Site observation 0.006

At this stage , it is the test my design with an on-site mockup. The mockup should focuse on space. During the mockup, i can understand the   scales and relationships directly correlating to the human body. I use the construction tape, rope and sketch the proposal on the site, so i can know the size of different functional areas and have a direct vision feeling.

Mockup the parking lots on the site

Mockup  deck system on the site

Site observation 0.005 {synth}

This site observation is prepared for the priject 2.001. I also study the new technology photosynth site. I develop a synth that expresses your phenomena/installation.

Site 0.004 {observe:diagram:sketch:annotate}

For this observation you will begin to record the temporal, micro details of the site. I Choosed an area between the river, levee and the neighborhood that holds some of the the observable phenomena from project 1.001 and the temporal change  studying from project 1.002. The location is close the French Market and it is the entrance of the levee gate. I went to the site two times during this site observation.

I observe and  annotate the space. First I document every conceivable detail within the space, including the change of people’s activities, the traffic, the air , the sound and so on.During and after this process I sit within the space for 2-3hrs  and document everything that changes within the space. I record all of this information through a camera, notes . With this information you will return to the studio and creat my annotate diagram.

I create the annotation to explain all of the conditions as they exist.  Every five minutes, i record the change of site.

site 0.003 {spectacle . record}

This observation is about the Mardi Gras. The parades,  it effects the entire City of New Orleans and the Marigny-Bywater is part of the festivities. Because i went to Mardi Gras several times, i can understand the culture of festival.

In french,”Mardi Gras” literally means ”fat Tuesday.” so named because it falls on the day before Ash Wednesday, the last day prior to lent… a 40-day season of prayer and fasting observed by the Roman Catholic Church( and many other Christian denominations) which ends on Easter Sunday. Mardi Gras have a three colors. purple represents justice; green, faith; and gold, power. It’s also interesting to note that our Mardi Gras colors influenced the choice of  school colors for arch rivals LSU.

There have several times that i went to New Orleans to enjoy the Mardi Gras. When i came back , i just thought  Chinese poem: Year after year flowers look alike, while people never remain the same. Because of the Super Bowl champions, New orleans have more celebration environment .

Mardi-Gras beads

The parades

crowd

Atrio costumed as vampire Marie Antoiettes are seen in a Bourbon Street club( picture is from internet)

Site 0.002{measure . annotate}

This site observation is basic on the first observation. In order to further understand the spatial qualities of the site, we  return to the Marigny-Bywater and create a series of section-perspectives that document the same experience and phenomenon. I caculated the dimention of the different voids between the houses.  The re-photograph the space to capture an image that can be used to create a measured section-perspective, so in order to this basic data, i draw the sections and perspectives to find the phenomena of the site.

our records route in the map

record the voids space

Site : 0.001 {journey . perspective}

Our first site observation is about the journey. It  is a series of 30 photographs. The series of photographs should read as a linear narrative through the environment.  During my observation, i need to draw 30 sections and perspectives to represent my journey. I can find the relationship of the residential and urban space. Let me standing  in the macro and micro scale to understand the landscape . site 0.001 observation collects the information making me understand the context of neighborhoo. I glad to research the voids between different houses. It change the pattern of life and the form of urban construction.

Road sign:

Different voids:

scale of streets

Washington square activities:

Project2.002

project 2.002 PDF

Overall:

The final project was to develop a site proposal for a newly opened space within the Marigy-Bywater neighborhood. The site design seeks to acknowledge the relationship among the Mississippi River, levee, and neighborhood. I synthesized the processes of observation, mapping, analysis, prototyping, modeling, proposition and representation. At the beginning of the phase, we did group work to research all information. When we gathered all information together and learned more about the urban scale details, I applied my design concept to the site.

Site situation:

My site is within the Marigy-Bywater neighborhood. I focused on the site at the corner of Piety Chartres. The site locates both industry and residential areas. The open space is outside of levee systems.

My design strategies and works:

Our groups created a mapping study and analysis for the site, which include vehicular and pedestrian circulation, topography, hydrology, surface, vegetation, building typologies, building program/use and composite map. During my first time to get to the site, I realized the open space have many factors to consider. The topography of site is a big challenge to me. At the site, there is nature topography along with the levee wall. The existing situation of the site is covered by parking lots and is of little recreation function. The site has very good views. In this area, residential people need some recreation space and aesthetic area along the levee.

My general idea was to utilize the topography to create the multiple function area where could connect the landscape between residential area and the river. The straight line of deck is carefully conceived using playful curves that constantly changed to create ledges for seating and new routes to access different functional areas. It allows for different experiences with the site and the neighborhood. The project is the interaction of both the site and the urban streetscape and it would promote the new interaction between people and the landscape.

The form of deck was inspired by the topography of the site. The identity of each deck structure was derived from the spatial qualities and activities that were suggested by its form. The form stimulates and allows people to interpret the space in many different ways. In the basketball court, the deck system plays roles of the settings and playful areas, so the curved deck is constantly changing. In performance area, the deck system maintains the settings role. The change of form would be considered. The deck system is the whole thing to interact the different functional areas. I want to give this area more vitality. For different weathers, I put the shadow devices to make the site cooler and plant in the back of basketball court to change the microclimate of the neighborhood. The analog explains the design and implementation of the responsive technology. During the process of design, I also valued the original design of Reinventing the Crescent Park where located in the open space levee side. It was designed by Hargreaves Associates. The design applied more beautiful views in the Marigy-Bywater neighborhood. Combining the outside and inside levee together, my project design has the same purpose as Reinventing and Crescent Park.

Illumination:

In the final project, a newly opened space was developed to seek the acknowledgement of the relationship within the site. The preconditions are observation, mapping, analysis of site situation and application of some decent technology.

Project 2.001

project 2.001 PDF

Overall:

Landscape Architecture works with different media in the design of environments. As a designer, the system interaction is an important method to construct the evocative and site-specific environments. A number of technologies assemble together in the past decade. The project 2.001 is an active, reactive and interactive process with new technologies and explores nascent technologies and materials about a case study.

Site situation:

The location of the site is the same as of the project 1.002, Marigny-Bywater neighborhood.

My design strategies and works:

This project is different from the other projects. First, I choosed three materials from the transmaterial database and defined the materials properties and applications. My research sense is Acceleration and Electromagnetic. Process is Arduino Transform is projection/Display. My case study is about the Primal Source. I researched from designer, concept, site and context, definition of the technologies and how they are implemented. The London-based architect and artist Usman Haque designed interactive architectural systems and was interested in the ways that people relate to each other and to their surrounding space. He developed both physical spaces and the software and systems that bring them to life. In other words, these systems based on the software’s algorithms with several functions: the detection of a position in space, of a sound, of an odour, of the temperature, of a cellular phone, etc. During the case study, I could learn some nascent technology application in design to satisfy the needs of people.

Upon completing of the case study, I looked back to the entre studio work and translated a series of technologies into

Project 1.002

Overall:

At the same site as in the first project, I need to explore the initial site that is full of changes, materiality and cultures, all occurring at multiple temporal, perceptual, and physical scales. Landscape is a changeable phenomenon. I explored the Marigny-Bywater neighborhood through the lens of temporal or dynamic systems that occur on micro and macro scales.

Site situation:

The site is the Marigny-Bywater neighborhood. I explored the portion of the site which closes to the French market. The relationships between the levee and neighborhood are my focus of study. There are very good views to watch the Mississippi river and the Downtown of New Orleans. The N. Peter St, Pauline St and Chartres St. locate outside of the levee.

My design strategies and works:

The first focus was on observable phenomena. I went to the site several times. First time I

took many pictures and observed the site environment. I had a basic understanding of the site. The components of the site environmental include the people, the traffic situation, the sound, the wind, and the events of site. There could be on multiple time scales. Some specific components made the changes possible. In order to understand the site better, I went to the site again and took the video to record the changes of the site. During the second time, I got some very important information. There were some specific signals occurring. I recorded different events including all details every five minutes. The information was the temporal quality of the site. Multiple functions exist at the site. Levees play the role of protection as well as the function of recreation. The outside and inside of the site are totally different. The same site has dissimilar phenomena related to different events. The inside of the levee is like the abandoned areas of little recreation functions. Levee breaks the tie of water and neighborhood residents.

Based on my observation and records about the site, I explored the dynamic systems that make the site changes possible. The historical maps are very important information to understand the physical change of the levees system. I also draw some diagrams that illustrate the change of the site. Combining analytical and experiential data together developed the narrative of my site phenomena. Using the records of changeable phenomena, I created the physical diagram which is a three dimensional representation of the site in flux. I used softwares such as Photoshop and Illustrator to build the changes in process. System Model represents the phenomena.

Illumination:

The site analysis should be the process. There are many element analyses. The under layer of phenomena contains some hidden essence.

Project 1.001

project1.001 PDF

Landscape and environment are complex and always combine together to understand.

In my observation and illustration, The first step was to create a series of maps and diagrams to understand the urban scale of relationship

with the Marigny-Bywater neighborhood. The second step was to find the human experience within the site.

Site situation:

The Marigny is a subdistrict of the Bywater District Area. Its boundaries as defined by the City Planning Commission are: North Rampart Street and St. Claude Avenue to the north, Franklin Avenue to the east, the Mississippi River to the south and Esplanade Avenue to the west. The Bywater is a portion of New Orleans down the Mississippi River from the French Quarter and the Marigny.

My design strategies and works:

The first step, I observed every place of the site and basically understand the situation of the site. Every time I had new thoughts. I also checked more information about the site history. I got very useful information about the site that could help me to explore the Marigny-Bywater. After the first observation I could understand the basic relationship among the site. Due to the situation of Marigny-Bywater neighborhood and location, I could identify the scale with the urban scale and neighborhood. I took many pictures of the site. The second step, I understood the space where people are the components of human experience (activities?) within the site. I found the site is different from the other site, where includes buildings, environment, infrastructure and transportation. In the buildings, I am curiously interested in the void of different housing. The specific conditions exist throughout the site, but there also exist micro and macro scales within the site. For the diagram of circulation and voids location of the site, I could understand that the residential people utilize void space situation and site location. In the macro scale, I could understand the urban space situation in the specific site. In this area, there are some different spaces utilizing methods than the other sites. This is my exploration in my study.

I

created a series of overlays using either analog or the other media that represent each of following: roadways, building massing, vegetation, flood infrastructure, building typology, program use, and topography. I also sketched many sections and perspectives drawings. It also made me great understanding of the use of void space at the site. These are very useful methods to explore the phenomena.  I found there are several different ways of voids at the site. For every different way’s void, I calculated the dimensions and found out the use of ways. It is very interesting to me.

My illumination:

The first project was the beginning of my second semester study. In my afterward research, I should consider more about micro and macro scales in urban space. I also studies the human experience could change the space and give the space more functional meanings. Every phenomenon exists in the macro and micro space. It could also change the urban space pattern. The first project is a good start for my study. I enjoyed the process very much.

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