Parametric Landscapes

PATAUA NORTH

Whangarei Heads, Northland, New Zealand

Coastal Settlement Urban Growth

Parametric Design LAND8000 Negotiated Studies Kieran Dove 1346290

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Acknowledgements

Thanks must first go to all who contributed their time and effort into helping me throughout my research, your help and encouragement was most appreciated.

Grateful thanks and apprectiation to Nikolay Popov, without his assistance and encouragement I may still be lost. Thank you once again for all the hours you spent guiding me and assisting in my work.

Thanks and gratitude to Matthew Bradbury and Peter McPherson, who both assisted throughout the year in various parts of my research, you both have been invaluable for this publication.

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Contents 1.0 Abstract . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 2.0 Research Question . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

10.1 Master Plan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 10.2 Spatial Arrangement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 10.3 Waterfront Design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

3.0 Research Proposal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

10.4 Greenspace Design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

3.1 Rationale . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

10.5 Floodplain Design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

3.2 Aims . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

10.6 Lot Design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

3.3 Methodology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

10.7 Perspective 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48

4.0 Context . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

10.8 Section 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51

4.1 Site Analyses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

11.0 Reflection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55

4.2 Site Mapping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 4.3 Parametric Design

. . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

4.4 Voronoi Diagram . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

12.0 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56 13.0 Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58

4.5 Voronoi Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 4.6 Case Studies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 4.7 Landscape Character . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 4.8 Coastal Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 5.0 Reflection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 6.0 Theorists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 7.0 Grasshopper . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 8.0 Parametric Experiment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 8.1 Parametric Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 9.0 Development Design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 9.1 Parametric Components . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 10.0 Master Plan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 V

1.0  Abstract

This document describes an ongoing research that aims at developing a parametric/generative model methodology. The system will allow development of coastal communities with both internal and external influences to help create a masterplan design. This approach will include both natural characteristics of the site and existing spatial characteristics of the site. The resulting parametric/generative system is expected to facilitate and encourage the use of a more organic approach to master planning, bringing about the important discussion about which should be the main forces in the generation of the built environment.

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2.0  Research Question

How can we use Parametric/ Generative Design Processes Aid in Designing Coastal Communities that are affected by Urban Growth?

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3.0 Research Proposal

In recent years I have been interested in several areas within the landscape architecture profession, some more than others. For my Negotiated Studies project I have chosen to incorporate two interests of mine, they are (1) parametric / generative design and (2) urban growth.

Parametric/Generative Design is a design methodology that differs from other design approaches insofar during the design process the designer does not interact with materials and products in a direct (‘hands on’) way but via a generative system (Herr & Fischer, 2001). It’s about designing in a computational medium. It refers to the design considerations in developing systems or platforms that support and enhance generative capacity (Avital, 2007). While Parametric/Generative design is said to be in its infancy (Schumacher, 2010) and is even more in its infancy in the profession of urban design (Steino, 2012). Nicolai Steino and Mark Schnabel both agree that there are potentials of parametric design in the urban design process, though the software is slowly just emerging for us to use.

Parametric/generative has a bottom-up design approach, which differs from the typical top-down approach. The main difference is that bottomup focuses on piecing together of systems to give rise to a larger system compared to a top-down system which is producing an overview of the system and then refining the subsystems below it. Bottom-up is a useful approach as it is a type of information processing based on incoming data from the environment to form a high understanding of the site. While bottom-up is a very useful way of approaching a site it has the chance of integration problems when the subsystems aren’t going to work together efficiently at the system level (Stoney, 2008).

Urban growth is a trending topic in recent years, with coastal communities/towns expanding in a sprawling like fashion (Tibbetts, 2002). Urban growth is in which the rate of growth of an urban population occurs. Settlements are dynamic human creations that are constantly changing as a result of population increase and changing land-use within their boundaries. Several issues stem from urban growth in these small coastal communities such as loss of identity, stormwater management, ecological disturbance, commercialization, social conditions, recreational space and many more (Tibbetts, 2002).

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3.1 Rationale

New Zealanders as history has shown we have a strong connection with the sea and the activities that come with it, may it be fishing, swimming, snorkelling, relaxing on the beach and this connection with the sea and to the coasts is one we treasure. NZ coastal communities are all unique with there special character, the beaches, the house types, the activities, the history or community values, this ‘uniqueness’ is what I want to keep.

As more and more people start to build by the coast, the coastal environment will become more and more threatened, this includes the flora and fauna, the lifestyle and the natural character. The coast will be subdued to developments that will consist of poor planning and insensitive designs which will destroy the ‘uniqueness’ which was once there. It is important for us to preserve the coast, to enhance unique features and to do so we need a more sensitive site specific design methodology.

Pataua North was chosen as my site over the end of year holiday break, while on holiday up at Pataua South, I had an epiphany that my site would be Pataua. Over the past 15 years I had been travelling to Pataua for my summer holidays, I had seen first hand the changes that were occurring, mainly the increase in population.

Pataua North is a small settlement of the Whangarei Heads area which is layered with a deep history going over 150 years, a strong cultural connection with the local iwi, ecological ties to large kauri forests and more recently a popular holiday spot for out of town campers. At present Pataua North and South are connected by a small footbridge, with only 1 road out and in to both sites, with both the settlements built around the waters edge and the assortment of farm sheds scattered over the coast.

I see this project as an investigation in the opportunities that parametric/generative design can offer urban design with the design of coastal community master plans. This investigation spurred from an interest in parametric/generative design and a long standing holiday spot of mine.

The importance to keep the ‘uniqueness’ of Pataua is above all else and to keep the particular way of living to be carried out through my investigation.

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3.2  Aims

Throughout my work for this year I have noted down certain aims/outcomes that my project hopes to reach: To explore the possibilities/potentials of using parametric/generative design within the urban design realm to assist in developing Pataua North, Whangarei due to urban growth.

To maintain the sense of place at Pataua North using spatial characteristics explored throughout my research.

To design a viable subdivision masterplan for Pataua North which responds to the spatial characteristics of the existing settlements and helps to preserve the way of living

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3.3  Methodology

Collection of site data is a very important step, and the first in this methodology. Site data helps identify the initial problems of the site and also will help me understand the dynamics of the site. Literature survey is a crucial process from which my research is based upon, from case studies to academic writings; Case studies will be an excellent source of information to see how these problems I mentioned earlier. By them having been addressed by other professionals in New Zealand and overseas from a regional scale down to a site-specific design. Literature review will focus on several major questions including 1) Parametric/generative urban design, 2) effects of urban growth in Coastal Settlements.

Generative/parametric urban designs tools/techniques will be vital in creating the initial pilot urban design parametric system, such tools are programs such as rhino and grasshopper, GIS and CAD. The pilot urban design parametric model will be created to investigate the site at a very simple level to evaluate how well it goes and to then discuss that the findings were. After several model systems have been investigated a final parametric urban design system will have been formulated, from which a final discussion of my findings will be recorded.

Process -Site Data Collection + Interpretation -Literature Survey -Case Study Investigations -Site Analysis -Pilot Urban Design Parametric Design Model -Reflection -Final Urban Design Parametric Design Model

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4.0  Context Whangarei

e described as a holiday spot for residents on there weekends for getting away from Whangarei. Whangarei is roughly a 2.5 hour drive north of Auckland following SH1. The town is nested above the Brynderwyn Range and just to the west a large mountainous range that spans to the coast.

Whangarei is a commercial town, with storage and transportation being its main services. For the people that work in Whangarei, home can be out of the city, with alot of small settlements scattered over the region from Onerahi, Pataua, Oceans Beach, Parua Bay and various others.

Auckland

Whangarei

Pataua

1:200,000

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4.1 Site Analyses

Context Pataua is a rural coastal community with a strong sense of local history. The area is valued in Northland for its recreational opportunities amidst a beautiful setting of safe beaches, native vegetation and farmland. The fact that generations of families have returned to the area to live and to holiday is testimony to the natural beauty and community spirit of the area.

Pataua is one of many settlements that line the Whangarei coastline, with such places at Tutukaka to the north and Oceans beach to the south, both having their own different kind of uniqueness and attractions. Pataua is a community of around 200 houses with permanent residents and holiday baches. Pataua is split up into 2 sites, North and South with Pataua estuary in the middle. Surrounded by the Pacific Ocean to the east and a mountainous range of dense native vegetation to the west, the site is limited for developable space but excels in recreational opportunities.

Pataua North has around 100 houses centralised around the estuary, with the properties to the north and west being large paddocks with the odd farm shed scattered over the landscape.

History One of the earlisest accounts of Pataua was in 1820 when Samuel Marsden whilst travelling north sheltered from a storm and spending the night on the Pa. It was busy times for Pataua in the early 1920’s and 1930’s with the timber mill and flax mill in operation. On the north side there was a butcher’s shop, store and a boarding house. Gum digging was also in operation in the outlying areas and, in time, road building became a source of income.

The 1940’s saw more holiday ‘baches’ on both sides of the rives becoming established, with families coming out to spend their summer months enjoying the great fishing and wonderful safe swimming for the children. As the roads improved the holiday homes were converted into permanent residences with occupants commuting to Whangarei each day for work.

A common theme found in my childhood and others before me is of the freedom to roam, to enjoy the beach, the fishing, the swimming and surfing and for the older folk, the peace and quiet that can be still be found today. This type of environment is what I hope to protect, to keep this way of living for generations to come.

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Population Dynamics Throughout the year Pataua is used for several reasons with population varying round these certain reasons. With Pataua South having a campsite on the estuary edge this provides an attraction during the holiday times, particularly Christmas and new years. Also in the early months of the year game fishing is a big attraction, with such sites as Tutukaka and the Whangarei Harbour having boat ramps for large game fishing vessels.

Through late December and early January the population is at its peak, with holidays goers filling both Pataua North and South. This population spike usually lasts for 3-4 weeks with the most intense time round new years. Over the past 15 years, from my personal experience, the site has grown tremendously in popularity. This can be drawn down to on site amenities, opportunities and its exclusiveness. With Pataua North, the closest set of shops is Whangarei township round 50min away, but with Pataua South, Parua Bay and Onerahi are only 10min and 30min drive away respectively.

Throughout the rest of the year Pataua is full of permanent residents, both for North and South. With people choosing to work in Whangarei and elsewhere, also people who can afford also have houses in town and often stay at Pataua over weekends.

This trend of population has been the case for Pataua for many years, as most coastal communities that live away from major cities.

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4.2  Site Mapping Housing

Housing - Houses have been built with consideration for the recreational opportunities that the estuary presents. So a close proximity to recreation has always been considered when building.

Cadastrals

Cadastral - The cadastral help to show ownership, with investigation and GIS I was able to establish that the land just north of the site and the large lot to the west are owned by the same family. Also with a series of thin long properties to the north which are currently empty with the odd cow or sheep. This shows the orientation facing the beach fronts, with short and long shaped properties.

Flood/Erosion Zones - Floodplains and erosion zones are important features to my investigation. The large floodplain beside the settlement indicates a depression and a help to show the areas topography in more detail due to lack of information. As a coastal environments in NZ erosion is always a factor, with retreating sand dunes and stabilization possibilities these areas need to be cared for.

Flood Zones Erosion Zones

Terrain

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Terrain - The contours show the relative flatness of the area, with the slope increasing to the west of Pataua North Road.

With the increasing slope, this will most likely be a restriction for development, keeping the coastal character is an important aim of this design.

Slope

Sand

Slope - With the limited data available, a slope analysis was done and shown is the slope above 15deg. These areas identified are Pataua Mountain and the hills to the west.

Sand - Over the years sediment has been building up in the estuary and especially round the mouth of the estuary. The build up of sediment is also very detrimental to the recreational opportunities for both North and South.

Road Network - Pataua North has only one road coming in and out of the area, Pataua North Road. This road acts as a barrier between the flat lands and the hills to the west. Roads beings an average of 7m across and having no footpaths.

Road Network

Open Space - Pataua North has limited public space besides the beach, with limitations being with the sand dunes being under protection from erosion and stabilization issues. Pataua South on the other hand has various open spaces with the mountain, surf beach, estuary and small grassed areas.

Openspace

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ViewPoint 1

ViewPoints 2

Viewpoint 1 - From the mouth of the estuary the views show a large, if not complete view of the estuary edge, this can be explained due to the flatness of the area and also the absence of large trees. The estuary edge is a very clean edge, meaning that vegetation or rock formations are not present.

Viewpoint 2 - The hills to the west are among the highest points in the immediate area, besides Pataua Mountain. These hills span further up the coast with a relative distant from the sea as seen in Pataua North. The steep hills restrict development due to the houses sticking out above the vegetation or on the ridge.

ViewPoint 3

Viewpoint 3 - Views from the bridge on Pataua South can be compared to Viewpoint 1. With the strong visibility of the estuary edge and further down the estuary. Although the views will be blocked by the various buildings that are in Pataua South, also Pataua South hasn’t a lot of planting along the estuary edge.

ViewPoints 4

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Viewpoint 4 - Viewpoint 4 shows that within the developable area there is a slight depression in the land with the hill to the west and the dunes to the east. Also the road acts as a barrier, with the shift in height giving the view shaft a gap on the side of the hill near the bottom.

Mass Distribution

Walkways

Block Distribution - Block distance refers to how many houses per block, Pataua North has a range of 10-15 houses each row. This helps determine road layout with blocks being roughly 200m-250m long which helps determine road structure as well.

Walkways - Access to the beach is one of the important components of the settlement. With a series of walkways to the beach keeps the beach connected and readily available to everyone within a small walking distance. Shown on the map the walkways vary from 100m -150m apart helping minimise walking.

Building Typology - House analysis refers to spatial characteristics such as building height and floor size. This will help determines building typology later in the design.

Building Typology

Coastal Edge- Further more from identifying erosion potential zones, this evaluation is to show how the current settlement uses the coast. From mapping and site investigation/photos it is evident that the houses are far to close to the coast and are doing the sand dunes harm.

Coastal Edge

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5.0 Opportunities and Constraints

Recreation

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Holiday

History

4.3  Parametric Design -Analysis Parametric Design is the process of designing in an environment where design variations are effortless, thus replacing singularity with multiplicity in the design process. Parametric design is done with the aid of Parametric Models. A parametric model is a computer representation of a design constructed with geometrical entities that have attributes (properties) that are fixed and others that can vary. The variable attributes are also called parameters and the fixed attributes are said to be constrained. The designer changes the parameters in the parametric model to search for different alternative solutions to the problem at hand. The parametric model responds to the changes by adapting or re-configuring to the new values of the parameters without erasing or redrawing.

In parametric design, designers use declared parameters to define a form.

This requires rigorous thinking in order to build a sophisticated geometrical structure embedded in a complex model that is flexible enough for doing variations. Therefore, the designer must anticipate which kinds of variations he wants to explore in order to determine the kinds of transformations the parametric model should do. This is a very difficult task due of the unpredictable nature of the design process.

Parametric design is still in its infancy within the urban design realm, and this proves difficult to research but the notions within the parametric world are well established and play an important part within my design.

The images on the page are products of Zaha Hadid Architects and her firms investigation into Parametricism for master planning. These were some of my initial interests and inspirations earlier on.

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4.4  Voronoi Diagram

The voronoi diagram is a special kind of decomposition of a given space, e.g determined by distances to a specified family of points in the space.

The Voronoi diagram activates a process of generating and evolving spatial forms interacting with all entities of a system, the self-organization. It leads to the evolution of the system continuously proliferating with the spatial pattern defined from the self-organization. The Voronoi diagram generates a space-filling topological structure and is one of the most fundamental and useful constructs, emphasizing its excellent applicability in modelling natural phenomena.

This diagram became a key precedent throughout my design process, not with the visual characteristics of the diagram, but more of the spatial characteristics behind the shape.

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Att r act i o n

Curve/Point Point Repulsion

4.5  Voronoi Analysis Deformation

Curve Deformation Pull

Curve Deformation Between 2 Curves

From my research into the voronoi diagram I discovered the concept of attraction and repulsion. This idea was further investigated with diagrammatic models, shown in images on the page. The voronoi diagram is a pattern which describes the minimal energy pathways between a set of points (Coates, 2010). The voronoi diagram through further analysis and modelling presents an emergent self-organised structure/system. This technique has been used in various ways throughout the design profession and in nature.

Curve Repulsion

Repulsion from a point/curve

Point Attraction

Point Repulsion

C u r v e / P o in t D efor mati on Cu rve De fo rm a ti o n Pu ll

Attraction Towards a Point

P o i n t Repul si on

Precedent - Concept of repulsion/attraction being used with identified non-developable/developable land.

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4.6  Case Studies

Majok Waterfront Case studies were selected with the interest into organisational systems and the different variations of this concept. The 3 shown case studies all show a range of different methodologies and design outcomes.

The Majok Waterfront is a competition entry for a waterfront site in Seoul, Korea. This project presents the unique formation technique of a given area with the support of a digital algorithm developed by the Voronoi diagram for the effective distribution of city blocks.

The project discussed how the parametric distributing and zoning systems by the Voronoi diagram allows the designers to create an innovative urban design language.

The result of the application of the Voronoi diagram improves the design qualities in the sense that it enhances the accessibility of visitors of the site to all the key places in the area, makes district blocks to have more interactive and dynamic relationships, establishes the systematic design process for urban design using parametric system, restores the equilibrium of forces and tensions among blocks, and suggests diverse design alternatives in a balanced hierarchy system.

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Precedent - Idea of experimenting and identifying nodal points which can become features of the design.

Associative Design This research studio investigates the potential af new site-specific housing environments. Associative design is a technique based on associative geometry. These geometries describe the relationships between various assemblies and constitute a design object as mutually linked geometrical construction.

This process is applied to a site in China with the aim of designing new living environments which form city life, urban policies, desires, attention and growth. By using local historical housing types, each of these environments will consist of a population of housing units that together form a synthetic vernacular.

Precedent - A systematic approach to urban design also with the integration of historical information, in this case housing type.

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Kaisersrot Software With the software developed by Kaisersrot, it is possible to organize developments with optimised infrastructure, such as light exposure and views, while maintaining the quality of the urban arrangement.

The emerging negotiations between the huge amount of elements require the computer as a tool to run all these algorithms at the same time in order to synthesize and synchronize them. One result out of many variations might emerge, when the system of negotiations reaches for an equilibrium – all elements have a stable position with their given parameters. The objective of a dynamic planning and simulation tool is implemented by designing not the actual form but the rules which constrain it.

Well formulated rules allow for a certain degree of freedom for the element to transform, move or change in whatever way, as a rule is always specific and never covers the whole range of the element’s definition.

Precedent - Idea of bottom-up design methodology linking all the systems together to get a form/design.

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4.7  Landscape Character

Topography

Recreation

History

Coastline

Residential

Community

Farmland

Passive Space

Protection

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Due to Pataua being a small settlement, house typologies are limited. This project focuses on massing of buildings. The viewshafts are an important factor in my layout design as well as densities over the site.

Beach Front - Housing along the waterfront are narrow long properties with usually a 2 storey house on site. This typology is defined by the view of the beach and the thing elongated housing types that line the waterfront.

Vegetation is of a minimum with the bulk of the vegetation round the southern end of the beach. The back of the properties tend to have no boundary fences and in doing so have blurred boundaries. Pedestrian flow is evident along the top of the dunes with various walkways imprinted in the dune vegetation.

Residential - Pataua use to be called a holiday settlement but in recent years permanent housing have been built and the size of the houses is also increasing. With the old holiday baches being small single storey dwellings and they are mainly situated round the estuary side of the site, with the larger more modern housing being down the northern end. Alot of the 2nd row houses off the beach front have been situated so they get a view of the beach and are mainly two storey houses to help this.

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Farmland - Pataua is surrounded by farmland on various landscapes. The farmland that surrounds the site is relatively flat, with the odd landscape feature scattered up the coast consisting of knolls and small mountains.

The historical irrigation systems on the farms are long strips of planting which helped direct stormwater. These strips of trees also helped define property boundaries and could be key design features later on in my design.

4.8  Coastal Analysis

Marsden Cove

Omaha Beach Marsden Cove is a recent developed area close to Pataua within the Whangarei Harbour. The recent development consists of a large canal/waterway system and a new marina. This new development has a negative impact on the sense of place.

Omaha beach has recently been developed on the southern end of the beach. This masterplan has a seamless design between the houses with the long walkway and re vegetation areas.

The layout of the building masses is one that doesn’t want to reach a high density, but to allow sites to have space, and with large greenspaces close by. With the radial system road configuration has a minimal to no relation to the existing settlement to the north.

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Pauanui

Kaiteriteri

Pauanui is located on the Coramandel Peninsula, which has always been a hotspot for holiday spots and in recent times there has been a lot of growth in many of the towns. Pauanui is a good example of one of these towns, with a strong sense of place and large openspace, it is a welcoming site. The openspace along the beach front is kept throughout the beach front areas which gives the opportunity for a strong connection. One thing that would of improved this would be a road along the beach front, this would create a much higher degree of sense of place.

Kaiteriteri is a large development near Nelson, the site consists of a large motor home on the northern side of the estuary with its boundaries reaching the edge of the forest.

This site has recently been growing as a holiday spot and with the forest beside the site, the development has been spread out on other sites, so keeping the green spaces available for the campers.

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5.0  Reflection

Mid Year Reflection

For the first half of the year i spent time learning about the concepts of Parametric/ Generative Design, this was a difficult process but a rewarding process. For the first semester I made several discoveries that were important to my research, them being the voronoi diagram and the spatial qualities of the attraction and repulsion.

This was followed by several case studies employing this idea in different ways and to understand there constraints and opportunities which was useful for the development of my own design components.

Through my research into other New Zealand coastal communities I drew up new ideas into spatial configurations regarding street design, lot sizes and proximity to recreational sites. This was most evident in Omaha with the large walkways in front of the due system, this was a design strategy to help protect the dune system which i believe to be a valuable more which could impact my design.

With the extent of my work with design, focus has been shifted slightly to investigating a model for coastal communities, with Pataua being used an my example. The model will stem from the concept of spatial relations to the original settlement with the focus on densities in and around features. These features may include the waterfront, floodplains, knolls, slopes and public space. The model will help investigate opportunities that parametric design can develop with the ability for modifications to be made that will create iterations of the masterplan.

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6.0  Theorists

Generative design: a paradigm for design research Jon McCormack, Alan Dorin, Troy Innocent

The Agency of Mapping James Corner

Sense of Place, Authenticity and Character Gunila Jive’n & Peter J. Larkham

A Generative Evolutionary Design Method Patrick Janssen

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7.0 Grasshopper

For designers who are exploring new shapes using generative algorithms, Grasshopper is a graphical algorithm editor tightly integrated with Rhino’s 3d modelling tools. Grasshopper requires no knowledge of programming or scripting, but still allows designers to build form generators from the simple to the awe-inspiring.

The term “Evolutionary Computing” may very well be widely known at this point in time, but they are still very much a programmers tool. Galápagos provides a generic platform for the application of Evolutionary Algorithms to be used on a wide variety of problems by non-programmers.

Often the most difficult thing whilst setting up an Evolutionary Solver run is the definition of the Fitness Function. The sort of problem that is most suited for Evolutionary Solvers typically has a number (sometimes a very large number) of different variables that need to be solved. Sometimes these variables cooperate, in that improving one will also improve the other, sometimes they oppose and sometimes they are completely unconnected (Rutten, 2011).

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8.0  Parametric Experiment Experiment #1

Orewa Beach

Castor Bay

Beachfront - Rich Middle - Poor Hills - Moderate

House Price

Beachfront - Grid Middle - Curved Back - Circular

Road Typology

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Browns Bay Selected houses over $1M show relation to proximity to beach

House/Price Typology

Road Proximity to Beach

Distance From Beach

ViewPoints from ridges showing

VIewPoints to Beach

Flat - Grid Steep - Curved

Road/Slope Relation

8.1  Parametric Model Experiment #2

Scale 1:17,500 @A1

1

2 1

2

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9.0  Development Design

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9.1  Parametric Components Floodplain + Road Road Fixed

Floodplain Road Adjustable

Point generation

Rebuilt road

Floodplains play an important role in my design, with such large areas been identified as floodplains, the opportunity to make these public space and stormwater sites is likely.

The floodplain beside the estuary caries significant weight as its the link to the estuary if a stormwater device was to be put in place.

Logic - Define spatial arrangement.

- Link roads with a adjustable line/curve - Find intersecting points with floodplain and floodplain centre point - Offset points on a tangent to create new control points for road - Recreate road with 3 new control points around the floodplain

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Knoll + Road Waterfront Knoll

Offset = road

Point generation

Rebuilt road

Knolls or landscape features are very common in the paddocks north and west of my site. Some of these features provide a design opportunity to make a break in the urban fabric and not to be just bowled over. Hill sides also become features where sloped areas are un-buildable so new roads need to be built parallel with them and not over them.

Logic - Define spatial arrangement.

- Offset waterfront to create new road - Generate new points by intersection with knoll - Offset points on tangent towards original curve - Rebuild curve with new points

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Greenspace + Walking

Greenspace

Road

Housing

Road

Walking is a big part of holidays also being a small area, Pataua is easily navigated by walking. With the idea of lots of people, a large number of them being children that holiday here, the need for both openspace and playgrounds are sometimes needed.

Due to the overall length and size of the area developable, the need for openspace is small but still a necessary component in my design.

Logic - Define spatial arrangement and view point.

- Define centre point of greenspace - Attract road line to centre point - Recreate road with new attracted points

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Greenspace + Driving Road Greenspace

Housing

Road

This particular road design was a difficult component to build due to the rules I set beforehand. This rule being that 2/3 of the view lines had to come into contact with the greenspace.

This component focused around vehicle transportation and the visibility of the public spaces in between the lots which gives a stronger connectivity to openspace. The idea of connectivity is a key design influence, with helping finalise driving routes and road layout/structure.

Logic - Create spatial arrangement + Car Viewpoint - Analyse intersecting points and find vector difference of 3 viewshafts - Dispatch the intersecting points with the road line - Find control points on line and add the vector from the viewshafts - Recreate the road line with the new control point - Adjust the control point to acquire 2/3 intersections 34

Lot Size + Distribution

House Road Lot size and configuration are important parts of my design, with trying to keep the sense of place without putting pressure on these features. This feature of lot sizes depends on a maximum and minimum area, when land mass gets less than say 250m2 each site then the design changes to remove some of the plots, to help alleviate the stress on the remaining lots.

This parametric model is used in relation to the Galรกpagos (evolutionary solver) experiment I was researching earlier. With the plots identified, the building footprint would be positioned using this technique. This would allow for a more optimal positioning depending on a set of fitness (parameters) that I define in my definition.

Logic - Create spatial arrangement - Define point of repulsion and use with road curve - Once average lot size is to low, dispatch the property lines - Recreate the new lots with the removal of 2 lots

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10.0  Master Plan

Design Iterations

Chosen Design

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1:10000 ScaleScale 1:10000 @A1

Pataua North

1 2

10.1  Master Plan

P3

3

4 P2

P1

Openspace Beach Floodplain

Scale 1:2500 @A0 Scale 1:2500

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10.2  Spatial Arrangement Cadastrals

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Greenspace

Cadastrals - Greenspace - Floodplains.

Floodplains

Through my initial research into Pataua I identified constraints that are site specific and identified process specific constraints. Once I had identified these constraints I created site specific parametric models for various parts of my design.

These models were incorporated into the masterplan model and a series of generations/iterations were created in the program, keeping record of these designs I was able to look back and evaluate the designs and to take out anything particular part that would benefit the most recent design.

Through this design process I was constantly evaluating my model and outcomes, always developing the definition to make it run smooth or to amend a rule or geometry.

Through analysing the designs, a masterplan was chosen based on both the computers output but also my own design considerations. This is one of the important features of designing with Parametric Design and has been one of the most useful.

The final model was based on a series of rules that were developed through case study analysis, site analysis and designer input.

Evaluation

-Openspace Proximity

-Housing Density

-Landscape Features -Viewshafts -Connectivity

-Recreational Activities Scale 1:2500 @A0

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10.3  Waterfront Design

Adjustable Node

Adjustable Nodes

1 1

Openspace Beach Openspace Beach Floodplain

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Floodplain Affected Affected RoadsRoad Attraction Points Attraction 1:40001:4000 @A1 Points ScaleScale

ScaleScale 1:2000 @A1 1:2000

The Waterfront design varies based on a set number of constraints. These evaluation principles were based on my initial investigation into Pataua Norths spatial characteristics and other NZ coastal communities.

Points were generated from significant landscape features in the dune system. A depression in the dune system presents an opportunity for viewshafts to be utilized and to help create a connection from the floodplain to the beach.

Evaluation -Connectivity

-Minimum Distance to Beach -Block Distance -Road Structure

-Minimum Lot size The creation of the road layout gave way to the formulation of the plots and the green space buffer zone between the road the beach.

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Greenspace Greenspace

10.4  Greenspace Design

Attraction Node

2 2

2

Openspace Openspace BeachBeach Floodplain Floodplain Affected Affected RoadsRoads

22 Attraction Attraction PointsPoints

Openspace Beach

Floodplain

Affected Road Attraction Points

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Scale 1:4000 @A1

Scale 1:2000 @A1

Scale 1:4000 Scale 1:4000

Scale 1:2000 Scale 1:2000

The greenspace design has two sets of rules attached to it, (1) being the proximity rule and (2) being the visibility rule. The proximity rule is defined by a distance to another greenspace/corridor along the waterfront, this distance is between 300-400m. This is defined by the walk ability of the average person. The other rule is defined by the visibility/views of people and cars. as cars move the curve is deformed in a specific way compared to the walking deformation.

The greenspace was built by using the attraction rule previously discussed. The rule was that as people walked by the main road to the west, the greenspace had to be visible and this was done by attracting the road towards the centre of the greenspace which opened up a larger frontage that was viewable from the main road.

As cars would drive by a different rule was used, the rule was dependant on viewshafts from a 60 deg angle set off the front of the car, the vector created would then move the greenspace in a certain way to help optimise the visibility of the greenspace. This deformed the roads in very different ways that the walking rule.

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10.5  Floodplain Design

Adjustable Node

3 Openspace Beach Floodplain Affected Road Attraction Points Walkway 44

Scale 1:5000 @A1

Scale 1:3000 @A1

The floodplains were a main constraint within my design, with the initial mapping showing large floodplains across the coast this gave the idea that for future development, stormwater management could use these zones as wetlands and ponds.

The rule for the deformation of these zones was from the control points on the curve itself. The points would then be offset and act as attraction/repulsion components. This gave the option for an infinite selection of generations/iterations of this particular design.

Although the selection was infinite, one had to be selected and for this to happen an Evaluation system was created.

This would be a larger system that a greenspace due to its large number of relationships to the other various components.

Evaluation -Greenspace

-Block Area -Roads

-House Typologies

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10.6  Lot Design

4

Evolutionary Solver

LotLot Design Design

4

OpenspaceOpenspace Beach

Beach

4

Floodplain Floodplain Affected Roads

Affected Roads

44 Attraction Attraction Points Points

Openspace Beach

Floodplain

Affected Road Attraction Points

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Scale 1:3500

Scale 1:3000 @A1 Scale 1:3500

Scale 1:2000 @A1 Scale 1:2000

Scale 1:2000

Lot Size had two sets of evaluation components for its formulation. These being (1) lot size and (2) house positioning.

The lot size was dependant on the blocks area and the house positioning was defined by an evolutionary solver.

The block area changed due to its relationship with in this case the floodplain, as the floodplain deformed then the pressure on the block distance tightened or loosened. The number of lots on the block were evaluated and given cadastral boundaries, these sites were given a rule not to be below a certain area and if the block got to small then the rule was to drop 2 of the lots and to spread out the remainders. This gave restrictions on lot density and was set to be spatial related to the existing settlement to help keep the spatial character of the site.

The other rule was based on viewshafts and visibility to a point. This was generated in Galรกpagos (discussed earlier), an evolutionary solver where a fitness was defined and generations/iterations were created within the program and sent back as options. Galรกpagos was set to find the optimum position of individual houses which was controlled by individual rules.

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P1

10.7  Perspective 1

Beach

Connection to Beach Connection to Beach

Connection to the beach was an important rule when I was designing, the Omaha case study showed this idea the most, with the increasing chance of erosion. This also creates a large reserve along the beach that helps to protect the dune systems.

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1

P 2

h

Sense of Place

Sense of Place

Pataua as it is today is a very informal place with no footpaths or planting with the streets. This situation with the street layout is what gave Pataua character and is one of the main considerations while I was designing the site.

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P3

3

Natural Character

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Leisure Opportunities Floodplains become naturalised that help with stormwater management in the future and sea-level rises. This creates an opportunity for recreation/leisure along the floodplain edge which helps connect the community with a series of paths and green links.

10.8  Section 1

S1S1

Scale 1:400 @A2 This cross-section illustrates the existing beach front arrangement, it shows the house sitting on the 1st dune which is prone to erosion and can cause de-stabilisation of the dune system and is not an ideal position. A majority of the houses along the waterfront are two storey houses, usually of a slim build due to the thinness of the site. This allows for views of the beach to be seen from the road and the 2nd row of houses.

S2

S2

Sc

Scale 1:400

10m

There is currently low lying vegetation along the dune with large human-made pathways dug out of the due to pedestrian movement. Further south round the entrance to the estuary there is dune protection methods being set up to help stop erosion.

1:350 Keeping this Scale in mind when i design my parametric model, I can constrict the development of the beach front/dune system for the protection and possible retreat of the dunes.

10m

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S1 2

S1

S2 S2

Sc

S1 S2

Scale 1:400 Scale 1:400

10m

10m

10m Scale 1:350

Scale 1:150 @A2

Scale 1:350

Sc North of the existing settlement the road moves away from the waterfront and replies to site conditions identified as landscape features. These identified nodal points will act as attract/repel components that will dictate the path of the road.

The reserve along the waterfront is directly related to the path of the road, as the road shape changes, so does the shape and form of the reserve. The reserve will become an integral part of protecting the coastal dune system. The removal of the houses right on the dune system will create space for additional planting, pathways and access points to the beach.

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3

S3

S3

10m

10m Scale 1:300

Scale The floodplains identified will become the amenity features of the site and act as recreational opportunities such as jogging/ walking/biking areas. The floodplain will become a feature of the site and the immediate houses surrounding the areas will be slightly larger land parcels due to them less desirable land.

S4

S4

Scale 1:350 @A2

7m

Scale 1:150

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1

S3S3 4

10m 10m Scale 1:300

Scale 1:300

S4

S4

7m

Scale 1:150

7m

Scale 1:150

Scale 1:150 @A2

Through out the development the housing arrangement varies depending on the surroundings. This idea of viewshafts was really important in my design as an evaluation system.

The concept that was explored for the arrangement of the buildings on the lots was a system called Galรกpagos, which is a evolutionary solver. The idea was to get an optimised layout dependant on a set of variables, them being - orientation toward a point, obstructions and within a boundary.

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11.0  Reflection

This research project started to investigate the potential that parametric design processes had within the landscape architectural profession specialising in master planning of coastal communities. I found through my research into parametric design that it has its potentials as well as its limitations, and throughout the year I have slowly uncovered and en-counted them along the way.

Through my investigation into parametric design principles, geometry and techniques I discovered the voronoi diagram, which became an integral part of my design. Several experiments were created to help show and understand the concept of the voronoi diagram, the 1st investigation had shown that the idea of nodal points was limited due to lack of information, but it helped formulate the idea of giving the landscape features the attract/repel concept, this carried onto be one of my major discoveries. Through my analysis parametric components were created for various situations of the site, them being greenspace, floodplain, lot size and landscape features. These situations were then investigated using sketching and then input into Grasshopper 3d to create a parametric model. The models were extensively studied and through Grasshopper they were modelled. This process of investigation turned up several limitations, many regarding my knowledge of the program and the capabilities of it, also a generic model was made but when it came to the site I had to adapt the component to make it work.

The program provided a strong sense of relationships of the built model, this was important for linking components together so that everything was acting as a system, which is a key component of bottom-up design. The ability to generate numerous models and to re-visit them is a key attribute of parametric design and was used as a research/comparison feature throughout my investigation.

The above model examples show a range of conditions with a range of principles. The models are also important devices for manipulating and testing about the future, the ability to test a design is of great value to the designer and its shows feasibility of a design or an idea and a range of different principles can be tested due to the generative qualities of parametric design.

Limitations of this process are also important. Firstly, the knowledge and understanding of what you are trying to show is important and some what difficult, the degree of difficulty is evident in my examples and are simplified for understanding purposes. Modelling with GalĂĄpagos is difficult due to the fitness function also the amount of information was limited due to the area not being surveyed yet and this provided a degree of limitation regarding the extent of my model and the 3d affect of it.

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12.0  Conclusion

For my research project I looked at the potentials for Parametric Design as a Landscape Architecture tool, I looked at a case study site that had an expected growth of 5000 people and applied parametric design techniques to generate a masterplan. I can conclude that Parametric Design is a suitable tool for the profession, even though it has its limitations it can still be used in various fashions across the profession of Landscape Architecture.

Parametric Design can be used in various ways but its most powerful tool is its use of relationships. This can be used with several areas of design and can help speed up and help create accurate models of designs such as roads, spaces, areas, volumes and ratios. The program is also powerful to help connect past designs with future designs to help create integrated designs which respond to updating information and can also design tests which can measure the feasibility of a design.

In respect to this project, the outcome was a representation of a potential development, but the focus of the project was to investigate the process and its applications at the different stages of design from site analysis, experiment, master planning and detail design.

Further more to completing this research I feel that there are many questions that could be investigated but i feel that the most potential to investigate is specifically in urban design in more detail focusing round coastal communities with input of real world data to help drive a model/design.

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13.0 Bibliography

Steino, N, (2012). Parametric Thinking in Urban Design - a geometric approach.

Liang, A. (2010). Sense of Place: Urban Design, Amenity, Local Character and Heritage.

Fischer, T., & Herr, C. M. (2001). Teaching Generative Design. Paper presented at the 4th Conference on Generative Art., Milan.

Schumacher, P. (2010). Parametricism - A New Global Style for Architecture and Urban Design. Published in: AD Architectural Design - Digital Cities, Vol 79, No 4, July/August 2009, Tibbetts J (2002). Coastal Cities: Living on the Edge. Environ Health Perspect Retrieved 26th March From http:// ehp03.niehs.nih.gov/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1289%2Fehp.110-a674 Avital, M. (2007). Innovation through Generative Systems Design. Cleveland, Ohio.

Stoney, G (2008), Top-down vs Bottom-up Design, Retrieved 26th March 2012 from http://greatengineering.net/ System-Engineering/Architectural-Design/Top-down-vs-Bottom-up-Design.html Coates, P. (2010). Programming Architecture. USA, Routledge.

Rutten, D. (2011). Define “Fitness”... I Eat Bugs For Breakfast. http://ieatbugsforbreakfast.wordpress. com/2011/03/07/define-fitness/, Wordpress.

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