Thesis Book by Cheryl Bratsos

Formal Delay:

A Non-Linear Digital Methodology of Generative Diagramming Cheryl Bratsos Patrick Haughey Thesis Prep I: Arch 926 Patricia Kendall Thesis Prep II: Arch 936 Fall 2009 Department of Architecture, Wentworth Institute of Technology

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Research Problem

Ideas for Future Research

Objectives

Program

Definitions

Site

Research Essay

Precedent

(a) Flocking (b) Mao Terminal (c) Yokohama Terminal

Design Methodology

Bibliography

Biography

(a) (b) (c) (d)

Representation Nonlinearity Forfeiting design to computers? Designing algorithms i. Structure ii. Populational thinking iii. Topological thinking iv. Intensive thinking (e) Overcoming formalism: generative systems i. Generative diagramming ii. Generative fields iii. Swarms and flocks

Timeline

Results

Criteria for Evaluation

ABSTRACT

abstract

This thesis is a critique of design methodology in

performance solution necessitates the restructuring of

favor of digital processes to solve complex, multi criteria

design methodologies into a non-linear manner, one that

design challenges. The way ideas are represented

does not preconceive a final result. Such bottom-up

throughout a design process have cognitive implications

methods emphasize an interconnectivity of small scale

that directly influence design decisions. Static, deterministic

design solutions that focus on local relationships to inform

methods of design need to be revaluated to optimize the

emerging, unified systems. Utilizing digital technologies

creative potential within delaying the development of end-

to provide an algorithmic framework, such processes are

result formal characteristics of architecture. Therefore the

capable of adaptation without disrupting the structure of

interest of this thesis is not computational generative form,

internal logic. Inherently this process lends itself to being

but the development of a generative spatial diagram rooted

iterative; the production of multiple solutions ultimately

in channeled site forces and rapid human mobility that

extends the role of creativity throughout the design process.

establishes a framework for formal architectural intervention.

Emerging from the ambiguous roles of creativity, intent, and authorship within design of the built environment, this thesis

The structure in which a designer translates

draws solutions from interstitial aspects amongst the fields

information typically falls into a categorical, linear model.

of architecture, evolutionary computational design, and

This hierarchical, top-down method assumes a static global

animal behavior. The goal is to place algorithmic generative

parti to which the progressive resolution of smaller details

systems into a broader context within the architectural

subscribe to. The fixed nature of this model limits the ability

domain.

to restructure the parti, or to adapt to fluctuating conditions. A better means to efficiently generate a dynamic, high

OBJECTIVES

objectives

1) Representation: Develop a means of representation

3) Artifact: Articulate an architectural manifestation

capable of communicating a matrix of fluctuating

informed by, yet not determined by, the diagram

conditions. Elements of time, movement, and

grown from the bottom-up methodology. The final

transformation may potentialize into catalysts for

result is representative of the best possible solution

creativity.

that arises from the iterations provided through digital explorations.

2) Process: Define an approach to methodology that is about efficiency, discovery, and experimentation rather than a deterministic notion of a final result. Delaying the development of the formal elements of a project allows for a non-linear investigation of complex and overlapping design criterions that evolve into a generative architectural diagram. Parameters of design decisions can be revisited at any time to adapt to fluctuating conditions.

DEFINITIONS

definitions

<agents> /ā-jent/

Diagrams actively filter information, depicting what is

noun: Units within an environment that communicate

considered pertinent and excluding what is consider

with one another. This is a dehumanized term applied

irrelevant.

throughout this thesis to describe the behavior of individuals

<field dynamics> /fēld__dī-na-miks/

within a group. The individual may be anything, a person in

noun: A matrix that is capable of unifying diverse elements

a crowd, a bird in a flock, or a vehicle in traffic.

while respecting that identity of each. Focusing on local

<algorithm> /al-guh-ri-th’m/ noun: A detailed sequences of actions that describe a process or set of rules to accomplish some task. Named after Al-Khawarizmi, an Iranian 9th-century mathematician. <genetic algorithm> An algorithm capable of transforming and adapting to fluctuating circumstances, generating combined

interconnectivity, field structures are temporal techniques

or mutated characteristics that form hybrid

capable of adapting to fluctuating conditions without

recombinations.

disrupting the integrity of the overall system.

<diagram> /dahy-uh-gram/ noun: A translation of information into an abstract level.

Figure 1: Skylar Tibbits, Phoenixville Artist Live/Work Community, Site investigations based on field dynamics of density patterning.

Formal Delay: A Non-Linear Digital Methodology of Generative Diagramming

<intensive qualities> /in-ten(t)-siv__kwä-lə-tēs/

information is successively broken down into smaller

adjective: Characteristics that are not definable through

subsystems.

magnitudes such as length, volume, area, or weight. They are qualities are defined through intensities such as

<bottom-up>

temperature, pressure, speed, density, or tension

An endogenic system. Information is cognitively structured in a non-linear manner where agents are

<iterative> /it-uh-rey-tiv/

defined and linked together at a local scale to inform

adjective: Continuous nature of repeating a process. Yields

an emergent global system.

combinatorial potency, constantly generating and evolving new forms while integrating a recursive feedback loop into design process. <methodology> /me-thə-dä-lə-jē/ noun: The analysis of the principles and procedures of inquiry. There are two fundamental philosophies that apply to the field of architecture: <top-down> An exogenic system. Information is cognitively

Figure 2: Left: Top-down, linear model of hierarchy.

structured in a linear, hierarchical system where

Right: Bottom-up, nonhierarchical field network.

definitions

<nondeterministic> /non-di-tur-muh-niz-tik/ adjective: Describing a property which may have more than one result, exploring multiple options parallel to one another. Processes that involve predictable, probabilistic

methods with elements of random influences are known as stochastic.

RESEARCH ESSAY

research essay

Representation: architecture and abstraction Recent advances in media technologies have necessitated a critical evaluation of visual imaging as it relates to the architectural process. The communicative potential of ideas are subject to their representation (images). Computational strategies within design methodologies have irrevocably changed the way architecture is conceived and perceived. Digital tools are not simply a new way of drawing. Abandoning the static, How can a design methodology be articulated to

determinate relationship between conventional means of

efficiently solve complex, multi-criteria design problems?

representation and artifact, this thesis emphasizes the use

Static, deterministic methods of linear design need to be

digital methods as a tool that transforms the presentation

revaluated. Delaying the development of end-result formal

of ideas into an abstraction with generative and adaptive

characteristics of architecture allows for the optimization of

capabilities.

the creative potential of recursive iterative feedback of digital processes. Generative spatial diagrams rooted in channeled

Virtual environments are additive processes, where

site forces and an organizational logic of interconnectedness

no information is lost yet can be manipulated at any time.

establishes a framework for emergent architectural potential

We base architecture on its experiential qualities, scale,

that moves away from typologies.

proportion, daylight, and our changing perspective as we

Formal Delay: A Non-Linear Digital Methodology of Generative Diagramming

move through the space, so why not design in this way?

computational strategies integrated into architectural

Computational methods have the potential to work directly

design methods. Appropriation of software from automotive

with the transient nature of reality, accounting for factors of

research, aerospace engineering, and entertainment

time, event, motion, and program.

industries in the late 1990s offered the field of architecture a previously infeasible means of visualizing transformations.3

As early as the 1960â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s, media theorists such as

This marked the first introduction of a technologically

Marshall McLuhan were making bold predictions about

temporal dimension, at the same time allowing for the

media technologies and how they would remain relevant in

representation of complex topologies. Dynamic means of

their effect on human behavior. In effort to understand the

representation expands our cognitive abilities within the

magnitude technological advances have on the social realm,

creative process to respond to a discursive feedback loop of

McLuhan takes a historical look at the advent of written type.

layered information.

Communication became dominated by information extracted into the form of symbols to be perceived visually, forfeiting the layers of expressions that stimulate the other senses and contribute to a more complex and sophisticated approach to communication.1 McLuhan asserts the idea that social change always precedes technological change.2 Increasingly complex design problems lead to the development of advanced

research essay

Non-linear methods The structure in which a designer translates information typically falls into a categorical, linear model. This hierarchical, top-down method assumes a static global parti to which the progressive resolution of smaller details subscribe to. The fixed nature of this model limits the ability to restructure the parti, or to adapt to fluctuating conditions. A better means to efficiently generate a dynamic, high performance solution necessitates the restructuring of design methodologies into a non-linear manner, one that does not preconceive a final result. Such bottom-up methods emphasize an interconnectivity of small scale design solutions that focus on local relationships to inform emerging, unified systems. Utilizing digital technologies to provide an algorithmic framework, such processes are capable of adaptation without disrupting the structure of internal logic. Inherently this process lends itself to being iterative; the production of multiple solutions ultimately extends the role of creativity throughout the design process.

The literary debate between endogenic (bottom-up) and exogenic (top-down) information processing builds largely upon the theories of the late twentieth century French philosopher Gilles Deleuze. In one of his most notable works, A Thousand Plateaus, he describes two cognitive structures of information with the terms ‘strata’ (a centralized, hierarchical structure based off a branching metaphor) and ‘rhizome’ (a decentralized, non-hierarchical structure based off a field metaphor).4 In 2002, Manuel DeLanda interpreted the theories of Deleuze into terms of the design realm. Moving away from isolated linguistic definitions of the terms, DeLanda attempts to uncover common structure-generating processes within socio-technological, biological, or physical structures, each respectively has immanent resources that operate on a deeper level.5 DeLanda’s explorations have largely focused on non-linear dynamics and the possibilities of generating new forms.

Formal Delay: A Non-Linear Digital Methodology of Generative Diagramming

Forfeiting design to computers?

A critical shift of emphasis from form to process must take place to align design methodology with the

Deleuze’s theoretical term ‘abstract machine’

dynamic way we live and think. The goal of non-linear,

describes an algorithmic, or rule-based computational

process-driven methodologies is to create a field of influential potentials to serve as a catalyst for creativity.

Such methods delay the development of formal aspects of architecture, the evolution of a design does not subscribe to a preconceived typology but rather is generated by a matrix of design tactics that respond to dynamic and temporal conditions.

strategy of fostering creatively unbiased solutions. The success of the abstract machine is in its ability to synthesize a variety of intricate relationships and complex information.7 Computational strategies do not forfeit creativity, they shift certain agents of design. Initiating algorithms to carry out a series of processes inherently necessitates that the algorithm itself must be richly designed. To maximize the potential of computational strategies in relation to emergent architectural systems, we must associate cognitive analytical design processes with the virtual environment. The power of computational strategies is the exploitation of its iterative nature combined with the designer’s interpretation, analysis, and modification of the generated output.

research essay

Designing algorithms Virtual resources known as genetic algorithms are simulations based on biological and evolutionary principles. Applied to architectural design methodologies, genetic algorithms offer a model of flexibility and adaptation. They

point in time and producing numerous design solutions. Successful development of alternative methods for genesis of form employing genetic algorithms necessitate three philosophical schools of thought: populational, intensive, and topological.9

have the potential to challenge linear determinism by offering

Populational thinking

alternative methods of process-driven design methodologies,

synthesizing information in new hybrid ways.

of biologists in the 1930’s drawing from Darwin and

Structure of Genetic Algorithms Evolutionary design methods are structured by the designer. Initially, the designer must establish a set of parameters that are subjective to the design intentions. This structure must allow for varying levels of complexity, and also maintain the potential to be applied to various design solutions. Throughout the design process, the designer works interactively with the program to input design variations that may take into account any number of things (including site forces, programmatic elements, etc).8 The process is continuously iterative providing feedback at every

Populational thinking is a phrase linked to theories

Mendel. Driving their modern evolutionary theory is the concept that “at any time an evolved form is realized in individual organisms, the population, not the individual, is the matrix for the production of form.”10 Within the context of computational design, algorithms can produce ‘species.’ Genetic algorithms define a set of rules, thereby defining a set of characteristics of solution. In turn, refinement of the original parameters allows for adaptive mutations of the species.

Formal Delay: A Non-Linear Digital Methodology of Generative Diagramming

Topological thinking The successful genetic algorithm is infinitely iterative. Biological evolution maintains an incredible combinatorial potency, constantly generating and evolving new forms. However different these forms may be, the still have similar underlying traits that connect them to systems, classes, and species. In relation to design methodology, genetic algorithms have the potential to become infinitely iterative, to develop a catalogue of abstract design elements. These elements may then breed, evolve, or mutate depending on environmental catalysts. Intensive thinking Intensive thinking has roots in thermodynamics. Intensive qualities are those that fall outside of characteristics definable through magnitudes such as length, volume, area, or weight. Intensive qualities imply definitions that cannot be subdivided in such familiar ways; they are defined through temperature, pressure, intensity, speed, density, or tension. If computational genetic algorithms are

going to celebrate the same combinational productivity as biological ones, they must subscribe to a very specific design challenge and find solutions within intensive invariables.11

research essay

Overcoming formalism: generative systems “The architectural object strains under the burden of its responsibility to express meaning through formal representation.” -Ali Rahim12

“The diagrammatic or abstract machine does not function to represent, even something real, but rather constructs a real that is yet to come, a new type of reality.” -Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari 13

software programs. To overcome formalism, the abstract machine can be applied to a regulate a non-hierarchical set of internal relations. Three methods of emergent architectural potential are described by generative spatial diagramming, urban field dynamics, and models of flocking.

Generative Diagramming

Diagrams are visual tools for the comprehension

and communication of information. Diagrammatic practice assumes a translation of information into an abstract level, thus necessitating designer input to select what is constituted as useful information.14 There are several types of diagrams. Conventional diagrams help communicate

The interest of this thesis is not computational

and analyze quantitative information that already exists.

generative form, instead it advocates to delay development

Descriptive diagrams depict a formal aesthetic, showing

of formal language until later in the process.

aspects of proximity, direction, density, and distribution.

Formalism is

clearly evident as an overarching intention of classical and modernist architecture. Similarly trends in digital architecture have resulted in a type of formalism generated by the

Formal Delay: A Non-Linear Digital Methodology of Generative Diagramming

Generative diagrams are used to describe a spatial or systematic organization. While they may contain information that may commonly be expressed in conventional diagramming methods, the generative diagram makes a clear distinction between imagining formal solutions and its abstracted organizational logic.15 Generative diagrams are not concrete, deterministic solutions. They serve as an engine for conceptual creativity, influencing the frameworks of organization. Generative Fields Fields are described as an array, or network of forces capable of transforming objects. Field configurations are frameworks for conceiving collectives rather than individuals.16 Working with fields of information allows for Figure 3: Descriptive analytic diagrams by Pratt students in a seminar with Gil Akos and Ronnie Parsons. Study of Los Angeles: patchwork of program, travel distance, and connectivity.

a structural way of organizing information that is complex and non-hierarchical. They form a spatial matrix that is capable of synthesizing diverse elements of collectives while maintaining the identities of individuals. Field conditions are not defined by an overarching linear parti. Operating

research essay

as a bottom-up method, its organizational logic is based on local interconnectivity, its aggregates regulated by relational connections.17 Therefore, this type is system is highly adaptable and fluid, capable of transforming and responding to fluctuation conditions. Field conditions offer a conceptual framework for working directly with temporal aspects site context, producing generative influences to emergent architectural potentials. Systematic channeling of dynamic site forces is an instrumental technique to working with dynamic, fluctuating systems developed by Ocean North. Channeling systems â&#x20AC;&#x153;couples and bundles material and performative potentials into a continuous process of actualization that withstands settling into final static configuration.â&#x20AC;?18 Fields of generative forces are constantly evolving new configurations and explorations of the conditions upon which they act.

Figure 4: Generative diagrams: Tidsrom project, April 2000. Investigating the relation between sound and spatial representations, aiming to bridge the representation of data between the different disciplines.

Formal Delay: A Non-Linear Digital Methodology of Generative Diagramming

Mobile Aggregation: Swarms and Flocks Movement in and of fields can be described by mobile aggregates, a network based on the organizational logics of field dynamics, but with the added element of motion. In his 1987 essay Flocks, Herds, and Schools: a Distributed Behavioral Model, Craig Reynolds relates the idea of mobile aggregates to the natural system of flocking, illustrating how complex patterns form from locally defined parameters.19 The overall perception of a flock of birds is fluid, yet the individual birds are simultaneously recognizable. The actions of the birds seem random, yet they are all in sync. Flock motion is the resultant of each individual animal acting solely within its local parameters, responding to just a few simples rules: Figure 5: Reynolds, 1987. Computational simulation showing movement of flock around environmental barriers.

â&#x20AC;˘ Separation: avoid crowding local flockmates. Shift to keep a minimum distance between each individual and its surrounding neighbors â&#x20AC;˘ Alignment: direct movement toward the average center of neighboring flockmates

research essay

â&#x20AC;˘ Cohesion: move with the flock, head towards the center of the mass of local flockmates. The pursuit of relating the flocking model to architecture or urban design is in response to a rejection of other static methods of solving a design problem. The city consists of systems of flow. Individual elements, or agents, relate to and form coordinated systems at a larger scale. This can be seen in birds within a flock, vehicles within traffic, or individuals within crowds.

Figure 6: Reynolds, 1987. Rules guiding locally made decisions in flocks. Left: separation. Middle: alignment. Right: cohesion.

Formal Delay: A Non-Linear Digital Methodology of Generative Diagramming

Endnotes 1. Marshall McLuhan, Understanding Media: the extensions of man (New York: McGraw Hill, 1964). 7-21. Abetting fragmented communication, and taking the face-to-face exchange of information out of the equation, McLuhan suggests that the abstracted form of written type broke apart our communal societies. 2. Ibid. 3. Tierney, Theresa. Abstract Space: Beneath the Media Surface. New York: Taylor and Francis Group, 2007. pp13. Architects began appropriating software from industrial and product design, automobile, shipbuilding, and aircraft industries as early as the 1970s. 4. Gilles and Felix Guattari Deleuze, A Thousand Plateaus: Capitalism and Schizophrenia (Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press, 1987). 5. Manueal DeLanda, “Deleuze: The Use of the Genetic Algorithm,” in Rethinking Technology, 407 (New York: Routledge, 2007). 6. Ali Rahim, “Systemic Delay: Breaking The Mold,” AD: Contemporary Processes in Architecture (Wiley) 70, no. 3 (June 2000). 7. Ibid., 8. 8. Theresa Tierney, Abstract Space: Beneath the Media Surface (New York: Taylor and Francis Group, 2007).p 107. 9. Manueal DeLanda, “Deleuze: The Use of the Genetic Algorithm,” in Rethinking Technology, (New York: Routledge, 2007). 408. 10. Ibid., 409. 11. Ibid., 411. 12. Rahim, “Systemic Delay: BreakingThe Mold,” AD: Contemporary Processes in Architecture (Wiley) 70, no. 3 (June 2000): 6.

13. Gilles and Felix Guattari Deleuze, A Thousand Plateaus: Capitalism and Schizophrenia (Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press, 1987). 14. B. Van Berkel and C. Bos, “Techniques: Network Spin, and Diagrams,” in Rethinking Technology, 466 (New York: Routledge, 2007). Diagrams have three stages which require designer input: selection, application, and operation. 15. Birger Sevaldson, “Computer Aider Design Techniques,” Nordic Journal of Architectural Research, Autumn 2001. 16. Rod Barret, “Rod Barnett // Nonlinear Landscapes Architecture,” A Ten Point Guide to Urban Field Theory, 2009, http://www.rodbarnett. co.nz/texts/ (accessed 11 15, 2009). 17. Stan Allen, “From Object to Field,” AD: Architecture After Geometry (Wiey) 67, no. 5/6 (February 1998): 24-31. 18. Michael Hensel and Johan Bettum, “Channelling Systems: Dynamic Processes and Digital Time-Based Methods in Urban Design,” AD: Contemporary Processes (Wiley) 70, no. 3 (June 2000): 36-43. Ocean North is a research group who articulated channeling systems as a way of integrating digital methods with urban design to engage with the complexity of the urban fabric. 19. Craig Reynolds, “Flocks, Herds, and Schools: A Distributed Behavioral Model,” Annual Conference on Computer Graphics and INteractive Techniques (SIGGRAPH) 14 (1987): 25-34.

TIMELINE

timeline

November

•

• Submit Arch926 prospectus. • Submit Arch936 draft. December

spaces. February • Further define parameters of the architectural diagram

• Further develop site context diagrams to be included

(define matrix of characteristics as they relate to

in thesis prep book. • Provide further analysis and comments on precedents

various programmatic spaces). • Test, experiment and play with parameters to analyze

to be included in thesis prep book. • Create an infographic of that portrays the information

Form logic of programmatic adjacencies and flow of

the benefits/ downfalls of digital iterations. March

shown in this timeline that corresponds with the

• Finalize the architectural diagram.

nonlinearity of this project.

• Develop framework for the formal articulation of

• [Wednesday, 9th] Submit final thesis prep book, information from Arch 926 and from 936 combined. • Refresh website with interactive information about site context. • Develop physical site model for working/ study purposes. January [Classes begin Tuesday, 19th] • Develop dynamic computational script that describes behavior of flocking.

materialized form. • Translate the best possible iteration of the diagram into architecture. April [Classes end Friday, 30th] • Make final design decisions • Produce final renderings, models, drawings, etc.

RESULTS

results

This thesis is largely a critique of methodology, contributory towards professional practice and academic pedagogy. The ideas presented here are an attempt to fluidly align architectural methodology with the non-static, non-deterministic and non-linear way a creative mind realizes a matrix of design influences into an architectural object. Reflecting on the notion that ideas are subject to their representation, this thesis emphasizes the use digital methods as a tool that transforms the presentation of ideas into something with generative and adaptive capabilities. Computational strategies serve as a design tool, its iterative nature is geared towards maximizing the creative combinatorial potential of complex, multi criteria design challenges. Influenced by patterns of animal behavior and strategies from computational design, this project shows one way of develops a diagram that channels dynamic and evolving fields of design influences into a methodology applicable to architecture.

EVALUATION

criteria for evaluation

The nature of this thesis is to experiment within methodology to find the creative potential within iterative digital diagramming. The success of this project depends greatly on a critical investigation of the adaptable conceptual field, examining dynamic conditions that offer recursive feedback on design solutions. It is not the intention of this thesis to apply computational strategies to reduce the role of human subjectivity in the design process. The role of the designer is present within the prescriptive parameters of any algorithmic function, and furthermore controls the flexibility of the overall system to adapt to changing conditions. Linear design processes typically approach projects based on typologies, that is to say they have some determined idea based on precedent of what the final product will be like. Therefore this project necessitates a delay in articulating its formal language. Emphasis is in creating an abstract diagram capable of generating spatial qualities and characteristics, not directly generating form from computation. Criteria of evaluation should also take

into account the translation of the diagram into the final architectural product.

FUTURE RESEARCH

future research

The notion of the generative diagram is appealing

without losing its organizational integrity.

because it has prototypical applications. Its parameters are flexible and adaptive, creating an open-ended range of

future applications. This project examines dynamic urban

economic benefit of working within the methodology

contextual forces and how they may effect and interact

outlined in this project. As such processes become

with the project. Elements such as movement of the sun,

more sophisticated, they offer professional practices a

topography, wind patterns, circulation patterns, and so on

methodology that may potentially be faster and result in

are elements that apply to every project. The flexibility of the

more efficient design solutions.

methodology presented in this project lends its parameters to be restructured and redefined to apply to other projects in other locations.

Furthermore, non-hierarchical methods that define

decisions through local (rather than global) conditions inherently describe an organizational model for adaptability and infinite expansion. Applicable to a wide range of scales, this method offers a way of approaching large and complex problems. An international airport, for example, is a typology that has been failed by conventional linear methods of design. They require a design that can adapt and expand

Worthy of future investigation is the potential

PROGRAM

program

The proposed program is a ferry terminal and

between efficient, straight paths and meandering, consuming

bridging pedestrian plaza that connects two parts of the city

paths that optimize attractions along the way. People

with the water. The terminal is a gateway to the city and the

simultaneously move from one point to another, pause for

harbor, celebrating Boston as a port city. The terminal is the

retail exchange, and stop to have conversations, eat, and

first impression visitors or commuters experience as they

enjoy the view.

arrive and the last they see as they depart. Expanding the point of arrival for tourist cruise ships and commuter ferries, the terminal welcomes people into a vibrant reception area to the city. The scope of the project does more than create a utilitarian connection between city nodes and water. It maximizes potential for becoming a destination that offers waterfront views to the public. Conceptualized as a bridging plaza, the platform will broaden into a vibrant community farmers market. The revitalized pedestrian path becomes a dynamic space offering a multitude of pathways, creating a fluidity of physical and visual connections. Elements of time and motion define the character of the pathways in terms of varying degrees of rhythm. The result is a gradient

Formal Delay: A Non-Linear Digital Methodology of Generative Diagramming

Program: • The diagram of circulation is designed first, and drives the development of programmed spaces. Paths have point attractors, areas that stimulate agent aggregation with retail opportunities, site views, and places to pause and communicate with other agents. • The marketplace is porous. Densities and proxemic relations between individual vending units are established by movement patterns of agents. Units range between 50sf and 600sf, accommodating fresh produce stands, coffee vendors, and small cafes. It will also house the ferry’s operation offices and ticketvending. Figure 7: Top left: path-line development. Top right: program is situated in respect to path-line concept. Bottom left: character of path-envelope is effected by leftover spaces. Bottom left: Resultant path-line, pathenvelope, and program relationships.

• Program of spaces do not overlap, local adjacencies and small scale connections between each elemental programmatic space inform the organization of the whole project. Leftover spaces become opportunities to escape the programmed space, they are flexible,

program

multi-use spaces that serve as nodes along a path. Their variations in scale and proportion define the character of the pathâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s envelope they are part of, effecting the speed at which agents move through. â&#x20AC;˘ Channeling spaces for mobile agents effect the speed

SLOWER

FASTER

at which they move. Spaces taper and become indirect to slow down flocks, fostering community

dense

open

narrow

broad

dark

bright

interaction. Spaces become more broad and less enclosed to increase speed. Program of spaces and channeling effects directly inform one another as follows: Bike path- Agents move at fast pace, are spread far apart, and do not stop. Spaces are bright, broad, and open. Boat loading area (40,000sf)- Agents move quickly on and off boat, and while maintaining fairly close proxemics to one another. Spaces are bright, open, yet narrow.

Figure 8: Gradations of the effect density, adjacency, and light have on the speed agents move through a space.

Formal Delay: A Non-Linear Digital Methodology of Generative Diagramming

Food vending spaces- Dimensions and

Visitors deck (500sf)- A narrow walkway

densities fluctuate. Sit-down cafĂŠs provide

aligning with the perimeter of lower level.

slow spaces, dimly lit, narrow and enclosed

Lighting is limited to encourage views out,

to encourage agents to come to a stop.

allowing agents to view incoming/ outgoing

Smaller divisions of spaces are organized in

ships.

a sociopetal manner, encouraging iteraction. Food vending stands are oriented towards broad, open paths to allow agents to continue moving. Check-in (500sf)- Narrows, decreases speed of agents yet encourages them to move through. Light is limited, guiding agents to the adjacent brighter spaces. Terminal lobby (1000sf)- Narrow, enclosed, dead-end spaces make agents stop and wait for their boat to arrive. Light is dim and calming.

SITE

site

Figure 9: Boston figure/ ground drawing highlighting proposed site location (not to scale).

Figure 10: Bridge is currently 70â&#x20AC;&#x2122; wide by 500â&#x20AC;&#x2122; long. As most of the bridge has fallen under disrepair, a new platform bridging from South Boston to the Financial District is being proposed. Beneath the platform is the boarding area for the new ferry terminal.

Formal Delay: A Non-Linear Digital Methodology of Generative Diagramming

The proposed site is a tripartite connection between

South Boston, the Financial District, and the Fort Point Channel. A new ferry terminal will be replacing the current operation out of Rowes Wharf, and the scope of the project includes the redevelopment of the Old Northern Ave pedestrian bridge. Currently, the Rowes Wharf terminal primarily focuses service towards commuters moving between Black Falcon Pier, Charlestown, and North Station, as well as travelers making trips to and from Logan Airport or the Boston Harbor Islands.

Visual and Physical connections The fifty year period between roughly between the 1950 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 2000, the presence of the raised Central Artery, Figure 11: Before (2002) and after (2007) the Big Dig. The removal of the raised central artery provided new physical and visual connections.

I-93, caused a sever disconnect between the city and its waterfront. Lowering the artery has improved visual connections to the waterfront, yet there is still a drastic break negatively impacting the development of South Boston. The ferry terminal, with its implied connectivity and tourist stimulation, will become the iconic representation of Bostonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s

site

reconnection with its waterfront and with South Boston. The project lies between an Empowerment Zone in South Boston, an area of projected population growth and development, and the densely developed financial center of Boston. As demand to be in and move through this area increases, the terminal must be organized in a way that will adapt to future expansions in passenger loads. With the projected upward turn of the economy, it must also adapt to a rise in tourism. The ferry terminal has the unique challenge of detangling the dense, systematic networks of both land and sea, each subject to their own temporal, fluctuating tendencies. The proposed project materializes a transition space that fluidly connects the two. Figures 13 and 14 provide visualizations that begin to show layering of existing networks.

Figure 12: Aerial photo, highlighting the isolation of the Financial District (blue) from the residential (orange) and retail (purple) areas of the city.

Formal Delay: A Non-Linear Digital Methodology of Generative Diagramming

Planning

Architects and urban designers have typically

communicated their thoughts through plans and numbers: census information drawing conclusions about population densities, distance of travel, proximity to public transportation, etc. This has resulted in a hierarchical, or top down, structure of planning for both land and sea. Over time, interpretations of hierarchies and design goals change. Layer after layer of information is added, resulting in a densely tangled network of systems.

With increased web based social and economic

exchanges, and increased physical personal mobility, the concept of space can no longer effectively be articulated Figure 13: Land, transportation networks Figure 14: Sea, shipping lanes

through static, fixed organizations. Boundaries are being blurred as ideas of space are (re)interpreted as materialized fluctuations, defined through connectivity, time, and movement. Design solutions call for methods that are fluid and evolutionary.

site

Transportation Access

The proposed ferry terminal provides a physical link

that ties into other types public transportation including commuter rail, t-stops, and bus routes. What factors contribute to a higher demand for transit service and connectivity in a particular area? As outlined by the Boston Region Metropolitan Planning Organization, this largely depends on the cost and convenience of transit service as perceived by potential riders when compared with other available means of accomplishing the same trips.

While many of the conclusions derived from such

an analysis yield purely quantitative, static data, the idea of convenience is defined through a matrix of factors including total travel time, frequency of service, proximity of transit stations to actual origins and destinations, number and ease of required transfers, and the seating arrangements on vehicles. Vehicular limitations effect the demand for transit service â&#x20AC;&#x201C; where limited parking facilities at a station may discourage usage, while limitations of parking near final

destinations encourage users to seek alternative methods of transportation.

Formal Delay: A Non-Linear Digital Methodology of Generative Diagramming

Trip Generation Trends

Auto Ownership Trends

This illustration shows projected increases in trip density based upon a 25 year projected

Since 1990, auto ownership has seen a dramatic 36% increase in Boston. The effects of this

employment and population growth in Boston (as outlined by the Boston Transportation De-

staggering increase is felt all over the city, Bostonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s price of parking is second in the country

partment).

only to New York.

Figure 17: Projected growth in trip generation.

Change in daily trips per square miles

Autos per household

+100,000 and over +30,000 to +100,000 +8,777 to + 30,000 up to +8,777

1.0 and over .85 - 1.0 .65 - .85 up to .65

Figure 18: Auto ownership trends.

site

Harborwalk

Bike Paths

Lining the coastline is a network of existing or proposed walking paths. Proportions

There are about 38,000 daily trips by bicycle in Boston, 20% of which are work trips (not

considered completed exist in varying stages of development.

including recreational rides or bike messenger trips). Paths include Dr. Paul Dudley White Bicycle Path, Emerald Necklace, Arnold Arboretum, Stony Brook Reservation, Pierre Lallement Path (SW Corridor), Melnea Cass Boulevard, Harborwalk, North Point, South Bay Harbor Trail, East Boston Greenway, and Neponset River Greenway.

Existing paths (2001)

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Figure 18: Auto ownership trends.

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Formal Delay: A Non-Linear Digital Methodology of Generative Diagramming

F2 F2

Figure 20: Overlaid networks of transportation: bus, subway, commuter rail, ferry.

site

Figure 21: Single family residential

Figure 22: Multi family residential

Figure 22: Condos

Figure 23: Institutional

Figure 24: Apartments

Figure 25: Commercial

Figure 26: Industrial

Figure 27: Government

Formal Delay: A Non-Linear Digital Methodology of Generative Diagramming

Figure 28: Layered programmatic information

site

Paths

Path development will provide integral connectivity

to existing networks of motion, becoming the structural logic of connectivity that ties the project to an urban scale. The mobility of agents in and around a site shape and informs paths.

Analysis of existing patterns of circulation

and the proxemic relationships established by different agent types informs opportunities for new interventions.

Channeling systems are defined through path-

envelopes, subtle ways of attracting and influencing agents to move along a path-line. Dynamic solutions to path formation is informed by the logic of its channeling system, regulated by evolving fluctuations and intensities of site forces, taking into account agent-channel spatial relations, directionality, density, distribution, clustering and fragmentation. The proposed project offers connectivity to existing pathways that is essential to the future expansion and development of South Boston.

Figure 29: Diagram of site connectivity. Density of pores reflects density of agent paths and roads.

Formal Delay: A Non-Linear Digital Methodology of Generative Diagramming

Figure 30: Site force diagram. Dense pores reflect paths of agent movement, pores open towards direction of prevailing wind, and the diagonal gesture of the height of the pores reflects a connection to the average height of surrounding context.

PRECEDENTS

precedents

Figure 31: Flock of birds. Photo by Manuel Presti.

FLOCKING

Formal Delay: A Non-Linear Digital Methodology of Generative Diagramming

Flocking demonstrates the complexity of systems

that can emerge from a multitude of local interacting relationships. The overall perception of a flock of birds is fluid, yet the individual birds are simultaneously recognizable. The actions of the birds seem random, yet they are all in sync. Flocks may exist in open, expansive environments like schools of fish in the sea, or they may be channeled through paths like cars along a street. Flock motion is the resultant of each individual animal acting solely within its local parameters, responding to just a few simples rules: 1. Avoid crowding local flockmates. Shift to keep a minimum distance between each individual and its surrounding neighbors. Figure 32: Channeled traffic patterns of New York City. Photo credit unknown. Figure 33: School of fish. Photo credit unknown. Figure 34: Channeled pedestrian patterns of New York City sidewalks. Photo credit unknown.

2. Align toward the average center of neighboring flockmates. 3. Move with the flock, head towards the center of the mass of local flockmates.

precedents

The formation of an algorithmic structure, or set of rules, that are based on a model of flocking can be applied to a generative diagram for architecture or urban design as response the limitations of other static methods of solving a design problem. The model of flocking works on many different scales simultaneously. Individual elements, or agents, relate to and form coordinated systems at a larger scale. It allows for the entire system to adapt without breaking the integrity of local relationships.

Formal Delay: A Non-Linear Digital Methodology of Generative Diagramming

precedents

Figure 35: Perspective rendering of proposed terminal.

f451 Arquitectura: Mao Ferry Terminal

Formal Delay: A Non-Linear Digital Methodology of Generative Diagramming

Serving as a programmatic precedent is the proposed

The scope of the project extends beyond its utilitarian

terminal by f451 Arcquitectura located in the Mahón Port

function of connecting to water transportation. It plays a

on the island of Menorca, Spain. Within their process, f451

vital urban role, creating a wide waterfront promenade.

Arcquitectura carefully redefined the landscape and site

Typically, views to the water are attained by a select few that

topography to allow for pathways to seamlessly flow from the

can afford to pay for it. The promenade creates waterfront

existing city context to the water’s edge. The building form is

spaces to be open to and shared by the public.

a continuation of the landscape, peeling away from the earth to create inhabitable, programmatic spaces below.

Internal spaces vary in scale to accommodate various

amounts of people. The lower level contains an entry vestibule, security checkpoint, small vending stations, an administrative offices. The spaces are porous, encouraging people to move through the space to the next level. The upper level contains a larger waiting area, café, and waterfront viewing terrace. These spaces are larger, more enclosed spaces that encourage people to be still as they wait for their ferry to arrive.

precedents

Figure 36: Public promenade connects the urban fabric to the waterâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s edge.

Figure 37: Sections through the space illustrate scale variations of programmed space, as well as their vertical connections to adjacent

Formal Delay: A Non-Linear Digital Methodology of Generative Diagramming

precedents

Client: Port Authority / City of Yokohama Footprint: 48,000 square meters Program: 17,000 square meters of terminal facilities including check-in, customs, and luggage handling 13,000 square meters of conference space, restaurants, and shops 18,000 square meters of transportation facilities including parking, pick-up and drop-off, and bus parking Accommodates: 530,000 passenger per year

Figure 38: Aerial view of Yokohama port terminal, connecting to dense urban fabric.

Foreign Office Architects: Yokohama Port Terminal

Formal Delay: A Non-Linear Digital Methodology of Generative Diagramming

In 1994, London’s Foreign Office Architects won

first place in an international competition by for the design of Yokohama port terminal.. Yokohama is the major commercial hub of the Greater Tokyo Area of Japan. FOA approached the project as a site for the public, an open plaza that is a continuation of the dense urban fabric. The dynamic, multifunctional roof peels away from the landscape creating sheltered spaces below and a usable green roof above. Spatial continuity is attributed to FOA’s digital methodology, where a flow diagram is translated into architecture that responds to programmatic requirements.

The project developed a diagram of the directionality

of circulation of people and luggage they refer to as “no Figure 39: Circulation diagram of “no return”

return circulation.” The goal was to create opportunities of loop circulation, where visitors could enter on one path and exit on another. Sectionally, the spaces are shallow. FOA regarded stairs as disruptive to circulation flows, and instead integrated a series of ramps connecting upper and lower levels.

precedents

FOA takes a non-linear approach to methodology.

the urban fabric. Furthermore, the pier assumes the same

Comments on their process refer to their belief in ‘middle

footprint as conventional piers, a peninsula-like protrusion

project,’ that there is no origin or end of a project. They

of the land. Locals wishing to simply visit the public water

emphasize the extended creative potential in digital

front plaza ultimately must turn around and head back in the

methodologies, capitalizing on abstract informative

direction they came from.

diagrams. In an interview in X-TRA, Contemporary Art Quarterly, Farshid Moussavi is discusses the role of the diagram and that it “doesn’t, at any one time, contain the final formal determination; there needs to be mediation between the diagram and the form of the building… You revisit it constantly and analyze it. You make decisions constantly while allowing for re-evaluation and evolution.” The design of the Yokohama Ferry Terminal was largely an experiment in methodology for FOA, seeing how flexible a project can be.

The materialization of this project is not as successful

as its methodology. The pedestrian path from the city is so long and exaggerated that it is underutilized. This breaks away from the concept of flowing spaces that connect to

Figure 40: Open deck leading to lobby entrance Figure 41: Looking back to the city

DESIGN METHOD

design methodology

Order From Chaos Procedure 1: Representation of chaotic networks

Exhaustively analyze the sight using conventional,

scripting. Parameters: 1. Intensity vector based: topology, wind, temperature,

static methods, overlaying a single layer of information

water currents (this forms a gradient field of influence

over a site plan (refer to diagrams in site selection). As

that will impact the formation of paths and spaces)

collection of site data builds up, the massive amounts of

2. Agent-based paths and spaces: Paths and spaces

information will reveal its tangled, unsuccessful nature of

are defined by movement of agents (people) based off

comparing large amounts of quantitative information. Proving

flocking theories that explore their proxemic relation

conventional methods to be inefficient and unsuccessful, I

to one another and their motion of their combinatorial

will suggest digital representations that focus on conveying

massing. This allows for the overlap of multiple

qualitative, temporal qualities.

different mobile aggregate networks, where a number of systems are synthesized to account for variations

Procedure 2: Generative diagrams Create a site force diagram considering the urban

in agent types (tourists, shoppers, commuters, etc.) that use the site at different times of the day and for

fabric as a matrix of fluctuating conditions. These conditions

different reasons. Information generated from these

are subjective to potential future interventions. This will be

systems are projected to the diagram of generating

an abstract model that will inform the orientation, density,

spaces. Based on the needs of agent-based flocks,

and porosity of spaces. Model(s) will be designed in the

spatial characteristics of spaces are developed to

Rhino environment, driven by the generative method of

inform orientation, density, and porosity and creates

Formal Delay: A Non-Linear Digital Methodology of Generative Diagramming

an internal logic of the way spaces connect adjacent spaces.

Procedure 3: Define circulation diagram The formation of an algorithmic structure, or set of rules, that are based on model of flocking is applicable to a generative diagram for architecture or urban design as response the limitations of other static methods of solving a design problem. This describes how people will move with a path-envelope. Individual elements, or agents, relate to and form coordinated systems at a larger scale. This can be seen in birds within a flock, vehicles within traffic, or individuals within crowds. It allows for the entire system to adapt without breaking the integrity of Figure 42: Agents moving together based on locally defined decisions of proximity, directionality, cohesion, and alignment.

local relationships. Flocking can be described as a way of illustrating how complex patterns form from locally defined parameters. Channeled networks of locally defined agents conform to external fluctuating complexities. Therefore, this organization offers a simplistic organizational solution that

design methodology

addresses the chaos of its context. Procedure 4: Define Programmed Space According to Circulation Diagram

The circulation diagram works with idealized path-

lines, creating fluid connections to the surround complex networks of land and sea. Programmed space is fit accordingly around the paths-lines, creating efficient access to all spaces. Residual spaces become absorbed by the path-envelope, defining a channeling system through which agents move through and respond to.

Figure 43: Variations of agent networks that use the site over the course of a day.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

bibliography

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Barret, Rod. “Rod Barnett // Nonlinear Landscapes Architecture.” A Ten Point Guide to Urban Field Theory. 2009. http://www.rodbarnett.co.nz/texts/ (accessed 11 15, 2009).

Braham, W and Hale, J (eds). Rethinking Technology: A Reader in Architectural Theory. New York: Routledge, 2007.

Castells, Manuel. “Space Flows, Space of Places: Materials for a Theory of Urbanism in the Information Age.” In Rethinking Technology: A Reader in Architectural Theory, 407-412. New York City, New York: Routledge, 2007.

DeLanda, Manueal. “Deleuze: The Use of the Genetic Algorithm.” In Rethinking Technology, by William Braham and Jonathon Hale, 466. New York: Routledge, 2007.

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Hensel, Michael, and Johan Bettum. “Channelling Systems: Dynamic Processes and Digital Time-Based Methods in Urban Design.” AD: Contemporary Processes (Wiley) 70, no. 3 (June 2000): 36-43.

McLuhan, Marshall. Understanding Media: the extensions of man. New York: McGraw Hill, 1964.

Rahim, Ali. “Systemic Delay: Breaking The Mold.” AD: Contemporary Processes in Architecture (Wiley) 70, no. 3 (June 2000): 112.

Reynolds, Craig. “Flocks, Herds, and Schools: A Distributed Behavioral Model.” Annual Conference on Computer Graphics and INteractive Techniques (SIGGRAPH) 14 (1987): 25-34.

Sevaldson, Birger. “Computer Aider Design Techniques.” Nordic Journal of Architectural Research, Autumn 2001.

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Tierney, Theresa. Abstract Space: Beneath the Media Surface. New York: Taylor and Francis Group, 2007.

Van Berkel, B, and C. Bos. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Techniques: Network Spin, and Diagrams.â&#x20AC;? In Rethinking Technology, by William Braham and Jonathon Hale, 466. New York: Routledge, 2007.

BIOGRAPHY

bibliography

Cheryl Bratsos is currently a graduate student at Wentworth Institute of Technology, where she is engaged in design research on architectural methodology and computational systems. Her formal education began with a background in fine arts from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. There she studied art theory and methods of representation, leading to an interest in architecture. She enrolled in undergraduate studies of architecture at Wentworth Institute of Technology, where she earned a Bachelor of Science in Architecture with a concentration in design and technology. She has worked for Harvard Business School, serving as a consultant for their sustainability initiative. She currently holds a design position at the Boston design firm, Baker Design Group.