus company.

10:30 – Meet at Breakers Coffee House, second stoplight north of California on 101

Proceed to site (bring lunches)

Look at site possibilities, select site, record site impressions

1:00 - Arrive at Chetco Valley Museum, talk to Brookings residents

~3:00 (or earlier) South Coast Inn Bed and Breakfast & surrounding neighborhood

~4:00 - Return to site, measure and document

Cookout

Directions to the Harbor Hills : Turn east on Benham Land (first light north of California,third south of the Chetco River) After a few hundred feet turn left on Harbor Hills Hts Rd. which is narrow and paved. After 1.2 miles you'll come to thetop of the hill and pavement will end. Keep going another 1/2-3/4 mile, throughthe gate. Stop just past the sailboat.

Directions to the Chetco Valley Museum:

Up one mile on 101, behind Cypress Medical center & Mobile homes is a red & white building with a Chetco Valley Museum sign, 15461 Museum Road (frontage) on east side.