Winnipeg: Speculation of Augmented Reality in Outdoor Urban Space

WINNIPEG: SPECULATION OF AUGMENTED REALITY IN OUTDOOR URBAN SPACE

SHIHAN HU

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Winnipeg: Speculation of Augmented Reality in Outdoor Urban Space

by Shihan Hu Academic Advisor: Anna Thurmayr Internal Advisor: Alan Tate External Examiner: Kim Wiese A practicum submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies of The University of Manitoba in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of MASTER OF LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE Department of Landscape Architecture Faculty of Architecture University of Manitoba Winnipeg Copyright © Shihan Hu. 2019

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Acknowledgment To Anna Thurmayr, my committee chair and practicum advisor, thank you for your patience, kindness and encouragement during this relatively long journey. Your support and advice always provided crystal clear short cuts to solutions and guided me away from pitfalls.

To Alan Tate, my internal advisor, thank you for your advice that helped to confirm the focus and the direction of this practicum. It was a great process of improvement and pleasure reading your modification on the writing.

To Kim Wiese, my external examiner, thank you for your guidance with a unique point of view from architecture. You could instantly spot the core of a difficult situation and cleared out my confusion.

To Cyndi Kindret, thank you for the counseling after the incident. The summer of 2018 was by far a particularly difficult time period for me in Canada.

Communicating with you helped me to make the decision of taking that long belated home trip which put me back on track to move forward again.

Meanwhile, to Yvonne, Rob, Chuan and Patrick, thank you for your help during those days.

To my classmates and professors, it was a great memory with you in the lovely department of landscape architecture!

In the end, to my parents, 无需多言, 感谢!

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List of Figures

Figure 1 What cyborg 2068 sees‌ Figure 2 The Elevation of Philips Pavilion

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Figure 3 Audience Experiencing a Space of Light and Sound

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Figure 4 Layers of the Augmented City

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Figure 5 Demonstration of the Layering Design Applied to a Street

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Figure 6 A humanoid is eating a cyan soup here in Venaria Reale

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Figure 7 A Snapshot of the Augmented City

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Figure 8 Map of current railway, expressway, major arterial routes, minor arterial routes in Winnipeg

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Figure 9 Linear Space along a railway in Winnipeg

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Figure 10 Map of Winnipeg

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Figure 11 Site conditions and dynamics

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Figure 12 Railway Space towards South

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Figure 13 Thawing River

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Figure 14 Power Lines along the Railway

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Figure 15 Omand’s Creek

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Figure 16 Railway Bridge Towards the South

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Figure 17 Railway Bridge in Winter

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Figure 18 Raw Riparian Forest

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Figure 19 Lovers’ Lock on the Bridge

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Figure 20 Pedestrian Bridge across Omand’s Creek 1

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Figure 21 The Creek Flowing into the River Figure 22 Pedestrian Bridge across Omand’s Creek 2

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Figure 23 Dirt Path on the Riverbank Figure 24 Far view of the Bridge

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Figure 25 Overlooking Portage Avenue on the Railway Over-bridge

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Figure 26 Railway crossing the Omand’s Creek on the North

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Figure 27 Areas of the Site

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Figure 28 General Plan

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Figure 29 Major pathways, connection to Polo Park and the visual reinforcement design

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Figure 30 1 to 100 site model

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Figure 31 Six Months Ago 1

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Figure 32 Six Months Ago 2

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Figure 33 Cylinders Plan

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Figure 34 Creek Park Location

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Figure 35 Creek Park Exploded Illustration

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Figure 36 Creek Park Plan

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Figure 37 Creek park Section A-A

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Figure 38 Creek Park Section B-B

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Figure 39 Creek Park Section C-C

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Figure 40 Ditch AR Experience

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Figure 41 The ditch and the plaza

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Figure 42 Lightrail Station and Plaza entrance

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Figure 43 Creek Park overview 1

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Figure 44 Creek Park overview 2

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Figure 45 Transitional Area Location

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Figure 46 Transitional Area Plan

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Figure 47 Triangular Plaza Section

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Figure 48 Entrance Plaza Section

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Figure 49 Bridge over the creek

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Figure 50 Triangular Plaza

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Figure 51 The Transition overview

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Figure 52 ‘Chambers‘ and ‘Bent‘ locations

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Figure 53 ‘Chambers‘ and ‘Bent‘ Plan

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Figure 54 ‘Bent‘ Visual Arrangement

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Figure 55 Chambers section A-A

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Figure 56 Bent section B-B

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Figure 57 Bent section C-C

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Figure 58 ‘Chambers’

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Figure 59 ‘Bent’

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Figure 60 Promenades Locations

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Figure 61 Examples of the forms of ‘highlight spots’

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Figure 62 Highlight points arrangement and openness

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Figure 63 North Promenade Plan

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Figure 64 South Promenade Plan

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Figure 65 North Promenade Section

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Figure 66 South Promenade overview

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Figure 67 Location of ‘Story‘ Drawings

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Figure 68 Night-day tunnel

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Figure 69 Splash pad volcano

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Figure 70 Phantom garden

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Figure 71 Zen garden/beach

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Figure 72 Midnight meeting

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Figure 73 Night recorder

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Figure 74 Rail Canada 1923 Figure 75 Mechanism of ‘window’

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Figure 76 Window

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Figure 77 Parallel Nature

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Figure 78 Dead Elm Exhibition

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Figure 79 Portal diagram Figure 80 ‘America’s Finest Plant’ Figure 81 Dimension of the racing plant on the parking lot

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Abstract This practicum explores the possibility of applying emerging technology in the field of augmented reality (AR) to urban landscape settings. In particular, it examines current applications of AR—primarily in indoor, building-related and urban street locations—and transfers them to an exclusively outdoor location.

The chosen location—along a re-purposed rail line crossing the Assiniboine River between Polo Park and Omand’s Creek in Winnipeg, Manitoba—is seen as part of a possible route for a future citywide light rail system. It is re-conceived as a place within which people may experience otherwise-invisible natural processes in action. These processes include the rise and fall of the river over time, the growth of the riparian forest and other vegetation, the roots of trees and seasonal changes. The practicum closes by positing other possible applications of AR in the perception of natural and human-made landscapes.

Throughout the progress of investigating new spatial possibilities in form and experience, the practicum constantly seeks to expand the notion of ‘landscape‘ in the mixed environment of physical and virtual. This leads to the set up of some preliminary design principles and speculations in defining a unique domain of research, which shall serve as a window for further understanding the landscape in this future and how people could dwell upon it.

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Contents

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CHAPTER 1: INTO THE WONDERLAND The Augmented Environment Scenario Setting Potential Spatial Scheme CHAPTER 2: Anticipation of the world of cyborgs The Individual Perceptions The Public, the Field and the Skin Scope of the Practicum CHAPTER 3: Design 2068 The Site and General Strategy Presentation CHAPTER 4: detailed interventions creek park the transition 'Chambers' & 'bent' Promenades the stories CHAPTER 5: Closing The park, the city Closing bibliography XVII

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“What is real? How do you define 'real'? If you're talking about what you can feel, what you can smell, what you can taste and see, then 'real' is simply electrical signals interpreted by your brain.�

-Morpheus -The Matrix, 1999. [film] Directed by Lana Wachowski and Lily Wachowski. USA: Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc

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CHAPTER 1: INTO THE WONDERLAND

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1.1

The Augmented Environment

“Augmented Reality: ‘An enhanced version of reality created by the use of technology to overlay digital information on an image of something being viewed through a device (such as a smartphone camera); also: the technology used to create augmented reality’” -Merriam-Webster dictionary -Encyclopædia Britannica, 2017 Imagine the city is superimposed with a virtual insitu layer of information and every data-transmission related activity or event is 3D visualized. Imagine the street surface becoming the navigation interface of Google Maps, with colossal celebrity figures suspended over a downtown plaza introducing new products; imagine live games projected on the river, and a gigantic whale flying in the sky.

How will we live differently in this world? A part of the city, after all, has been existing virtually in data and supported by data infrastructure, very much like its physical counterpart in terms of influence and scale. A Google search for ‘Winnipeg’ reveals millions of sources representing miscellaneous subjects and experiences.

And it is essentially the instant access like this (enabled by technologies like “contactless payment, cloud computing, 4G mobile web access, geo-tagging and GPS tracking”) that distinguishes urban dwellers in the twenty-first century from their predecessors (Su, 2015, p.3).

Today, the technology of augmented reality (AR) gives rise to the possibility of disclosing and overlaying the virtual city on the physical environment. This is a revolution liberating humans from the restriction of digital screens. It also provides novel opportunities to

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create urban spaces in which physical and virtual experience are coalesced. In other words, it introduces what Lev Manovich (2005) calls “Augmented Space” (or referred to as ‘augmented landscape’ in this practicum with the similar idea applied to urban landscape), featuring high density data with endless transmission of information.

Technology such as sensors extracting information from ambient physical space (such as human activity, temperature, light levels, etc.) will allow transition from fictitious scenes to data-derived reality.

This might seem far-off at this time, but the intention to bring it into existence already exists. Information Technology magnates such as Mark Zuckerberg and Tim Cook have expressed their determination to establish a world infused with visualized data flow using AR (Cook, 2017; VRvibe, 2017). The potentially huge market for this technology has driven investors and Silicon Valley enterprises to devote billions of dollars to research in this area (Data Corporation, 2017).

It is argued that the application of “Augmented Space” on a city-wide basis will be feasible in the relatively near future and that it should be of interest to all designers.

Indeed this type of exploration is not entirely new in spatial design. As early as 1958 during the Brussels World’s Fair Expo, Iannis Xenakis and Le Corbusier experimented with audio and visual projection onto the Philips Pavilion

Figure 2 The Elevation of Philips Pavilion Taken by Wouter Hagens in July 1958

Figure 3 Audience Experiencing the Space of Light and Sound Taken by Wouter Hagens in July 1958

to generate a flexible and dynamic “Polytope” experience (Hewett, 2010, p.63) (See Figure 2 and Figure 3). Yet in the present day, despite

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more advanced technology, it seems that spatial designers are relatively tentative about treating technologies like AR and VR as serious variables in “sociological and architectural context�, while many consider them to be mere project exhibition tools (Matsuda, 2010a, p.2; Su, 2015).

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1.2

Scenario Setting

To understand better the potential significance of AR in landscape design in contrast to conventional landscape architecture practices, this practicum looks beyond our current social situation and beyond current development of this technology. It positions the exploration in a scenario with extensive application of 'Augmented Space' at the city scale being universally accessible and available on a day-to-day basis.

The following is a possible mechanism behind this scenario. First, the physical environment of the entire city is 3D-scanned and constructed as a virtual model.

This is stored and constantly being updated when the physical characteristics of urban space change. This virtual city model should be detailed enough to be set as the reference for real-world geometry. Second, virtual objects/layers are designed and placed on certain selected points on this model, so that at the corresponding locations in the real world, the wearable display device used by visitors can receive and process the data in these designed objects/layers, and then visualize them for people to experience and interact with. Third, necessary devices—like sensors and data processors—could be installed in the real place to obtain data from the environment and from people (e.g. their gestures) for different interactive purposes.

Three important technologies arise from this scenario: • 3D-scanning at large scale • “Sensor networks, video surveillance and cellspace” • Wearable display devices (Manovich, 2005)

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The latter two terms are derived from Manovich’s list of fifteen categories of technology linked with “Augmented Space” (see right). It is worth noting that although this scenario might seem new, each technology is already in a sophisticated stage of development. For 3D-scanning, projects with city-wide coverage have been undertaken

by Google and by Apple using aircraft and drones carrying depth-sensing cameras (Simonite, 2015). The level of scanning detail that can be achieved is showcased in the work of ScanLAB, which has successfully captured both the clarity and density of complicated settings such as streets, forests, and even smoke and mist (Vieira, 2011).

For sensor networks, video surveillance and cellspace, the automated grocery store Amazon Go has demonstrated state-of-theart commercial applications to track multiple people’s movements and the commodities that they select (Tibken, S. and Rubin, B.F., 2018). In terms of wearable display devices, in addition to the common ones like cellphones and headsets, companies such as Magic Leap are pursuing primarily future-oriented displays by introducing technologies such as retina projection in order to trick the eyes to focus on virtual objects in the same way as they focus on physical ones. This reflects the fact that the eventual objective of this technology would be for its presence to become almost unnoticeable while its virtual experience would be indistinguishable from physical reality (Simonite, 2014). In short, the future of “Augmented Space” might not be that far away.

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Manovich’s list of 15 research paradigms: 1. Video surveillance 2. Cellspace technologies 3. Publicly located computer / video displays 4. Ubiquitous Computing 5. Augmented Reality 6. Tangible Interfaces 7. Wearable Computers 8. Intelligent Architecture 9. Intelligent Spaces 10. Context-aware Computing 11. Ambient Intelligence 12. Smart Objects: 13. Wireless Location Services 14. Sensor Networks 15. E-paper (or e-ink) (Manovich, 2005)

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Potential Spatial Scheme

Augmented urban space is a wonderland that few people have previously entered. Keiichi Matsuda (2014), an architectural researcher, designer, and film maker, has made some of the first attempts to use new ideas to describe the possibilities of augmented urban space. These include a simple prototype skeleton in the augmented city, and that prototype will be adopted as a model for this practicum. This concept generally contains four layers of spatial structure, arranged in order from roughly the personal and intimate to the more public and widely accessible (See Figure 4 and Figure 5). According to Matsuda (2014), these layers are: • “The Cockpit” Visualized information encircles the human body like the panels in a cockpit. This layer might be more associated with interactions on the personal level, such as providing news feeds, communication, platform of working, etc. It is suggested that this can be seen as a more convenient, efficient and natural version of a mobile device.

• “The Field” Location-based information, which could occur in any form or function based on the purpose, and subject to availability of appropriate technology. One example is a virtual road sign.

• “The Skin” The fixed physical/virtual environment on which the Cockpit or the Field layers can be overlain. Examples might include building facades covered with virtual commercial information, where the facades are part of the Skin.

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Figure 4 Layers of the Augmented City Image Courtesy of Keiichi Matsuda

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Figure 5 Demonstration of the Layering Design Applied to a Street Image Courtesy of Keiichi Matsuda

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• “The Infrastructure” The supporting ground plane (and underground spine) that enables the realization of augmented space, which could be “ugly yet efficient”. Examples might include data infrastructures, sensors and motion capturers embedded on site.

Within this clearly classified structure, the public/private distinction is in fact somewhat ambiguous. One of these conditions is termed “subjective space” by Matsuda (2016a), which signifies that people use AR to create and experience their own disparate reality while being in the same place. The Cockpit for example, supposedly being an inward layer of privately-visible display of information or interaction, could be turned outward as if the person wears a virtual outfit and it could be maintained as a fashion statement visible to the public (Matsuda, 2014). In another scenario, people could be granted the ability to decorate and personalize the street according to their tastes while keeping it only visible to themselves (Ibid). This would cause a public street to become ‘personal streets’.

Matsuda’s (2010b) layered structure was initially extrapolated from the status quo of technological development and social climate, intended as a means to investigate both the good and bad aspects of a very possible future, rather than inventing a utopian setting. For this reason this structure could be seen to some degree as a credible prediction of the future and will serve as a reference through this work. But unlike Matsuda’s approaches,

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this practicum aims to use the structure to seek beneficial futures.

Figure 6 A humanoid is eating a cyan soup here in Venaria Reale Created by Dino Olivieri, 2007

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CHAPTER 2: Anticipation of the world of cyborgs

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“…we are all and have always been cyborgs, hybrid entities that combine biology, culture, and technology into a single blurry unit…Our tools define and shape us, they tell us who we are. We use them to extend our literal selves out into the world.”

-Haraway, 1991; as cited in Maly, 2010

In an augmented city, in which citizens interact fully with technologies that allow them to acquire and process virtual information from the environment (as they would with physical ones in their previous daily routines—but without squinting at small screens) … when humans are the evolved hybrids of the body and the tools of AR— cyborgs of 2068—how might they experience an urban landscape compared with humans in the present?

This chapter is inspired by Keiichi Matsuda’s (2010c) Cities for Cyborgs: 10 Rules, where the word ‘cyborg’ is used to describe citizens as the hybrid of body and tools of essential technologies including “mobile technology, WIFI and the cloud”. ‘Cyborgs’ thus represent unconventional behaviors and demands in their explorations of the city, while the design of the city will be adjusted to sustain their new lifestyles (Ibid). The following discussion is for speculating their future version of 2068.

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2.1

The Individual Perceptions

Experience and preference with respect to the same landscape varies among people, sometimes drastically— one might be interested in a vast forest, whereas another might be attracted by an alignment of ants. This sensitive initiative is likely to intensify in the augmented landscape. A cyborg of 2068 ‘sees’ with the eyes of AR glasses or contact lenses. Sight as a primary sense to perceive the landscape is modified by smart devices at the disposal of users to permit different perceptions.

Users can choose to rely on visual stimuli to focus or expand on the personally selected aspects of the space, or to increase their own private seclusion by turning down the sensory reception. Furthermore, the network of environmental sensors established in the landscape will collect information that is not necessarily visible— such as pollution, humidity, tree diseases, a prairie dog hidden underground. This can be visualized as a cyborg wishes to facilitate extended individual explorations of the land. It is even possible to twist space and time in a landscape to create a cyborg’s own preferred place. Besides the visual advancement, a cyborg is always connected remotely to other people and places through the virtual level of landscape where individual experiences and creations could literally be copied and shared by choice.

Matsuda suggests that AR provides an alternative way for designers seeking the “ideal space”: rather than looking for a “perfect space”, the outcome could be a space that is “temporal, subjective and customized” (Matsuda, 2014). Cyborgs of 2068 are thus greatly empowered by this possibility. However, it is not only the increased experiential and creative freedom

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enjoyed by each individual that is valuable.

If we accept the augmented landscape as defined through cyborgs’ experience of it, the site would be an assemblage of innumerable personally-tailored landscapes that is endlessly being changed by everyone’s actions (Su 2015, p.8). Hence Su argues that cyborgs will have their character and desires integrated into the urban fabric rather than being “passive observers” as people were in the past.

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2.2

The Public, the Field and the Skin

The publicly accessible virtual content in the augmented landscape created by artists and designers should be understood to fall under the layer of ‘the Field’ in Matsuda’s (2014) spatial system. Speculations with the respect to components of the virtual landscape ‘materials’—compared to the conventional ones such as water, trees and hard surface—are listed here before outlining the design proposals: • Physical laws are no longer restrictions Space and time can be warped for tailoring designers’ creations—e.g. design could defy the laws of gravity.

• Relatively inexpensive When the necessary infrastructure is fully established and personal AR equipment is popularized, the cost of virtual content—compared with the amount of work and valuable resources that physical construction demands—could be relatively low (Matsuda, 2018).

• Aspect of Changing Phenomena When virtual creation plays a major role in characterizing a public space, spatial elements such as the content, meaning, form, function, color and transparency could be continually changed and swiftly redefined. One example is animation-like objects that transform constantly.

• Scale Virtual objects could be presented at extreme scales to produce a perception of extraordinary effects in a landscape. Their types of effect could be difficult to accomplish in physical reality for reasons of law, cost, damage or pollution, etc.

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• Ghost Environment Virtual creations can be considered ‘ghostlike’. They are visible but they lack a physical body. In contrast to a physical landscape, this ‘ghost-like environment’ is no less influential on human spatial perception, and arguably movement as well, and has the additional capability to penetrate barriers and intersect with physical entities. Consequently, it may breed new models in public space design. In a broader sense, Matsuda (2010c) calls this feature “design with fields, not walls”, suggesting that cyborgs will react more to “liquid fields of presence” such as “warmth, mobile signal, WIFI, alcohol, smoking”—elements that can be visualized and conveniently altered with “signs and switches”.

The Skin in Matsuda’s (2010b) spatial structure is intended for more urban architectural settings such as building facades and ground surfaces that remain fixed to be overlain by the Field. However, when it is applied to a landscape, the Skin turns into a different assemblage of surface, mass and void that is comprised of all the physical landscape elements with distinctive dynamics and complexity, e.g. growing vegetation, water flow, ice, soil, rock, the dome of sky, maybe even smoke and humidity. Moreover, complex experiences might be provoked through the Field coalescing with other unique landscape features such as texture, shading and microclimate. Subtle occurrences like trembling leaves and cooling breezes could also be as significant as a specifically planned and constructed Skin. Accordingly,

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the term ‘overlay’ might not describe exactly the relationship between the Field and the Skin, and they could develop a more organic alliance in shaping a composite reality. It will be the prerogative of landscape architects to decide what to emphasize, neglect or create from the rich collection of Skin components.

Matsuda (Ibid) argues that in an urban environment, the physical elements, including the Skin and the Infrastructure, may eventually degrade and evolve into elemental infrastructures maintained by planners, engineers and economists who are more concerned with the practicalities of budget and feasibility, while designers would be responsible for the virtual side of the Cockpit and the Field which would fully take over spatial quality and experience. Nonetheless in the case of a landscape ‘Skin’, a site could be, for example, abandoned, industrialized or naturalized, but ‘degraded’ is not an accurate word. Landscape architects would be more likely to determine the virtual/physical components as well as the balance between human interference and natural processes.

Inside the public sphere of the augmented landscape, there would be features consistent with the past, along with new aspects. For instance, Matsuda (2010c) suggests that cyborgs would still appreciate the value of social events which celebrate current intuitive urges and group interactions, despite the easy availability of possibly more convenient remote communication channels and immersive access to personal electronic entertainment. It is anticipated that with AR,

cyborgs will be able to enjoy unprecedented events. Some events could be commonplace occasions upgraded through visualization.

Others might be transplants or bizarre hybrids from cyber-culture. One example might include a concert by the virtual singer Hatsune Miku: albeit that what might be a live show—a vocal performance by a real person—is replaced by a hologram projection ‘singing’ with recorded music. The concert might still be considered successful judging by the fanatical, cheering atmosphere in the audience (Greenwood, 2013).

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Figure 7 A Snapshot of the Augmented City Screenshot from HYPER-REALITY: Matsuda, 2016, 1:50 Image Courtesy of Keiichi Matsuda

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2.3

Scope of the Practicum

2.3.1 Public and Grounded The practicum will use design to further understand and reveal the opportunities in such a future. It will focus on exploring the more–shared public content rather than individual creativity and interactions. This is because the latter demand, for example, further knowledge of human-machine interface design, humancomputer interaction mechanisms and human factor engineering. Therefore, in the later section of the site design, the Field, the Skin and the Infrastructure will be the major concerns.

The next question to address is how landscape architects might design public space, if augmented reality technologies are considered from the outset?

Architectural pioneers like Keiichi Matsuda and Nathan Su raise general spatial principles to describe the possible future of urban space. Their focus is primarily on theoretical possibilities while their dramatic media presentations are tools to demonstrate feasible prospects (see HYPER-REALITY (Matsuda, 2016b) and Through Leviathan’s Eyes (Su and Edgoose, 2017)). By contrast, this practicum seeks to illustrate a design process that is more grounded, focusing on an individual site but proposing interventions based on the understanding of alternative futures for an augmented city and on the lifestyle of cyborgs. As such, it will look beyond creating a present-day spectacle of an advanced AR experiential space where people use smart phones or goggles to experiment with the augmented features in the landscape. The practicum addresses a site that provides the necessary environmental/social context

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and parameters, but it is deliberately not place-specific. There is, however, significant potential for AR to contribute to the interpretation and understanding of an actual site.

2.3.2 Define the physical and the virtual It is the year of 2068, cyborgs live on the volatile junction of physical and virtual space. Countless and kaleidoscopic virtual spatial possibilities could be adapted on the same physical environment. It might be questionable to tailor the physical landscape to certain specific virtual interventions.

And it is challenging from our time to approach the possible nature of the physical form situated in the future. Take the short film Through Leviathan’s Eyes for example: throughout exploring its original concept of making a fictitious virtual city constituted by the visual expression of the all thousands of its citizens, some embryonic physical design derives from unique scenarios (Su and Edgoose, 2017). These designs are set in the timeline of a future with some uncommon and peculiar qualities. For instance, a valley that accommodates dispersive individual memorials for the descendants of each family, where people can experience a vivid first-person recurrence of the lifetime of the departed (Ibid).

In contrast, this practicum looks for a seed form of the augmented landscape.

Its physical elements are closely related to

the timeline of today, with the adaption of specific current landscape settings and social conditions. Design of the physical environment is meant to provide a framework to support the proposed experience. As demonstrated in the coming chapters addressing general strategies and detailed interventions, the plan of the physical landscape is meant to organize the movement of people, or to control the character of the place, through interventions that enhance valuable existing qualities or bring new ones.

The intention is also to showcase how these qualities could be integrated with the virtual side in shaping the mixed experience.

On the other hand, the omnipotence of the virtual design could be overly convenient and cause potential risks. If anything could be visualized by AR in any location, the significance of a site might not matter anymore. A designer could establish his/her own ‘site’ from scratch, or totally disregard the existing conditions. It could be detrimental to the values within the local and the inherited circumstances. And some of the acknowledged architectural/landscape qualities might be endangered, such as light since it could be easily simulated through contact lenses for the eyes. Hence, in this practicum, despite the freedom that the virtual design could essentially be anything to be imagined and visualized, a scope is defined: the virtual (-physical) experience will mostly be explored under the united theme of expanding the notion of 'landscape' in the mediated world, and the virtual content will always present strong relationship to the physical conditions of the site.

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CHAPTER 3: Design 2068

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3.1

The Site and General Strategy

3.1.1 Light rail for Winnipeg The site is set in Winnipeg, Canada. Like many North American cities, its urban planning is based on motor vehicle-oriented development and the majority of the city comprises low-density housing development.

Accordingly, many roads serve the principal function of transferring vehicles from one location to another, often with standardized amenities and repetitive views.

Pedestrian and cyclists’ experience on the street could be bland or even lacking at times due to inaccessibility.

The present cityscape almost provides a contrary narrative to the generic depiction of a digitally covered futuristic urban environment that falls within the genre of ‘cyberpunk’. That genre is often congested, psychedelic, bustling, and full of texture and might be typified in a city such as Hong Kong. However, this practicum is intended to examine a less dynamic context to demonstrate the development of novel and unprecedented insights to a notionally ‘augmented landscape’.

The existing railway system in Winnipeg consists of corridors with under-used space alongside the tracks that is generally suitable for potential development.

For example, as demonstrated in the recent city transit project of Southwest Transitway Stage 2, it is possible to convert a length of the space in a railway corridor into a high-speed bus-only roadway (City of Winnipeg, 2018).

Also, there has been ongoing debate about relocation of rail lines to the outside of the city (Huband, 2017; Bruch, 2018). Following this possible relocation in 2068, the network of railway corridors that spreads through the

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As a reference, Calgary CTrain operates at up to 80km/h outside downtown and up to 40km/h in downtown (McKendrick, Colquhoun, Charles and Hubbell, 2006)

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Minor Arterial Routes (50-70km/h) Major Arterial Routes (50-80km/h) Expressways (60-100km/h) Railways

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Figure 8 Map of current railway, expressway, major arterial routes, minor arterial routes in Winnipeg

Figure 9 Linear Space along a railway in Winnipeg

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city, could be transformed into a new light rail system to complement the highway system, given necessary extensions and alterations (See Figure 8). The light rail could also be a signature on the land evidencing the historic domination of trains in urban development.

Furthermore, the linear spaces occupied by the railways could be designed as parallel treeplanted promenades that connect possible parks and other attractions throughout in the city. These corridors would serve pedestrians and cyclists and provide the convenience for people to switch between the faster option of light rail or the option of promenade routes for outdoor exercise and AR experience.

By combining the dynamics of transportation arteries with the enhancement of AR—through manipulating transcendental aspects of natural features and introducing digital entertainment and commercial features—this system of corridors could produce a park experience that is lively and multiplicitous in contrast to picturesque sanctuaries that shield citizens from the tumult of the city.

3.1.2 The site The final detailed intervention will happen on the selected site—southeast of Polo Park—shown in Figure 11. Although the layout of the larger system would rely on multiple further decisions, this segment could provide a plausible prototypical location for the light rail system, by reason of its proximity to the important destination—Polo Park Shopping Mall, and to a major street—Portage Avenue.

As shown in Figure 11, the railway is like a knife cut through the city and transects distinctive areas, including commercial/ industrial areas to the northwest, Omand’s Creek, Portage Avenue and the Assiniboine River with its verdure and vulnerable riparian landscape. Nevertheless, impressive traits can be seen in this area, including the seasonal variation of the river view, the thrilling motion of trains and the occasional airliner gliding towards the nearby airport.

Overall these site characteristics suggest a promising opportunity for developing diverse augmentations that produce a feast of programs and experiences.

The proposed site stretches for around 2 kilometers and covers 18.73 hectares, containing the north and south railway corridor (1 and 7 on Figure 11), the riparian areas that are enclosed by trees (2, 3 and 4) and the area where the creek intersects with the railway (5 and 6). Currently only the riparian areas are in recreational use with three baseball diamonds and three tennis courts.

Besides utilizing these sports facilities, people essentially treat the place like open lawns for leisure activities like picnicking, dog walking

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Figure 10 Map of Winnipeg

and enjoying summer sunshine. Visitors also appreciate the beauty of the natural riverbank and traverse the wild riparian vegetation on dirt paths. Lovers’ locks can be found on the bridge handrail—to such an extent that they require periodical removal by the city (Sinclair, 2015). Despite the activities that the site accommodates, the current arrangement of the riparian areas is merely grassland. It could be improved with better public space design. Moreover, existing informal northsouth pedestrian connections over the railway bridge suggest opportunities for enhancing the visitor experience—both physically and through augmented reality.

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Assin iboin er

e Riv

Alignment to one of the runways in the airport on northwest.

A

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2 3

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L C B

K D

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4 I H

Bus Stop Bus Route Existing Railway Contour Line (0.25m level difference) Omand’s Creek

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Site Photos Location

G E

Polo Park

g Porta nue e Ave Omand’s Creek

6 N

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7

O

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50

100

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400 m

1 and 7: south and north railway corridors South and North Promenades in final design

2, 3 and 4: riparian areas

Respectively: ‘Bent‘, ‘Chambers‘ and Creek Park in final design

5 and 6: the creek intersects with the railway Respectively: Triangular Plaza and Entrance Plaza in final design

Figure 11 Site conditions and dynamics

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Figure 12

Railway Space towards South

F

Figure 13

See corresponding locations in Figure 11

A

B

Thawing River

G

Power Lines along the Railway

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K

Figure 14

Railway Bridge Towards the South

Figure 15

Figure 16 Omand’s Creek

L

Figure 17

Railway Bridge in Winter

Th

C

Figure 18

Raw Riparian Forest

H

Figure 19

he Creek Flowing into the River

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Figure 20

Far view of the Bridge

D

Figure 21

Lovers’ Lock on the Bridge

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Figure 22

Pedestrian Bridge across Omand’s Creek 2

N

Figure 23

Overlooking Portage Avenue on the Railway Over-bridge

E

Figure 24

Pedestrian Bridge across Omand’s Creek 1

J

Figure 25

Dirt Path on the Riverbank

O

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Figure 26

Railway crossing the Omand’s Creek on the North

3.1.3 General Strategy

‘Bent’: Area 2 is intended to be more enclosed and private for casual dining and river viewing. It is named after the three bent spaces formed by the trees that obstruct the river view at the entrance. Meanwhile three gaps in the tree canopy are like windows that frame views towards the river and sky.

The planning of the physical landscape starts by replacing the existing railway with a two-way light rail route. The over bridge at the intersection of the light rail and Portage Avenue is transformed into a major tram station, providing convenient access for bus and tram transfer passengers. The contour lines are redesigned based on site topography and the plan (See Figure 28).

These proposals reflect the goal of retaining most of the riparian vegetation.

B Following the previous division of the existing site, the strategy incorporates three general approaches: A. the riparian areas (2, 3 and 4) are turned into small parks.

B. the railway corridors (1 and 7) are converted to tree–lined promenades.

C. the area where the creek intersects with the railway (5 and 6) is designed as a transitional space, conjoining the extension from Polo Park Mall with the light rail park.

The South (Area 1) and the North (Area 7) Promenades are designed with the unified spatial compositions.

C The transitional spaces of the Triangular Plaza (Area 5) and Entrance Plaza (Area 6) are proposed as a response to the site topography and the potential to connect Polo Park Mall with the light rail parkway. Polo Park is a popular spot in the city which attracted more than 10 million visitors in 2016 (Retail Council of Canada and Canadian Council of Career Development Associations, 2016). The idea is to facilitate and boost the exchange of pedestrian traffic between the mall and the light rail park.

A ‘Creek Park’: Being close to the tram station and the mall, Area 4 is proposed to be open and dynamic with performances and events to encourage social interaction.

First, it is possible to turn the parking lot encircling Polo Park into a multiuse interactive public space. With the advancement of shared autonomous vehicles,

‘Chambers’: All the existing and new proposed sports grounds are put together in Area 3. Characterized by the fenced athletic fields on the site, it is given the name of ‘Chambers’.

2

1

38

3

6 4

5

7

Figure 27

Areas of the Site

cars could be organized in efficient ways in the parking lot to leave more continuous unoccupied space. These empty lots will be empowered with cheap and fast instantaneous AR programs, such as exhibitions, public art and street games and become a new augmented parking/public space. It is envisioned that this space will be different from the more natural light rail park to which it will be connected, by the massive hard surface on which commercial, more urban activities will be located.

Second, the current driveways between the parking lot and the parkway could be built as pedestrian-friendly connections. At present, Empress Street runs north-south along the boundary of the creek, while three secondary roads (Eastway, Westway and another short connection) go east-west, beginning at Polo Park and ending on Empress Street (See Figure 28). According to traffic flow statistics for Winnipeg major roads in 2015 (City of Winnipeg Public Works Department Transportation Division, 2015), the average weekday daily traffic on Empress Street makes it one of eight main roads that carry under 5,000 vehicles and shows the lowest volume (3,700) on the map. Therefore, if the application of shared autonomous vehicles enables even more efficient use of the road, it is feasible to reduce the four-lane Empress Street to two lanes and use the extra space for a pedestrian pathway. The same principle could be applied to the east-west secondary roads (See Figure 28).

Last, the proposed pedestrian connection points to Areas 5 and 6, make them the intermediate grounds. The flat Zone 6 adjoining Empress Street is designed as the Entrance Plaza that leads northward to enter the North Promenade. Meanwhile the Triangular Plaza is constructed over the slope of the creek bank, providing a pedestrian route to the south for the tram station and Portage Avenue (See Figure 28). Additionally, as a visual reinforcement between this transitional area and Creek Park across the street, an array of coniferous trees is proposed along Empress Street, continuing on the Triangular Plaza and extending to Creek Park (See Figure 29).

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Grass Hard Surface Special interventions Pathways Lightrail Route

Bent

South Promenade Creek Park

Chambers

40

Lightrail Station

Entrance Plaza

Triangular Plaza North Promenade

Figure 28 General Plan

Figure 29 Major pathways, connection to Polo Park and the visual reinforcement design

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42

Figure 30 1 to 1000 site model

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3.2

Presentation

Besides the illustrations for the physical landscape, life scenes of what people would see/experience and what people would do on site will be presented in a series of ‘storyboards’, as demonstrated by ‘Six Months Ago’. Every storyboard will show a different designed scenario about how an augmentation drives experience and events. Every augmentation will have its staged performance time and scale (S/M/L/XL), as well as a percentage figure to be judged by designers and engineers, to inform citizens how much of the blended experience is virtual. It is hoped that this series will coalesce into a sophisticated open-ended ‘play’ that happens on the site to help trace out and provide further understanding of the augmented landscape.

'Six Months Ago' It is an extra-large-scale intervention that happens on the whole site. It is formed by a group of giant virtual cylinders in a variety of diameters, randomly dispersed on site and moving slowly along the light rail network.

The spaces overlapped by the cylinders are rendered as the pre-3D-recorded six month ago landscape (e.g. ‘May-scape’ for November and ‘July-scape’ for January). This experience is reviewed as possibly 93% virtual, because the physical reality inside the cylinders is almost entirely overlain by the past scenes.

Meanwhile the operating schedule shows that such augmentation can be highly flexible and punctual.

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'six months ago' May-Nov XL 93%

Sunday 13:00-16:30

Figure 31 Six Months Ago 1

45

46

'six months ago'

A snapshot of the cylinders’ spatial arrangement at different time of the day.

Figure 32 Six Months Ago 2

93%

XL

Saturday 9:00-18:00

July-Jan

Figure 33 Cylinders Plan

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48

CHAPTER 4: Detailed Interventions

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4.1

creek park

Figure 34 Creek Park Location

As a major public space along the light rail, Creek Park is designated for: A: carrying the pedestrian flow between the light rail station and the communities across the river.

B: supporting public activities and events with open spaces.

C: offering pathways for visiting the riparian natural environment.

D. a loop running track.

A The curvature of the linear plaza presents a journey through the center of the park. The approximately 10 to 15 meters’ width is established to hold the potential flow of people, while allowing a bike lane to pass through it.

Benches and shelters are distributed along the plaza.

In addition, the southeast riverside entrance is connected to the proposed floating bridges over the Assiniboine River and the existing bridge on Omand’s Creek.

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B The experience of walking along the linear plaza could be enriched by coming across the activities, events and performances occurring on the two open spaces which are transverse to the plaza. Those straight edges that divide these spaces define different viewing angles.

The space on the south side crosses over the whole site from the west to the southeast corner. The elevation of this space is illustrated on the cross sections (see Figure 37 and Figure 38). It descends from the elevated lawn to the southeast entrance, forming outdoor stages along the declining topography. Therefore, visitors who arrive at the southeast entrance are at the lowest standpoint where they can enjoy a full glance of events on the entire slope. As they climb up the space becomes wider and more open for group activities. On the other hand, in the opposite viewing direction, sitting on the embedded benches on the slope, the scenery of the river could be enjoyed.

An approximately 140 meter-long and 2 meter-wide ditch is excavated. It starts from the plaza and ends on a pathway to the southeast entrance, featuring a 6 meter elevation drop. This passage is particularly designed for an AR experience of revealing the underground landscape and life activities (see Figure 39, Figure 40 and Figure 41 in detail).

D An approximately 465 meter-long running track is superimposed on the site cutting through park features. There is at least one change of distinctive spatial atmosphere within every 50 meters of running, e.g., moving through the commuters on the plaza or shaded alley of trees, seeing strollers in the ditch down below, running with trains on the parallel route.

Meanwhile, a different atmosphere is set up in the northern open space with the view from the gaps in the east and the west— passing by people and light rail trains.

C Apart from the necessary clearing of existing vegetation for the two open spaces, most of the site trees are preserved. Unpaved footpaths on the river and the creek banks are located to encourage the exploration of the raw riparian qualities.

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Figure 35 Creek Park Exploded Illustration

1. Running track

Stage

2. Plaza and pathways

Southeast Entrance

3. Trees and two open spaces

52 4. Topography

Lightrail Station

Slope Bench

Shelter Bike Lane

Ditch

Coniferous Tree Alignment

Footpath

Figure 36 Creek Park Plan

53

Section A-A AR Performance on small stages

Small stages

Bike Lane

Section B-B

Embedded Benches

54

Plaza

Lawn

Figure 37 Creek park Section A-A

Figure 38 Creek Park Section B-B

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Section C-C

Shelter wall as AR filter to view outside Immersive Underground AR

Figure 39 Creek Park Section C-C

Ditch AR Experience

Figure 40 Ditch AR Experience

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As demonstrated in Figure 40, the space of the ditch is pushed virtually in two perpendicular directions. Once the virtual space is set to a new location at a nearby or faraway landscape, what happens underground within that specific void of space, will be projected back into the space of the original physical ditch. Therefore, visitors could be immersed in a virtual environment that is beneath the soil level, and see the roots of trees, prairie dogs’ tunnels, or the structure of ant colonies around them. Such visualization will be created by landscape architects cooperating with geologists, penologist, artists, engineers, zoologist, etc.

Figure 41 The ditch and the plaza

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Figure 42 Lightrail Station and Plaza entrance

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Figure 43 Creek Park overview 1

Figure 44 Creek Park overview 2

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4.2 As introduced in section 3.1.3, the Triangular Plaza combined with the Entrance Plaza direct pedestrians between Polo Park and the light rail network. The former provides a connection to the train station and Portage Avenue, while the latter is bridged with the North Promenade by crossing Omand’s Creek. Meanwhile an alignment of trees is a visual reinforcement that extends all the way towards Creek Park.

The Transition

Figure 45 The Transition Location

The Triangular plaza is suspended over the creek bank. Rows of trees are planted on the bank, growing from below the plaza and penetrating the plaza through the holes so that visitors can appreciate the tree crowns.

Also, a highway theater is situated between Portage Avenue and the lightrail station to partially function as a light rail waiting space.

The Entrance Plaza is constructed on flat ground next to the creek. It is designed as a series of 0.5 meter-high steps descending from the south to the creek bank on the north, for people to sit and view the water.

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Driveway Pedestrian Connection

Lightrail Station Highway Theater

Triangular Plaza

Entrance Plaza

Entrance in the same level with the street

Coniferous Tree Alignment

Bridge

Figure 46 Transitional Area Plan

61

Section A-A

Section B-B

62

Figure 47 Triangular Plaza Section

Figure 48 Entrance Plaza Section

63

Figure 49 Bridge over the creek

Figure 50 Triangular Plaza

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Figure 51 The Transition overview

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4.3

‘Chambers’ and ‘Bent’

Sh Furniture

Figure 52 ‘Bent‘ and ‘Chambers‘ Locations

‘Bent’ ‘Bent’ consists of three spaces that are segregated by trees and shrubs. Each space is characterized by a narrow entrance, a bending course towards the river with a series of 0.5-meter steps for sitting, and an exit joined by either a dock or a floating bridge which connects with the southeast entrance of Creek Park.

Inside each space, there are mobile shelters that provide casual dining service and indoor activities in winter. There is also cuboid-shaped movable outdoor furniture for sitting or re-assembled as tables and (AR or human performance) stages. It is intended through the arrangement of the furniture and the shelters, that every space will present a different theme, such as a busy beer garden, a lively micro concert, or a peaceful place to listen to the river. Meanwhile paths along the edge of the steps will allow traveling crosswise between the three spaces.

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T T

T V

V

T T

Bleacher

Ro

helter

T

B

V

Roofed Pathway

B

Figure 53 ‘Chambers‘ and ‘Bent‘ Plan

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The design intention of the curved shape is to separate the major feature of each space from the road side visually, while creating a semi–open atmosphere.

Specifically, every space can be subdivided as: visible to the road side (Zone 1), visible to the river side (Zone 2), visible in both directions (Zone 3), and hidden in both directions (Zone 4). Accordingly, Zone 2 and 4 will be where the attraction is located, hidden from the road side’s sight. On the other hand, Zone 1, 2 and 3 will be the location for the furniture, so that passers–by on the road side might peek at people’s reaction to the attraction while not knowing what the attraction is.

Zone 4, being the place with the least interesting view, could also accommodate stages and automated selling services.

Furniture Kiosks and Shelters Visible to the road side (1) Visible to the river side (2) Visible in both directions (3) Hidden in both directions (4)

Figure 54 ‘Bent‘ Visual Arrangement

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‘Chambers‘ ‘Chambers’ inherits part of the function of the original site and serves as a sports facility for the adjacent communities. It includes fenced fields for tennis (T), beach volleyball (V) and basketball (B). The bleacher on the east side also creates a roofed pathway, which goes straight to the riverbank and links the southeast entrance of Creek Park with floating bridges. The ground of ‘Chambers’ is terraced with 1.5-meter steps (with handrails) towards the river.

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Section A-A See ‘Parallel Nature‘ AR replay of a classic NBA game

Figure 55 Chambers section A-A

Section B-B

Shelter

Stage

Figure 56 Bent section B-B

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Section C-C

Figure 57 Bent section C-C

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Figure 58 ‘Chambers‘

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Figure 59 ‘Bent‘

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4.4

Promenades

Figure 60 Promenades Locations

The same spatial layout is applied to the North and South Promenades. Overall, rows of tree that resemble train carriages are interwoven by two paths. The rows are single (with about 5 meters wide crown) or double (about 10 meters wide) with their length varying from 40 to 140 meters. One path is serpentine and paved with gravel for a slower rambling experience. The other path is straighter with an asphalt surface for faster walking and cycling. A series of small ‘highlight spots’ are superimposed along this linear space. These are to be augmented for unexpected encounters.

The small ‘highlight spots’ mainly consist of simple landscape forms including hard surfacing, winter shelters, gardens and reshaped topography, which come with varying sizes, orientations, openness and

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texture. They are backdrops for tailored AR interventions. The positioning of those spots becomes denser towards the riparian parks, indicating to visitors that they are approaching certain major places on the network (see Figure 62). These spots are locations that citizens could occasionally visit and find fresh and fun small AR interventions created by artists, designers and even community participants.

SHELTERS Pavilion

Pergola

Tube

Playground

Elastic Floor

Water Pad

Sitting Steps

Sand Pit

Prairie Grass Garden

Zen Garden

Quarry Rock Garden

Community Garden

HARD SURFACES

GARDENS

Figure 61 Examples of the forms of ‘highlight spots’

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North Promenade Waterpad

Cage

Openness in 12 m radius

Figure 62 Highlight points arrangement and openness

Pergola

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South Promenade

Flower Garden

T

Tunnel

Figure 63 North Promenade Plan

Prairie Grass Garden

Small Amphitheater

Zen Garden

Party Stage

Elastic

Figure 64 South Promenade Plan

Pavilion

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Section A-A

Figure 65

78

Gravel Path

Splash pad

Bike Lane

T h e theater is built, it is time to see what s h a l l happen on the stage!

Figure 66 South Promenade overview

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4.5

stories XL Six Months Ago 1

L Rail Caanda 1923 S Phantom Garden

S Night-Day Tunnel S Midnight Meeting S Zen Garden /Beach

M Parallel Nature

M Dead Elm Exhibitio

M Window

Locations of S

80

m on

XL Six Months Ago 2

This chapter will demonstrate what the experience of augmented landscape might be like on this planned site with its particular ecological, social and cultural conditions. Here is a list of all the small scale interventions that happen on the highlight spots and other larger scale interventions.

S

Night-Day Tunnel Splash Pad Volcano Phantom Garden Zen Garden/Beach Midnight Meeting Night Recorder

L “America’s Finest Racing Plant“ S Splash Pad Volcano

M

S Night Recorder

Window Parallel Nature Dead Elm Exhibition

L

Story Drawings

Rail Canada 1923 ‘America’s Finest Racing Plant‘

XL

Six Months Ago

Figure 67 Location of ‘Story‘ Drawings

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Figure 68 May 23:00-2:00 89%

night-day tunnel

Figure 69 Snowy days 13:30-15:00 15%

Figure 70 Spring 9:00-17:00

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88%

phantom garden

splash pad volcano

Figure 71 Summer 11:00-16:00

52%

zen garden/beach

S The small scale virtual experiences on highlight points along the promenades will be tailored according to the physical backdrop and be continually recreated as artistic expressions by different people through reading the landscape differently. Here are a few examples: 1. Night-Day Tunnel: Seeing the day landscape at night through the tunnel wall or vice versa.

2. Splash Pad Volcano During winter, ‘lava’ gushes out from the pad instead of water.

3. Midnight Meeting An example of an AR get-together on the “Party Stage” highlight spot.

4. Phantom Garden Inside the flower garden, some of the plants are given virtual extension branches, whilst some others are totally virtual in AR. It is up to the visitor to find out which is real and which is fake.

5. Zen Garden/Beach A serene atmosphere with rocks and moss in another moment is replaced with virtual waves and a sand beach.

6. Night Recorder Surprise encounters with urban wildlife happen a lot in Winnipeg, especially during the night when there is less human presence.

This highlight spot of prairie grass garden provides food source for some of the animals.

All the visits at night will be 3-D scanned and disclosed in the day.

Figure 72 Friday 23:00-4:00 42%

midnight meeting

Figure 73 Friday-Sunday 10:00-15:20 33%

night recorder 83

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rail canada 1923

Rail Canada 1923 is an AR event that happens on the celebration day of Canadian Rail. Unexpected vintage trains arrive between the tree rows on the promenade, producing a contrast of old and modern in the foreground and background. Above in the sky, there is an artistically restored mirror world of the past time, where all the vintage trains on the ground have their identical counterparts running in a bustling rail yard with workers walking around. The light belts signify the location of both the trains in the sky and on the landscape.

L

92% Celebration day for Canada rail 10:00-16:00

Figure 74 Rail Canada 1923

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1 ‘Window’ is an AR experience in the ‘Bent‘ area. It can be compared to a thin film woven along the three gaps in the tree canopy of that area. Each ‘window’ could occasionally be deployed to unveil the invisible character in the surrounding landscape. The illustration is a combination of ‘window’ in different time.

There is the vortex behind a landing plane (1), the revealed sky behind the smoke of forest fire (2), the visualized fierce wind (3), turbulence under the river surface (3) and an air stream following the tail of birds (5).

In another scenario, through pre-installed sensors, the views in the ‘window’ could be rendered with artificial color palettes to inform citizens of unusual environmental conditions.

For example, high river pH level, sediment concentration, pollution from drainage overflow (3).

‘Windows‘ could also simply serve as a canvas for artists to recreate the world with color schemes unimaginable in real life (4).

sensor

sim u

lat

ion

!

artist’s expression

Figure 75 Mechanism of ‘Window‘

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window

2

3

4

5

M

45% Random Deployment

Figure 76 Window

87

88

parallel nature

The virtual intervention ‘parallel nature‘ is meant to show what this whole region might look like once abandoned without human intervention, say in a parallel world.

This virtual landscape inside the cages will be visible whenever the fields are not occupied by exercising people.

Figure 77 Parallel Nature

M

The time speed of this ‘world’ will be faster than the outside world. For instance, four months in the cage equals a year outside. Sitting on the bleachers, citizens can easily observe how the landscape will progress after a year, two years, etc. The deduction and depiction of such world will be the teamwork of landscape architects, zoologists, geographers, artists, etc.

A man is doing shooting drill on a rainy day. It is detected by sensors on the site and in response the AR system clears a space for his practice.

90% During the vacant hours of the fields

89

90

dead elm exhibition

Figure 79 Portal diagram

Winnipeg has been losing its elms due to Dutch Elm Disease. Every infected elm is identified by the city with an orange mark on the trunk, before it is cut down, leaving the place with a void and a loss of historic evidence.

This AR exhibition is meant for memorializing these trees through 3D–scanning the dead elms and placing them on the plaza of Creek Park for lightrail commuters to see.

Behind each tree will be a ‘picture frame’/’portal’ that reveals the corresponding contextual landscape so that a more complete story of every dead elm can be delivered. The ‘portals’ can rotate according to the standing location of the viewers to exhibit the landscapes from different angles (see Figure 79) . Meanwhile a map on the corner will show the locations of the trees in Winnipeg,

Figure 78 Dead Elm Exhibition

M

60% Sunday 13:00-16:00

91

"america's finest racing plant"

92

Figure 80 “America’s Finest Racing Plant“

L 37% July 4th 17:00-22:00

With autonomous vehicles taking up the driving task, AR intervention could be placed on locations that used to be considered dangerous for blocking visibility, such as driveways and parking lots. As mentioned earlier, the parking lot of Polo Park mall will be set as an outdoor AR public space. “America’s Finest Racing Plant” demonstrates one scenario.

This name stems from the historic horse track named “Polo Park” that was locate on the mall area. This track represents the heyday of horse racing in Winnipeg, holding national events like the “Canadian Derby” and was advertised as “America’s Finest Racing Plant” in North America (Wilson, 1978). On July 4th, 1956 the track held the last race before it was closed and removed (Ibid). On the left page is a future poster basing on the past. It is about an AR event overlaying the historic horse track on the current parking lot virtually. The dimensions of the historic track are referenced from the removed track at the new location of Assiniboia Downs, Winnipeg. This AR event will depict the last race in 1956 and bring the thrilling moments to citizens.

Figure 81 Dimension of the Racing Plant on the Parking Lot

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CHAPTER 5: reflection

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5.1

The park, the city ‘Apps’

The augmented light rail public space is a predominantly ‘culture-oriented’ park. The virtual layers are exclusively visible to humans and not shared by other life forms. In some ways, it can be regarded as an enormous electronic platform for human activities like the smart devices of today—the physical landscape being the supportive operating system and hardware, and the virtual content being the apps installed on the operating system, put to use for certain lengths of time when required. And there will always be endless possible ‘apps’ with different functions and experiences to be offered.

Citizens could be given voting options for the set up of the ‘apps’ including, say, the duration, the frequency of deployment, and the scale.

Reconnection to the real world It is also possible that some traits of our present day cyber culture will pass on and become part of the augmented city. A large number of our current digital products are designed for exhaustive attempts to consume users’ time and energy in purely virtual social life and entertainment, with the price of sacrificing contact with people and things outside the digital screen. Without going outdoors to observe and interact with crowds of people and different aspects of society and nature, a tempting alternative could be a click on YouTube to display what seem to be perspectives from the whole world. A person’s presence in a city at times might be experienced as less than his / her avatar’s

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journey through the Internet. Nevertheless, in an augmented city the digital convenience and addiction might be achieved, but they are in new physical-virtual forms that encourage and expose citizens to encounter realworld environments. One example could be found in the big hit AR cellphone game of Pokémon Go from 2016. The game converted “serious and ordinary space” around the city to play space for people to do treasurehunting (Gong, Hassink and Maus, 2017). It produced an attractive gaming experience that considerably changed the pattern of mobility of the people who joined the research, as they started to visit unacquainted or neglected places much more (Ibid).

Interdisciplinary design There might be significant demand for interdisciplinary practice in the augmented landscape, as shown in the practicum storyboards such as ‘Window’ and ‘Parallel Nature’. Su (2015) argues that it will be less possible to demarcate fields such as architecture, fine art and programming, meanwhile the temporal and dynamic conditions in the augmented city will require urban designers to expand their common role of designing long-lasting built environments as well as determined programs.

Issue in organization In the complete scenario of the augmented city, the ‘professionallydesigned’ public ‘apps’ as represented by the storyboards, coexisting with the personalized spaces created by every ordinary citizen, who is granted the freedom to customize and present their spaces publicly to influence, communicate and mingle with other spatial expressions, or to conceal the spaces and only use them in private groups. Even the assigned publicly-oriented intervention as shown in the ‘storyboards’ could be redefined and deployed at will, solely for individuals to experience, and be kept invisible to other citizens. It raises a question about who should be authorized to legislate and govern this intricacy of individuals and groups, private and public; a “top down” measure, say applying governmental virtual layers to all the citizens, only seems to miss the advantages and opportunities of augmented space (Matsuda, 2016a; Su, 2015).

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5.2

closing

Narratives of virtual visualization in real space have appeared numerous times in science fiction novels and films, but it is not until the recent development (of AR, as well as relevant fields such as 3D–scanning, high–speed data transmission technology of 5G, drones, autonomous vehicles, etc.) that this fantasy feels so much closer. This vision implies more than a burstout of extravagant imagination and visualization in human life (while not less valuable for it); there is a great potential in developing a new languages in designing landscapes, through speculating how people could live with a new layer of reality in the world and how spatial design might be affected. Winnipeg: Speculation of Augmented Reality in Outdoor Urban Space recognizes this potential and takes a leap into ‘2068 Winnipeg’ where the ubiquitous virtual visualization could be conveniently read by human eyes. Additionally, with a specific site, the basis for discussing AR as part of public daily life on landscape is established.

As illustrated in the work, the theme throughout the design was always about expanding the notion of ‘landscape’ in this mediated world. It is crucial that the virtual side is somewhat linked to the physical side, which provides the spatial organization and essential characters. Small steps like these are preliminary towards understanding the bigger picture of augmented landscapes. However, the physical form of the site was generally challenging to design to be a more direct reflection of this mixed environment and to echo the virtual side of design. The “storyboards” also beg the question of whether virtual interventions could actually influence the physical landscape, or human activities and

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lifestyle further than ‘showing something’ to people. The answers to these questions might require more research and design experiments like this project on different conditions and scales to look for more systematic and fundamental principles. Matsuda (2010d) suggests that similar to the development of the Internet, possibilities are “overwhelming” at the beginning, yet progressively “a set of flexible rules and hierarchies that define the architectural composition of the augmented city (landscape)” might start to surface.

It is my personal interest in experimenting in the field of generating kaleidoscopic spatial forms and fresh lifestyles. It is also an ambition among many landscape architects to create a better world.

In the spirit of these interests, Winnipeg: Speculation of Augmented Reality in Outdoor Urban Space attempts to depict an alternative future of the augmented landscape through an enjoyable and enriching exploratory journey.

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bibliography Text References Bruch, T., 2018. Winnipeg group says ‘it’s time’ for rail relocation. [online] Global News. Available at: <https://globalnews.ca/news/4059681/winnipeg-group-says-its-time-for-rail-relocation> [Accessed 15 March 2019].

City of Winnipeg, 2015. 2015 Traffic Flow Map. [pdf] Retail City of Winnipeg Available at: <https:// winnipeg.ca/publicworks/trafficControl/trafficData/trafficFlowMap.stm> [Accessed 15 March 2019].

City of Winnipeg, 2018. Southwest transitway. [online] Winnipeg Transit. Available at: <https:// winnipegtransit.com/en/major-projects/rapid-transit/southwest-transitway/#tabmaps> [Accessed 15 March 2019].

Cook, T., 2017. Apple’s Tim Cook on iPhones, augmented reality, and how he plans to change your world. Interviewed by The Independent. [online article] The Independent, 10 October 2017. Available at: <https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/features/ apple-iphone-tim-cook-interview-features-new-augmented-reality-ar-arkit-a7993566. html> [Accessed 15 March 2019].

Digi-Capital, 2017. Record $2.3 billion VR/AR investment in 2016. [online] Available at: <https:// www.digi-capital.com/news/2017/02/record-2-3-billion-vrar-investment-in-2016/#.

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Image References Photographs and drawings have been produced by the author, unless otherwise stated.

Figure 1: Hu, S., 2019. What cyborg 2068 sees.

Figure 2: Hagens, W., 1958. Expo 1958 Philips Pavilion. [photograph] Available at: <https://commons. wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Expo58_building_Philips.jpg> [Accessed 15 March, 2019] CC BYSA 3.0 Figure 3: Hagens, W., 1958. [Interior of Philips Pavilion]. [photograph] Available at: <https://www. archdaily.com/157658/ad-classics-expo-58-philips-pavilion-le-corbusier-and-iannisxenakis/image-15-2> [Accessed 15 March, 2019] Figure 4: Matsuda, K., 2010. [Layers of the Augmented City]. [image online] Available at: <http://www. presidentsmedals.com/showcase/2010/l/2631_08114627999.jpg> [Accessed 15 March, 2019] Figure 5: Matsuda, K., 2010. [Demonstration of the layering design applied to a street]. [image online] Available at: <http://www.presidentsmedals.com/showcase/2010/l/2631_08114653468. jpg> [Accessed 15 March, 2019] Figure 6: Olivieri, D., 2008. A humanoid is eating a cyan soup here in Venaria Reale. [online image] Available at: <https://www.flickr.com/photos/dino_olivieri/1577068321/in/photolist3pmTt8-pY3SV6-7gcxRh-pT7tkJ-76XiEL-76To54-76TnJX-76Tom2-5Co8PK-76Toh42dKoZu1-76TnRT-MU3nsR-Y8vXwe-94dP6i-fQranY-dCfX6i-zHB1BQ-3yi7Cj-a9rTWb8poCoP-ekd9YM-533Yhw-2dHoKMz-re23rM-pZVBB9-nuEYPq-pAqSdp-ajrGGr-ajrEetaf VT8y-ajuvdN-4VwEvr-27LyxfL-2f3sA6Y-ajus1u-ajrGkF-cq5AbY-dkMqha-T9K7RJ-2e3U5Cs-if WsJY-T1C9Tu-T1C9MN-T1C9Qd-ahmkZD-5u9VTr-24qkWg8-qPS28U-Gi6M8 [Accessed 15 March, 2019] CC BY 2.0

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Figure 7: Matsuda, K., 2016. HYPER - REALITY. [video online] Available at: <https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=YJg02ivYzSs> [Accessed 15 March, 2019] Figure 8: Hu, S., 2018. Map of current railway, expressway, major arterial routes, minor arterial routes in Winnipeg.

Map created and edited by user: City of Winnipeg, n.d. Road network of Winnipeg [map]. Scale unknown. Data layers: ArcGIS Pro 2.0.0. Winnipeg, MB: Generated by Shihan Hu, 2 Dec. 2018. Using Arc GIS Pro for Desktop Advanced [GIS]. Version 2.0.0. Redlands, CA: Esri 2017.

Railway location data derived from: City of Winnipeg, n.d. Rail lines and spur lines in Winnipeg. Scale unknown. [online] Available at: <https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/non-linked/Interactive-Map-Rail-lines-and-spurlines-in-Winnipeg-298966071.html> [Accessed 15 March, 2019] Satellite imagery information: Google Earth Pro 7.3.2.5776, 2018. City of Winnipeg, MB, 49°53’11.05”N, 97°05’56.45”W, elevation 245M. 3D map, Buildings data layer. Available at: < https://www.google.com/earth/index. html> [Accessed 15 March, 2019] Figure 9: Waferboard, 2008. That’s pretty straight. [photograph] Available at: <https://www.flickr.com/ photos/waferboard/2954115457/in/photolist-dhr72V-5v3BB8-cxu9xm-qj8Z1k-8ZGB64EHz2Q7-XrWPz2-Xpfe1A-vQmJEH-XrXmUr-XrWQzZ-CyqJ4N-C3e5o2-X455Rs-vehq9WC9B7eY-BDm6mT-CraNSd-oW4PgL-pgda6t-26Xjsm2-qwZrQU-qwEE8Y-dmE8v3foQLz7/> [Accessed 15 March, 2019] CC BY 2.0 Figure 10: Satellite imagery information: Google Earth Pro 7.3.2.5776, 2018. City of Winnipeg, MB, 49°52’21.73”N, 97°06’58.80”W, elevation 245M. 3D map, Buildings data layer. Available at: < https://www.google.com/earth/index. html> [Accessed 15 March, 2019] Figure 11: Hu, S., 2018. Site conditions and dynamics Map created and edited by user: City of Winnipeg, n.d. Assiniboine River at Omand’s Creek [map]. Scale unknown. Base Map Data layers: ArcGIS Pro 2.0.0. Winnipeg, MB: Generated by Shihan Hu, 5 Dec. 2018. Using Arc

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GIS Pro for Desktop Advanced [GIS]. Version 2.0.0. Redlands, CA: Esri 2017.

City of Winnipeg, n.d. RIVERBANKCOUNTOUR1999 [map]. Scale unknown. Data layers: ArcGIS Pro 2.0.0. Winnipeg, MB: Generated by Shihan Hu, 5 Dec. 2018. Using Arc GIS Pro for Desktop Advanced [GIS]. Version 2.0.0. Redlands, CA: Esri 2017.

City of Winnipeg, n.d. TRANSIT [map]. Scale unknown. Data layers: ArcGIS Pro 2.0.0. Winnipeg, MB: Generated by Shihan Hu, 5 Dec. 2018. Using Arc GIS Pro for Desktop Advanced [GIS].

Version 2.0.0. Redlands, CA: Esri 2017.

City of Winnipeg, n.d. Railway [map]. Scale unknown. Data layers: ArcGIS Pro 2.0.0. Winnipeg, MB: Generated by Shihan Hu, 5 Dec. 2018. Using Arc GIS Pro for Desktop Advanced [GIS].

Version 2.0.0. Redlands, CA: Esri 2017.

Figure 12: Hu, S., 2018. Railway space towards south. [photograph].

Figure 13: Hu, S., 2018. Thawing river. [photograph].

Figure 14: Hu, S., 2018. Power lines along the railway. [photograph].

Figure 15: Hu, S., 2018. Omand’s Creek. [photograph].

Figure 16: Hu, S., 2018. Riverway bridge towards the south. [photograph].

Figure 17: Harbeck, C., 2010. Railway bridge at Omands Creek. [photograph] Available at: <https:// www.flickr.com/photos/23046603@N00/4395198769/in/photolist-qDta8Y-qFKDA47MWWbk-q4tkmK-8Au9PU-7GosFz-7GssHA-8APw94-f EsxH2-8Arbdc-8AuaLd8LMCXf-7Goxt8-8UCDXF-8Aucpd-8AudxS-8APvzn-5Tw2Rd-7Goss6-qpcued-5oXJqW> [Accessed 15 March, 2019] CC BY 2.0 Figure 18: Hu, S., 2018. Raw riparian forest. [photograph].

Figure 19: Hu, S., 2018. Lovers’ lock on the bridge. [photograph].

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Figure 20: Norlund, J., 2013. Omand Park. [photograph] Available at: <https://www.flickr.com/ photos/50711561@N00/9624201175/in/photolist-qDta8Y-qFKDA4-7MWWbk-q4tkmK8Au9PU-7GosFz-7GssHA-8APw94-fEsxH2-8Arbdc-8AuaLd-8LMCXf-7Goxt8-8UCDXF8Aucpd-8AudxS-8APvzn-5Tw2Rd-7Goss6-qpcued-5oXJqW> [Accessed 15 March, 2019] CC BY 2.0 Figure 21: Hu, S., 2018. The creek flowing into the river. [photograph].

Figure 22: Hu, S., 2018. Pedestrian bridge across Omand’s Creek 2. [photograph].

Figure 23: Hu, S., 2018. Dirt path on the riverbank. [photograph].

Figure 24: Harbeck, C., 2010. River trail going home. After the Maryland Bridge going towards Omands Creek. [photograph] Available at: <https://www.flickr.com/photos/23046603@N00/4395182671/ in/photolist-7MWWbk-q4tkmK-8Au9PU-7GosFz-7GssHA-8APw94-fEsxH2-8Arbdc8AuaLd-8LMCXf-7Goxt8-8UCDXF-8Aucpd-8AudxS-8APvzn-5Tw2Rd-7Goss6-qDta8Yqpcued-5oXJqW-qFKDA4> [Accessed 15 March, 2019] CC BY 2.0 Figure 25: Hu, S., 2018. Overlooking Portage Avenue on the railway over-bridge. [photograph].

Figure 26: Hu, S., 2018. Railway crossing the Omand’s Creek on the North. [photograph].

Figure 27: Hu, S., 2019. Areas of the site.

Figure 28 Hu, S., 2019. General plan.

Map created and edited by user: City of Winnipeg, n.d. Assiniboine River at Omand’s Creek [map]. Scale unknown. Base Map Data layers: ArcGIS Pro 2.0.0. Winnipeg, MB: Generated by Shihan Hu, 5 Dec. 2018. Using Arc

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GIS Pro for Desktop Advanced [GIS]. Version 2.0.0. Redlands, CA: Esri 2017.

Contour lines redesigned from: City of Winnipeg, n.d. RIVERBANKCOUNTOUR1999 [map]. Scale unknown. Data layers: ArcGIS Pro 2.0.0. Winnipeg, MB: Generated by Shihan Hu, 5 Dec. 2018. Using Arc GIS Pro for Desktop Advanced [GIS]. Version 2.0.0. Redlands, CA: Esri 2017.

Figure 29: Hu, S., 2019. Major pathways, connection to Polo Park and the visual reinforcement design.

Figure 30: Hu, S., 2019. 1 to 1000 site model.

Figure 31: Hu, S., 2019. Six months ago 1.

Figure 32: Hu, S., 2019. Six months ago 2.

Figure 33: Hu, S., 2019. Cylinder plan.

Map created and edited by user: City of Winnipeg, n.d. Assiniboine River at Omandâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Creek [map]. Scale unknown. Base Map Data layers: ArcGIS Pro 2.0.0. Winnipeg, MB: Generated by Shihan Hu, 5 Dec. 2018. Using Arc GIS Pro for Desktop Advanced [GIS]. Version 2.0.0. Redlands, CA: Esri 2017.

Figure 34: Hu, S., 2019. Creek Park location.

Figure 35: Hu, S., 2019. Creek Park exploded illustration.

Contour lines redesigned from: City of Winnipeg, n.d. RIVERBANKCOUNTOUR1999 [map]. Scale unknown. Data layers: ArcGIS Pro 2.0.0. Winnipeg, MB: Generated by Shihan Hu, 5 Dec. 2018. Using Arc GIS Pro for Desktop Advanced [GIS]. Version 2.0.0. Redlands, CA: Esri 2017.

Figure 36: Hu, S., 2019. Creek Park Plan.

Map created and edited by user:

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City of Winnipeg, n.d. Assiniboine River at Omandâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Creek [map]. Scale unknown. Base Map Data layers: ArcGIS Pro 2.0.0. Winnipeg, MB: Generated by Shihan Hu, 5 Dec. 2018. Using Arc GIS Pro for Desktop Advanced [GIS]. Version 2.0.0. Redlands, CA: Esri 2017.

Contour lines redesigned from: City of Winnipeg, n.d. RIVERBANKCOUNTOUR1999 [map]. Scale unknown. Data layers: ArcGIS Pro 2.0.0. Winnipeg, MB: Generated by Shihan Hu, 5 Dec. 2018. Using Arc GIS Pro for Desktop Advanced [GIS]. Version 2.0.0. Redlands, CA: Esri 2017.

Figure 37: Hu, S., 2019. Creek Park section A-A. Figure 38: Hu, S., 2019. Creek Park section B-B. Figure 39: Hu, S., 2019. Creek Park section C-C. Figure 40: Hu, S., 2019. Ditch AR experience.

Figure 41: Hu, S., 2019. The ditch and the plaza.

Figure 42: Hu, S., 2019. Lightrail Station and Plaza entrance.

Figure 43: Hu, S., 2019. Creek Park overview 1.

Figure 44: Hu, S., 2019. Creek Park overview 2.

Figure 45: Hu, S., 2019. Transitional area location.

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Figure 46: Hu, S., 2019. Transitional area plan.

Map created and edited by user: City of Winnipeg, n.d. Assiniboine River at Omand’s Creek [map]. Scale unknown. Base Map Data layers: ArcGIS Pro 2.0.0. Winnipeg, MB: Generated by Shihan Hu, 5 Dec. 2018. Using Arc GIS Pro for Desktop Advanced [GIS]. Version 2.0.0. Redlands, CA: Esri 2017.

Contour lines redesigned from: City of Winnipeg, n.d. RIVERBANKCOUNTOUR1999 [map]. Scale unknown. Data layers: ArcGIS Pro 2.0.0. Winnipeg, MB: Generated by Shihan Hu, 5 Dec. 2018. Using Arc GIS Pro for Desktop Advanced [GIS]. Version 2.0.0. Redlands, CA: Esri 2017.

Figure 47: Hu, S., 2019. Triangular Plaza section.

Figure 48: Hu, S., 2019. Entrance Plaza section.

Figure 49: Hu, S., 2019. Bridge over the creek.

Figure 50: Hu, S., 2019. Triangular Plaza.

Figure 51: Hu, S., 2019. The Transition overview.

Figure 52: Hu, S., 2019. ‘Chambers’ and ‘Bent’ location.

Figure 53: Hu, S., 2019. ‘Chambers’ and ‘Bent’ plan.

Map created and edited by user: City of Winnipeg, n.d. Assiniboine River at Omand’s Creek [map]. Scale unknown. Base Map Data layers: ArcGIS Pro 2.0.0. Winnipeg, MB: Generated by Shihan Hu, 5 Dec. 2018. Using Arc GIS Pro for Desktop Advanced [GIS]. Version 2.0.0. Redlands, CA: Esri 2017.

Contour lines redesigned from: City of Winnipeg, n.d. RIVERBANKCOUNTOUR1999 [map]. Scale unknown. Data layers: ArcGIS Pro 2.0.0. Winnipeg, MB: Generated by Shihan Hu, 5 Dec. 2018. Using Arc GIS Pro for Desktop Advanced [GIS]. Version 2.0.0. Redlands, CA: Esri 2017.

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Figure 54: Hu, S., 2019. ‘Bent’ visual arrangement.

Figure 55: Hu, S., 2019. Chambers section A-A. Figure 56: Hu, S., 2019. Bent section B-B. Figure 57: Hu, S., 2019. Bent section C-C. Figure 58: Hu, S., 2019. 'Chambers'.

Figure 59: Hu, S., 2019. 'Bent'.

Figure 60: Hu, S., 2019. Promenade locations.

Figure 61: Hu, S., 2019. Examples of the forms of ‘highlight spots’.

Figure 62: Hu, S., 2019. Highlight points arrangement and openness.

Figure 63: Hu, S., 2019. North Promenade plan.

Map created and edited by user: City of Winnipeg, n.d. Assiniboine River at Omand’s Creek [map]. Scale unknown. Base Map Data layers: ArcGIS Pro 2.0.0. Winnipeg, MB: Generated by Shihan Hu, 5 Dec. 2018. Using Arc GIS Pro for Desktop Advanced [GIS]. Version 2.0.0. Redlands, CA: Esri 2017.

Figure 64: Hu, S., 2019. South Promenade plan.

Map created and edited by user: City of Winnipeg, n.d. Assiniboine River at Omand’s Creek [map]. Scale unknown. Base Map Data layers: ArcGIS Pro 2.0.0. Winnipeg, MB: Generated by Shihan Hu, 5 Dec. 2018. Using Arc GIS Pro for Desktop Advanced [GIS]. Version 2.0.0. Redlands, CA: Esri 2017.

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Figure 65: Hu, S., 2019. North Promenade section.

Figure 66: Hu, S., 2019. South Promenade overview.

Figure 67: Hu, S., 2019. Location of ‘story’ drawings.

Figure 68: Hu, S., 2019. Night–day tunnel.

Figure 69: Hu, S., 2019. Splash pad volcano.

Figure 70: Hu, S., 2019. Phantom garden.

Figure 71: Hu, S., 2019. Zen garden/beach.

Figure 72: Hu, S., 2019. Midnight meeting.

Figure 73: Hu, S., 2019. Night recorder.

Figure 74: Hu, S., 2019. Rail Canada 1923.

Figure 75: Hu, S., 2019. Mechanism of ‘window’.

Figure 76: Hu, S., 2019. Window.

Figure 77: Hu, S., 2019. Parallel nature.

Figure 78: Hu, S., 2019. Dead elm exhibition.

Figure 79: Hu, S., 2019. Portal diagram.

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Figure 80: Hu, S., 2019. ‘America’s Finest Plant’.

Figure 81: Hu, S., 2019. Dimension of the racing plant on the parking lot.

Google Earth Pro 7.3.2.5776, 2018. Polo Park, Winnipeg 49°53’05.46”N, 97°11’54.02”W, elevation 234M. 3D map, Buildings data layer. Available at: < https://www.google.com/earth/index. html> [Accessed 15 March, 2019]

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Copyright Figure 2: Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no Invariant Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-Cover Texts. A copy of the license is included in the section entitled GNU Free Documentation License.

Figure 4, Figure5 and Figure 7: The images are used with the permission from Keiichi Matsuda.

Figure 6, Figure 8, Figure 15, Figure 18 and Figure 22: The images are used under Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC BY 2.0). The images are allowed to be copied, distributed, displayed, and performedâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;and made derivative works based upon itâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;but only if the credit is given. License available at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/ legalcode.

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