Annapolis: Virtual Three-Dimensional Spatial Intervention

The final result was a process of learning how to use FormZ in order to create a three-dimensional model that could be inserted into the source video from the previous exercise. I think through the process I lost the essence of establishing a datum throughout the 60 second clip. None the less, I felt the integrity of the video was strong in presenting the transition from day to night and how the intervention is received differently throughout the day.

interactive wall in hornbake

nga.mov still

Transform

Construction of forms for pedestrians and traffic, giving importance and creating a desire to travel the space

Tracking Movement_Transforming Space

This is my final image for the review of Project B. My intentions have changed along the way, so I thought I’d update the proposal in the image as well.

speculations

My understanding is that project B is asking to output a composite video of our old movie and a new modeling/animation element which together propose spatial conditions. As the video suggests, Hornbake plaza presents a space of indeterminate volume (the plaza itself is rather flat and open.) Verticality is introduced through the juxtaposition of the footage from the moving elevator. The video is taken from three different perspectives: two bird’s eye view spots (one stationary, one dynamic) and an eye level spot. What ties the video together is the flow of pedestrians which creates a strong diagonal axis from the bus station area, though the plaza, and between Plants and Sciences and BioPsyc. 

Round 1 thoughts: The flat plaza seems to remain uneventful even when it is full of people, who move mostly along one axis and barely interact with the environment. A possible intervention in the site would be to introduce a series of interactive sculptures which would be dispersed throughout the plaza. The sculptures would ideally react to the flow of people (introduce variables such as density of people passing by and direction) and would change form. Perhaps the sculptures could accommodate activities like sitting, laying, or leaning so people could use them as resting spots. 

Round 2: the above proposal still lacks a vertical element: the sculptures by nature would be grounded. Meanwhile Hornbake begs for a vertical intervention to help define the space. So the second proposal would be of a wall alongside campus drive, however, closer to the plaza which would frame the plaza and provide an area to relax, eat, nap, read a book, etc. This structure is derived by abstracting the plaza as a simple flat surface which is sliced where the axis of pedestrians occurs. The resulting shape would be extruded through space depending on the movement of people. The people themselves could be treated as prismatic elements which populate the wall and shift location to mirror the flux through the plaza.

spatial transformation

this week is an attempt to move away from the literal transformation of the interior space to the exterior.  here i am trying to create a form-z model of the spatial qualities of the interior with an animation of formation.  i’d like to create the growth|scaling of the model from the ground to the space.  as this is occuring, i want to have the camera angle of the animation to tumble to capture the interior of the model while there is a fade of the exterior video out and a blend of the interior video in.

_growth cont.

the last post was just still pieces from formZ collaged over the buildings in photoshop.  this time i took still images from points in the animation i have created.  unfortunately i was having a little trouble with the animation and trying to make it work like i wanted.  i think im going to have to change my intentions slightly based on the limitations of the program.

Street Canopies

My initial idea is to have the fabric canopies move through the crosswalks of the street. These would provide covering for pedestrians while they cross the street, and a threshold for cars as they pass through the intersection. I am trying to use a Form-Z animation to show how these canopies move through the intersection. However, the color scheme I have now seems to be easy to read in the daytime, but I need to rethink the colors to be more legible at night. Also, the canopy in the daytime is different because there is no pedestrian traffic. The canopy will be moving through the night to accomodate people and cars, but will remain just for cars in the daytime clip. Other ideas I have are that the fabric undulates as it moves, it gets larger in scale as it moves, or the daytime canopy follows the truck. I will explore these ideas further and see if they have any value.

interactive architecture week 2

This is a very literal interpretation of my post from last week where I have an object that can interact with the people in the space depending upon what the time is between classes.  The movie itself proves to be rather boring and pushing it forward I would like to try and make these objects actually define the space and how people can interact within it, as opposed to my current idea where it is simply an object within the space.  If anyone has any ideas, similar or otherwise please let me know.

Pendulum

I attempted to make the idea of the movement of a pendulum into a spacial experience through the concept of a bridge. Instead of the abstract spacial implication of the cars movement in our group video, I though about how that could be highlighted in an actual traveling context. I am not completely satisfied with the idea yet so I would like feedback on where to go next. Basically, The bridge has pendulum like structures that begin movement upon a car entering the bridge. The pendulum follows the car at the exact speed, hence slower in traffic. A series of theses structures would exist, engaging a viewer of the bridge structure itself by actually witnessing the activity they would not otherwise be able to see. I want to push it in a more abstract direction than the literal approach I currently have.

project B:: storyboard

Seperation and Connection

Seperation and Connection

The intersection outside of Stamp Student Union is one of the most heavily traveled areas of the University of Maryland campus.  It is here that Campus Drive intersects with a major crosswalk that connects a major portion of the campus, “the mall” to Stamp Student union and North campus. It is at this intersection that one will also discover a bus stop.   The obvious result of the mixture of pedestrian traffic, buses, and impatient drivers is traffic jams and issues along the street. What if one could introduce a new means of crossing the street?  Campus Drive, in a way serves as a means of dividing one side of campus from the other.  What if a structure could be implemented that created a sense of connection while solving the traffic issue of the space.  The main intention of the intervention is one that simultaneously separates the road way traffic from the pedestrian traffic but it will also pay respect to the fact that the street is a changing condition of the with respect to time.  At night there is a completely different set of street and traffic conditions as displayed by the video.  This intervention could potentially be a space or structure that responds to the time of day and the traffic condition of the space, while simultaneously creating a sense of connection over…or under a major roadway that creates division of space.

Stamp-ede of the Starved

For this project, I plan to further analyze the horizontal activity that takes place within the Stamp’s main food court area.  Contrary to the previous Processing exercise, I plan to concentrate on the horizontality of the space.  How does it transform as time elapses?  What about factors such as size and movement of the people that inhabit the space?  Throughout the progression of the sequence, there is a noticeable dynamism that occurs not only in the middle of the space but also the side aisles.  The fact that such movement is constant only at certain intervals in time was something that intrigued me. My proposal is to concentrate on such actions and translate them into separate 3D form(s) that would reflect this.  What would happen when placed together?  If overlapped?  What spatial implications would they create?    

Space Flux

_growth

_Storyboard

For this intervention I interpreted the car video as the symbol for the urban environment due to the speed , movement and lights of the cars and I propose architectural framings of the scenes using the image of the traffic as abstract movement of lights and distortions as the background.

My intention is to research the relation between architecture and the urban environment through the framing possibilities. Seeing the architectural object as a part of the urban environment being influenced and influencing by its forms.

The exploration of different size openings of the architectural object and the ratio of what’s inside and outside and how they relate is my goal.

storyboard_ProjectB

Exercise B_week 1

This exercise will seek to examine the essence of Hornbake Plaza, specifically its transitory nature. As the video was shot on a cold day, rather than in the spring when the space is used as a gathering spot, almost all of the activity within the space was movement, both pedestrian through, and car along side. The final video will break Hornbake Plaza down into smaller sub-spaces, looking at how different occupants and activities within the plaza as a whole creates these divisions, and how each individual sub-space can be defined by its activities

interactive architecture

Pendulum

The first pattern I noticed in the video of our sped up traffic was the way the cars moved back and forth in a random rhythm, creating different situations of space each time. I first chose to explore the term ‘undulate’ for the movement, and found it was a sinuous or wave like motion. This did not exactly describe my intention, as the pattern was more distinct, more pulsating than that. The rhythm of the car reminded me of a pendulum, but not in motion of right to left, but rather front to back. The ways the cars came suddenly close then far, which reminded me as if a pendulum was to swing directly towards you. My initial idea was to make a pendulum-like digital model to overlay the existing cars in the video. I played with the transparencies in the model, to show the path of the pendulum and I believe I could make an algorithm code which could repeat the intended idea of a swing of the pendulum.

project B: proposal

Threshold and Space

The intersection of Knox Road and Route 1 is a place containing a combination of automotive traffic and pedestrian traffic. The automotive traffic is due to Route 1 being a major avenue, but the pedestrian traffic is due to the type of buildings on this intersection. Cars inherently pass through this intersection to get to further destinations without fully experiencing this space. Their time in this intersection is fleeting; however, pedestrian tend to remain in the space longer. In order for cars to experience the intersection, they must enter a threshold first. Pedestrians need a more defined space to gather somewhere in the sidewalk area to experience the intersection. My intervention will include a threshold for cars, but a defined space for pedestrians. Looking at the work of Christo and Jeanne-Claude, a threshold and space defined by fabric appears to attract people. The Gates at Central Park are a good example of how a threshold can influence promenade. The intervention will explore how a fabric threshold and space will affect the way pedestrians and cars experience the intersection.

Project B Proposal

My intention for this project is to manipulate the existing architecture of the space so that it in turn alters the reaction, or rather interaction, the figures have with the have with the architecture.  That is, in the end I will have created a completely new built space in which the action of the footage occurs.  To begin with, I will diagram the built aspect of the existing space, focusing mainly on the perspective aspects thought the use of lines.  The next step will be to expand the lines into the volumetric forms that make up the space.  From there, the forms will begin to move and even morph into new shapes.   At first the movement of the volumes will only occur in accordance with the existing built forms, but eventually they will begin to break free of the rigidity of the perspective and have increasingly undefined movement.  At this point, I will manipulate the footage so it seems as the new volumetric forms are actually controlling the movement of the figures within the space.  In the end, the seeming random movement that originally occurred within the figures of the space will translate onto the new architecture of the space though the use of scripting.

Week 1: Creating ribbon datum in a virtual three-dimensional spatial condition.

The video from Execise 09 presents itself as a challenge for Project B because it is a moving spatial condition rather than one that is static. Therefore, any intervention pursued would have to take into account the movement of the original video. Simultaneously, the layering of both the day and night clip offer some insight on a possible intervention involving the creation of a ribbon datum that runs along the vitual three-dimensional spatial condition of the road.

Through the use of three-dimensional modeling I intend on layering a spatial datum with the actual video as it corresponds to the movement found in Exercise 09.  Since the video clip is not static over time, the digital intervention would need to correspond with the movement carried out with the traffic pattern. I envision a ribbon that weaves between cars, road signs, and the surrounding landscape. The first part of the video would start with the clip during the day, and would eventually transition into the night clip. Through the transition, the ribbon datum would change in character. Depending on my own personal time constraints and progress, the ribbon could present some type of information, whether it is text or graphic images placed on the surface of the ribbon. As the ribbon moves along, the text and images would present themselves and transition through time. Maybe the ribbon can provide directives to the driver, like “stop” or “go” and have arrows that point left or right.

The intent of Project B is simple, however, I feel that the process of creating the construct will be a test of my skills in FormZ in terms of created an animation that can be layered with the original Exercise 09 clip. If this does not succeed, the datum will be created through a series of frame stills that can match the Exercise 09 clip by using Illustrator.

Timeline

Timeline

activated movements: storyboard

Building In Hornbake Plaza

project B:: proposal

Project B Proposal

Brief

Project-B> Making and Representing Space  through time. Timeline> A three-week individual process with three checkpoints, the final of which is the final review> 12/16/08 in the Great Space (West and East) from 7-9pm.  Students will present their work along with other students with the same site to a rotating panel of reviewers.  The discussion will focus on the following goals> To design and represent a spatial experience using video and animation.  Students will explore the implications of composing from the first-person perspective by overlapping video and a series of static 3-d images (the resolution of their variance will determine to what extent they are perceived as animate).  Intentions regarding process and product will be paramount including how, when and why scripting, modeling, drawing and sound, come together coherently. Background>Students will expand upon methodologies from the scripting exercise and will use their documentation of the site as  fuel. The scripted interface exercise explored implications of a graphic experience varying with a  parameter.  Conditions from that exercise can be translated into a animate condition if that parameter is applied to the time as represented in video. The 30-second site capture will serve as canvas or backdrop and inform each students intention toward influencing the place through a formal/spatial intervention in the making of these  products> week 1> Due>12/4/08 Each student will author and post a 100-300 word proposal on the course blog accompanied by a storyboard sketch of the proposed intervention.  The proposal will outline the overall intention in terms of process and product.  The storyboard may use frames from ex09 as an underlay. Define important terms as necessary.  In the post, students must also represent some tests of technique including modeling, scripting, drawing, and recording.  Use this week as a opportunity to learn something new. week 2> Due> 12/11/08 A completed version at its full-length must be ready for display and critique.  This version should incorporate each media intended to be used in the final submission.  The primary focus of this week will be a discussion of rhythm, speed , flow and clarity of the sequence.   week 3> Due> 12/16/08 The primary product will be a 1-minute (maximum) video. Although the base for this exercise is 30 seconds in length, students may choose to pause or extend duration to coherently represent a narrative.  The video should be saved without compression for the review and again using the compression and size settings from ex09 for posting on the course blog.  Before the review students must submit the latter version in the interact folder on ttclass titled “lastname_prjB.mov.” Students will produce one supplemental 22”x25” landscape format sheet for one drawing that represents the entirety of the experience .