Report TUW

Discussion with TUW, Wednesday 080807

In this meeting, we discussed about what we are going to prepare for our workshop in Vienna.

Shortcut: The workshop will still take place 1st, 2nd of October 2007.
The “urban rules” are our contribution to the IP-City project.
The workshop will not take place as a field trial, although the subject will be the Aspern site. In the framework of the EU-Project we diminished it from a “field trial” to a “technical prototyping session”.

The topics that we addressed were the following:

- Technical content; the urban rules that have to be developed and scripted.
- Interaction at the table: what kind of discussion we expect from the workshop
- Site: how we deal with the vastness of the Aspern Flugfeld and the perception of it on screen.

I presented the rule series you can find in the blog “summary 2”, and your material in the blog.I also showed some images of the “Aspern Flugfeld”: Birdview and views.

1. Technical content

Status quo:
The rule series I presented was quickly comprehended, although they expected another degree of development.
The question rose if the dynamic transformation of the volumes confuses the participants. For the TUW the potential of dealing with this layer of urban realty in this way was not convincing in the beginning. We discussed the general meaning of the urban code, and its meaning and dimension in urban planning and design. After a while, we figured out two possible ways of manipulating the volumes.

a) the one I presented: dynamic transformation of the volumes according to their interrelations.
b) manual manipulation: the system tells (writes) the participants if the limits are exceeded, and they have to change the volume with the barcode.

We decided to keep the idea of dynamic transformation because it seems that more people are involved in the discussion; the change of one object affects all its neighbours. So the scene keeps it manipulability without always having to use the barcode - scanner. The dynamic transformation enables other perceptions and potentials in dealing with the given restrictions, by primarliy discussing the possibilities instead of the limitations. (dynamic masterplan)

To do:
The TUW people need a more composed set/ scene of rules.
We will “design” it in a kind of game, where one foresees to certain extends the possibilities - and defines them by its limitations. The whole thing is about what happens if? We have to decide what could happen and what not. Summary 2 is the basis for any further development. These 6 rules have to be worked out.

Here are a few underlying coherences
- geometry, math.: the urban code of Vienna the abstract -law.
- space, arch.: volumes, solid, voids, typologies
- program: programs are related to specific cubature (void or solid)
- people: numbers and kinds of people are related to typologies and dimensions


2. Interaction at the table
We have to think about how people will use the colourable and the given content to discuss about what they do and what they see.
We have to be aware that a negotiation that solely sticks to the following issues is not sufficient:

1. technical: problems in understanding the technique (which object on the table represents what on the screen, barcode …
2. aesthetic: people discussing about what they personally likes and what they don’t like.


To do.
In our case - what should they discuss? - density ? - The imagination of it will influence the way we set up the rules.


3. Site, Aspern

I reported about our Sunday - discussion on the problem of scale, and perspective: On the colour-table itself we have a kind of aerial view condition, but at the screen we see only a specific angle of the site. To be able to understand what is done on the table it is important to see the scene from several angles.

TUW will prepare some 360° or 180° panoramas, that serve as an underlay, and we will have the workshop either at TUW or at Angewandte.

To do.
We have to define the points at the Aspern field from which they will take the panoramas. - where, how many, day/night? etc.

Summary 2

Last Sunday we had a small workshop in Vienna with Yue, Peter and Thomas to sum up and combine the different proposals everybody posted. During our discussion, we tried to relate the material to the three topics I gave at the beginning.

RULES: - geometrical interrelations, in this case: which affect the city´s morphology considerably.

SCENARIO: - hypothetical “play processes”; how can the interaction at the table be guided meaningfully

SITE: - first evaluation whether a field scenario at "Aspern" can fulfil the requirements of the workshop.

A number of questions and some answers arose during our discussion. (these were the main-problems)
- since the most important issue is the interaction between participants and participants and objects, the rules are not to be thought as a kind of simulation generated by the computer
- because of the configuration of the colour table plus screen we have to include the fact, that the manipulation should be perceptible within that view - out of a human perspective.
- so we agreed to think about the variables and interrelations in a very abstract way, to enable the application to any scale and any site.

Here is the outcome of our Sunday discussion. (Any comments, questions and thoughts are most welcome!)







Today I discussed it with the TUW; there are still a lot of things to be solved or even thought about, but generally the task is now clear. More soon.

Miha 3 concrete examples

Whole area













First empty space














Second empty space














Third empty space














Perhaps this simple schemes could work with scripting. Important thing with this concept is the interest in unplanned behavior of neighboring objects (and the whole field)...how they react on impacts of empty spaces (get higher, change shape, decrease/increase in number etc.). I also defined radius of influence, which I am not sure, if it's necessary ...maybe it can also work without it, because subject of influence is suppose to be the whole field.
I will be away till 23.8.

Miha empty space

This is one quick example of two different empty spaces with the transition between them. In this case I took the middle value of blocks dimension, while proximity between blocks stays the same, I could also took middle value of building coveridge, or FAR etc., but it also depends on the nature of empty space.
Andrea, you already found an example in my Neumayr project about how neighboring masses are affected by empty space... they just get taller.

Field of Work

Reinhard

Here a new proposal for discuss !!!!!!
I think this could be very interesting for us and for our Masterthesis.
Use the IP-City technology for create an urban density field. Different results come out during an interactvie group workshop. The people works with urban objects (Different building types - cinema,...) and create a urban concept for their task.

IP-City technology for Urban density
















Various City objects
















City objects create various densities
















Create a urban concept with urban objects

Various densities defined by numbers
















The density numbers can we translate into population numbers and FAR numbers and than we can start to create a masterplan.



















"Urban objects"
- Infrastructure objects
- station for tram, bus, underground
- Parking (place, house, garage)

- Institutions, facilities for culture
- museum, gallery, ...

- Institutions, facilities for education
- university, schools, ...
- library, ...

- open urban space
- public square and park, ...

- facilities for food
- shops and Restaurant

- facilities for night life
- clubs, ...

This should be enough for the first step.
Later we can define a big list.

For characteristics i need more information was is possible in skripting.
And in a scenario i have the same problem because i don´t know what can the TUW people skripting for interations between the objects.

More information about dencity mapping:
http://dencity.konzeptrezept.de/

IPCITY . . . a very first and very rough possible approach !

IPCITY

At first a quotation by "Paul Virilio"

stereo-reality "a condition that can be obtained when the simultaneous presence of two dimensions - the real one and the virtual one - generates a completely new spatial and temporal deepness effect " (Paul Virilio, "From the Media Building to the Global City: New Scope for Contemporary Architecture and Urban Planning." Crossings 1.1, December 2000)

In the next short paragraph I "quoted" (www.ipcity.eu) the from my point of view most basic intensions or aims of IPCITY

IPCITY ! ! ! A project on Interaction and Presence in Urban Environments. With the aim to investigate analytical and technological approaches to presence in real life settings. The vision is to provide citizens, visitors, as well as professionals involved in city development or the organisation of events with a set of technologies that enable them to collaboratively envision, debate emerging developments, experience past and future views or happenings of their local urban environment, discovering new aspects of their city. IPCity moves beyond the state of the art of Presence Research also in respect to methodology. Mixed reality allows participants to change and actively shape the configurations of real and virtual layers into an experience. A set of technologies that enables them (citizens, visitors, as well as professionals) to collaboratively envision and debate emerging solutions through making artful use of a plethora of representations and of location-based services within the physical environment of a planning site. Seven themes have been identified to address: scale, time, borders, layers, fuzziness, aroundness, and mobility. Real urban renewal projects are involved as partners for field work.

Me:

The following aspects I got form the www. ipcity.eu webpage which I already "quoted" above. Accoriding to them I will let emerge my first idea what I expect by the project.


Interaction and Presence in Urban Environments:

The terms of intercation and presence are essential in urban planing. The presence of inhabitants and the existence of a urban environment (buildings, public spaces, infrastructure etc.) are the objects which will interact and influence each other. There is on the one hand the static (here maybe mutable) presence of the building environment and the existing street- and transport infrastructure ("Building Code" and the "Grid") and on the other hand the everyday flow/traffic of the agents (pedastrians) by foot or by the infrastrucutres. There is a high potential in analysing the traffic-environment (agents (pedeastrians)-environment) interaction and getting real-life on site data/experience.

Analytical and technological approaches to presence in real life settings:

As mentioned in the first aspect above the traffic-environemt interaction is of high importance for future urban planing and developing. Therefore specific analytical and technologcial approaches to presence in real-life settings have to be developed. The analytical part can be supported by the successive contribution and mutation of certain urban parameters.

Technologies that enable them (citizens, visitors, as well as professionals) to collaboratively envision, debate emerging developments, experience past and future views or happenings of their local urban environment, discovering new aspects of their city:

Looking forward . . . what TU will built up . . .

Beyond the state of the art of Presence Research:

"Presence Research" as . . . Mixed reality (MR) which allows participants to change and actively shape the configurations of real and virtual layers into an (on site) experience.



A possible Idea . . .

For the Aspern site that means to define precise urban parameters. Urban parameters like a "Grid" of street infrastructure which respect, in the case of aspern, certain local characteristics - means the adjacent already established build environment (within and surrounded by Vienna's urban context) or the planed extension of the u-train etc. (things that are already discussed in the modul by R.Neumayr). But each of the urban parameters should be adaptable ( . . . or on demnand changeable/mutable) - means that it might be possible to figure out which urban parameters fits more perfect to the site of aspern. Starting for example with an urban configuration that fits to the adjacent environment and then using traffic/flow behaviour of the agents (pedestrians/cars) finding out how this configuration works in "practice" (MR (Mixed Reality)). At the end we may find an optimal configuration which approximatly fits at its best to the adjacent environment, the on site building environmet and to the agents (pedestrians/cars) behaviour.


Urban Parameters:

"The Grid". Developing a Aspern site specific "Grid" we should regard the existing urban context (as mentioned above) with its streets which are located at specific places around the site and the planed extension of the u-train. But the real necessity of this by the urban context existing street-infrastructure will be figured out by the emergent flow/traffic behaviour in the to be developed "Grid" and "Building Code" of the Aspern site - means the existing urban context can be used as a first point of orientation.

"Building-Typology". Different types (at least Dwelling, Industry, Revival, etc.) of building-typologies should be possible.

"Building Code" - means how to code the scale (FAR (floor area ratio) (Geschoßflächendichte GFD netto = Bruttogeschoss fläche / Nettobaulandfläache )) of the Buildings, the street and (maybe) sidewalk width.

"Agents" as representative of the pedestrians and cars. Later on we should be able to introduce different kinds of agents like pedestrians, cars, public transport systems etc. .

As a start the amount of urban parameters (for now four) should be well arranged so that the influence of each parameter can be better observed and analysed. Further the "interaction" between the urban parameters must be warranted - means a certain interactivity of the entire systems. The agents should be able to recognize the different building-typologies (Dewlling, Industry, etc.) and the "Grid" infrastructure.


. . . this all is a very first and very rough approach ! ! ! ! !

And for sure some pictures will follow as soon as possible . . . !

Thursday summary

We had a very interesting discussion Thursday evening.
Going through the material we recognized, that the combination of the three approaches could work fantastically as the basis for a first scenario. It is very useful that we have different, very interesting approaches concerning the scale and contents of investigation.

I have an appointment with the TUW people next Thursday.
So for Wednesday I would suggest,
to further develop the single ideas, this includes the kind of representation so that the TUW people can easily understand and implement. Furthermore everybody should give a remark how the single approaches could be combined.

Reinhard, please define a set of ”urban objects” with specific characteristics,
and make a proposal how to use them within a scenario or negotiation. How could one include the notion of the physical appereance?

Yue, to further develop your very precise approach, I think the next step would be to think about what it really means to define cubes with different quantums of daylight and street access. Which are the parameters that define this kind of quality? How is the orientation on site (north, south...) Which of them are variable/adjustable (max-min) and which of them are fix figures: (sun angle, distance between the building, building-heights…) Within the Viennese building code you can find some figures. Maybe Thomas can help you with it (see below).

Chingfang, thanks fort the definitions, I am waiting for your first step, so that I can react.

Miha, it would be very interesting to think about how the building masses react to the impact of “empty spaces”. Are these spaces empty by definition, or are they different kinds of (public/ open) spaces, which themselves need a certain amount of building volume.
You could give some examples how the building volume at the borders is affected by different kind of empty spaces.

Thomas, since you started with the list of possible rules, and I was told that you are keen with urban codes concerning real numbers I would suggest that you think od and summarise the interdependencies of object-object, and object-ground conditions related to the Viennese building code. Further on this could serve as a fantastic collection we can refer to.

Peter, I am waiting for your first step. The investigation in the traffic-topic is very interesting and very important. Don´t hesitate so much.

Zulfiye, are you with us? Please collect visual Material (images, aerial views, perspectives, maps …) of the Aspern site, with the limits and possibilities of the spatial representation of the colour-table in mind.

So much for now - more on Monday. It would be great if you don´t produce last minute, so that we can discuss within the process. Thanks!

chfwu79

this is the first conclusion of our "grids study" concerning barcelona & Maxico city. I have to figure out how to get some cheap tickets for going home recently. so... I hope my research is useful & good luck!
ciao

Yue rules

basic unit X(m)*X(m)*X(m) cube all over the site

N cubes with no day light access and no direct access to the street is object 1(color 1)

N cubes with one-side day light access and no direct access to the street is object 2A(color 2A)
N cubes with one-side day light access and direct access to the street is object 2B(color 2B)

N cubes with two-side day light access and no direct access to the street is object 3A(color 3A)
N cubes with two-side day light access and direct access to the street is object 3B(color 3B)

N cubes with three-side day light access and no direct access to the street is object 3A(color 3A)
N cubes with three-side day light access and direct access to the street is object 3B(color 3B)

N cubes with four-side day light access and no direct access to the street is object 4A(color 4A)
N cubes with four-side day light access and direct access to the street is object 4B(color 4B)

N cubes with five-side day light access and no direct access to the street is object 5A(color 5A)
N cubes with five-side day light access and direct access to the street is object 5B(color 5B)

(N can be different for every object, just stand for the number of the cubes)

then combinate these cubes, move around the objects within the aspern site and change values of the objects in the condition of the different cubes to achieve different densities

Some rules and references

I see the IPcity program as unique opportunity to witness and participate in a kind of “synchronization” between planed, programmed solutions/predictions and on the other side unexpected complex, self-organizing resulting behavior, which will emerge from relatively simple set of rules. Also the real-time/space experiencing of the results is something that will I think also contribute to the knowledge of city planning. The IPcity program is learning field for (re)defining urban strategies, how to script urban field, how to use computer intelligence for city planning etc.

STEPS

After Friday discussion my thinking was going towards abandoning the division on regions.

I think better step is to create one topological outline of the whole area, which must have exact FAR, building coveridge value and number of building objects. This urban topology will be changing shape but always persist the same volume and number of objects.

Next step would be assigning rules to colored bodies. The rule would describe the nature of empty space between buildings, for example width and number of streets, geometry of grids, or entirely empty space etc.

In the intersection areas between radiuses of two bodies there should be description of combined empty space, for example average value of empty space…

The topology of urban space must stay the same for the whole field, but not for the radiuses of influence, they could also be without objects. That will make a tensions and dynamics in the field.

As example of urban topology I attached project from Emergent density workshop. As example of different empty spaces I attached project from Neumayr parametric workshop and Prix grids workshop.

I also attached examples of different recipes from book Tooling (Aranda/Lasch), which could we use also on our later experiments…











































Emergent density workshop















Emergent density workshop
















Neumayr workshop















Neumayr workshop















Prix workshop















Prix workshop




















Tooling (Aranda/Lasch)

























Tooling (Aranda/Lasch)

























Tooling (Aranda/Lasch)




















Tooling (Aranda/Lasch)

Pictures from the "IPCity-Table" (IPCity) in the Media-Lab at TU Vienna: