■ Translate Translate is the merging of landscape and communication: an evolving representation of local and contextual conditions. Here, data is considered as a Living System. This chapter investigates the materialization of data systems in the landscape, and focuses on numerical attributes of a single or set of dynamic forces and site properties.
From cellular technologies to the infinite Internet web of information, real-time communication and universal data streams have become increasingly integrated into our everyday environments. Satellite transmission, photo documentation, fiber optics, and smart technologies are commonly inserted into daily consumer products including wearables, architecture, and transportation. In a similar vein, landscape architecture has been engaged in site and non-site data gathering due to increased interest in assessing systems in flux: hurricanes, earthquakes, and toxic conditions among others. Following groundbreaking precedents in science and ecology as well as utility infrastructure, monitoring and detection processes have become integral tools for landscape architects to not only communicate site conditions, but also to dictate program and visual space. Translate is the merging of landscape and communication: an evolving representation of local and contextual conditions. Here, data is considered as a Living System. This chapter investigates the materialization of data systems in the landscape, and focuses on numerical attributes of a single or set of dynamic forces and site properties. Whether obtained remotely or from on-site sensors, these measurements are synthesized, decoded, evaluated, and interpreted into various forms of communication and responsive structures. Translate fits within the current dialogue concerning the didactic value and potential of landscape design: design that seeks to form meaning or contemporary insight in regard to environmental, political, socio-economic, or professional contexts.
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The projects included in this chapter aim to educate visitors and provide information through interactive and reactive sets of feedback operations. As global and regional occurrences impact the local site (weather, pollution, movement, noise, urban processes), Translate presents interpretive representational methods that elucidate and describe both invisible conditions and occurrences over time. In addition, Translate is considered to be an act of conversion. This can manifest in operations like energy harvesting that use sources ranging from the motion of pedestrians or vehicles to solar energy, tidal waves, or wind forces collected through mechanical devices and adapted to operate the site. Combining sensor/digital and mechanical devices, Translate systems detect compound signals to gauge mutable site conditions, or absorb energy to convert into new performances. The Fiber Optic Marsh establishes a monitoring system for a coastal marsh restoration. Constructed of sensing and illuminating fiber optics, the matrix is engineered as an alternative to eelgrass habitat while constantly measuring pollution levels in the water. Once collected, pollution data is translated into a range of glowing colors to communicate water quality. At night, the Fiber Optic Marsh creates a spectacular data-driven light show, shifting as tides and pollution go through states of flux. The marsh then becomes a didactic tool to illuminate visitors and park managers of the otherwise hidden levels of pollution.
