Front Cover: Terminating Vista, St. Peter's Basilica, Vatican City, 2002.
Printed and designed in Victoria, BC Canada, 2014
w w w. n i l e s . c a Division of Space, 1st Edition, by Jason Niles is licensed under a Creative Commons AttributionNonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. Based on a work at www.niles.ca. Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at www.niles.ca.
Screened Vista, Arc de Triomphe de l'Étoile and Pyramide du Louvre , Paris, France, 2002.
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IMAGE ORDER 1. Terminating Vista 2. Screened Vista 3. One Point Perspective 4. Graffiti Wall #1 5. Rooftop Sketch, West Elevation 6. South Viewscape 7. North Elevation Detail 8. Rooftop Sketch 9. Two Point Perspective, 10. Graffiti Wall #2 11. Project Photo 12. Three Point Perspective 13. End Cross Section 14. Inventory of Benches 15. Transverse Section 16. Screening 17. Focal Point 18. North Street Elevation
19. Material & Light 20. Seeing In Detail 21. Two Point Perspective 22. Site Plan 23. Tetrahedron Mobile 24. Concept Sketch 25. Site Plan 26. Plans 1-4 27. Master Plan 28. Screening 29. Canada150 Logo 30. Arcade, Enclave
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Volume One, division of space System of Viewpoints, by Jason Niles INTRODUCTION “Every inhabitant of Eudoxia compares the carpet’s immobile order with his own image of the city, an anguish of his own, and each can find, concealed among the arabesques1, an answer, the story of his life, the twists of fate.” (Marco Polo describing the City of Eudoxia to Kublai Khan in the Italo Calvino’s ‘Invisible Cities’). The urban landscape is a changing geometry of perspectives. The selected images included in Volume 1, offer a preliminary review to an ongoing survey by Urban Planner, Jason Niles. The aim is to compile a system of viewpoints that form an aesthetic of change. The study is conducted using site assessment techniques that include photography, sketching, and three-dimensional model-making. The presented set of Elevations, Plans, Cross Sections, Sketches, and Materials were created with one common objective: to capture a viewpoint of impermanence. All images are the works of the author.
References: Italo Calvino, “Invisible CIties”; Gordon Cullen, “The Concise Townscape”; Donella Meadows, “Thinking in Systems”; Jane Jacobs, “Systems of Survival”; Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, “Theory of Colours”; Janine Benyus, “Biomimcry”; Robert F. Scagel, “Guide to Common Seaweeds of British Columbia. UBC’s Department of Botany”.
tags: urban design, architecture, urban planning, systems thinking 1
"surface decorations based on rhythmic linear patterns of scrolling and interlacing foliage, tendrils" or plain lines” 5
One Point Perspective on horizon line. Ink on paper. 2013
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Graffiti Wall #1, Chinatown, Victoria, BC, 2013.
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Left Image: Rooftop Sketch, Herald Street Right Image: West Elevation, Herald Street, Victoria, BC, 2012.
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South Viewscape, Mondrian, Johnson Street, Victoria, BC, 2013.
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North Elevation Detail, Douglas Street, Victoria, BC, 2013.
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Rooftop Sketch, Promontory breaking ground, Victoria, BC, 2012. Ink on paper. 6
Two Point Perspective on horizon line, 2013. Ink on paper. 7
Graffiti Wall #2, Chinatown, Victoria, BC, 2013.
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Project Photo of ‘Ersilia’ Installation, School of Urban and Regional Planning, Waterloo, Ontario, 2002. Mixed materials. “Spiderwebs of intricate relationships seeking a form” (I.Calvino) 9
Three Point Perspective on horizon line, 2013 . Ink on paper.
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End Cross Section, Picnic Table, Beacon Hill Park, Victoria, BC, 2013.
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Inventory of Benches, Beacon Hill Park, Victoria, BC, 2013.
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Transverse Section, Haplogloia levring. Common lower intertidal plant found on rocks from Mexico to Alaska. Ink on Paper, 2012. (source: Robert F. Scagel’s Guide to Common Seaweeds of British Columbia. UBC’s Department of Botany)
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Screening, Honeycomb hexagon, Cook Street Village Residence, Victoria, BC, 2013. 14
Focal Point, Monument to Multiculturalism, Union Station, Toronto, Ontario, 2013. Artist, Frances Coperilli
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North Elevation, Queens Avenue, London, Ontario, 2013.
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Material, Thunder Bolt Mobile, Victoria, BC, 2013. Perforated Aluminum
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Seeing In Detail, BC Law Courts, Vancouver, BC, 2013.
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Two Point Perspective , Sovereign, Broughton Street, Victoria, BC, 2013.
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Site Plan, James Bay Block, Legislature Precinct, Victoria, BC, 2013. 20
Tetrahedron, Victoria, BC, 2012. Yellow cedar, wire, string 21
Conceptual Sketch, Hudson Site, Woodward Avenue, Detroit, Michigan, 2013. Pastel and ink on photograph.
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Site Plan, Woodward Avenue, Detroit, Michigan. Chalk on wall. 2013
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(top left, clockwise) Plan Views, Neighbourhood 1;Blind Light; Self Portrait; Neighbourhood 2. Chalk on wall, 2012-2013. 24
Master Plan, Hummingbird, 2012, Chalk on wall. 25
Screening, JackobM, Aarhus, Denmark, 2013. 26
(Above) ‘Coloured Coordinates’ celebrates Canada’s 150 Anniversary and is part of The150Logo.ca, 2013. (Back Cover) Left image: Arcade, Roman Ruins, Rome Italy, 2002, Right image: Enclave, Rome, Italy, 2002. 27
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Jason Niles, MCIP, RPP Urban Planner Victoria, BC, Canada www.niles.ca
Jason was born into urban planning. He grew up in the rural Buffer Zone2 encircling the city boundary of London, Ontario. Here on the edge, he witnessed the landscape experience a level of rapid change. Viewscapes transformed from fields of harvest, orchards and pastures, to parking-lots and Smart Centres. This inspired him to join the conversation of future thinking. His studies include Urban and Regional Planning (Waterloo, Canada) and Strategic Leadership (BTH, Sweden). Jason is a practicing Full Member of the Canadian Institute of Planners and a Member of the Council for Canadian Urbanism. Jason resides in Victoria, BC, Canada. 2
A planning zone created around the new boundary of London, Ontario as a result of the 1993 annexation (the largest annexation of land in Canadian history). “The buffer area will remain a truly longterm agricultural and open space area on the border between the county and the new city�. (LondonMiddlesex Act, 1992, Bill 75)
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