Bin Nakatani
LA203 Spring 2016
TABLE OF CONTENT Lexicon Entries
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Theory Response
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External Discussion
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Individual Insight 37 Photo Essay 39
Fragmentation The process of decomposition or separation of something into smaller pieces or parts.
LEXICON ENTRIES 1
Gestalt Switch
Lexicon: Fragmentation
The change in the mind that shift the perception of a whole form that is being observed. The ability to view a form as a whole and not by combination of the elements which composes the form is called the Gestalt Effect.
Here the fragmentation of the paint mateiral is observed as it weathers over time and the materials decomposes into smaller pieces and fall off.
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Nature
Lexicon: Gestalt Switch
The phenomena presented by the interaction between plants, animals, and other component of the environment that has limited, or none, human intervention. It can also mean the basis or the essence of something.
Tree texture that can be taken as a texture like it is or an eye.
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Lexicon: Nature
Emergent Becoming something distinguishable or prominent. It can be a protruding object or plant from the surrounding environment.
Stereotypical belief of Nature, although it is hard to find a true nature with no human influence.
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Ecology
Lexicon: Emergant
The complex relationship of organisms and the environment, particularly in this case, the relationship of human and the surrounding environment.
A butterfly emerging from its chrysalis.
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Lexicon: Ecology
Topography Linework structure that describe the area elevation without requring an actual image or actually observing the area
Plants growing within the city created by human beings.
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Void
Lexicon: Topography
Void is the negative space that result after removing part of the form away.
Use of plywood to create a topography by subtracting the surface and revealing the multiple layer of the material’s texture.
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Lexicon: Void
Orientation Direction of movement of certain things over time. Positioning oneself in certain way or direction.
This is in Death Valley which I passed by when I travel to Las Vegas one time. It reminded me of Michael Heizer’s Double Negative, and it is interesting because the texture is slightly similar to concrete and it creates a juxtaposition of large scale native material and industrial material.
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Dynamic
Lexicon: Orientation
Suggest movement within a certain composition or design by avoiding symetry or other static style.
Sun is often used to determine the orientation because it always follow a certain pattern such as it rise in the east and set in the west.
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Lexicon: Dynamic
Baseline Reference point in which researchers considered that the environment was not intervene by humans and was still pristine.
Sense of depth along with the use of light creates movement and makes the composition dynamic.
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Lexicon: Baseline
Area that seems overgrown and untouch are baseline for limited or none human influenced area. Baseline for specific area may not have to be a long time ago.
Atlas of Novel Tectonics Jesse Reiser
THEORY RESPONSE 20
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Theory Response: Atlas of Novel Tectonics 24: The Diagram
One element that determines the use or characteristic of anything is the scale. Certain
thing may only function as intended at a particular scale and as the scale is changed, it may function and perceive differently, or will not function at all. Therefore, understanding the materiality by diagramming or modeling is important, because the behavior of the material at a particular scale will suggest the behavior of that material at a different scale. The concept seems quite obvious with clear examples; however, the application of this concept may well be complex. The characteristics of a material is highly influenced by other factor within its close proximity, such as the atmosphere, the ground, or the adjacency to another material. The medium that is used to communicate such complex idea is, then, the diagrams and models, which can become rather complex itself. Although it may require certain degree of knowledge and understanding of the materials and ability to read information from the diagrams, if this tool is properly used, the result could strongly communicate the materiality. This concept can be applied in South California, with the unique climate and especially in the current condition of drought. Water management in farms and landscapes cannot be efficiently manage just by controlling the water. Considering the materials of the environment in which the water is applied is import-
Rambunctious Garden
ant as well. Determining the soil type, characteristic, and fertility will greatly affect the water
Emma Marris
intake, and the scale of the site will affect the requirement of the quality of the environment.
THEORY RESPONSE 22
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Theory Response: Rambunctious Garden CH1: Weeding the Jungle
In Rambunctious Garden, Emma Marris wrote about the seemingly simple, yet a rather
complex relationship of humans and the nature concluded in a book titled with the two terms that oppose each other. Rambunctious, meaning uncontrollable describes the ‘nature’ of the nature of being uncontrollable by human beings although human history has resulted in the creation of gardens which is a highly maintained and controlled nature, which I thought was ironic because even though we ‘control’ the nature, it cannot be fully controlled in the end. The problem may not only be the plant selection or the design itself, it can be outside force such as pests, injuries, or climate change that causes the nature to react different than what we expect or hoped. In a busy city such as Los Angeles, there are additional factor that may influence the behavior of the nature, which includes high traffic, pollution, and different environment. LA is a diverse location with combination of hardscapes and landscapes. The result is a whole new behavior of organisms that interact with the nature around them. Animals and insects may seek a new habitat resulting on a new location or host. The recent outbreak of the polyphagous shot hole borer on Avocado trees is a good example. The pest possess a fungus within its body and as it chews into the tree canopy, the fungus infects the tree. And the polyphagous shot hole borer is not host specific, meaning that it will try to host on any species of trees until it finds the right species for them, infecting all the trees on its way.
Fathoming the Unfathomable Archival Ghosts + Paradoxical Shadows Pamphlet Architecture 34 Nat Chard + Perry Kulper
THEORY RESPONSE 24
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Theory Response: Fathoming the Unfathomable Pamphlet Architecture 34
The primary concept in Fathoming the Unfathomable written by Nat Chard and Perry
Kulper is revelation. Whether it is through drawing such as the use of construction lines to reveal and see what is not actually there, or through technology such as the idea of x-ray. Such concept may be applicable today in California. Recently, there has been many issues and incident that has been discussed, such as the drought issue, or more widely, the issue of climate change. The term climate change and its effects has been widely discussed, yet, the severity is not fully understand by everyone, which is leading to the lack of prevention. The household water use and residential irrigation are encouraged to be limited, yet not everyone knows that the agriculture field uses the majority of the water supply. And water is used a lot in energy plant to cool down the highly combusted energy. So limiting light and other energy source is also an effective way to conserve water, yet we put a great deal on the ‘dry landscape’ that will only uses about 5% of the water supply in total. And therefore, revealing a certain topics are generally an important theory to understand.
Augmented Landscape Smout Allen
THEORY RESPONSE 26
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Theory Response: Augmented Landscape
Augmented Landscape written by Smout Allen presented many technical concept and meaningful theories, but the main thing that was interesting is the combination of technology to the design concept. We hear, see, and learn to work with other discipline to create a modern taste design, which is usually very creative and the process itself is enjoyable. The projects described in Augmented Landscape presents such interdisciplinary opportunity and potential. In the modern time with the evolving and expanding variety of the education, the potential of such projects in the future is quite exciting and as new technology develops, there will be a whole new opportunity in how to apply that to a landscape design. The interesting things is that something totally unrelated to the architectural design discipline may influence a new style of ideas and we will never know the possibility.
One topic that was relatable in this book was the discussion about the edge where
two boundaries meets, in this case, the sky and the land. The study of horizon line was similar to the littoral edge condition that was given in the Silver Lake Reservoir. The fluctuation that occurs at the horizon line is different from the littoral edge where water and land meets but having the two different condition adjacent to each other will create a unique environment that attracts attention. The information presented through the projects were helpful in directing the design process.
Projective Ecology Designing Ecology Chris Reed and Nina-Marie Lister
THEORY RESPONSE 28
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Theory Response: Projective Ecology Designing Ecology – Christopher Hight
The concern on the degrading ecology to the human intervention has been a wide topic that is discussed. Landscape design has added a new aspect to the way the design are developed. A design that presents concern or even help regenerate a healthy ecology has been highly valued recently. As new path in landscape design method develops, the perception on landscape has also developed its new aspect. Although we discussed in other readings that nature is rambunctious and in some study it shows that bringing back native plants using baseline as a reference is failing, continuing to develop new ways to reveal the potential of landscape architecture may one day result in a break through to the issues that we are facing today. Especially the climate change that is occurring is becoming severe in the sense that, although in California, the main concern of the consequence of climate change is drought and water supply, the next possibility is the disruption in the ecological cycle where plants growth period shifts to the point where the benefiting organisms such as the pollinator may not be active and the plants will not be successful.
Syntethic Pattern Karen M’Closkey
THEORY RESPONSE 30
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Theory Response: Syntethic Pattern
Karen M’Closkey has written an interesting topic on ‘pattern’. In the design discipline, patterns are generally known as the repetition of certain element to create design that will catch attention. During the discussion in class, however, I learned that pattern does not necessarily have to be a design component. It can be a pattern in weather, temperature, or other statistical data. Also, we were discussing about avoiding the use of cliché for the project, and the conversation about even though pattern is a method that has been used for a long time, the way pattern is understood and applied has changed over time and therefore, it is not a cliché.
The pattern that is found across the concept and idea of Landscape Architecture is that
it continues to evolve. The historical landscape was a picturesque static design, which started to accompany the growing urban city to branch out to urban landscape with unique quality and dynamic movement. Then it started to incorporate technology, which can be seen in many project of Augmented Landscape. At the same time, the concern on ecology has evolved landscape architecture to incorporate ecological aspect. Although the direction is different, the pattern we see here is that the discipline of landscape architecture continues to grow and evolve to become new.
Steven Christensen April 29, 2016 IDC - Cal Poly Pomona
EXTERNAL DISCUSSION RESPONSE 32
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External Discussion Response: Steven Christensen
On April 29, 2016 I visited IDC on Cal Poly Pomona to attend the lecture conducted by Steven Christensen.
Many of his projects presented were something relatable, which makes his work particularly great because he made the common things to be very unique and completely out of the box. First, he explained his problem solving process that he usually applies to every project he encounters. The first step is to explore the problem by determining whether the problem is project specific or disciplinary. Project specific problem will be something like the location of the site and other structures and environment around the site. Disciplinary will be related to the user’s tendency, such as people has the tendency to sit down where there is place to sit. Then he explained his primary design concept which was visual deception using color and adjacency. For example, in one of the project discussed, he showed the Pop-Up Chapel, which was a small outdoor chapel for ceremonial events which uses strict rule to create an interacting shape of the roof and interior which created a unique feeling of being indoor even though the chapel is very small and placed in an open outdoor area.
Ben Samareh May 20, 2016 East Los Angeles College
EXTERNAL DISCUSSION RESPONSE 34
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External Discussion Response: Behn Samareh On May 20, 2016 I visited East Los Angeles College to attend a lecture taught by Behn Samareh. He has a studio in downtown LA called the Machine Inspired Art, and also teaches in the Architecture department. The main theory behind his works is that everything requires some kind of heavy duty machinery. The first project he described used an industrial size super slow motion camera. This particular camera that he selected was generally used to film explosives, such as bullet or canons being shot from the barrel. Samareh decided to take this camera, which was about the size of trash bin, to record the performance of world class top skateboard skaters. The skateboard competition was sponsored by Red Bull Company and the company asked Samareh for the project. The result was inspiring for the skateboarders where they commented that since the performance occurs in a split second, the skaters themselves did not realized what they were doing in the air until they saw the recorded video. The projects that were discussed that day were particularly large in scale, such as a design for the birthday party site, where Samareh one air plane hangar and designed a party house in there. The primary design concept for that project was to compliment the design of the hangar itself, which was made with glass and had an eclipse shape, which Samareh stated that it was beautiful. To compliment that design, he incorporated a solid black colored rectangular units inside. Although the scale of the project described by Samareh was particularly large and may not be a common scale at which landscape architects will generally work, the design concept and theory was relatable and inspiring.
INDIVIDUAL INSIGHTS 36
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Individual Insight: 1 The first project was a small scale exercise where we used 2� by 2� basswood to create a small field condition. This was a useful exercise to recapture some basic terminology and visually understand the condition by physically creating it by your own hands. Having a specific rule and requirement helped in terms of understanding the concept. It might have been interesting if there were couple more pieces that allowed further exploration with less rule to compare the resulting product, one set with specific rule applied and another set explored freely by the creators. Once the pieces were created, we explored the scale/proportion through the addition of human scale. The interesting point of small scale models is that the scale can be easily manipulated by changing the scale of the materials and objects that is placed onto the piece.
Individual Insight: 2
The fourth and last project incorporated all the process we have experience this quarter. From the second assignment, we collected information of the site and diagrammed using overlaying methods, and the third assignment explored the typology by creating multiple possibilities of site manipulation through rules, which was then combined critically to become a one site model. Then the final project which is to manipulate a site through all the information and technique gather throughout the quarter. The assignment was generally challenging and beneficial in terms of learning the whole process. Compared to the first assignment, the scale of the site has increased greatly and the accompanying models has increased as well. The progressive increase in the scale prepared us as we challenge ourselves to design the site.
PHOTO ESSAY 38
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One of the main focus this quarter was the littoral edge condition in the Silver Lake Reservoir. The littoral edge, where two condition meets is considered a fasci-nation and that people tends to be interested. So I looked up in my photo library in the past to see how many photos I would actually have that photographed a littoral edge. In order to focus on the littoral edge condition only, I selected a few that had a rather basic edge condition and nothing that stands out, yet I was able to find multiple photos that I took in the past when I traveled that proved, at least to me, that the littoral edge is actually somewhat attractive.
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This quarter we discussed about ecology quite frequently. Concern about the ecological impact that the technological improvements and human intervention of the natural area has destroyed the animal habitats or forced them out from their habitat. Landscape Architecture has begun to incorporate such concern into the design with the hope to improve such damage on the ecology, but there has been a statement that says there is not a single place on Earth today that is purely outside of any kind of influence from humans, whether that being a physical intervention or secondary effect such as pollution affecting areas away from the urban cities. Although these statements are understandable and most likely supported with evidence, sometimes it is not convincing when you are actually in such location such as the national parks. Sometimes even a road seems like a part of the surrounding environment.
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BIN NAKATANI