Scaping: Structure and Light Study

Research Bibliography Revised

LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE

Abalos, Iñaki, and José Luis Mateo. Natural Metaphor: an Anthology of Essays on Architecture and Nature. Zürich: ETH, 2007. Print.

Alanen, Arnold R., and Robert Melnick. Preserving Cultural Landscapes in America. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins UP, 2000. Print.

Corner, James, and Alex S. MacLean. Taking Measures across the American Landscape. New Haven: Yale UP, 1996. Print.

Corner, James. Recovering Landscape: Essays in Contemporary Landscape Architecture. New York: Princeton Architectural, 1999. Print.

Gissen, David. Subnature: Architecture's Other Environments. New York: Princeton Architectural, 2009. Print.

Groth, Paul Erling., and Todd W. Bressi. Understanding Ordinary Landscapes. New Haven: Yale UP, 1997. Print.

McHarg, Ian L. Design with Nature. New York: J. Wiley, 1994. Print.

Shepheard, Paul. The Cultivated Wilderness, Or, What Is Landscape? Chicago, IL: Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts, 1997. Print.

Swaffield, Simon R. Theory in Landscape Architecture: a Reader. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania, 2002. Print.

CITY STRUCTURE

Ascher, Kate, and Wendy Marech. The Works: Anatomy of a City. New York: Penguin, 2005. Print.

Bosselmann, Peter. Urban Transformation: Understanding City Design and Form. Washington, DC: Island, 2008. Print.

Franck, Karen A., and Quentin Stevens. Loose Space: Possibility and Diversity in Urban Life. London: Routledge, 2007. Print.

Gehl, Jan, and Lars Gemzøe. New City Spaces. Copenhagen: Danish Architectural, 2006. Print.

Spirn, Anne Whiston. The Granite Garden: Urban Nature and Human Design. New York: Basic, 1984. Print.

Yeang, Ken. Reinventing the Skyscraper a Vertical Theory of Urban Design. Chichester (GB): Wiley-academy, 2002. Print.

Yeang, Ken. The Green Skyscraper: the Basis for Designing Sustainable Intensive Buildings. Munich: Prestel, 1999. Print.

LANDSCAPE URBANISM

Hayden, Dolores, and Jim Wark. A Field Guide to Sprawl. New York: W.W. Norton, 2004. Print.

Hayden, Dolores. Building Suburbia: Green Fields and Urban Growth, 1820-2000. New York: Pantheon, 2003. Print.

Lipsky, Florence. San Francisco: La Grille Sur Les Collines. Marseille: Editions Parenthèses, 1999. Print.

Rael, Ronald. Earth Architecture. New York, NY: Princeton Architectural, 2009. Print.

Wall, Ed, and Tim Waterman. Urban Design. Lausanne [Switzerland: AVA Academia, 2010. Print.

THEORY

Le, Corbusier. Towards a New Architecture. [United States]: BN Pub., 2008. Print.

McKibben, Bill. Eaarth. New York: Time /Henry Holt, 2010. Print.

McKibben, Bill. The End of Nature. New York: Random House, 1989. Print.

Wapner, Paul Kevin. Living through the End of Nature: the Future of American Environmentalism. Cambridge, MA: MIT, 2010. Print.

Olmstead Readings

PRECEDENTS : compile

Aurand, Martin. The Spectator and the Topographical City. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh, 2006. Print.

Field Operations, with Diller Scofidio + Renfro: NYC High LinE

Frank Lloyd Wright: Broadacre City

Freeway Park: Seattle, Washington

Louis Kahn: City Tower Project, Philadelphia and other projects

LTL: Park Tower

Pig Farm

Avalanche Barriers: Hnit and Landslag

Lower Don Lands: Stross

Deep Ground: GroundLab

Barcelona Forum: Lapena Torres

Flowing Gardens: Plasma Studio

Jean-Jacques Lequeu Parisian Park Grotto

Haussman’s sewers

Villa Vals: SeARCH Phillipe Rahm Architects (underground houses)

Grotto: Aranda/Lasch

Pilot-Plant: NL Architects

Chrystie-Forsyth Parkway: Corbusier and Eugene Henard (Holland Tunnel)

Washington Bridge Extension Complex: Paul Rudolph

B_muTower: R&Sie(n) Architects

Pierre Patte Street section

Super Galaxy- NYC Tropospheric Refuge: Jason Johnson and Gattegno

Mollier Houses: Phillippe Rahm Architects

Thames Embankment 1867

Stranded Sears Tower: Greg Lynn

nMBA: R&Sie(n) Architects

City on Fire/City in Bloom: West8

Understanding the Edge Condition

After reading  Subnature: Architecture's Other Environments by David Gissen, I have begun to understand the periphery of the city. How the edge condition that speaks to the natural landscape, that is at times uncontrollable and unwanted, begins to interact with the man-made controlled cityscape. At times this area is desolate and unkempt due to these factors and dissimilarities.

 I think this edge condition would be the perfect site for my thesis to begin to shape a more cohesive space between the two very differing areas. Like I mentioned earlier, there are both passive and active ways of scaping to occur. Puddles, mud, dust, weeds and some animal life, as mentioned by Gissen, begin to interact with the unused city edges on their own. Yet, an active approach, that doesn't simply let the edges fall apart or decay could be utilized. As I suggested in my earlier work, the grid, mass and infrastructure of the cityscape, as well as the vegetation, hydrology and topography of the natural landscape could begin to develop a new scaping. Something that doesn't just redefine a man-made versus natural barrier, but one that bridges the two into a unified scaping that begins to speak to a new usable and occupied space. 

Site Possibilities: 10_18_2010

Western Hills Viaduct and the Cincinnati Amtrak Station, Over-the-Rhine or Junction of I-75 and I-71 in downtown Cincinnati?

...Or, all of the above, in an attempt to establish a connection between the zones of cityscape and landscape while working with the edge condition of the city?

Mappings: Cincinnati

Before and during my exploration of Cincinnati I have been looking at areas of green space, change in elevation and their edges in relation to the city. These two maps begin to show that analysis as well as highlighting possibly sites surrounding downtown Cincinnati. 

Site Visit: 10_09_2010

This is a mapping of my site visit to Cincinnati in which I focused on areas where the city structure and landscape interact, as well as areas that were desolate and vacant.

Beginnings of a Site- Cincinnati

I have begun mapping the city of Cincinnati to pull out its systems of cityscape and landscape. The image below describes the grid structure and begins to speak to the mass.

Re-revised Methodology

This is my methodology revisited. I have outlined what I have done in plain text, what I need to do in bold text , as well as highlight major points of interest. 

Research Bibliography

LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE

Abalos, Iñaki, and José Luis Mateo. Natural Metaphor: an Anthology of Essays on Architecture and Nature. Zürich: ETH, 2007. Print.

Alanen, Arnold R., and Robert Melnick. Preserving Cultural Landscapes in America. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins UP, 2000. Print.

Corner, James, and Alex S. MacLean. Taking Measures across the American Landscape. New Haven: Yale UP, 1996. Print.

Corner, James. Recovering Landscape: Essays in Contemporary Landscape Architecture. New York: Princeton Architectural, 1999. Print.

Gissen, David. Subnature: Architecture's Other Environments. New York: Princeton Architectural, 2009. Print.

Groth, Paul Erling., and Todd W. Bressi. Understanding Ordinary Landscapes. New Haven: Yale UP, 1997. Print.

Shepheard, Paul. The Cultivated Wilderness, Or, What Is Landscape? Chicago, IL: Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts, 1997. Print.

Swaffield, Simon R. Theory in Landscape Architecture: a Reader. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania, 2002. Print.

LANDSCAPE URBANISM

Hayden, Dolores, and Jim Wark. A Field Guide to Sprawl. New York: W.W. Norton, 2004. Print.

Hayden, Dolores. Building Suburbia: Green Fields and Urban Growth, 1820-2000. New York: Pantheon, 2003. Print.

Wall, Ed, and Tim Waterman. Urban Design. Lausanne [Switzerland: AVA Academia, 2010. Print.

Yeang, Ken. Reinventing the Skyscraper a Vertical Theory of Urban Design. Chichester (GB): Wiley-academy, 2002. Print.

Yeang, Ken. The Green Skyscraper: the Basis for Designing Sustainable Intensive Buildings. Munich: Prestel, 1999. Print.

THEORY

Le, Corbusier. Towards a New Architecture. [United States]: BN Pub., 2008. Print.

McKibben, Bill. Eaarth. New York: Time /Henry Holt, 2010. Print.

McKibben, Bill. The End of Nature. New York: Random House, 1989. Print.

Wapner, Paul Kevin. Living through the End of Nature: the Future of American Environmentalism. Cambridge, MA: MIT, 2010. Print.

PRECEDENTS

Aurand, Martin. The Spectator and the Topographical City. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh, 2006. Print.

Field Operations, with Diller Scofidio + Renfro: NYC High Line

Frank Lloyd Wright: Broadacre City

Freeway Park: Seattle, Washington

Louis Kahn: City Tower Project, Philadelphia and other projects

LTL: Park Tower

* Books read in BOLD

Beginnings of a Taxonomy- Scaping

1-3-9 revised

Architecture can begin to insert the natural landscape back into the cityscape, renewing the original footprint, and contributing to a new sustainability defined by the attributes of each –scape.

The natural landscape can be defined with the following characteristics; pure, sustainable, organic, topographical and inducing movement. The cityscape is defined as man-made, gridded, shaping movement, and layered; with the layers being built of several systems creating an infrastructure. By combining the qualities of each the natural landscape and cityscape, a new “scaping” can occur that brings back to life a new take on sustainability through natural means of integration and growth.

The creation of the natural landscape cannot be pure due to the fact that the “natural” cannot be made, yet it can be re-introduced through passive and active techniques.  Using the technology of the city and advanced thought as well as simply allowing the re-growth of the natural take over, the integration of the layers of each can begin to create a sub-natural or a neo-natural landscape and environment. How can architecture play a role to effect both the built environment and natural environment in a positive way? One can begin to see that by renewing the city’s footprint to its original state there is the chance to raise it, the city and the connections rather than simply expanding outward as the city grows. Architecture can begin to solve the problems of both growing cities and maintaining natural environments by growing vertically rather than horizontally as well as keeping in mind its approach to new buildings on the landscape. The best place for this idea to be realized would be an unclean, dying city situated near an extreme natural environment that could bring interesting and renewing qualities to the final result. The “scaping” could be implemented on a small scale that could then be realized at larger degrees over time.  Rather than simply making a “green” city, I am focusing on utilizing the benefits of both the cityscape and the natural landscape to create a more sustainable city. Instead of creating new sustainable buildings, I am hoping to correct, through a new sustainability, the flaws of the current city.

(changes highlighted in italics)

Methodology-revised

Methodology

Thesis 1-3-9

Architecture can begin to insert the natural landscape back into the cityscape; renewing the original footprint.  

The natural landscape can be defined with the following attributes; pure, sustainable, topographical and inducing movement. The cityscape is defined as man-made, gridded, layered, and shaping movement. By combining the qualities of each the natural landscape and cityscape, a new “scaping” can occur that brings back to life a new take on sustainability through natural means.

The creation of the natural landscape cannot be pure due to the fact that the “natural” cannot be made, yet it can be re-introduced.  Using the technology of the city and advanced thought, the integration of the layers of each can begin to create a sub-natural or a neo-natural landscape and environment. How can architecture play a role to effect both the built environment and natural environment in a positive way? One can begin to see that by renewing the city’s footprint to its original state there is the chance to raise it, the city and the connections rather than simply expanding outward as the city grows. Architecture can begin to solve the problems of both growing cities and maintaining natural environments. The best place for this idea to be realized would be an unclean city situated near an extreme natural environment that could bring interesting and renewing qualities to the final result. The “scaping” could be implemented on a small scale that could then be realized at larger degrees over time.  Rather than simply making a “green” city, I am focusing on utilizing the benefits of both the cityscape and the natural landscape to create a more sustainable city. Instead of creating new sustainable buildings, I am hoping to correct, through a new sustainability, the flaws of the current city. 

Architecture is...

Architecture is created space. It is something that has been constructed in order to make a place or environment for the human body to experience.

What does “created space” mean? It does not destroy; it creates. It brings to fruition ideas for space whether this means a building, landscape, cityscape, or a simple enclosure. It delineates the void with physical walls or implied direction.

“Something that has been constructed.” Once again, it is something created and built upwards, downwards, outwards or inwards. It can be developed on thoughts that dwell on context or those that desire a perceived space based on form. It is something built that struggles to be pure in its realization, yet is only attains the aim of pure thought.

Architecture is constructed to “make a place or environment.”  This is a place or environment defined by the architecture; its parameters, form and concept. The place created could have the potential to become a destination, icon, or place of curiosity. Also, no matter what the place or environment becomes, movement, whether static or active, is an instance in the creation of place. Movement develops out of the integration of the living into the space.

“For the human body to experience.” The experience is both physical and emotional. Every sense of the human body is engaged in architecture. Architecture can create a feeling or perception. It can bring comfort or make uncomfortable. It can try to ignore the human body but will always have an effect on the experience and movement of the individual regardless. This last piece of the definition is what architecture is about. Without the human body architecture would be lost. It would simply be a thing rather than a creation with purpose.