Final group project journal

El Rio Hondo

Colmenero, J. Hui, L. Nu単ez, R.

Table of Contents Phases Mapping and Recon // Building Complexity//Program Development//HERE and THERE Taxonomy of Emergent Spatial Types Systems Linkages and Narrative Structures

Site Visits Culture Readings & Writtings Composing Landscapes: Subject, Method Technique, pages 11-34 Projective Ecologies: Flood Control Feakology, Fletcher Composing Landscapes: Typology, pages 266-326 Rambunctious Garden: Chapters 9-10

Personals Jorge Colmenero Hui Lei Rogelio Nu単ez

Phases

Phase 1

Mapping and Recon // Building Complexity/ /Program Development//HERE and THERE

The most apparent issue is pollution. Finding how life has flourished around all these entities was eye openning.

J. Colmenero

R. Nu単ez

Garvey

Calcium Carbonate

ca

Fumed Sili

e

ioxid ium D

Titan Zinc

e Oxid

CMC

Clay

Rosemead

Carbon Black

Phase 2

Taxonomy of Emergent Spatial Types

Hold

Fold

Spread

21

3

14

11

26

2

1

30

Roof

20

29

22

27

12

12

31

10

Mound Heat Rule

Concrete Crack Rule Rule

Light Rule Bicycle Rule

Trash Rule

Rhythm Rule

Pedestrian Rule

Old Rule

Homeless Rule

Water Rule

Underneath Rule

Float Rule

Duck Rule

Vine Rule

Sound Rule

Ant Rule

Score

Perforate Accumulate

Disperse

Protect

Seed Rule

Trash Rule

Ant Rule

Undisturbed Rule

Pole Rule

Underneath Rule

Float Rule

Homeless Rule

Crack Rule

Tire Rule

Heat Rule

Shade Rule

Tap Rule

Duck Rule

Seed Rule

Cart Rule

Platform

20

23

15

25

11

9

3

5

Isolation Rule

Forest

8

18

16

7

8

24

28

22

Field

2

21

4

18

6

25

9

27

Wall

17

17

16

13

7

19

13

6

Bridge

10

14

24

23

32

30

1

5

29

26

19

28

15

32

4

31

Tire Rule

Isolation Rule

Bicycle Opportunity Rule Rule

Old Rule Texture Concrete Rule Rule

Vine Rule

Water Rule

Shade Pedestrian Rule Rule Sound Rule

Tower

1. Wind Rule- wind is diverted by the curve of the channel 2. Trash Rule- Trash accumulation is a factor for algae growth 3. Heat Rule- A higher elevation in the channel has a lower temperature 4. Sound Rule- More birds are seen the further away from man-made 5. Shade Rule- Bicyclists and pedestrians prefer shade as resting spots 6. Isolation Rule- Nature of the channel isolates a person 7. Algae Rule- A barrier is an opportunity for algae growth 8. Pollution Rule- Air polllution creates a suffocating layer of smog at the surface of the channel 9. Tire Rule- Tires from the wheels of the car become immersed with the ecology of the river 10. Homeless Rule- Homeless people prefer an area that protects them from the cold 11. Crack Rule- Cracks are an opportunity for plant growth 12. Pigeon Rule- Pigeons thrive in urban settings 13. Fence Rule- Fences are a barrier between the urban and the meshed ecolgy of the river 14. Water Rule- Follows path of least resistance 15. Concrete Rule- Light breaks up and reflects off concrete 16. Bicycle Rule- Bicyclists prefer a path with less wind resistance 17. Pedestrian Rule- Pedestrians prefer to stay on a path with a smooth texture 18. Plant Rule- Plants blend and thrive with the trash and urbanity 19. Vine Rule- Vines thrive on vertical surfaces 20. Convection Rule- Sunlights is a trapped by the black asphalt heating it up 21. Rhytm Rule- Rhytm of bicyclists depends on the elevation change 22. Canopy Rule- The wires from the telephone posts and electricity make up the urban jungle 23. Marshland Rule- People walking inside the channel avoid the areas with high alage growth 24. Colonization Rule- Plants are able to spread through the wind 25. Stiltwalker Rule- Stiltwalkers prefer open fields for nesting 26. Pressure Rule- Some cracks are formed by water pressure 27. Airplane Rule- Planes from the airport cirlce the Rio Hondo Channel 28. Noise Rule- High volume of traffic creates excess noise 29. Ditch Rule- Ditches serve as accumulation spots 30. Adaptation Rule- Animals adapt to the trash and man made products dumped in the river 31. Flight Rule- Birds avoid flying near high traffic areas 32. Shopping Cart Rule- Shopping carts are found in areas with high density vegetation or barriers

Phase 3

Systems Linkages and Narrative Structures

SITE CIRCULATION

INTERCHANGEABLE PATHS

Site Visits

R. Nunez

Site visits, mapping our 5 mile stretch on bikes.

R. Nunez

Greetings from the Rio Hondo. Surprises found within the channel.

Tracks exposed layers of ecology along the river floor.

Furnished sewer pipes along the river.

Culture

- The constant interplay between thinking and doing is essential. Experimenting with drawings allows you to project your images and investigate change. Each experimental drawing is a hypothesis of your thoughts.

-Steenbergen

R. Nunez

R. Nunez

5pm 3/15

Readings & Writtings R. Nunez

5pm 4/15

Composing Landscapes Fernanda Suarez Kevin Lei Estevan Castaneda Roger Nunez Jorge Colmenero Hui Lei

Subject Method Technique Landscape Architecture projects a coherent system including natural sciences, nature, supra-natural, and metaphysics.

-Architectonic Design: applying a procedure in the manipulation of place, space, metaphor and program is the main task.

-Garden Architecture: building in the landscape. Object of specific, landscape architectonic operations directed toward the clarification of the qualities of the place Does the role of design decrease the more the work terrain shifts toward the scale of the vast landscape and the city, or is it only the nature of composition that changes?

How widely applicable are the design instruments of landscape architecture? what various domains or spheres of activity can be distinguished in landscape design?

Architecture and Landscape

The Form of the Urban Landscape

Object and Context

Balance must exist within the form of the place, the space, and the programme, in order to create a good landscape architectonic composition.

Landscape architectonic operations Plan analysis: an analysis of the basic should be aimed at activating and form, the spatial form, the metaphorireconstructing the landscape space cal form and the form of the within the urban context. progamme.

- man made landscapes Otium: Culture and pleasure. Public incorporate a pattern of urban f Typological analysis: compares the programme. unctions in relation to the traffic landscape architectonic designs and Negotium: Benefits. Economic. networks as a foundation. distinguishes elements, schemes, and -Nature, technology, art, -Must serve the urban dynamic transformations. otium, and negotium are inseparably functions. linked with each other.

Composing Landscapes typology pg 266-326 kEVIN lEI - fERNANDA SUAREZ - eSTEVAN CASTANEDA - rOGER NUNEZ jORGE cOLMENERO - hUI lEI

typology - Typology is the study of types - the relationship between artistic creation and historic experiences is coherent - Giulio Carlo Argan stated how typologies have a way into architecture in which it sorts to find the comparison of forms and to determine the similarities and differences.

- Typological research allows one to compare compositions to make programs and certain design aspects visible in comparison to social and cultural problems established.

composition of Elements The Form of the Man-made Landscape

The Composition as a Framework

In architecture, there two main Landscape Architecture analyzes the points, the content (which indicates), place, the space, the image and the and the form (which is indicated). progamme.

- content: material, topographic, technical, cultural, and Man-made landscape is inherent in economic substances. loving on and working the land -form: the presentation Interaction between technical and of the parts (content) all assembled functional framework and natural together. substratum spatial form and the metaphorical The form “activates” the content. from reamin latent-incudled in the tech of the layout of the land and in the organization of the programme formal aspects that are determined by natural factors such as wing, water, and soil are specific to each man-made landscape from these factors come its own particular topography

Drawings - The constant interplay between thinking and doing is essential.

- Copying drawings creates libraries in your mind to access for future design problems.

Analyzing the geometric structure, the spatial composition, size, scale, proportions, rhythm, openness, symmetry, materials, textures and colour.

Experimenting with drawings allows you to project your images and investigate change. Each experimental drawing is a hypothesis of your thoughts.

- The composition of elements is the idea of placing different types of forms within a given area in order to activate the site.

- Identifying the composition elements makes it possible to name and compare them in sort, number and differentiation, etc.

- Composition of elements form an infinite number of possibilities and explorations making the designer develop its own signature for future designs.

composition of scheme - Forms develop their own character - Creates a system of rules that translate into the programming of the design - coherent system of internal rules - Drawing composition schemes for a design makes it possible to compare the the design with other designs in an abstract level.

- Can be retrospective

transformation of the type

Composing Landscapes: Subject, Method Technique, pages 11-34

- three Phase successive design process: 1. Decomposition - pHASE WHERE HISTORICAL MATERIAL IS INVESTGATED (site analysis) 2. Processing - CREATION OF FORMS - PROGRAMS ARE GENERATED

Projective Ecology

3. SYNTHESIS -COMBINATION OF FORMS AND SCHEMES TO CREATE A FUNCTIONAL DESIGN

Flood Control Freakology: Los Angeles River Watershed by David Fletcher The ecology of the river must be understood, not repaired.

Ecologies - Algal Zone - Exotic and Native species introducced (design and accident) - Trash (most vigorous vegetation growth here…)

- Storm drain Apartments Sources - Wastewater - Stormwater - Wind - Social Isolation

Fernanda Suarez Kevin Lei Estevan Castaneda Roger Nunez Jorge Colmenero Hui Lei

Composing Landscapes Typology pg 266-326

-No longer a natural aqueous phenomenon, it is now a man-made vascular network -Los Angeles River is perceived by many residents as unnatural or nonexistent.

-It contains vibrant ecologies: vegetable, animal, and human.

-The river is offers an extreme example of how an urban river becomes enmeshed in infrastructure and urbanism and generates new life.

-Defined not only by topography but also by wastewater and stormwater -Urbanization, oil extraction, port activities, agriculture, coastal development and channelization have virtually eliminated the historic ecologies.

-Trash, fecal coliform bacteria, lead, ammonia, scum, pesticides, fertilizer, and bad odor are factor impacting the river.

-THE PURGE: the river gets “cleaned” throwing all trash, large stones into the ocean.

But the fine sediments have silts and organic matter vital to the ecosystems in the river now. Loose debris gets incorporated into the vegetative community, binding and forming a structural substrate that holds nutrients for the rivers’ ecosystems.

-Exotic and native vegetative communities have been introduced since the nineteenth century, some design, others by accident.

-Sepulveda Basin, Glendale Narrows, and the Willow St are “soft bottom” -New invasive species and biomass are constantly introduced to the river through wind and through storm drains -1 x 20, a thriving algal zone has formed from the increased flow from the sewage treatment plants. Because residence dislike it and isolate it so much, that same i solation strengthens its ecological viability, we need to understand it.

-Urbanization, global warming, and the heat-island effect all have to be included in the ecologies, depending on water availability and flood-control policy.

-Decreased water supplies due to climate change and increasing water demand for recycled water means that soon there will not be enough water to sustain the river’s ecologies and landscapes.

-Ecologies of the future include the parrot, the shopping cart, the weed, the sludge mat, and the storm-drain apartment.

Projective Ecology Flood Control Freakology

Reflection week 2

Personals

This first project has already begun to challenge me in a way that no previous projects have before. It's not enough to simply get some information and display it in a graphically pleasing way.

Now, I have to back up every single phase of my design and graphic work;every line, curve, turn, color, shape has to have meaning and relate to what I am trying to convey. Although it is much tougher now to do my graphics, I have noticed that not only are they more interesting, but they also show a deeper level of understanding of the project we have been assigned. This time I am actually investigations and exploring, getting ideas for my work from our site, the Rio Hondo Channel. It's almost as if everything I need to design is already there, I just need to have the right mindset to be able to see beyond the surface.

At this point, I've also begun to realize how important it is prioritize studio time. Before, it wouldn't be as strenuous and I would be able to manage it quite easily. However, this time I have to keep redesigning and getting feedback on my work as well as managing lecture assignments and assignments from my other classes. It is significantly more work and I've had to spend more nights in studio thinking about how to graphically show what I have discovered so far. This project has been challenging so far, but I know the experience will be rewarding.

Reflection 2 After I finished pinning up our poster for the the final phase, I stepped back and just stared at it for a few minutes. Just 9 weeks ago I was standing in that same gallery looking at the 3rd year projects, thinking it would be impossible to attain projects with such complexity and graphic quality as those.

However, this time I was looking at something with that level of complexity and graphic quality, only this time it was something I had helped create. This reflection of my work reassured me that I do have the potential and skill to create designs that have meaning, that have complexity, and that can have a deep impact on those around me. Together with my group we were able to go to a site previously unexplored by us and were able to, during the course of 10 weeks, gather as much information as we could from the site, distill it, map it, and create forms and designs informed by these observations. It was a series of phases that truly tested our ability to deal with a high level of complexity and intricacy, which challenged us and pushed us to reach beyond our sphere of comfort and into uncharted territory.

Jorge Colmenero

Week 6 The requirements for this quarter sound attainable but will require a lot of effort. I am scared at the idea of layering as a design process as it is very new and different to me. I feel as if my thought process will be challenged and thrown back at me a lot and that will create difficulties for this project.

I’m also concerned with the amount of time that will be required, for project two, I personally felt that my commitment was being tested when I stayed in studio, and already for this third phase the requirement of time is far greater and I have spent more time in studio than before. I have always been the one to work at home, but working with a group now will certainly proof to be a difficult management aspect of this project. I am a great team member so I know I will work great with anyone and will do my best.

River Channeling is considerably a separation of communities, but it doesn’t have to be that way.

Though the solid massive concrete form drastically contrasts with its surroundings, that doesn’t mean that it has to, as there must be some points of connection that ties the surroundings to the structure, we just have to extenuate those points. As stated in Freakologies, the river channel is its own ecology, providing connections to not only people but other organisms too. It’s similar to the idea of borrowed views, visual connections, and structural representations suggested by Sou Fujimoto and Elena Manfredini; there must be some connections, it’s just that we tend not to notice them at first glance as we are overwhelmed by what is currently in existence. We need to imagine representational elements that can strike our senses and express them to the public in a way that doesn’t seem to invade onto the current environment too much; or we can create a similar environment that is just as invasive as the channel itself to draw others in. It just depends on the route we decide to take to show the connections of the community, it surroundings, and the channel.

Hui Wei Lei

Week 10 At this point, it is crazy to think I am capable of putting in so much time and effort, I did not know I could push through and meet a deadline under the pressure I was under. I feel as if I can complete this project, I can complete anything that is required. I learned to manage my time different, and fully change my mentality on how to plan my priorities. I plan my days as if leaving studio is an errand and being in studio is at home, and nights became abnormal towards the end. Nights are the productive time of day, after the responsibilities of life have been taken care of, the design thoughts that encompass my life while at work or home or in the bank can fall out, but the restrictions and requirements of the project make my thoughts worthless. The biggest lesson I have sitting in studio right now is, failure and perseverance is a choice of which you accept and focus on.

Rogelio Nuñez