A ROUTLEDGE FREEBOOK

Design Technol ogies in

Landscape Archit ect ure
 04:: Introduction

06:: Chapter 1. Materiality and Fabrication

23:: Chapter 2. Digital Tools

32:: Chapter 3. Responsive Technologies

43:: Chapter 4. Sensing Landscapes through

Perspectives
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 Introduction
New methods of designing, modelling, building and interacting have increased through
the advancement of digital technologies across the built environment. With the
For any questions, please implementation of Level 2 BIM (Building Information Modelling) earlier this year for all
contact: public-sector works in the UK, and to celebrate the release of our collaborative book
Grace Harrison, Editor BIM for Landscape with the Landscape Institute, this FreeBook brings together a
collection of chapters on using digital tools in landscape architecture. Written by
Umar Masood, Marketing
Manager
leading experts, the chapters showcase key topics such as fabrication, 3D modelling,
responsive technologies and digital tools for BIM. For details of all of the books
Drew Barnhard, Corporate
featured here, and for other related titles, visit our full list of recently published titles at
Sales Executive
www.routledge.com/landscape.

If you would like to discuss a project you may want to publish, please contact our editor,
Grace Harrison.

Chapter 1 ? Materiality and Fabrication, taken from ?Landscape Architecture and Digital
Technologies?
In this chapter, Jillian Walliss and Heike Rahmann explore the increase, development
and challenges of digital fabrication techniques as part of the design and construction
processes. Shown through a range of project examples, from large-scale infrastructural
projects to a detailed focus on components and systems, this chapter highlights how
the use of these technologies within landscape architecture has resulted in greater
emphasis being placed on material-led creative and evolved designs.
Jillian Walliss is Senior Lecturer in Landscape Architecture at the University of
Melbourne, Australia.
Heike Rahmann is a landscape architect and Lecturer at RMIT University, Australia.

Chapter 2 ? Digital Tools, taken from ?BIM for Landscape?

This chapter explains the software and tools which can be used on a BIM project,
offering criteria for selecting software, questions to ask and potential issues to consider.
It clarifies that, whilst BIM is not software itself, specific software functionality is
essential in order to meet the Level 2 BIM standards. Combining these requirements
with a practice?s strategic objectives, this chapter helps you to identify the right tools
you need to begin the BIM transition.
The Landscape Institute is the professional body for landscape architects in the UK.
Chapter 3 ? Responsive Technologies, taken from ?Responsive Landscapes?
Authors Bradley Cantrell and Justine Holzman investigate the idea of ?responsive?
landscapes in this chapter, which have been traditionally approached from a Human
Computer Interface (HCI) perspective, and how they can be used to re-purpose and
expand design practices. The chapter follows the evolving methodologies of sensing,
processing, visualization and actuation and how these are transforming our perception
of different environments.
Bradley Cantrell is an Associate Professor and landscape architect at Harvard Graduate
School of Design, USA.
Justine Holzman is a landscape researcher and Adjunct Professor at the University of
Tennessee, Knoxville, USA.

Chapter 4 ? Sensing Landscapes through Perspectives, taken from ?Representing

Landscapes: Digital?
In this chapter, Maria Debije Counts showcases examples of digital student perspective
drawings from Pennsylvania State University that highlight how illustrations can be
used to inform and develop sensory-based landscape design investigations. Advanced
3D digital modelling tools have enabled the testing of landscape compositions earlier
on in the design process, resulting in the ability to quickly shape and edit different
perspectives and respond to questions raised. This chapter includes a range of 3D
landscape perspective drawings generated using tools such as AutoCAD, Rhinoceros
and Photoshop.
Maria Debije Counts is a visiting instructor at Pennsylvania State University, USA.

Please note that many references and footnotes have been removed. You can purchase
a fully referenced version of each title through our website. Additionally, please be
aware that all references to other chapters found within the text relate to the original
book the excerpt was sourced from rather than this FreeBook.
1 Materiality and Fabrication
 Chapter 1. Materiality and Fabrication

Economies of scale and limited budgets often limit the opportunities for bespoke
design in landscape architecture. Furniture, engineering infrastructure, paving and
lighting are frequently specified from design catalogues, rather than specifically
designed and constructed for a project. Advancements in digital fabrication and
construction processes however provide new opportunities for exploring materiality
and construction techniques, thereby broadening the scope of landscape design
practice to feature a stronger commitment to ?making?.
Digital fabrication describes the use of computer-controlled machines as tools to make
The following is excerpted parts or components during the construction process. Considered a ?sub-category?of
from Landscape Architecture Computer-Aided Design (CAD) and Computer-Aided Manufacturing (CAM), digital
and Digital Technologies: fabrication has been applied for over 50 years in engineering and industrial design in
Re-conceptualising design and
the manufacturing of products ranging from airplanes and cars to consumer goods.1
making by Jillian Walliss,
Heike Rahmann. © 2016 Within architecture, digital modelling techniques ? such as Computer Numerical
Taylor & Francis Group. All
Control (CNC) milling ? have been experimented with since the early 1970s. However, a
rights reserved.
more committed investment in new fabrication techniques became necessary as the
design of complex forms and surfaces began to challenge conventional construction
Learn more: techniques. Gehry Partners and Gehry Technologies have contributed significantly to
the advancement of digital fabrication. The design and construction of the Walt Disney
Concert Hall in 1989, conceived as the ?first comprehensive use of CAD/CAM?2 in
architecture, signalled an important step in the evolution of architectural
manufacturing and construction. As Branko Kolarevic explains as constructability
becomes a direct function of computability, the question is no longer whether a
particular form is buildable, but what new instruments of practice are needed to take
advantage of the opportunities opened up by the digital modes of production.3

With its intriguing complex curve structure, the Concert Hall project tested the limits of
materiality and constructability by working between digital and physical models
developed with CAD/CAM fabrication methods at various stages in the process.
Originally conceived as a stone building, these explorations included generating
full-scale physical prototypes of the exterior stone walls from digital templates and the
milling of the stone surface to test the curvilinear shapes and material breaking points.
When it was later decided to construct the building using metal, CAD/CAM processes
were employed to solve the sheet components. And in a further ground-breaking
development, contractors worked ?out of the same computer model without shop
drawings, fabricating their components directly from the computer model?.4
Architects now regularly explore a range of fabrication techniques as part of their
design and construction processes, with CNC cutting (2D fabrication) one of the most
commonly applied. Other techniques include subtraction fabrication where a volume of
material is removed from a solid using multi-axis milling, additive fabrication where a
material is developed through an incremental layering of material, and formative
fabrication where material is reshaped using mechanical forces such as heat and steam.
These new techniques are accompanied by a renewed interest in materiality,
uncovering new composite materials and working with familiar materials such as
concrete and wood in innovative ways, and exploring the mutability of materials where
properties change according to conditions. This extends into an investigation of
?biomimicry technology?where designers look to biological precedents for inspiration.5
This focus on materiality, fabrication and manufacturing processes has led to what
Kolarevic describes as a new emphasis on material-first design processes,
re-establishing architecture as a fundamentally material practice.6 This technology-
inspired direction states Kolarevic produces new architectural forms that are ?affecting
in novel ways our perceptions of surface, form, and space through carefully crafted
effects?.7
Fabrication techniques therefore offer landscape architecture far more than an efficient
construction process, fundamentally shifting concepts of design generation. Nick Dunn
observes that ?this process has facilitated a greater fluidity between design generation,
development, and fabrication, than traditional approaches which necessitated a more
cumulative, staged process?.8 Within a digital fabrication process, material testing and
prototyping assume an important part of the design process. Further, the ability to
make components or objects directly from digital design information, states Dunn, is a
major transformative moment for design disciplines,9 and is captured in the commonly
used term ?From File to Fabrication?.
This process is demonstrated in the manufacturing of the steel work for the Supertrees
featured in the Gardens by the Bay discussed in Chapter 3. The Supertrees were
fabricated by Singapore company TTJ Design and Engineering, who applied Tekla BIM
software in the development of the general drawings and the connections. The canopy
presented a particularly complex geometry (Figure 4.2a), requiring the detailing of
interlocking branches as a delicate network of steel tubes, enclosed by a stainless steel
cable for structural support. Working with the designers and BIM software (which
provided immediate updating of any changes), each tree took just 6 weeks to model,
with the engineers claiming that standard CAD modelling would have taken three
times longer.10 Once the general drawings were agreed upon, the software was used to
develop shop drawing, which indicated joint design and the position of steel bolts. The
fabrication factory worked to these shop drawings, along with 3D models that helped
the fabricators to visualise the structure. These structures were preassembled in the
factory to check and paint, before being sent to the site for their final assembly, as
shown in Figure 4.2b.
Characteristics of landscape architecture such as scale and unpredictable site
conditions can make it more challenging to engage with fabrication. For example the
flowing surfaces of LAAC?s Landhausplatz introduced in Chapter 1 were fabricated in
situ. The final geometry of the scheme could not be established until the removal of all
the existing paving from the site, which occurred late in the documentation process.11
Consequently the use of precast concrete would have extended the construction
schedule. Instead the smooth topographic surface was constructed from concrete
panels fabricated on site using a B7 concrete mix. A timber template set out with
surveyor precision, shown in Figure 4.3a and 4.3b, was used to define the precise
geometries. The surface was constructed over a layer of foam glass gravel which was
covered in a 15? 20 cm of quick-setting concrete which was then grooved and
polished.12 A mix of black, yellow and white granite chips was mixed into the concrete
to develop a more dynamic finish to the surface, as shown in Figure 4.3c.
Despite these challenges, there are many aspects of digital fabrication that are of
significant value to landscape architecture. This chapter explores this potential,
beginning with the construction of the large-scale infrastructural projects, such as the
Victorian Desalination Plant and Max Lab IV projects, introduced in Chapter 1. Both
schemes were conceived and designed using parametric models. As we will explain in
more detail, the construction phase can be considered a ?paperless process?with the
digital models offering the data necessary to directly inform the construction
machinery.

Towards a paperless construction process

Undoubtedly one of the greatest advantages of working with digital terrain models in
landscape architecture reveals itself in the delivery of projects that involve a significant
proportion of earthworks. Economic and environmental considerations increasingly
require the balancing of cut-and-fill volumes while simultaneously demanding
high-quality design outcomes. Precision, productivity and effective site management
and coordination prove to be vital in delivering complex topographic landform within
increasingly tighter time-frames. This heightens the need for landscape architects to
operate in 3D terrain models informed, as Peter Petschek suggests by ?new
developments in surveying and visualization?that ?affect how we receive data and
visualize terrain in Landscape Architecture?.13
ASPECT Studios?design for the Victorian Desalination Plant, as well as Snøhetta?s
proposal for Max Lab IV would not have been achievable through conventional design
and construction processes, instead relying on precise digital terrain models as well as
new construction technologies. Developments in the construction industry have
focused on introducing more time ? and subsequently? cost-efficient technology which
has its origins in the large earth moving practices associated with the mining industry.
Whereas conventional earthwork construction relied on time-consuming processes that
involved staking out the terrain on site to mark reference heights for the proposed
landforms, bulldozers are now able to directly embed 3D design models into the
machine?s system, reducing the need for paper-based documentation. Peter Petschek
suggests that these stakeless grading processes could achieve cost savings of up to
15? 20 per cent.14
For example, the overall scope and complexity of the Desalination project provided
enormous challenges for all stakeholders involved in the project?s design and
construction. In addition, the project was extremely fast paced, a factor of financial
constraints and the project?s political significance. The expanded role for the landscape
architects was also achieved with financial efficiency gained by working with the
digital model. First, the major topographic forms emerge from the need to maintain the
huge amount of fill generated from the excavation on site. Second, the iterative design
generation process facilitated by 3D modelling was time efficient with far more
exploration and iterations than in other more orthodox design processes. According to
ASPECT Studios, these iterations were produced in less than 20 per cent of the time
required using more conventional representation techniques. Third, this speed in
working with landform translated right through to the construction process. The
landscape digital model was fed into the consolidated engineering model, which was
then send to surveyors in Brisbane to convert the files into formats, readable by the
bulldozers.

Stakeless grading
Effectively, the incorporation of satellite positioning and 3D digital models into
earthwork construction processes recasts the entire design and construction procedure
into a monumental example of ?file to fabrication?.Simple machine- controlled systems
provide small monitors to visually reference and navigate between existing and
proposed terrain, more advanced systems control the positioning of the blade via GPS
and robotic total stations located on-site. Increasingly important in large-scale
infrastructural and landscape projects with significant earthworks are GPS-directed
machines, which enable the machine operator to reference their location on the site
plan in real time while simultaneously controlling cut-and-fill volumes to the highest
level of accuracy.
Bulldozers used in the Desalination project were fully automated without the
assistance of grade foremen, meaning that no manual input was required to control the
blade?s position and machine location on-site. Simultaneously, the dozers recorded the
new profile, subsequently allowing the surveyor to check the proposed landform
against the existing profile without referring to 2D plans. Although 2D drawings were
initially produced by the engineers to check the design, the new technologies provided
a far more reliable control systems. Melvyn Leong from the engineering firm Thiess in
charge of constructing the Desalination project notes ?nobody looks at drawings
anymore?.15
The Max Lab IV project was constructed using similar technologies. Working with PEAB,
one of the leading construction and engineering companies in Scandinavia, enabled
Snøhetta to utilise the latest technology and to program their terrain data directly into
the bulldozers. The real-time GPS positioning also allowed the adoption of a more
effective in-situ construction process instead of temporarily storing excavated soil for
later application. Thus, cut-and-fill procedures occurred in one-move operations
meaning the waved landscape could be constructed simultaneously to the excavation
of the building foundation.
Due to this process, almost 60 per cent of landscape was completed only 4 months
after commencing the construction, allowing the design and construction team to
achieve the design within the tight time-frame. More importantly, this digital design
and construction practice proved to be the biggest cost-saver on the project, effectively
allowing the landscape architects to ?buy?acknowledgement from clients, who before
the project did not pay much attention to landscape values.
Strong competition and demands for ever increasing productivity drives further
developments in construction technology. In 2015, Japan?s largest manufacturer of
heavy construction equipment, Komatsu, announced its newest investment in
technology that will mark the next step towards fully automated construction
processes.16 Driven by Japan?s declining population, leading to labour and skill shortage
in the surveying and construction industries, Komatsu has started to reposition its
business focus from heavy to soft machinery, investing in new drone technology.
The drones will focus on site surveying using sensors and cameras to produce
high-precision 3D point cloud data, thereby shortening the surveying process from
multiple days to a few hours. This data can be overlayed with proposed terrain models
directly into the dozer?s computer. Ultimately, the drones should be able to control the
entire grading process including navigating blade position, profile checks and machine
movement, giving rise to unmanned construction machines. Komatsu predicts that the
first drones and fully automated dozers will be in use on construction sites for the
2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo.
Similar to the influence of fabrication technologies on the architectural profession,
these advancements in earthwork construction should expand both the client and the
landscape architect?s ambitions for the design potential of landform. While these
construction techniques are presently associated with large-scale infrastructural
projects, their future application will extend into smaller site works as technology
continues to become more affordable and accessible.
In the following discussion we move from large-scale landform to a more detailed
focus on the materiality and fabrication of landscape components and systems.

View Figure 4.4a and 4.4b; The Victorian Desalination Plant posed challenges to
coordinate the complex site and the construction process.
View Grading process and earth work construction for the MaxLab IV project;
Figure 4.5a - GPS controlled bulldozer
Figure 4.5b - Real-time control of profile levels
Figure 4.5c - During construction August 2011
Figure 4.5d - Completed landforms February 2012

Material behaviour
Landscape architects are increasingly interested in a ?material-first?design practice
where the consideration of material behaviour and fabrication techniques are given
more prominence at the beginning of design processes.17 Of particular interest is the
design of infrastructural components such as geo-textiles and geo-cells that control
runoff, sedimentation and erosion processes and have conventionally been associated
with engineering.
A focus on performance combined with parametric modelling and fabrication
technologies expands the scope of landscape architecture design to encompass the
materiality of surface, the fabrication of systems and the innovative uses of stone,
concrete and timber. As the following three examples will demonstrate, these design
processes emphasise the testing of material behaviour and performance through a mix
of physical and digital prototyping. They also highlight how fabrication technologies
alter the relationships between the designer and contractor and offer more efficient
manufacturing techniques that encourage customised approaches to design detailing.
Fabricating surface
In his 2013 seminar subject Surface FX, Brian Osborn interrogated the potential of
CAD/CAM techniques in the design and fabrication of landscape surfaces. The seminar,
which formed part of the Landscape Architecture program at the University of Virginia,
focused on ?the dynamic boundary between the ground and human inhabitation?as
expressed in erosion control systems, drainage structures, paving and retaining walls.
These surfaces state Osborn ?have the unique capacity to simultaneously influence
biologic process and sensory experience (effect + affect)?.18
Importantly, the seminar emphasises material behaviour rather than material
properties (with the later placing emphasis on questions of durability and strength).
Instead a focus on behaviour encourages the exploration of the ?tendencies of material?
in relationship to dynamic environmental conditions and processes including the
consideration of ?emergent happenings?such as transmission, erosion and failure.19
Chris Woods?s project LAG demonstrates how an exploration of material behaviour
considered against temperature fluctuation can inspire novel form making. Working
with concrete, Woods examined how the thermal mass of concrete responded to
temperature change, with these principles applied in the design and fabrication of a
concrete seat.
The design intent was not to produce a homogeneous condition but to instead
manipulate the thermal mass to create varied conditions through temperature.
Beginning with a solid form, Wood subtracted material to create ?a gradient of voided
space?.20 A one-third-scaled prototype was constructed using high performance ductal
concrete and CNC fabrication, as shown in Figure 4.6a. Testing in different conditions
recorded through thermal imaging highlighted temperature variance of up to 10
degrees.21 The final form was fabricated and features a ?slow?and ?fast?end. The fast
end responds quickly to changes in temperature, for instance warming quickly on a cool
morning, while the more substantial massing of the slow end maintains temperatures
for longer. In a further detail, the thermal coefficient of the thin concrete edge was
increased through the addition of metal aggregates.

View Figure 4.7a-b. The final form of the concrete seat incorporated knowledge gained
from testing the material behaviour of concrete and features a ?slow?and ?fast?end.

Osborn?s ongoing research project Tech Mat (Temporary Erosion Control Mat) builds on
the agendas of Surface FX to explore the potential of paper in controlling erosion on
sloping sites.22 Beginning with convex and concave shapes, Osborn explored how
these geometries influence processes of erosion and deposition over sloping sites. A
complex pattern comprising concave and convex forms proved valuable in producing a
series of small terraces that balanced and stabilised soil and water movement (Figure
4.8). These explorations provided the principles for a more refined form, which evolved
into a folded surface that could be flat-packed for ease of transportation and site
installation. Material testing of paper explored its ability to absorb water and to
support plant material while slowly degrading. Tech Mat prototypes were constructed
and tested on an 80 per cent slope with the results incorporated into a larger-scale
version, which further evolved through detailed consideration of suitable planting
materials (Figure 4.8d).
A final prototype emerged as ?a single, highly articulated surface, capable of modulating
a range of environmental effects over time?.23 The structural form of the paper-based
geo-textile interacts with the dynamic processes of erosion and deposition to produce
terrace structures, while the degradable qualities of the paper encourages the
embedded mineral additives and plant seeds to drop into the trapped soil. Over time
the plants will replace the eroding structural strength of the paper to stabilise the
slopes and slow water runoff, contributing, what Osborn hopes are ?aesthetically
satisfying forms and memorable places for human habitation?.24
This ?material first?design process produces an innovative response to erosion control
which is conventionally solved with minimal consideration of aesthetics, materiality or
ecology. Osborn?s focus on the materiality and performance of landscape surfaces is
equally shared by the design practice of PEG office of landscape + architecture who we
first introduced in Chapter 2. As we discussed previously, PEG are interested in the
manner in which pattern through geometric repetition or temporal re-occurrence can
register, guide and convey site processes.
PEG argue that the capacity of geometry to articulate site functions such as water flow
or plant growth make pattern a valuable strategy for extending engineering solutions
beyond conventional approaches.25
PEG has been exploring the potential of these concepts in the development of new
approaches for maintaining the extensive number of vacant sites (over 60,000) found
across Philadelphia. So far, a Neighbourhood Transformation initiative, which began in
2002 has cleaned over 3000 vacant lots. Adopting a ?greening?strategy?,this program
removes rubbish, regrades the sites, establishes lawn and trees and reinstates a picket
fence around the vacant site?s perimeter. PEG is interested in developing an alternative
approach which ?achieves the same aesthetics of care but provides more expressive
diversity with lower maintenance?.26
Similar to Osborn, PEG explores the potential of customising geo-textiles for
constructing new strategies of surface control. In a distinguishing feature, PEG?s design
response registers the relationship between organic and inorganic material on the
ground surface through the application of pattern which they argue is particularly
useful in working with the phenomena of vacancy.27
This philosophy informs their design concept for the Not Garden (and in a further
iteration Not Again) which offers a contemporary interpretation of the geometric
patterns of the historic knot garden. Working with parametric software and laser-cut
fabrication, a series of repetitive patterns shown in Figure 4.9a were cut from
geo-textile material. This material was then laid onto the regraded surface of the
vacant site. Over time, plants grow around the patterns, which as illustrated in Figure
4.9(d), remain legible. PEG has explored this approach with a variety of intricate
patterns and planting material ranging from turf to flowering drought tolerant ground
cover. As an alternative weed control measure, achieved with minimal maintenance, the
registering of the pattern on the lot?s surface contributes to an ?aesthetic of care?.28
These concepts are further employed in the project Edaphic Effects that focuses on
issues of water infiltration and the design potential of customised geo-cells. During
rain events over 16 billion gallons of raw sewerage currently flows into Philadelphia?s
rivers and streams. Encouraging on-site water infiltration and retention on the
extensive vacant sites forms an important strategy for addressing the issue. PEG?s
Incremental Infrastructure project, funded by a 2011 Boston Society of Architects
research grant uses ?customized substrates?and new configurations for geo-cells to
propose innovative responses to on-site storm water collection.29
Conventionally, geo-cells are geometrically uniform 3D structures filled with plants,
soils or gravel that are laid within surfaces to encourage water infiltration. PEG
maintained the infiltration characteristics of the cell, while developing alternative
shapes that accommodate a greater variety of pattern. These new patterns emerged
through parametric modelling shown in Figure 4.10(b), which allowed the designers to
explore existing and new water flows. Prototypes were then developed, using
petroleum-based plastics (commonly applied in the manufacturing of geo-cells) and
compostable corn-based plastics, which are currently limited to use in the packaging
industry.30 These customised geo-cells were then installed on-site to test their
effectiveness for drainage, as well as design effect.
The design and fabrication processes shared by Osborn and PEG reveal the expanded
scope for design and making in landscape architecture as it begins to explore the
potential of digital technologies and fabrication, while simultaneously interrogating
material behaviour, biologic process and sensory experience. In the following example
we introduce the design practice of Marco Poletto and Claudia Pasquero who are
directors of ecoLogicStudio. Their research-driven practice explores the relationship
between computational design and an urbanism inclusive of ecological systems, by
incorporating ecological processes into fabrication techniques and prototyping.

Fabricating systems
Aiming to ?embed technology into material organizations that become part of everyday
ecological practices?,31 ecoLogicStudio seek to intensify and cultivate biodiversity.
Drawing similarities with the research-driven design practice of landscape architect
and philosopher Gilles Clément, they state:
The formalization of the garden becomes for Clément a process of formalised
transmission of biological messages or, in our terms, of algorithmic coding;
algorithms are for the gardener machines for breeding biodiversity.32
Prototyping and fabrication are central to their practice. These models says Poletto are
not representational but instead operate as ?machines that compute occupations and
patterns within a non-homogeneous surface?.33 They help to ?solve spatial problems in
relationship to urban or environmental forces?,with feedback loops ?offering mechanism
of self-regulation?allowing an understanding of how systems evolve and change.34 This
design philosophy is evident in ecoLogicStudio?s explorations of algae.
Their interest in algae was triggered in 2006 by an encounter with a local botanist in
London?s Victoria Park where algae was slowly colonising the park?s ponds.35 This
formed a catalyst for ecoMachines, a prototype that interrogated the highly efficient
machine-like qualities of algae. Initial experiments modified architectural components
in order to host algae colonies. This ?choreo- graphing of biological systems?within the
prototypes highlighted new ?potentials for evolution and interaction, both within the
environment and with an excited public?.36 EcoLogicStudio has subsequently explored
hybridities of form and algae systems across a range of scales.
The Simrishamn Regional Algae farm (2011), commissioned by the local municipality
near the Swedish Baltic Sea, proposed a new economic? urban system for an ageing
population.37 The potential of algae as a source of renewable energy was used to draw
local farmers, residents and fisherman into a collaborative plan of action. This master
plan was conceived as a participatory interface, mixing top-down investment strategies
with bottom-up community involvement.38 Strategies outlined in Figure 4.11a include
filtering gardens, an underwater museum, high-tech algae farming infrastructure,
greenhouses and migrotowers. Architectural prototypes were conceived for different
sites. The Hanging Algae Garden offered an ?interactive public space of cultivation?
positioned between the Simrishamn Marine Centre, the Tourist Office and the port.
Comprising the seven most common algae species within the region, the public
contributed to the garden?s cultivation by blowing carbon dioxide into the
photo-bioreactor bags. Hand-held magnifying glasses allowed the visitor to observe
the micro and macro algae. The Hanging Algae Garden was presented as part of an
exhibition, featuring a floor map and tourist map documenting the regionally
distinctive algae, prototype speculations and an algae-based gourmet lunch finale.
EcoLogicStudio?s installation Hortis Paris (2013) exhibited at the EDF foundation, Paris
as part of the Alive Exhibition, featured a full-scale working model shown in Figure
4.12 of a ?man-made eco-system?.Working with flows of energy (light radiation) and
matter (biomass and carbon dioxide), the prototype showcased processes of
self-organisation and self-regulation. Visitors participated in the farming processes,
and were invited to influence the system?s growth through an air pump system within
the photo bioreactors which modified nutrient content (Figure 4.13). Embedded sensing
technologies provided data to a virtual interface accessible by smart phones,
encouraging participants across the globe to send tweets to ?nurture the virtual plots?.
EcoLogicStudio describe this interaction as ?a computer generated sedimentation
process?,with the visitors both physical and virtual conceived as cyber gardeners.39
Their most recent project Urban Algae Canopy shifts their algae explorations from
exhibition to urban structure. The canopy forms part of the Future Food District Project
curated by Carlo Ratti for the Expo Milano 2015.40 The development of the structure
shown in Figure 4.14 continues the themes of technology, biological systems and
interaction evident in earlier projects to present a ?bio-digital canopy integrating
micro-algal cultures and real-time digital cultivation protocols on a unique
architectural system?.41
Increased solar access influences algae growth, thereby altering the transparency of the
canopy. Similarly to the Hortis Paris installation, the visitor interacts with carbon dioxide
levels, further manipulating the shading and transparency of the canopy. Pasquero
comments: ?In this prototype the boundaries between the material, spatial and
technological dimensions have been carefully articulated to achieve efficiency,
resilience and beauty.?42 CNC welding technology creates flexibility within the
morphology of the canopy, allowing control over water behaviour and thereby creating
a further responsive relationship between water and algae. The canopy is envisaged to
produce up to 150kg of biomass daily (60 per cent of which are natural vegetal
proteins) while releasing oxygen equivalent to that produced by 4 hectares of forest.43
Poletto observes that many design projects that claim to be performative are actually
produced in a linear and predictable manner. Often, a computational approach leads to
an early separation of design from the forces and systems of the external world. In
contrast, their design processes rely on physical and digital prototypes, positioning
design within ?interrogative open models? that facilitate ?way of thinking about
behaviours?.44 The prototypes operate as material and system explorations that are not
necessarily scalable, instead requiring multiple processes to construct new hierarchies
and configurations reflective of different scales of interventions.
EcoLogicStudio highlight the contribution of the Valldaura Self-Sufficient Lab
(developed by the Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia) in advancing the
application of technology guided by ecological principles. The research centre applies
knowledge gained from ecological processes and resource management to explore
self-sustainable design options that address the challenges of the twenty- first-century
city. A ?green fab lab?works with natural resources including minerals, earth and wood
in a combination of high technology and ancestral processes, a ?food lab?interrogates
food production processes encompassing growth, human consumption and waste
management including technologies for large-scale and small-scale production, while
the entire Valldaura development operates as a ?energy lab?ensuring efficient
management of power and water.45
We conclude our discussion of fabrication with a detailed exploration of the innovative
design and construction processes necessary in the realisation of the Diana, Princess of
Wales Memorial. Most landscape architects are familiar with the evocative clay model
that formed the starting point for Gustafson Porter?s winning scheme. Few are aware of
the innovative design and fabrication processes that allowed the hard granite ?necklace?
to be manufactured in just 26 weeks.

The making of the Diane, Princess of Wales Memorial

At the time of winning the design competition in the summer of 2002, Gustafson Porter
knew the major challenge was to identify how to construct the stone memorial, the
major component of the design. With 9 months allocated to design, and a year for
construction, Gustafson Porter initially employed designers experienced in Rhino. They
soon realised this 3D modelling package would not provide the complex information
needed for manufacture, so they turned to the automotive car industry, the Ford motor
company, for help. This decision was the beginning of a ground-breaking design and
fabrication process, which to date has received minimal attention in landscape
architecture. What follows is a detailed description of this process, which should be
read in conjunction with the diagram shown in Figure 4.15, which visually documents
the innovative construction process and complex workflows.
The first stage of design development involved taking a rubber mould of the clay
model (prepared for the competition), which was then used to produce a cast that could
be digitally scanned. A highly accurate GOM scanner, commonly used in the automotive
and aerospace industry, produced a detailed 3D point cloud of the cast. GOM
(Gesellschaft für Optische Messtechnik), established in 1990 specialises in optical
measuring products and processes such as 3D digitising, 3D coordinate measurements,
deformation measurements and quality control.46 This was the first time this software
had been used for architectural purposes.47
SurfDev (Surface Development and Engineering), a design and 3D scanning bureau with
expertise in developing accurate freeform shapes for manufacture were then
commissioned to further develop the 3D model. The scan was trans- formed into a
surface mesh CAD model (using the Uniserf program) that became known as the jelly
mould (a term used in the automotive industry for the basic form of a car prior to detail
design). In a parallel process, Gustafson Porter developed sections at 1:100 exploring
the human height and scale of the memorial. SurfDev and Neil Porter met weekly,
working between the sections and the digital model, with the final digital model
emerging after 9 weeks.48
The basic profile of the memorial was envisaged as two edges, containing a middle
section of textured blocks. Adopting this form, the smooth jelly mould was broken into
a 3D puzzle of 549 separate blocks (with a 5mm gap), detailing the shape and location
of each stone. The model produced the shape of the stones as they intersected with the
ground plane, providing the Arup engineers with enough information to produce an
underside stepped foundation and devise the water drainage.
Envisaging the stone textures was a more challenging process, requiring the expertise
of Texxus Ltd. Founded in 2002 by industrial designer John Gould, Texxus specialises in
the production of textured surfaces. In 1999 Gould noticed that designers had no
means of generating the texture they wanted for a product on a screen.49 Working with
software sources from the car industry, John devised techniques for simulating a 3D
surface pattern onto a 3D form. Fortunately, Neil Porter had worked with John during
his architecture degree. In a chance encounter, Neil Porter?s appearance on TV
reconnected him with his former employer, and the dilemma of how to texture the
stone was solved.
Working with the representation of Princess Diana?s life through the metaphor of water,
Gould and Porter developed textures of water conditions moving from mountain brook
through rapids into gentler waters. Textures, abstracted from photo- graphs, were
explored within Photoshop, followed by 3ds Max, where forms were repeated and
extruded into depths of up to 50mm.
The individual block configurations developed from the jelly mould formed the base for
Texxus to accurately place and align the digital textures. Two types of prototypes were
developed concurrently. The first involved working with the Vero Software company, a
leader in developing and distributing CAD/CAM software for design and manufacturing
processes for stone and wood working, metal fabrication, tooling and production
engineering. Using software developed only 6 months prior, Vero digitally prototyped
the texturing of the stone. This tool path analysis (applied to granite for the first time),
allowed for the visualising of the finished block, and importantly, provided an
indication of machining time, thereby informing decisions on efficiency and how much
detail to include in the textures. For example close inspection of the textured stones
reveals small ridges, which aided in faster stone cutting (as distinct from a smooth
finish), and also resulted in a less slippery surface.
The second prototype tested the effects of adding water into the memorial. Most of the
water is fed in at the highest part of the memorial and flows down through the
different textures. However, at certain moments water is added into the system, to
produce very particular effects such as the section known as ?the champagne bubbles?.
Working with Professor Peter Davis at Imperial College, a hydraulic engineer, Gustafson
Porter and SurfDev produced a half-scale 3D CAD model (produced in hard foam) to
test the relationship between location of water nozzles, water pressure, textures and
effects. This testing occurred at laboratories at Imperial Collage, London and Davis?s
Somerset workshops.
Finding suitable stone and stonemasons presented a further challenge, with the
expectation that British stone and British technology should be used to construct a
memorial to a British princess. After much research to find a light- coloured stone that
would sit happily in its historic landscape context, the extremely hard silver-grey De
Lank granite from Cornwall was selected, along with Northern Island stonemasons
McConnell and Sons.
McConnell and Sons had previous experience working with scanned regular shapes
from physical models to produce matching pieces of stones.50 However, this
construction process would require their machinery to read detailed textures from a
digital file.
Their OMAG S.rL. CNC production centre was reprogrammed to handle digital files. Two
types of digital files were sent to the stonemasons: 549 separate files describing the
shape of the blocks (the file size was small enough to be emailed), and the more
complex texture files which were sent on disc. The extremely hard granite required
heavy-duty equipment and tooling, with the first piece of granite wearing out the first
tool after cutting just one section of stone.51 It became clear that the OMAG could not
produce the work alone, with the quarry purchasing two Terzago Macchine S.r.L saws.
Vero International Software developed CNC software, hooking the circular saws up to
Vero Software for the first time.52 The saws were used to remove the bulk of the stone.
To save time and energy, only half of the stone was sawn, with a sledgehammer then
used to break the stone apart, ready for the finer tooling. Manufacturing started at the
end of June 2003, with the quarry in full production by the end of August. Three
machines operated at a minimum of 100 hours a week, with manpower of 21 hours a
day.53
Three shapes of finer-cutting tools were used: the saw, the bull tool and the
flat-bottom tool. The hard granite continued to prove challenging, quickly wearing
down diamond studded foster bronze tools. The texturing and the cutting of the stone
worked in parallel with the finalisation of the digital texture files. Construction of the
memorial began before the completion of the stone fabrication. Working with an
accuracy of +/? 0.5mm, the completed stone blocks could be laid in sections, confident
that the precision of the manufacturing process would create a final seamless finish.
The stone was 100 per cent machined, with a dolly-punch finish to the kerb, the only
part of the process completed by hand-held pneumatic tools. In just 26 weeks, 520 tons
of De Lank granite were cut into 549 stones.
Significantly, the manufacturing route dramatically revised the workflow of design and
construction, allowing the designers (Gould, Gustafson Porter, SurfDev) to work directly
with the quarry. Conventionally, a project contractor and a stone contractor would have
been positioned between the designers and the quarry. For example the stone
contractor would go to the quarry and purchase the stone and issue it back to the
stonemasons. A more direct process not only aided accuracy, but also allowed for a far
more efficient design development and construction process.
The designers and contractors all benefited from the technical knowledge gained from
working on the project. While McConnell and Sons had to invest extensively in new
equipment and software to complete the job, the experience developed their future
capability to work on the most sophisticated stone work.54 John Gould went on to
develop other architectural stone projects such as the V& A courtyard. For Gustafson
Porter, the experience confirmed the importance of landscape architects working with
3D digital models, encouraging them to employ recent graduates with digital
expertise.55 The firm became more confident in manipulating space and form on larger
scales, as demonstrated in later work on phase two of Gardens by the Bay, Singapore.
Designed for a 200-year lifespan, the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial is one of the
most visited free tourist attractions in London. For landscape architecture it represents
a critical precedent featuring an innovative fabrication process and manufacturing
route. As John Gould concludes ?History was made when the entire structure was
machined using three and five axis disc saws and milling machines directly from 3D
CAD files.?56 The extraordinary stone finishes achieved in the completed memorial
fountain shown in Figure 4.16, provide clear evidence that the fabrication process did
not diminish the poetics of the design. Instead the digitally driven process was
essential to realising the design ambition expressed in Gustafson Porter?s original
competition entry.
Conclusion
Digital technologies encourage seamless and sophisticated workflow processes,
bridging the gap between design and making in unprecedented ways. This presents
multiple opportunities to expand the creative potential of landscape architectural
practice, encouraging more comprehensive form and material explorations beyond
predictable or of-the-shelf solutions.
The ability to translate designs directly from 3D digital systems into physical
installation without depending on 2D abstraction, so called ?file to fabrication?,opens
new avenues for more efficient, automated production processes. Advancements in the
engineering industries together with the development of a new generation of
high-tech construction machineries, support the design and construction of complex
earthworks in an extremely time and cost-efficient manner with increasing precision.
These developments also facilitate a stronger appreciation of the value of landscape
architecture as established in relationship to Snøhetta?s MaxLab IV project.
Driven by a material-first design approach, digital fabrication also signals a shift in the
way landscape architecture design is conceived, emphasising digital and physical
prototyping to test material performance (effects and affects) and constructability. This
process encourages the exploration of components as well as ecological and material
systems to develop customised design solutions, where the form is no longer
compromised by limited consideration of materiality or traditional construction
operations. The exciting potential of a material-first approach is clearly reflected in the
design qualities achieved in the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial which could simply
not be achieved without CAD/CAM processes.
These new workflow models are built on changing roles and responsibilities of
designers and contractors, drawing on highly specialised knowledge and skills of
manufacturers ? often not even associated with the landscape profession ? early in the
design exploration and considerations of constructability. This rapidly shifting design
and construction practice is evidence of an expanded collaborative environment driven
by the potential of digital technologies which we explore further in our final chapter
which introduces Building Information Modelling.
2 Digital Tools
 Chapter 2. Digital Tools

Introduction
This chapter starts by looking at the distinguishing features of software suitable for use
on a BIM project. BIM is not software, and there is no out-of-the box, one- size-fits all
BIM software solution; however, some specific software functionality is required to
meet BIM Level 2 standards. After looking at the technological requirements, some
criteria for selecting software are discussed. Questions to ask and issues to consider are
suggested, both within a practice and in discussions with software providers and
resellers, aiming to help IT managers and decision-makers identify packages that meet
The following is excerpted their strategic and business needs, from BIM authoring and design to cost management.
from BIM for Landscape by This decision-making process starts with a look at a practice?s strategic objectives, the
Landscape Institute. © 2016
requirements of BIM, and the common ground between them.
Taylor & Francis Group. All
rights reserved.

What software is suitable for use in a BIM project?

Learn more:
Two fundamental principles determine whether software is suitable for use in a BIM
project: object-based design and information exchange. BIM processes are based on
these key software functionalities. Object-based design connects information
describing an object with the geometry by which it is visually and spatially defined.
Information exchange, or interoperability, is the capacity to work with and share
information with other software packages, without any loss or change to the
information.
Parametric functionality is also key to BIM processes, in which a change made to one
aspect of an object is cascaded to every view of that object, allowing greater control
over the form of objects and their associated information. There are many parametric
software solutions, and many drafting packages allow the use of parameters. The
questions to ask are ?Will changes automatically apply to every instance or type of
object??and ?If an object is changed, will the specification also be updated??In other
words, to what extent does the software link the representation of objects with the
information that describes them?
Software used as part of a BIM process has some other specific characteristics. First, it
is intelligent, in the sense of an interaction between an object and the data defining it
? for instance, allowing the modelling of a tree?s growth over time and its
interdependence with other trees. Intelligent software can also set rules to be applied
automatically on the implementation of a design, giving the designer a warning if
constraints are broken during the design process.
A second key software characteristic is enabling simulation and the creation of 3D
models; furthermore, the designer is able to work with objects with their own
attributes to create virtual models. This combination of graphics and information is
vital to producing a virtual asset that can be used throughout the project?s life cycle.
Simulation allows the modelling of some critical features, such as climate, heat and
movement. It can enable rapid calculations and better-informed decision-making.
Software used in BIM is moving towards virtual design that accurately represents a
physical site, and 3D models are often envisaged as the ultimate BIM tool. Modelling
objects with their own attributes means that when one type of object is changed, every
instance of that object will also be changed accordingly. The quantity of data that can
accompany objects means that the range of design and analysis functions available is
constantly expanding, serving to deliver the principles and aspirations of BIM still
further.
The underlying technology within software tools determines their effectiveness in a
collaborative project environment. Database functionality requires that objects are
classified in a database, which should be arranged semantically to allow queries to be
run. Uniclass 2015 is the classification system required for BIM Level 2, but there are a
number of other classification systems in use across the construction industry.
Information management functionality should allow the syntactic and semantic
association of objects and the interoperability in information exchanges between other
packages and users, as well as internally.

?Uses of BIM?software capabilities

The ?uses of BIM?concept (Kreider and Messner, 2013) offers a helpful perspective on
how software may be used in BIM projects, categorising operations by function under
the headings of gather, generate, analyse, communicate and realise. This classification
of aspects of a BIM-enabled workflow highlights the role of technology within the
design of built environment projects; a package that creates a 3D model from a point
cloud survey can be part of a BIM process as much as a digital tool for creating
planting schemes, or performing cost calculations.

Gather
Gathering is the capture of information about a facility or landscape, which allows the
measurement and identification of objects and enables the management of the BIM
process. Software processes that can collate and interpret surveying data are one
example of the gathering functionality. For example, a project team that has gathered
information about a proposed development can do an early quantity take-off, enabling
cost management processes to begin sooner.

Generate
Generating refers to placing specific elements into a design, from plotting general
features such as topography to individual objects such as street furniture and planting
(Figure 16.1). This process includes defining objects and their position, as well as
specific details such as performance requirements. Objects are generated at a specific
Level of Detail and for a specific phase of the project; for example, the placement of
planting or hard works within the landscape.

Analyse
An exciting aspect of BIM analysis is the ability to predict an asset?s performance in use,
before construction actually begins. This can show how a design will be used or how it
will work within its environment in many ways; for example, water flow as run-off and
within piped runs, slope analysis, aspect analysis, hill shade analysis, Zones of Visual
Influence, sun and shade analysis, rainwater collection volumes, parking capacity, crowd
simulation or vehicle simulation. Understanding climatic factors and usage of the site
in the design stages helps ensure that designs are fit for purpose, although it is
important to remember that analysis offers likely scenarios not certainties. These types
of analysis can help the employer?s team and future users of the site to understand an
asset?s design better, and facilitates more useful feedback throughout the development
process. Analysis can also show whether a design is proceeding correctly, and identify
clashes within designs.

Communicate
The communication functionality of software in BIM projects means that every stake-
holder in a project who needs information can access it. Information exchange is
fundamental to BIM and facilitates many of its other functions. For instance, generating
visualisations, whether static, animated or interactive, provides a realistic
representation of the asset and enables the employer to assess or demonstrate its
intended use (Figure 16.2). Software can also generate images to display data visually.

Realise
Realisation refers to the physical creation of an asset and the various elements that
make up the whole. Software can provide the necessary information in the right format
to the correct standard to enable off-site fabrication or the on-site assembly of design
components or systems, for instance, as well as clash detection. It also allows
construction tasks to be streamlined, such as scheduling contractors?work on site for
the smoothest operation.

Software tools for landscape

These categories of BIM capability are applied in this section to software that is
commonly used in landscape practice, along with some BIM-specific tools, identifying
functionalities required for landscape BIM projects.

Landscape architecture software

Landscape-specific software provides the landscape practitioner with the tools to
design planting schemes and hard works, including the specification of materials and
positioning of objects. The ability to apply simulations can demonstrate how plants and
trees develop over time, for example, and 3D representations can demonstrate the
design intent. The requirement to produce traditional 2D project documents within BIM
Level 2 projects is met by these packages. Landscape tools also need to meet supply
chain information requirements, including the capability to use manufacturers?or
suppliers?information, as well as providing relevant information in a usable format for
contractors and landscape managers (Figure 16.3).

Geographic Information Systems (GIS)

GIS is primarily an analysis tool, providing the facility to apply customised algorithms
to multiple spatial datasets, which can be used for site context analysis, and as part of
wider masterplanning and regional development strategies. It can be used at regional
level to monitor the impact of development, or bring together a number of
developments within an asset portfolio. At site scale GIS can monitor how the site is
used and responds to its environment over time. This can provide insights into site
performance and enable the identification of changes or enhancements to allow for
different conditions on site, such as management of areas prone to flooding, for
instance. Although traditionally a 2D package, GIS is increasingly able to incorporate 3D
model information and combine geographic datasets with BIM information and
imagery to enable visualisation.
Geodesign tools
Geodesign tools can generate masterplans at site and super-site scale to develop
options and analyse them against a site?s context. The ability to prescribe the size,
materiality and location of proposed development types within a landscape context
gives geodesign tools an extra dimension to GIS. For example, placing 3D realistic wind
turbines in the landscape for the purposes of a Zone of Theoretical Visibility enables a
more realistic representation of the visual impact of such a development. This
capability is augmented by the ability to generate road, water and flora 3D objects from
2D mapping data and overlay these on 3D topography (Figure 16.4).

Specification software
Specification software works with authoring tools to provide information about the
installation and management of objects. As various materials and techniques are pro-
posed by designers and contractors, the specification can be used to check whether
these materials meet requirements. The provision of relevant information in digital
form to project managers and contractors for planning and managing workloads
improves oversight of a project, and ensures that the latest standards are implemented.
Specific software should be able to exchange information with other tools used in the
BIM workflow , with the capability to input design information and apply classification
to objects as required. It should also be able to communicate this classification
information to facilitate cost and therefore the classification of specifications required.
This information should then be communicable to other software packages such as
asset and facilities management packages, databases and spreadsheets.

Cost management software

Various cost assessment tools can be used within the workflow to determine
construction and maintenance costs, based on materials and site information. A system
must be able to gather quantified information in automated form about the materials
and objects on site, and classify them by space, zone and region according to the site
designations specified within the project COBie. (COBie is the exchange mechanism
that enables information to be delivered across the life cycle of the asset, explained in
more detail in Chapter 18.) This can be used to assess the initial site development
costs, and then handed over to the management team as part of the Asset Information
Model (AIM) for ongoing site costs monitoring. The analysis capabilities within the cost
assessment and simulation process can forecast site costs from an early stage. Cost
management can be coordinated with the project management tools to provide cost
prediction milestones to inform the employer?s decision points and to monitor progress.
3D BIM authoring software
BIM authoring software should be able to gather and incorporate existing site
information, including geometry, project-relevant material and asset information.
Applying properties to BIM objects within the tools allows elements of the objects to
be specified; for example, price information or embedded carbon. Classifying spaces by
assigning them to named zones or regions in a design can allow quantity and cost to
be allocated by sub-space, enabling improved cost and project management. The
software should be able to produce the appropriate level of graphical and information
detail for each specific stage of the project. It should be possible to position design
objects in 3D or based on rules with respect to one another, with site elements
prescribed, arranged and sized so as to meet the performance requirements.
Analysis should be possible within the software, or it should offer the option to share
information with other packages to allow analysis for additional technical services
provided by the project team. It should be able to determine whether a design meets
requirements through assessment against performance criteria; for example, checking
whether a footpath meets the correct slope requirements. Where relationships between
objects are defined during design these too can be tested for compliance.
Making information available to other software packages is a key activity of a BIM
authoring tool. It must be able to export and import geometry and information relating
to the objects being designed, enabling the design team to work collaboratively with
the rest of the project team. It should provide a realistic representation of the site to
allow project stakeholders to engage with the design, with a clear indication of
materials and the spaces created, as well as diagrammatic representations of objects
within traditional design views such as sections, elevations and orthographic views.
BIM Level 2 requires 2D outputs from files, so the software needs to be able to produce
the drawn information. In terms of realisation, BIM-authored information should be
usable as part of the Project Information Model (PIM) and Asset Information Model
(AIM) to enable the construction of the asset components and their management,
respectively.

BIM viewing and review software

BIM review and viewing software brings together models in a federated form to
coordinate information and resolve spatial clashes. The ability to coordinate files from
different professionals is key to its success as an analysis tool, validating designs in
relation to one another within the same 3D environment and identifying issues for
resolution.
COBie software
COBie provides for the maintenance requirements for specific objects, with the hosting
software highlighting the appropriate management of scheduled tasks. It also provides
a useful source of information on as-built assets so that managers can replace items
correctly and easily when needed. By providing a standardised format for information,
the COBie can enable the visualisation of analytics based on the whole site?s
performance. It can be used to control and regulate the construction process as it
serves as the central repository for information on all planned works for maintainable
assets.
COBie can be managed in different software packages; a spreadsheet is appropriate for
COBie in table form, whereas a database should be used for XML. COBie can be
exported from within BIM authoring tools or by altering other files to match the COBie
structure. Assigned by space, zone and region, objects should be classified in terms of
both their location and their association with a component, system or assembly, so they
can be filtered and analysed within these terms.

The Common Data Environment (CDE)

All consultants should be working from the latest versions of files, so a common
platform for version control should be established that meets the project?s agreed
standards. All project information is available on the CDE, a highly transparent project
management tool where all activity on files is recorded, providing auditability and
robust version control.

Clash detection
Also known as clash avoidance, this is the process of examining different project teams?
models and identifying any overlaps or interfaces that require changes. When the
virtual model is correct, the likelihood of discovering that designs need amendment or
of costly mistakes being made in construction is greatly reduced ? one of the major
benefits of BIM.
A user can perform intra-software clash detection, importing another consult- ant?s
model into the same package with which it was created, and clash-detecting within
that software. Extra-software clash detection can be used when working between
different packages, using specific clash detection software. Manual clash detection is
essentially the norm, however. While software can semi-automate the process, clashes
still require identification and interpretation by an experienced professional inspecting
the interfaces of their work with that of other consultants. Clash detection activities
should be planned as part of the process of establishing the requirements of a BIM
project at every stage.

Digital Plan of Works

BIM Level 2 requires the ability to manage information deliverables and their content,
as well as responsibility for completing or feeding into them. The BIM Toolkit allows
tasks to be allocated on a stage by stage basis according to the RIBA Plan of Works.
Tasks may be assigned to one consultant within this process using any classification
system for the numbering of tasks and Uniclass 2015 to choose the objects to be
created. It also includes a Level of Detail option for every element that defaults to the
LoD appropriate for the stage in which the task is assigned (Level of Detail is explained
in full in Chapter 19). The Toolkit is intended to serve as a reference point for the tasks
assigned rather than a project management tool, although it does include a number of
features that enable the project team to make notes and comment on tasks and
deliverables.

Reference
Kreider, R.G. and Messner, J.I. (2013) The uses of BIM: Classifying and selecting BIM uses.
University Park, PA: Pennsylvania State University.
3 Responsive Technologies
 Chapter 3. Responsive Technologies

The term ?responsive?denotes that an object engages in a process of feedback, a

conversation between two actors. In architecture and design this has typically been
approached from a Human Computer
Interface (HCI) perspective, centering on how human beings respond to or learn from
this process. While the HCI perspective is important, it is only a single layer and the
view must be expanded when considering the technologies needed to embed
responsive systems in environmental or biological systems. This wider view may not
even have human beings in it, instead it can be a set of considerations that focuses
The following is excerpted primarily on ecologies absent of direct human manipulation. Just as importantly, the
from Responsive Landscapes: implementation of these technologies inherently embraces re-purposing and extending
Strategies for Responsive by finding new uses for specific technologies or modes of making. Lucy Bullivant,
Technologies in Landscape
author of Responsive Environments, speaks to this broadening:
Architecture by Bradley
Cantrell, Justine Holzman. © . . . the technologies involved, of sensing, computation and display, are in rapid flux,
2016 Taylor & Francis Group.
so anachronistic solutions need to be robust; breakdowns are an occupational and
All rights reserved.
institutional hazard, and new schemes are not foolproof
. . . designers are extending the versatility of equipment for crafted responsive
Learn more:
environments to enable different sensing modalities. The difference is that they
customize what exists in order to achieve the right results.1
This re-purposing points to new tools formed by hardware and soft- ware, generated
from the needs of architects and landscape architects to expand their practice.
There are several potentials in landscape architecture supported by current
technologies that address environmental and human forms of response. The ubiquity of
computation in our daily lives expands the reach of digital technologies, fading them
from objects to frameworks that alter our environment physically and perceptually.
Methods of sensing and communication support early theories of ubiquity and it
is important that a critical stance is developed between local interactions and
territorial systems. Anne Galloway speaks to this condition in her article, ?Intimations of
Everyday Life?:
. . . ubiquitous computing seeks to embed computers into our everyday lives in
such ways as to render them invisible and allow them to be taken for granted,
while social and cultural theories of everyday life have always been interested in
rendering the invisible visible and exposing the mundane.2
This invisibility stems from computing that is embedded not only physically but also
perceptually. Proposing interaction beyond data will provide methods of engagement
for connecting interaction to materials as well as influencing the materialization of
systems, thus rendering invisible processes. This is a key component in HCI as it
attempts to provide natural extensions of human activities, extending capabilities and
responding in predictable and understandable ways. As ubiquitous computing is
utilized to interact with ecological systems, there is a similar series of concerns. This
begins with how sensing, processing, visualization, and actuation are choreographed.
Sensing as a larger concept refers to the input of data generated from recording or
translating phenomena. While a sensing instrument may be universal, the
implementation is unique to each site: different deployments will yield varying
depictions or narratives. The implementation is a product of the instruments or organs
that act as the inputs for information. It is the slight differences in the composition or
tuning of these instruments that produces a specific dataset that can be accessed or
imaged. This full array of sensing is important as it opens a being or device to a
phenomenological connection with the environment. Sensing is often separated from
processing and actuation as it produces a generalized dataset that can be discerned
from other aspects and may be a product in itself. This sensed dataset is then
accessible to be processed and visualized for a multitude of uses.
There is a vast difference between complex sensing networks and designers working
with definable inputs? for example, a photocell connected to an Arduino
microcontroller. Many of the experiments the design professions are seeing today
involve this direct and localized form of sensing, a discrete connection between
sensing mechanisms and the data they gather. This paradigm is changing drastically as
huge sensing networks are compiling vast amounts of data across many different types
of devices. Networks of this type are typically singular in nature and deployed for very
specific tasks, such as the gathering of weather data, seismic data, or other forms of
global or territorial data. In this manner the data is specific to the logistic or scientific
endeavor at hand and is collected specifically for this purpose. As the cost of sensing
hardware is getting cheaper these networks and the data they collect is growing
exponentially and in many cases becoming less specific. This lack of specificity creates
a data space that has become a virtual repository for streams of information, waiting to
be accessed. The scale of these monitoring networks and databases constructs a space
of ?control, not freedom, . . . , and while we enjoy unprecedented access to information
and personal communications devices, we are simultaneously smothered by the cloying
ubiquity of networks that have no outside.?3 This internalization is a product of the
sensing, but more importantly is the political, legal, and cultural paradigms in place
that sequester information.
While sensing is gathering information, the ability to process this information
emphasizes ways in which the information may be re- purposed, virtualized, or
transformed. The processing of information is vital in the operation of responsive
technologies as it takes the raw sensed data and builds relationships out of it. This may
be as simple as remapping one stream of data values to create a relationship with
another stream, or completely transforming the information. The augmentation of
information to produce new relationships and realities through hacking is described by
McKenzie Wark, author of A Hacker Manifesto:
Abstraction may be discovered or produced, may be material or immaterial, but
abstraction is what every hack produces and affirms. To abstract is to construct a
plan upon which otherwise different and unrelated matters may be brought into
many possible relations. To abstract is to express the virtuality of nature, to make
known some instance of its possibilities, to actualize a relation out of infinite
relationality, to manifest the manifold.4
Processing of information also works with a notion of temporality that builds a
relationship between streams of biotic or abiotic information. This is most notable in
HCI as the user is closely tuned to the behavior of the system due to an expectation of
interactive performance. This ability to sync with physical events, or virtualized events,
is often referred to as operating in real-time. The ability for a video game to display 50
frames per second of video or for a door to open when a motion sensor is tripped
would be described as operating in real-time. Processing can also happen in a delayed
state or information can be preprocessed, and then retrieved for use at arbitrary times.
This temporal dimension is incredibly important in the construction of socio-cultural
and biotic or abiotic relationships.
The ability to act upon sensed data through processing is related to methods of
visualization. How do we see this information as static moments and sequences? How
do we translate them into abstractions and complex relationships? Both the collection
and the visualization of data are implicit in how we respond to it as it frames our
under- standing of the information, curating our understanding and response. Because
we intend to operate within complex ecological systems, visualization performs as a
mediator to decipher a system. This requires multiple overlays that unpack not only the
system but also the protocols that govern a system?s operation.
As we operate within the terms of this encompassing material and procedural
environment governed by protocol, what we might term a protocology, there
remains the issue of visualization. Identifying and understanding a landscape in
protocological terms is necessary before that knowledge can be turned into an
active design agenda.5
The forms of visualization can be multiple, but ideally it sets upon a method for active
transformation coherently representing temporal and spatial relationships.
Acting upon the sequence of sensing and processing is guided by visualization and is
made tangible through methods of actuation. Actuation is the transformation of sensed
and processed data into a form of physical or virtual action. This speaks to a form of
physicality in a process, an immediacy where the field in which sensing is taking place
is being modified or acted upon. Usman Haque observed that ?designers often use the
word ?interactive?to describe systems that simply react to input,?for example,
describing a set of web pages connected by hyperlinks as ?interactive multimedia.?6
Response or interaction denotes a full cycle where a phenomenon is sensed, the data is
processed, and it is then actuated entering into a feedback loop where the product
continues to be sensed, processed, and actuated again. This feedback loop is the basis
for responsive technologies and is often built to be as reliable and consistent as
possible. This reliability in the feedback loop creates systems that are predict- able
members of a system of control. This type of interaction is limited. We might call it
pushing, poking, signaling, transferring, or reacting. Gordon Pask called this
?it-referenced?interaction, because the controlling system treats the other like an
?it?? the system receiving the poke cannot prevent the poke in the first place.7 This
inability to provide resistance or counter the process can become problematic in
responsive environments and is expanded upon in the discussion on expanding the
feedback loop.
View Figure 02.02 Prototyping components, Bradley Cantrell, 2015.

TECHNOLOGIES
The action of sensing, processing, and actuation is the product of several technologies
that create the ability to develop responsive feedback loops. The first stage, sensing,
has a multitude of technologies that can be deployed to create methods to input
information. Conceptually, sensing is a switch that detects its current position. While
new technologies continually create nascent methods of sensing, often it is the clever
re-purposing of existing systems that leads to new sensory modes. A quick overview of
sensing technologies highlights sensors for acceleration, acoustics, flow, viscosity,
density, motion, optical radiation, orientation, pressure, temperature, electromagnetics,
and chemical proportions. It is important to note that, within these categories, the
measurement may not be the phenomenon itself but instead an interpretation of the
phenomenon to measure another property. There are overlaps in the sensing
technologies that allow multiple phenomena to be sensed, depending on the method
of deployment.
Actuation is enabled through technologies that alter the physical environment,
manifesting itself through transformations. Technologies such as motors, servos, shape
memory alloys, and many more provide ways for designers to transform the physical
world. These technologies are used to render, regulate, control, and automate
environments. Recently within landscape management practices, sensing technologies
are used to monitor soil humidity. They are processed to actuate irrigation systems,
creating efficient and timely applications of water. This feedback allows homeowners
to have gardens, lawns, and landscapes that would otherwise be impossible in certain
climates. Putting water consumption issues aside, this is a fundamental change in the
way certain landscapes can live within non-native climates or highly disturbed
environments. In a similar manner, this method of landscape intelligence is
extrapolated through large-scale systems of irrigation that rely on the conveyance of
water to grow homogenous crops? managed through autonomous systems this
feedback loop is a simple relationship between a single biological need and a
constructed prosthetic that supports this need.
View Figure 02.03 Prototyping components, Bradley Cantrell, 2015.

PROTOTYPING
In the past decade, the availability of technological tools, access to software
development, and hardware prototyping marks one of the largest shifts to increase the
ability for designers to prototype and experiment with responsive technologies. This
can be seen in micro- controllers such as the Arduino or Raspberry Pi and the
integrated development environments that accompany them. Not only are these
development environments increasing in accessibility, they are also becoming directly
integrated into common modeling and drafting tools with plugins such as Firefly for
Grasshopper and Rhino.8 This direct connection creates links between sensing and
actuation with parametric modeling tools, going so far as to remove the necessity for
coding and replacing it with a visual scripting paradigm. This collapse in the barrier to
entry puts architects and landscape architects directly in control of the prototyping
process where they can begin to develop proofs of concept. Beyond accessibility to
tools is the proliferation of projects through open-source licensing, which allows each
successive designer to build upon previous work. Deconstructing another designer?s
project to understand their code, hardware solutions, and overall methodology is
invaluable and is an ever increasing source of common knowledge.
This ability to develop modes of interaction and deconstruct previous work creates an
atmosphere where design through hacking and prototyping thrives.
Hackers create the possibility of new things entering the world. Not always great
things, or even good things, but new things. In art, in science, in philosophy and
culture, in any production of knowledge where data can be gathered, where
information can be extracted from it, and where in that information new
 possibilities for the world produced, there are hackers hacking the new out of the
old. While we create these new worlds, we do not possess them.9
Conceptually this ethos is important and promises a robust methodology of testing and
failure that is important to the progress of responsive technologies both in architecture
and landscape architecture.
In this spirit, Responsive Landscapes presents case studies intended to be viewed as
prototypes, tests, experiments, and ?hacks.?Experiments that lead us further into a
deeper discourse on the relationship between sensing, processing, and actuation and
how these developing methodologies are transforming our perception of the
environment.
The promise of our evolving supernatural facilities ? thanks to a myriad
imaginative prosthetic applications of digital technologies ? demands that creative
practitioners fully involve people in their development on both subjective and
objective levels, enabling them to make their own connections between what are
increasingly permeable cultural thresholds of perception and being. 10
The case studies are at once about the technologies used to create them while also
firmly framing our evolving view of a changing technological landscape? quickly
emerging both inside and outside fields of environmental design. A space that begs to
be richer, more diverse, and just through the design of not only culturally and socially
significant landscapes but also through their relationships to the world as a whole.

VISUALIZATION, MAPPING, AND SIMULATION

In addition, the accessibility to technological tools creates a new lens that can be used
to understand and interact with complex systems. Modeling software enables
sophisticated simulation of site phenomena, providing tools for decision making within
complex landscapes. The simulation of dynamic systems within the landscape enables
designers to visualize and represent data with an increased knowledge of relationships.
These models are effective as an interpretable representation because they establish a
metric that translates numerical data from simulations into hybrid or coupled models.
This metric becomes the underlying fabric of a representation that appeals to our
ability to observe pattern and order in both short and long term cycles.
The development of these models creates custom connections between environmental
phenomena and modeling or mapping methodologies. These connections are the key
for developing common onto-cartographic methods, formats, and processes, which map
the agency of things or, as Levi Bryant describes them, ?machines.?An onto-cartography
defined by Levi Bryant is, ?in one of its significations, a mapping of relations between
these machines so as to discern their lines of force.?11 Machines within this context can
be understood as physical materials within the landscape engaged in ecological
systems, infrastructures, sensing or measurement devices, and as artificial intelligence,
all acting and playing vital roles in shaping contemporary ecologies. Machines by
definition are performative: they operate, act, and apply force, they have agency. The
onto-cartography or map becomes the simulation and design tool for strategic
intervention, an approach that recognizes the agency of technological machines and
their connections to evolved biological, political, and economic machines. As
ground-breaking as these methods are for the discipline, many of the models or
simulations produced are a vast distillation of site systems, lacking the complexities
existing within a site. There is a significant disparity between the accuracy of the
simulation of particles in design software and many of the more sophisticated flow
simulation tools. Operating at this low fidelity requires conscious methods of
abstraction for highly complex systems.
When simulating the physical world, we rely on extracted data to develop a working
model. The model is understood as a quasi- objective rendering of reality where the
data itself is objective and curated for the purpose of creating a model and tools of
measurement. These tools or measurement devices are designed with defined goals,
associated not only with what it is measuring but also why it is measuring, and
therefore creating a ?synoptic?view of reality. This abstraction of reality requires a
purposeful logic to assign material actors to quantities, values, forces, and locations,
among other properties. The model or simulation produced from this logic is then
tuned through observations of the physical world and used to manipulate, measure, and
quantify selective aspects inevitably causing reality to become a product of the logic, a
?selective reality.?12 The history of this condition is identified through the early forestry
management practices and agriculture. To establish a metric in early forestry
techniques through a ?fiscal lens?concerned with overall production, the planting of
trees were ordered within a Cartesian grid, simplifying methods for quantification and
data extraction. This metric provided data associated with the economic viability of
production, but subsequently ignored elements, such as biodiversity, contributing to the
resilience of a forest ecosystem. The metric, ordered to easily observe stasis versus
change, lead to an oversimplification of complex ecological processes by bracketing
certain factors.
To navigate issues with the fidelity of the simulation and create a relational model of
ecological dynamics, requires a hybridization of multiple models, pulling them together
to function side by side as a composite simulation. There are currently working
versions, of simulations bolstered by multiple models such as Google Earth, fluid
dynamics models, and climate models. The virtualization of something like climate
demands a considerable shift in the way that we are simulating material phenomena
and building virtual worlds. A view of climate in the wake of climate change is much
more totalizing, it encompasses not just hydrology, but hydrological systems, weather
systems, and anthropogenic influences that act on climate. The way each element
relates to one another represents the coup- ling of models that can be viewed as a
combinatory projection, and weight the defining inputs to problem-solve through
multiple lenses.
This form of simulation is projective, allowing for speculation and inquiry by opening
up negotiation between accuracy, projected futures, and intention.
In many ways we are already implementing a slew of responsive systems through
modes of production and automation for efficiency. ?The architectural profession
remains relatively steadfast in a distinction that divides designers from users, even
though technology increasingly provides grounds for diminishing that distinction.?13
This can be seen in several cases including climate control, agriculture, and logistics
among many others. While the thermostat is an extremely simple device, it creates an
important feedback loop that senses then processes through a simple ?if: then?
scenario, and then actuates. As an architectural mechanism, climate control creates an
extremely important feedback loop to maintain an atmospheric equilibrium. Not only
does this create space that is comfortable and climate that is convenient, but it also
enables whole new modes of construction and program. This form of control opens the
possibility for reliable cooling of food or the preservation of archival documents, cases
that depend wholly on the feedback provided by sensors and the control of heating,
cooling, and humidifying systems. This has evolved and current technologies are able
to use predictive modeling to observe usage patterns and create efficient scenarios
that attempt to not only optimize for efficiency but also for comfort.
Under a similar paradigm agriculture has evolved tremendously in the past century
through automation, precision, and feedback. This evolution has occurred on multiple
fronts through new technologies for harvesting and planting, more precise abilities for
selective breeding and genetic manipulation, and political and economic efficiencies
and exploitations. Responsive technologies are directly involved in each of these areas.
Through precision agriculture, responsive technologies are deployed to more accurately
plant crops, to take advantage of planting shifts from season to season or to optimize
crop layout. Similarly, through the analysis of crop yields and terrain, hydrology, and soil
characteristics, a phytogeomorphological approach can be developed to ascertain
planting patterns.14 These are physio-spatial manifestations of responsive
technologies, but this can also occur through new synthetic forms of planting media,
controlled monitoring, and sampling methods. As these methods continue to evolve
they are slowly becoming more nuanced, from sampling per hectare to monitoring
single plants. This evolution of precision changes the scale of interaction from the
commercial agricultural scale of thousands of acres to the individual plant, making
these technologies applicable in urban systems at smaller scales.
Logistics is also a case where responsive technologies are employed to efficiently
operate a complex network of systems that adhere to simple, connected goals. On a
larger scale than agriculture, logistics has fundamentally changed the way systems are
controlled, tracked, and ultimately co-ordinated. This has altered our systems of retail
and shipping, creating highly responsive networks that connect disparate elements. The
largest retail companies such as Amazon and Walmart are essentially logistics
mechanisms, creating extreme efficiencies in distribution. This has developed global
scales of operation that are vastly larger than anything seen in human history.
Our environment is saturated with ?smart?devices that we use every day. Many of
these devices are embedded into our lives in such a manner that we hardly know they
exist, functioning in the periphery and blending into the context of our
environment.15 As designers of the built environment, our charge requires us to
engage this layer of technology, which is increasingly affecting the environment.

NOTES
1. Lucy Bullivant, Responsive Environments: Architecture, Art and Design, 14 (see chap. 1, n.
20)
2. Anne Galloway, ?Intimations of Everyday Life: Ubiquitous computing and the city,?
Cultural Studies 18, no. 2/3 (March/May 2004): 384.
3. Alexander Galloway, Protocol: How control exists after decentralization (Cambridge, MA:
MIT Press, 2004), 147.
4. Mckenzie Wark, ?Abstraction/class,?in The New Media Theory Reader, Eds. Robert
Hassan and Julian Thomas (New York: Open University Press, 2006), 213. Previously
published as ?Abstraction/clasee,?in A Hacker Manifesto (Cambridge, MA: Harvard
University Press, 2004).
5. Burke, ?Redefining Network Paradigms,?71 (see chap. 1, n. 37).
6. Dubberly, Haque, and Pangaro, ?ON MODELING: What is interaction?: are there
different types??69? 75 (see chap. 1, n. 16).
7. Ibid.
8. Rhinoceros 3d is a 3d modeling application, Grasshopper is a plugin for Rhinoceros
that provides a visual programming interface, Firefly is a plugin for Grasshopper that
provides direct connections to microcontrollers and external peripherals such as
webcams or the Microsoft Kinect.
9. McKenzie Wark, ?Abstraction/class,?212.
10. Lucy Bullivant, ?Alice in Technoland,?Architectural Design 77, no. 4 (2007): 13.
11. Levi R. Bryant, ?Onto-Cartography Author Q& A,?Speculative Realism Series, Ed. Graham
Harman, 2014.
http://euppublishing.com/userimages/ContentEditor/1396275575603/Onto-
Cartography? Author Q& A.pdf.
12. James C. Scott, Seeing Like a State: How Certain Schemes to Improve the Human
Condition Have Failed (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1998).
13. Matthew Fuller and Usman Haque, ?Urban Versioning System 1.0,?in Situated
Technologies Pamphlets 2, Eds. Omar Khan, Trebor Scholz, and Mark Shepard (New York:
The Architectural League of New York, Spring 2008), 13.
14. John A. Howard and Colin W. Mitchell, Phytogeomorphology (New York: John Wiley &
Sons Inc, 1985).
15. Malcolm McCullough, Digital Ground: Architecture, Pervasive Computing, and
Environmental Knowing (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2004).
 Sensing Landscapes through
4 Perspectives
 Chapter 4. Sensing Landscapes through Perspectives

Maria Debije Counts

Landscapes are complex three-dimensional living mediums. Graphic representation of

them involves a complex understanding of temporal, geometrical, and technical
information. Landscape perspective drawings, in particular, can be used as an effective
medium for design explorations as a means to expand sensory-based landscape design
investigations: the negotiation between ourselves and the environment. This chapter is
intended to show selected examples of digital student perspective drawings of the
The following is excerpted
Pennsylvania State University that test the experiential qualities within the context of
from Representing Landscapes:
Digital edited by Nadia student studio design projects at various stages of conceptual development. While
Amoroso. © 2015 Taylor & qualities of the selected drawings may share similarities in content, stage within the
Francis Group. All rights design process, and/or style, it is my hope that the distinctiveness between these
reserved.
similarities and differences relative to how each student is testing sensibility through
perspective drawing approaches is most evident.
Learn more:
Recent advances in 3D digital modeling have made testing the spatial compositions of
landscapes a task that students can utilize at an early stage of the design process to
reveal the perceptible geometries and 3D qualities of a site with relatively basic
modeling techniques. Such digital 3D representation may have an impact on the
direction of the design, depending on how the design was generated. 3D digital
landscape models provide a platform from which the scale, spatial ?rooms?or
?occupiable?areas, and views into and out of spaces, can be understood. No matter what
the scale or stage in the design process such a model is incorporated, all of the above
have an effect on the experience of any given site. As illustrated in the digital 3D
model views (Figure 14.1), a digital landscape model has been generated from contours
and plans in AutoCAD. This provides not only accurate dimensions in 3D of the
proposed site and its spatial arrangements of forms and features with surfacing, but
also creates digital ?occupiable?spaces that begin to suggest the overall circulation of
how one might move through it and what it might look like compositionally. In this
example, landforms, paths, buildings and canopy trees are constructed as measured
abstract forms and then intentionally rendered with a limited color palette to allow the
student to focus on the spaces that the elements within the designed landscape will
create in terms of ?rooms?or spatial sequencing.
Using this approach, the student is then able to use the digital model to generate
multiple perspective views from the same model at different viewpoints. Because of
the relative ease and speed at which a variety of views can be shot, saved and edited to
show only desired layers of information, the student quickly grasps the overall
configeration of the site itself and is able to test this composition through views and
later use them as a basis for design revision. How does something look from that
angle? Will the site be visually engaging? What sorts of spaces will the formal
geometries of spaces create? Will there be spaces of enclosure or openness? Th are the
sorts of questions that are generated from this form of perspective rendering through
visually articulating the 3D qualities of a landscape.
Testing temporal conditions of a place affects the landscape and the experience of a
landscape. ?Digital lighting studies?in perspective drawings can aid in the visualization
of how a space changes over the course of time. In Figures 14.2 and 14.3, two students
explore this notion of time through an amplified landform study over the course of one
day. Two-hour digital rendering sketches reveal dramatic shifts in sunlight and shadows
on the site. This process reveals how the orientation of the sun affects the visual
experience of landscapes. Renderings have been generated from 3D models and
lighting and shadowing techniques were applied within the digital model and edited in
Photoshop. Natural elements such as sky backgrounds, planted form, and digitally
sketched textures have been incorporated to suggest what time of day the perspective
is of, while more advanced lighting techniques are generated in the digital model and
later enhanced in Photoshop. Artificial lighting is explored for those areas as needed
within the design in need of illumination. As a result of these two studies, the canopy
strategy in both designs was improved in some areas to provide more shade and open
views. In addition, these perspectives triggered a series of enquiries which led to design
improvements. Examples of these questions were: ?to what extent will lighting be
controlled on the site??; ?will dappled lighting play a role in the overall site design??;
?to what extent will the path and other formal geometries be choreographed around
light??; and ?how will the site be experienced at different times of day??.
Materiality in landscapes is essential to the internalization of environments. Bridging
the gap between conceptual ideas about materials and how those ideas manifest into
real textures and things of substances can be an extremely productive exercise through
perspective-collaging. Figures 14.4, 14.5 & 14.6 use texture and materiality along with
various atmospheric techniques to convey seasonal changes and environmental
conditions, such as portraying the ?quality?of the landscape during wet weather
conditions.
Programmatic ideas are tested in Figures 14.4 and 14.5 through a patch-collage
technique. By creating the basic structure of the picture in these two illustrations, these
students quickly alter the quality and overall design idea of the spaces by collaging
materials to specific designed geometries that were originally built in a 3D digital
model. This process involves a series of rendered perspective views from a digital
model and a library of digital material clippings from which the students then quickly
have collaged and stitched together into the perspective views, to showcase new ideas.
Th base drawing provides the structure and overall view of the space, while the
technique of using Photoshop to add materials is quick and flexible. As a result,
interesting juxtapositions of materials and forms meet each other, some of which will
remain, while others will be replaced by another texture based on best judgments,
learned through completing this exercise study. These materials and geometries
suggest particular programmatic ranges of the site that are extremely useful to see at
this stage of the conceptual design process. In this case, it was important in testing
how the site is proposed and likely to be used and how the elements of the designed
spaces will actually function as a place. In addition to testing program through
materiality, these students also tested programmatic range throughout the year by
rendering the drawings in winter. Figures 14.7 and 14.8 depict elegant ways to
showcase winter scenes with snow-covered hills, usable winter landscape spaces and
activities for people to experience the site even in the cold. Th planting palette is also
challenged. Th additions of dogwoods in the foreground (Figure 14.8) frame the scene
and add dimension and character to the overall picture.
Both these two studies as well as Figure 14.10 are examples that showcase further
development of materiality and expanded programmatic range. For example, the
textures and materials reveal the juxtaposition of architectural features such as the
bridge and the landscape coming together to form spaces. Textures are applied to the
surfaces of the model itself and, at this phase of the design, test not only what material
is going where, but how it will be affectecd by other factors such as light, season and
use. These two 8? 10-hour drawings depict more highly rendered effects and as a
result, are more photo-realistic and more accurate depictions of what happens when
form, materiality and light come together than the previous figures discussed above.
?Pulling out?landscape elements of the picture frame creates an ?extended view?of the
space and brings to the viewer?s attention the ?designed elements?within the
landscape (Figure 14.9).
Whether it is testing the formal geometry of site, temporality, materials, or elements
such as water or the planting choices, 3D digital perspectives provide the platform for
representing landscapes; complex 3D living media, as a means to impact our
perceptions and sense of spaces. Approaches to revealing sensual qualities of existing
and proposed sites alike can vary from simple abstract drawings (Figure 14.1) through
complex night scenes (Figure 14.11). When used as a design tool, experiential
perspectives of conceptual unbuilt projects, such as those included in this chapter of
student work, demonstrate different approaches and outcomes that can aid in the
development of the design process. As a collection of images, they illustrate a richness
of dynamic inquiry and reveal something different about the perceptive qualities of
landscapes.