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8/2/2019 All Pattern Everything
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F O R A N N B A K E R
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Abstract
Pattern carries with it nearly infinite definitions and interpretations.
Every field of study has its own way of claiming patterns. For
designers, patterns have enjoyed a recent renaissance, no
longer relegated to mere ephemeral decoration or determinate
underlying order. Many contemporary projects have employed
patterns, oscillating between expressive faade systems, structural
diagrams, interior graphics, circulation plans, chaos and order.
Beyond aesthetics, pattern has expanded to include principles
of ecology and complexity science. The project is grounded
on the basis that pattern and patterning in multiple scales
and uses plays an important role in a communitys resilience
against the ecological principle of disturbance. In addition, it
posits that pattern has the capacity to subvert disturbance into
a useful process. This thesis acknowledges and appreciates the
fact that pattern has demonstrated itself to be a versatile tool inmany regards, including its ability to interface with randomness.
The intention is to investigate the potential that modern pattern-
thinking has as an alternative to current practices in architecture,
urban design, and planning.
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A l l Pa t t e r n E v e r y t h i n gDrew J McNamara
M a s t e r s o f A r c h i t e c t u r e
T h e U n i v e r s i t y o f D e t r o i t M e r c y | S c h o o l o f A r c h i t e c t u r e
A r c h 5 1 0 0 | 5 1 1 0 | 5 2 0 0 | 5 2 1 0
Karen Swanson,A I A2 0 1 1 - 2 0 1 2
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Contents
006]I n i t i a l I n v e s t i g a t i o n
036]C a s e S t u d i e s
a.Introduction
b.Defining Pattern
c.Theories of Pattern
d.A Relationship with Randomness
e.Self Organizing Systems + Feedback
f. Disturbance and Resiliency
g.Planning
h.Grounding: Base Closure as Disturbance
i.UIC Circle Campus
j.The Casbah
k.Santa Caterina Market
l.Nakagin Capsule Tower
m.Downsview Park
n.Cosgrove [South] Site; Spatial
o.McRitchie [Middle] Site; Programming
p.Kinzer [North Site]; Microclimate
054]N o i s e t t e S i t e A n a l y s i s
066]D e s i g n E x p e r i m e n t s
094]C o n c l u s i o n s
100]B i b l i o g r a p h y
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Introduction
Pattern carries with it nearly infinite definitions and interpretations.
Every field of study has its own way of claiming patterns. For
designers, patterns have enjoyed a recent renaissance, nolonger relegated to mere ephemeral decoration or determinate
underlying order. Many contemporary projects have employed
patterns, oscillating between expressive faade systems, structural
diagrams, interior graphics, and circulation plans, all operating
on multiple scales. This thesis acknowledges and appreciates the
fact that pattern has demonstrated itself as a matter to be taken
seriously. Its intention is to investigate the potential that modern
pattern-thinking has as an alternative to current practices inarchitecture, urban design, and master planning.
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ur
8 Defining Pattern
Pattern is the foundation for this thesis and the lens through which
further topics will be viewed. Therefore it is important to establish
a simple foundation for what a pattern is. First is determining its
basic components. Part of the reasoning for patterns previously
being overlooked in the design profession as a serious design tool
was the ambiguity of the term itself(Andersen and Salomon, 17).
Pattern can simultaneously refer to an ideal original and its endlesscopies, in addition to invoking a loose description of temporal
and spatial repetition of objects or behaviors [18]. Within this
repetition however, there is not necessarily any regular or well-
defined symmetry (Isaacs). Pattern consists not only of repetition,
but redundancy. The variation of a patterns repetition and
redundancy results in complex constructions, imbuing pattern with
the capacity to distort, absorb, amplify, and fluctuate (Andersen
and Salomon, 33). The adaptable, dynamic character of pattern
hints at the potential for generating complex urban designs of the
same nature, a subject that will be further expanded.
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a 9
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SAND
WIN
D
10
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11
Over the last half century there have been numerous theories that
address pattern with specificity. While the three presented here are
not the only pattern theories from the last fifty years, they are the
most relevant to the trajectory of this thesis.
Gyrgy Kepes argued for the congruence between process andpattern in nature, and identified a lack of such in the visual patterns
of human-created landscape (Kepes, Thing Structure Pattern
Process, 207). Kepes states that patterns are the meeting-points
of actions, a temporary boundary that both separates and
connects the past and the future of the processes that trace it
process in pat terns, pattern in process [205]. Most importantly
is the concept of moving past thing-seeingto pattern-seeing
which favors interactions(Andersen and Salomon, 46)
. This wasan effort to assert a dynamic equilibrium, looking to nature for
clarification on relations of order[48].
Theories of Pattern
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supe
rfic
ialit
y
com
bination
synthes
is
no
ise
mod
ul
ar
ran
domness
NEG
ATIV
EFEE
DBAC
K
12
Christopher Alexander is undoubtedly the most well known of
those listed. In his books The Timeless Way of Building and
A Pattern Language, he similarly steers clear of patterns as
things, instead recognizing each as a set of spatial, formal,
and functional relationships (Alexander, The Timeless Way
of Building, 247). Alexander describes the act of building asa process in which space gets differentiateda process
of unfolding, like the evolution of an embryo, in which the
whole precedes its parts... [365]. The embryological model is
such that the designer works to eliminate randomness and noise
through a process of negative feedback (Andersen and Salomon,
60). The purpose of such is to reduce change, maintaining the
patterns function of explaining the randomness of the world [46].
However, Alexander does allude to the possibility of overlapping
patterns in unpredictable ways, resulting in the generation of new
and unforeseen relationships (Alexander, The Timeless Way of
Building, 223).
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DIFFERENTIATION
13
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T
First Order
Second Order
First Order
First Order
Second Order
First Order
The Patt
what could be rather than wh
14
Gregory Bateson stands in somewhat of a contrast to Alexander,
and to a lesser extent, Kepes. In Mind and Nature, Bateson
states:
We have been trained to think of patternsas fixed
affairs...the right way to begin t o think about the pattern
which connects is to think of it as prima rily...a dance of
interacting parts and only secondarily pegged down by
various sorts of physical limits and by those limits which
organisms characteristically impose... [13]
This dance metaphor elucidates Batesons position oppositeAlexander. For him randomness and noise are a necessity to
be cultivated (Andersen and Salomon, 58). He accepts that
the pattern may be changed or broken by addition, by repetition,
by anything that will forcea new perception of it (Bateson, 29).
New patterns are established when deviations emerge in a
fixed pattern, opening up to positive feedback, and allowing for
information that will push it from a state of equilibrium. This is a
model of evolution, learning, and accretion, functions of the base
patterns repetition and redundancy against which new patterns
can be read (Andersen and Salomon, 61).
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16
The relationship between pattern and randomness is such that
any assumed dichotomy is dissolved, as demonstrated by Gregory
Bateson. Randomness is an avenue to newness when allowed
to interrupt a pattern, serving as both a point of departure
for and a perturbation withinthe random event forces
the designer to re-interpret each outcome (Verbeeck, 8).
Additionally, there exist complex objects and processes that have
the appearance of being void of pattern, but do in fact contain
patterns (Verbeeck, 7). This is what is referred to as perceived
randomness, where the knowledge of such underlying structure is
simply not immediately available. Stephen Wolfram points out that
every form or pattern in nature can be explained and generated
from simple rules [17]. These are referred to as self-organizing
systems, complex adaptive systems that have the ability togrow, order, and organize al l by themselves (Mehaffy and
Salingaros).
A Relationship with Randomness
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17
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18
An organization such as the flock is characterized by a loose
structure which, by means of negative and positive feedback,
is resilient to total dissolution. The flocks behavior is not a
property of any individual bir d, but rather emerg es as a
property of t he gr oup i tsel f (S traightDope.com). Any individual
can initiate movement, which then propagates to the rest of theflock by means of positive feedback. Jittery movement at take off
is the result of the random movements by individuals which easily
generates changes in the behavior of the flock, yet is quelled by
means of negative feedback to establish a consensus.
It is pertinent to expand on the topic of feedback which can be
described as a pattern of organization (Lawley and Tompkins).
First it is important to note that the terms positive and negative
are not an indication of each ones desirability. Put simply
either a change in the system is reinforced (positive), or a
changed in the system is dampened (CleanLanguage.co.uk).
Without negative feedback, a system would devolve into complete
chaos, and without positive feedback, a system would become
unresponsive to environmental changes. In fact, a system without
feedback loops operating has no way of adapting to change
and will eventually cease to survive. According to Lawley and
Tompkins, the continued survival of a system with an interplaybetween positive and negative feedback will create the dynamic
equilibrium Kepes referred to.
Self Organizing Systems + Feedback
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entropy amplification
disturbance as information
recording
entropy correction
disturbance as mistake
administration
19
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designer accompaniment user influence
intervention
feedback
intervention
cyclical: regulardynamic
targeted: need baseddynamic
indirect interventionssuccession
20
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no interventionsuccession
21
Feedback loops and adaptation do not exist in a vacuum; they are
leveraged against an input. The ecological theory of disturbance
serves to better understand the adaption of complex systems (such
as a ecosystem, or city) and to perhaps even promote it. Similar
to Verbeecks use of randomness as a means of creating newness
in the design process, disturbance is a means ofdeflection of
a community from some otherwise predictable successional
pa th (Pickett and White, 373). Relatively infrequent events playan important role in shaping the structure of a community, with
the result of the disturbance being a function of initial conditions
[373]. Disturbance does not necessarily result in equilibrium and
in some cases will cause a flipinto an entirely new state (Lister,
41). Instead, there exists a shifting steady-state mosaic, where
a community is made of different patches, such as a forest
comprised of clusters of trees that vary in age. A disturbance will
kill a patch, at which point it starts over. In this way, the forest
remains a forest, but the mosaic of patches is constantly shifting
[41].
If disturbance is the input, then resilience is the adaptation. It is
defined as the capacity of a system to recover from disturbance, by
means of reorganization and return to a similar or different state
than it was in before the event [44]. In ecosystems, the primary
means of achieving resiliency and adaptation is biodiversity. This
creates the potential for several different paths of reorganization[44]. Within ecosystems, diversity, complexity, and uncertainty are
normal [41].
Disturbance and Resiliency
The disc ssion of dist rbance and resilienc can be shifted to
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PHYSICAL
22
The discussion of disturbance and resiliency can be shifted to
the built environment. There are several forms that disturbance
can take on here, ranging between physical to non-physical,
and controlled to uncontrolled. Another term for these might be
predictable and unpredictable. Throughout history there has been
much disturbance in the built environment, though very rarely is
human disturbance cyclical. Much of it takes place in the form of
a singular event such as the destruction of neighborhoods through
the construction of highways or failure to meet projections of any
sort. On occasion, there is no hope for recovery from a disturbance,
leaving an area permanently fragmented with no way of gleaning
any information from the event to develop a new pattern. Perhaps
this is because there was a lack of patterning, and therefore a lack
of a critical level of complexity that ecosystems boast.
Achieving resiliency in the built environment is a matter of
recognizing the complexity and unpredictability of both planetary
ecosystems and human societies (Sterner, 70). In the The Black
Swan, Nassim Nicholas Taleb states that there is importance in
limiting not the interactions between entities, but the size of them. It
is necessary to have a diversified ecology so that risks (disturbances)
are more frequent but less devastating (314). This sentiment is
similarly expressed by Mehaffy and Salingaros, who call for a
strategy of adaptive design by means of self-organization, which
is achieved by utilizing local rules on a small scale to generatelarge-scale complex order (Frontiers of Design Science: Self
Organization). True resiliency on the part of the built environment
requires the implementation of repetition and redundancy, which
may not always be most efficient, but will ensure survival and
provide a point of departure after disturbance (Sterner, 70).
Maintaining tight feedback loops ensures the capacity of a system
to readjust constantly, rather than returning to some fixed or
equilibrium point after perturbation (McGrath and Marshall,50). This concept invokes Gregory Batesons notion of pattern
where randomness, for which the concept of disturbance can be
substituted, is read against the backdrop of redundancy to serve
as a departure point for a new trajectory, or new pattern.
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CONTROLLED
UNCONTROLLED
NON-PHYSICAL
predictable
unpredictable
known knowns
unknown unknowns
known unknowns
unknown knowns
23
There is more than enough critique to go around when it comes
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There is more than enough critique to go around when it comes
to Modernist master planning and even current methods of
planning. The research of this section is not meant to pile on
to an already sizable rebuttal of such planning and design, but
to critically understand what it is about these systems that have
created environments that are non-resilient, non-adaptive, and
lacking in the complexity that is afforded by patterns.
Camillo Sitte identified three methods of city planning in his
time; the grid iron, radial, and triangular systems (Collins and
Collins, 229). The major critique of the uncritical adoption of
these street patterns is that all design was predicated on a purely
technical platform. Sitte set this method against the inclusion of
artistic principles in developing urban plans. Jane Jacobs was
another proponent of the importance of artistic principles in
illuminating the rich complexitiesof urban structure(Mehaffy and Salingaros). Top-down emphasis on hierarchical
traffic systems, division of functions in the city, and rejection of
historical styles were staples of Modernist planning (Landscape
Urbanism Appendix, xv). This reflects a simplistic view of
a city that negates its basic complexity (N. A. Salingaros).
As was observed in the previous sections, the new city model
needs to maintain a level of flexibility and adaptability, which
is deemed impossible because traditional deterministic models
focus heavily on infrastructure that is resource-intensive and
time consuming to reorganize. This either requires infrastructure
that is more adaptable, or shifting the focus of a plan dramatically
away from it (Temporal Mutability: Post-Structuralism and the
Indeterminate in the Discourse of Landscape Urbanism).
Furthermore, the fixed, rigid, spatial frame is not capable of
containing the dynamic multiplicity of urban processes
which have previously been identified as a key to resiliency
(Corner, 26).
Planning
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It seems to follow that if a large top-down, centralized, one-fell-METABOLISTS
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g p , ,
swoop master plan or urban design is incapable of allowing
the complexities of self organization to emerge as well as
demonstrating resiliency to disturbance, that smaller, bottom-
up, de-centralized, phased plans must be the correct alternative.
This type of ideal can be traced through the ideals of a multitude
of projects, firms, and theories, starting with the mega-structure
projects of Archigram and the Metabolists.
Though Archigram claimed that 85% of their projects were
buildable, they were in fact utopian (Kasugai). Projects such as
Plug-In city demonstrated a penchant for the design of cities as
being in constant flux, imagined an alternate reality that would
be possible if .planners, governments, and architects were
magically able to discard the mental impedimenta of the
previous age [8]. T
he Metabolists, on the other hand, wereintent on developing a philosophical system based on the
concept of cyclical change [5]. Kenzo Tange, designer of the
Tokyo Bay project, declared: Limits can not be set on urban
growth [7]. One of these projects was ever built, the Nakagin
Capsule Tower. It has now fallen into disrepair, and not once were
any of the capsules changed as was planned [5]. This stands as a
caution that a patterning of literal repetitive changeable elements
(albeit with little variation of said elements) does not presume
adaptability.
Economic viability of the project plays an important part in the
actual implementation of such theories and methods of planning
and design. In addition, the time taken to construct such mega-
structures would have been too long, falling out of fashion before
they would even be completed. A similar critique may be applied
to current master planning and urban design trends that set
timelines up to fifteen years.
METABOLISTS
tokyo bay project60
kenzo tange
nakagin capsule tower70 - 72
kisho kurokawa
ARCHIGRAM
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ARCHIGRAM
walking city64
ron herron
plug-in-city64
peter cook
clusters-in-the-air project62
arata osozaki
plug-in-city: paddington east66
peter cook
blow-out village66
peter cook
TEAM X aldo van eyck alison + peter smithson
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TEAM X aldo van eyck alison + peter smithson
amsterdam orphanage55 - 60
golden lane competition52
robin hood gardens72
Along a similar thread is the concept of the Mat-Building.candilis-josic-woods
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Propagated by Team 10, mat building was the first attempt
to incorporate the historical and typological study of
urbanization patterns into the modernist discourse (van den
Heuvel, 40). The strengths of Mat-Building lie in its position as
a design strategy as opposed to a style, employing the use of
repetitive elements to exhibit emergent behavior as a whole that is
greater than the sum of its parts (Georgemaciunas.com). Alisonand Peter Smithson sought to adequately accommodate
possible programmes and their futur e changes crea ting an
architectural space which offers leewayfor occupation by
spontaneously emerging patterns of living (van den Heuvel,
42). The Smithsons understood the city as a heterogeneous space
defined by non-linear interactions (42). This certainly puts them
in stark contrast with many of their Modernist brethren, yet aligns
them closely with Archigram and Metabolists. Each developedthe idea of permanent frameworks that could play host to the
changing possibilities of inhabitation (Luna, 7). In terms
of patterns, it is possible to understand the pixilated, horizontal
framework of mat building as a base pattern, able to adapt and
act as background to the more dynamic patterning of program.
The overlap of these patterns is what gives way to the emergence
of complex behavior, and more closely positions it to the workings
of a resilient ecosystem.
Stan Allen takes Mat-Building a step further, into the contemporary
realm of Mat Urbanism. In his essay Mat Urbanism: The Thick
2-D, Allen describes Mat Urbanism in a way that overlaps the
language used in this thesis to discuss patterns. This is observable
in states such as:
Out of a fundamentally regular system (building,
rational), a high degree of variation is achieved
through local adjustment, and through the activationof void spaces within the fixed fabric (121).
ca d s jos c woods
free university of berlin62 - 72
frankfurt - romerberg competition63
caen-herouville61
Allen describes an overall intensity based on repetition and
l ( ) Th d h
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accumulation (122).This statement draws comparison to the
Bateson theory of pattern. Allen then poses a critical question:
If mat building represents a reworking of the spatial patterns of
the traditional city as they emerge over time, how can the new
patterns of the contemporary city be woven into contemporary
urbanism?(124)
The role of the designer is to create conditions under which
unanticipated spatial characteristics may emerge from the
reaction of designed elements to the indeterminate future (126).
From a disturbance standpoint, the indeterminate future harbors
disruptive forces which the designer must anticipate so that a new
course may be charted for the designed elements, that while not
anticipated, maintains a resilience and continuity. addition, Allen
adds the concept of field conditions, of which can be overlappedto create a moir. The moir is the combination of repetitive and
regular elements that produces complex behaviors and serves
as a method of studying the disturbances which can be created
from[within]individual repetitive elements (Luna 22).
Intertwined with the study of Mat Urbanism is that of Landscape
Urbanism. James Corner, in his essay Terra Fluxusfor Charles
Waldheims Landscape Urbanism Reader, sets Landscape
Urbanism apart from both Modernist and New Urbanist
methodologies. He quotes David Harvey has stating that both
fail because of the presupposition that spatial order can control
history and process (28). This declares the shift of focus on form
to an understanding of process, or how things work in space
and time (29). Shifting this focus requires acknowledgement
that apparently incoherent or complex conditions that one
might initially mistake for randomcan, in fact, shown to be
highly structured entities (29). Kepes had anticipated theshift from thing-seeing to pattern-seeing or process-seeing.
Landscape Urbanism demonstrates the importance of process.
E l i l i i l d liti l ti d
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Ecological, economic, social and political processes continue ad
infinitum, at multiple scales, placing the design in a perpetual state
ofbecoming. The above mentioned processes can be patterned
onto a site, becoming its infrastructure, one of Corners three
surface strategies (Landscape Urbanism Appendix, vii). The
strategies (demarcation, infrastructure, adaptation) establish new
conditions for future development (vii). In Batesons terms, theseprocesses are information. According to his principles, no new
order or pattern can be created without information (Mind
and Nature, 45). Similarly, the processes and flowsof the site
are rearranged to form new interrelationships with the potential for
stirring new relationships on the site (Landscape Urbanism
Appendix , vii ). These strategies of Landscape Urbanism are ways
to engage with the dynamic complexity of the site, and the city.
Process Urbanism is a recent -ism that has recently sprung up,
related very closely to Landscape Urbanism. It is a straightforward
approach, stating that since society is dynamic, the planning of
our cities needs to be dynamic too, calling for urban planning
that is permanently adjustable (Process Urbanism: The City
as Artificial Ecosystem). It is a rejection of master planning,
instead opting for a model based on recognition and knowledge
rather than belief. Process Urbanism seeks to foster more
unpredictable urban planning, allowing the urban ecosystem
to regulate itself. There is acknowledgement that planning for the
unexpected is necessary, for exactly that which we do not yet
know will happenA strategy for allowing smaller collapses
or disturbances to happen is proposed, so that a major collapse
is prevented.
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What is posited from the study of these theories of planning anddesign is the necessary use of pattern so as to better engage
the complexity of the built and natural environments. The world
operates as a patterning of processes, from which emerges
dynamic behaviors that cannot be predicted. This unpredictability
lends itself to the richness of life. However, rigid planning efforts
that do not account for processes, dynamism, emergence,
resilience, and adaption by way of a complete lack of patterning,
drain the designed environment of the richness. In attempting to
negate complexity, the full potential of a site is also negated.
Military base closure provides the grounding for this thesis by
interpreting closure as a disturbance on the local community.
The intention is to also question the large scale pattern of base
redevelopment, and through pattern analysis and recognition,
develop a new way to study abandoned military bases so as to best
invigorate them for civilian use. As stated by Barbara Bronstien,
after the Cold War ended, Congress formed a commission to
make closure and realignment recommendations through the Base
Grounding: Base Closure as Disturbance
marine corps air station el torosanta ana, ca.4,682 acres
portsmouth naval shipyard
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ellsworth a.f.b.box elder, s.d.
3,852 jobs
p v pyportsmouth, me.
4,150 jobs
fort mcphersonatlanta, ga4,141 jobs
brooks a.f.b.san antonia, tx
2,923 jobs
fort monmouthred bank, n.j.5,272 jobs
philly navy yard
philadelphia, pa.1200 acres
Realignment and Closure (BRAC) process. The most recent round
of closures took place in 2011. As one can imagine, The loss
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of closures took place in 2011. As one can imagine, The loss
of related jobs, and efforts to replace them and to implement
a viable base reuse plan, can pose significant challenges for
affected communities (Cowan & Gonzales, Military Base
Closures: Socioeconomic Impacts). In addition, a community
generally has a small window of opportunity to acquire the land
from the government, establish an authority to qualify for funding,not to mention the daunting prospect of luring potential businesses
to help fill the void left by the sudden loss of jobs. This sort of
disturbance is reflective of that seen in ecological systems, where
the structure, dominance, and predictable successional path is
flipped on its head.
The study of Base Closure through patterning will provide a
community with the tools and analysis necessary to adjust its
current stagnant course so that complexity and unpredictability
can become dominant in a site that the public had not had access
to for some time.
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Case Studies
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near west side, chicago, illinois, usa
program/sch
cultiv
2011
1965
pre-1960
38
i f t t
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dule chance encounter
complexity from simplicitymobility of students
ting the in-between
infrastructure
rotated square
moire
39
As a simple preface, the case studies featured in this section
have all dealt with pattern, process, planning, and disturbance
to some degree. Thinking through each situation continues the
conversation of the aforementioned ideas and theories.
Walter Netschs Circle Campus at UIC serves as an example
of the danger in presuming growth. In the early to mid 1960s,
neighborhoods were cleared to make room for the new campus.
Netsch employed his Field Theory, using simple grids rotated on
top of each other to create new complex geometries (Jones). It was
touted as providing, ...programmatic and structural flexibility
in that it was used as an open-ended design system (Felsen,
and Dunn). Yet, the buildings that this process created are now
described as maze-like. Experiences such as this hint that the true
potential for pattern, when uncritically adopted (as opposed to
adapted), will go unrealized.
While most of Netschs original design has been taken down,
such as elevated pathways and his amphitheatre plaza, there
is important lessons and information that can be gleaned from
the project (Jones). The first is the creation of complexity fromthe interaction of simple parts acted upon by simple geometric
operations [such as rotation]. Additionally, while the campus
showed little resiliency or adaptability, Netsch recognized the
power of the chance encounter. He acknowledges that what
happens between classes may sometimes be more important
that what happens during class (Jones). Believing as much, he
left plenty of space for these interactions to occur, though one
can argue that the scale of the spaces left much to be desired.
Proximity, adaptation, and foresight are all important lessons to be
drawn from the Circle Campus at UIC.
UIC Circle Campus
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algiers, algeria, africa
loose framework
aggregation | adaptation | evolution
40
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rooftop field
41
A second example of planning, or lack thereof, is separated from
Chicago by 4600 miles. Much can be distilled from the Casbah.First is a similar lesson learned from UIC, in that complexity can
be generated from simplicity. More specifically, the interaction of
simple parts. The plan of the Casbah can be understood as a
complex aggregate of many simple, residential structures. The loose
framework of the streets, as well as the distinct boundary between
the more informal Casbah and the formally planned city, serve
as limitations (Gilbert). The process that developed the Casbah
can be likened to that which lends structural cohesion to the flock,
but in reverse. On the macro-scale there is unpredictability and
apparent randomness, where as on the micro-scale there is strong
intentionality and rich interaction in close proximity.
However, the Casbah also elucidates the hazard of analysis from
the sky. It would be easy to assume that if one wanted to replicate
the texture of this place, they would design a plan which looked
like the Casbah. What is important to realize is that the complex
plan of the Casbah is an indeterminate ouput of the more rich,albeit relatively simple, interactions between people occurring on
the ground, or what can be referred to here as input. Of course,
there is some give in this statement, considering that the plan does
lend some richness to the experience, and thus has an affects the
interaction between people.
This calls into question the causality of pattern. Are they
manufactured, or grown through patterning of processes alaGyorgy Kepes. Does it propagate on its own, and if not, what
measure of control does the designer have?
The Casbah
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ciutat vella, barcelona, spain
historic pattern
democonstruction
administrationcorrection
rehabilitation
contemporary pattern
existingadministration amplification
18481268-1835
1997 2001
2005
organizational
XX X
42
programmatic variety
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variation of repetition
market stalls
bar
elderly housing
recycling
restaurant
archaelogical site
trading
loading/unloadingparking
delivery
self-serve
ramework
43
Enric Miralles and Benedetta Tagliabues renovation of the Santa
Caterina Market in Barcelona collapses the scale of the case
studies somewhat. Though physically constrained to the limits
of a building, the two designers have recognized processes and
patterns of development that are detrimental to progress. In their
words ...the projects starts by criticising the actual planning
and proposes a model that allows for adaption to the areas
complexity (mirallestagliabue.com). Inserting a new process
of development may serve the role of the disturbance, flipping
the state and structure of the area, doing so by administering andamplifying the existing by meshing it with the new. They advocate
,Planning rules which contemplate something more than the
street width and the building height.
Architecturally speaking, Stan Allen points out that, Instead of
clearing and ordering the site, the arch itects respect the raucous
mix of activities typical of the city center (Mat Urbanism: The
Thick 2-D, 121).A large roof and local variation of the repetitive
stalls gathers the many disparate activities and programs, and
allows for interactions to emerge on their own.
Santa Caterina Market
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ginza, toky
44
The Nakagin Capsule Tower serves as the smallest scale study of
the set. The tower is congruent in several ways with the conceptual
tenets of pattern previously stated. The central core serves as a
determinate base pattern, over which an indeterminate pattern of
capsules is placed. The actual form and aesthetic of the building
is dependent on the maintenance of the capsules. As they need
to be replaced or removed or updated, the secondary pattern
changes. It is more or less a random process. Or at least would
have been. None of the capsules were ever replaced or even
maintained very well (Ouroussoff).
Understanding the cause for this is necessary for realizing
the potential for pattern, when considered as part-to-whole
relationships. First, as with Walter Netschs UIC campus, there was
a error in foresight. While for the campus it was simply the amount
of people, with the tower it was the assumption that the processesgenerating the building would come to pass [the removal and
updating of the capsules]. Another issue is that of variety and
variation. The capsule tower has a single form that is repeated
and varied. Yet, there is no actual variety in the pieces themselves.
A variety of capsules may have provided the tower with a resilience
to the disturbance that was the change in ownership the capsules
experienced. While the first generation of Nakagin-dwellers were
passionate, those that inherited them were not, thus letting the
tower fall into major disrepair. Here, it appears, that simplicity
failed to generate a rich, complex mixture.
Nakagin Capsule Tower
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o, japan
?
base pattern | determined
secondary pattern | indeterminate
repetition
variation
variety
45
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toronto, canada
downsview park
toronto central business district
11 mi
46
Downsview Park in Torontos suburbs serves as the most relevant
case study, encapsulating issues of base closure, redevelopment,
pattern, process, and the resolution of order/chaos, determinacy/
indeterminacy. Originally the space was known as Canadian
Forces Base Downsview, from 1947 to 1996. In the same year
as its closing, 572 of the 644 acre base was transferred to Parc
Downsview Park Inc. In 1999 a competition was held for the design
of an urban park on the former military base (del Guayo).
Downsview Park
retirement home collegiate institute
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commercial zoning post-war suburb
bombardier aerospace
memorial park
public school
post-war suburb downsview airport
hwy 401
black creek metro station
47
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entries for Downsview Park International Design Competition [99]
woody areas in black; meadowlands in gray
OMA | TREE CITY [winner]
Tschumi Foreign Office Corner + Allen Brown an
48
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Storey
49
The datum threading the five finalist projects is the philosophicaland physical concept of frameworks (Blum). The primary intention
behind frameworks is the interaction between a site structure, and
looseness that allows for flexible growth over time (del Guayo).
In other words, conditions are established for minimal control
to maintain flexibility, while maintaining identity and logic (del
Guayo). The language used to describe the competition, the
entries, and the frameworks themselves runs parallel to that of
Andersen and Salomon in The Patterns of Architecture. Aswith pattern, when using frameworks the designer runs the risk
of falling into one of two traps. Either the project will lose its
adaptability to new circumstances [read disturbance], or it will lose
its organization and legibility [the absolute minimum repetition,
redundancy, or structure to recognize a pattern] (del Guayo).
It is possible to read frameworks as analogous to patterns, or
even as patterns themselves. Similar to pattern, a framework can
accommodate many functions and processes within the same
structure. As such, frameworks and patterns may accurately be
described as protean.
natural infrastructure network
t
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site + soil prep
pathway construction
cluster landscaping
50
The winning entry in the Downsview Park competition was OMAs
Tree City. As stated by the firm, ...landscape elements will be
planted incrementally over time as funding permits, gradually
building up the parks mass into a flexible patchwork of planted
clusters separated by open undesignated areas (oma.eu). The
project proposed three phases that would continue long term, as
evidenced by the graphic on this page. However, closer inspection
of this statement reveals the inherent risk that this strategy entails.
There is much left up to the future, and it should be noted as it
was with the UIC project, a future that might not come to pass.In fact, there is not a ...clear articulating element or any rigid
component in the whole plan (del Guayo). Downsview Park
elucidates the difficulty in designing and actually implementing
flexible, adaptable development. Tree City made a strong gesture
toward materializing Kepes pattern and process manifesto. The
merits of the project lie in the acknowledgement of process driving
the pattern of development on site. Additionally, the ability create
a minimum of structure (base pattern) and then fine tuning by
the designer on a local level (deviation) takes advantage of what
pattern is capable of.
flexible planting clusters static programming
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52
Currently the project is being headed up by Bruce Mau, who
worked with OMA on the original design. The image on the far
right demonstrates the balance between determinate program that
generates revenue [thus making the project easier to sell], and
the original urban park concept. This may be saying something
about the extent to which landscape, pattern, frameworks can
be used as catalysts for the propagation of larger scale patterns.
EMBTs market renovation recognized the need for some sort of
static, programmatic element. Perhaps the shortcoming of Tree
City also lay in its heavy use of graphic design and diagram as a
method to communicate what most people might read as a plan.
As stated earlier, pattern, like frameworks, may accommodate
more information than its simplicity may let on. Thus, to tap into
patterns full potential, it is necessary to consider the experience
of pattern beyond the visual senses. In other words, pattern maybegin as visual, but it need not be anchored in that realm.
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Noisette Site Analysis
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56 north cha
noisettecharleston
7 mi
North Charleston, South Carolina has the distinction of being
home to a portion of the former Charleston Naval Shipyard.
Earlier uses of the land included plantations, standard fare for
the lowcountry. In 1901 the shipyard began operation, closing in1996 as part of BRAC. This was the first event in a long, drawn
out saga for the area that continues even to this day. Given its
location, history, current situation, contrast in building pattern,
and peculiar plan, the site makes for an interesting and fitting
location to being experimenting.
When the base closed, the City of North Charleston made a
deal with the Noisette Company. In exchange for a 340 acre
section of land (dubbed Noisette, after the company and the
creek), the company would develop a 3000 acre master plan
(The City of North Charleston). The focus of the plan was
sustainability, incorporating feedback from many community
meetings. Unfortunately for North Charleston, the plan never
came to fruition. A majority of Noisettes land was foreclosed on,
being sold off in pieces. As of the time of this writing, the future of
Noisette is still in the air, although the spirit for in the initial plan
and promise is still alive with the citizens, taking great strides tomake the most out of the site (Behre).
park circle
noisette creeknoisette reserve cooper river
daniel islandliberty hill
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57leston, south carolina
I-26
amtrak
high school
clemson conservation center
cmmc detyens ship yard
north park village
st charles place
industrial
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58
The original master plan that was to be enacted raises some
poignant questions. First, there is the question of scale and in turn
flexibility, or adaptability. When a plan of this magnitude goes
year after year with little progress, is it possible to make changes
without having to reconsider the entire plan? Second is the actual
pattern of the plan. Is this an appropriate form, considering the
somewhat ad-hoc plan that the original base took shape with?
Is this the pattern that sustainability propagates? Or is this no
different than deciding to simply recreate the Casbah because of
the type of experience the city is intended to engender? Drawing
from other case study lessons is it possible to create a complex,
varied environment by amplifying the patterns that already existon site? This is not to say that there are not perfectly valid merits
for this sort of development. Yet, for a site that had experienced
a disturbance such as base closure, was it wise to consider a
determinate plan that required a large investment of resources?
The remainder of this project serves not as a corrective measure
for the apparent shortcomings of the original plan [though to be
fair, considering the timing of the project, not all the blame can
be placed on form, or the plan, or the planner]. Conversely, the
intention is develop alternate futures for Noisette, taking to heart
Gregory Batesons wisdom that Nothing comes of Nothing.
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60
industrial oak-pine lowland forest
freshwater marsh
tidal marsh
general business
residential
multi-family
mobile home
ground covercurrent zoning
watershed
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61
oodplain
hurricane surge levels
site flowshydrology
wind
water
material
flickr data
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62
site organization
20
Noisette Creek Watershed Rail
Storm Surge Levels
1020Kinzer
10
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63
Cooper River
Flood Plain
1020 Kinzer
1150 Kinzer
1185 Kinzer
Noisette Creek
2575 McRitchie
2585 McRitchie
1445 McMillan
Bldg No. 32
1635 Cosgrove
site selection
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64
The first step in working towards an appropriate grounds on which
to perform design testing was basic site analysis. Identifying current
development trends on site was an important consideration.
Noisette has an abundance of three story, narrow buildingswith their short side to the street and the rest extending into a
deep plot. These storehouses are restored and in-filled with new
business. There are other buildings on site of higher architectural
quality that used to serve as officer housing. These buildings go
through the same restoration process. Another process ongoing
in Noisette is conservation, particularly of the Noisette Creek.
North Charleston has identified the need to protect and restore
the Noisette Creek and its salt marsh habitat. The Noisette Creekitself serves as great inspiration in terms of a patterned process
that results in a rich, lively environment. This will be expanded
upon in the next section.
With those processes and patterns identified, it becomes easier to
assess those sites within the Noisette footprint that do not match or
lend themselves to easy categorization. The question then is how
to handle the design of these sites so that they attain a strong part-
to-whole relationship with the rest of the site, but do not simplyuncritically adopt the same pattern that the rest of Noisette is
experiencing. To ensure that the new sites being developed have a
relation to the rest of the site an underlying conceptual structure
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65
relation to the rest of the site, an underlying conceptual structure
was drawn up according to the buildings and lines already existing
on site. There is no readily apparent order to the site, possessing
a decidedly suburban density. However, if the original failedmaster plan is in the least bit any sort of indication as to what the
site should be [or wants, or even needs] in the interim, forcing a
dense, urban pattern is not a solution. Resiliency and complexity
grow from simplicity, small pieces aggregating, and evolution.
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Design Experiments
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68
To preface this section, note that the experiments and designs
are not meant to read as a corrective measure for the previously
discussed master plan put forth by the Noisette Company. Rather,
these three sites, all located along the major route of NoisetteBoulevard, serve as alternate ways to develop a military base
that has gone through the closure process. The experiments were
designed simultaneously, though there is evidence of some cross-
pollination of ideas.
The first design begins with the assumption that the social structure
of the Noisette site had changed from a strict hierarchy during its
military life, to a horizontal network once the military presence had
left. As pointed out by Nina-Marie Lister in her piece Sustainable
Large Parks: Ecological Design or Designer Ecology?, the
road to resilience is paved with information. The more information
is present during a situation, the greater the number of possible
outcomes, revealing the possibility of responding appropriately
to a disturbance. Information and knowledge is passed through
social networks, and occasionally, important connections are
made during the course of a chance encounter. Walter Netsch
had assumed as much, designing space for these interactions tooccur. Currently Noisette has an abundance of private space
1
23
4
5
6
A
C
MONOLITHIC
B Y M A N Y
S U R F A C E
O P E N E N C L O S E D
B Y O N E B Y N O N E
P U B L I C P R I V A T E O P E N
Cosgrove [South] Site
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69
D
BDIFFERENCE
CELLUL
differe
ntiation
part-to-whole
REPETITION
programmatic/spatial patter
S T R U C T U R E
disturbance + shifting states
private space
public space
open space
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70
1A
1A
1A
1A1A
1A
1A
2A
2A
2A
3A4A
4A
4A
4A
5A
5A
6A
6A
6A6A
6A6A
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1B
1B
1B1B
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2B
2B
2B
3B3B
3B
4B
4B
5B
5B
5B
5B
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5B
5B
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6B
1C
1C
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2C
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3C
3C
3C
3C
4C
4C
4C
5C
5C
5C
5C
5C
5C6C
2D
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2D
3D
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4D
4D
4D
5D5D
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6D
6D
6D
A
B
C
D
1
3
6
4
PUBLIC OPEN SPACE
PRIVATE OPEN SPACE
OPEN OPEN SPACE
OPEN ENCLOSED SPACE
PRIVATE ENCLOSED SPACE
PUBLIC ENCLOSED SPACE
2
3
4
5
6
1
2
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4
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6
1.
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.
6C
6B
5B
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4D
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6B
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6C
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4D
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6B
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13
7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12.
with very little actual open or public space, assuming that chance
encounters happen most often in the public space of a city or
community. Therefore it would follow that encouraging a more
varied mix, or a tighter pattern, of private, open and public space
would only be of benefit to the invisible, social networks that
engender a community with the quality of resiliency This idea will
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71
5B
1C
1A 3A
5D
6A 2A
3C
4A 5A
3A 6A
2A 1A
5C
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1B
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2C
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13.
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86.
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88.
89.
90.
engender a community with the quality of resiliency. This idea will
also appear in the experiment on the northern most site.
The method of investigating the above ideas as through the
meshing of pattern and randomness. Attempting to create a
productive relationship between these two concepts is a worthwhile
endeavor. Their overlay creates opportunity of response, learning,
and adaptation. When there is an apparently random element
introduced into a pattern, the order that seemed to compose the
patterns structure dissolves. The foundation, or input, must be
reconsidered. Interestingly enough, the random arrangement of
the spatial situations began to form congruent spaces of the samesituation.
A final layer used to experiment on this site was the subversion
of disturbance into a design tool. Proactively employing
disturbance to conceptually change the structure of the site offers
the opportunity to create a pattern of process. Where the actual
arrangement of spatial situations is random, developed by rolling
dice, there is indeed a legible pattern. The tabulated data above
can be used as a schedule, so each flip may be anticipated by
the community.
The actual structure of the space to enable the flips of each state
may be impermanent or easily changeable.
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5C
after 0 cycles
after 1 cycle
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The grounding of this design experiment is the application of
defined program as a means of providing some determinate
structure to the site, but also the pattern of use of each program.
Additionally, each program has potential resilience, where thesite can still be productive in terms of a landscape, even if the
expected users of the site never show.
A visitor center [housed in the northern building] and learning
landscape, a velodrome, an aquatics center [partially located
within the southern building], a playing field, and a cinema
comprise the sites program. Overlaid are two simple landscape
patterns generated from the previously mentioned underlying
structure of the site. This landscaping pattern was modified on
a local level with simple geometric operations such as rotation,
tessellation, and reflection. Another landscaping pattern was
overlaid, located specifically with the base landscape pattern. The
purpose of such a pattern is to create new water drainage patterns
on site in an attempt to promote indeterminate plant growth. As
new program is implemented on site, the new growth could create
soft boundaries and divisions. The faceted landscape has use as
seating for those visiting from Storehouse Row or the West YardLofts to the south.
McRitchie [Middle] Site
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V E L O D R O M E
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L A N D S C A P E
A Q U AT I C C E N T E R
V I S I T O R C E N T E R
C I N E M A
Here the program is plotted out with the corresponding, anticipated
pattern of activity. Using program behavior and user clustering
as a means to design a site ensures that there are overlaps in
activity and thus increasing the opportunities that people have tointeract.
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The Noisette Creek benefits from a daily flooding cycle due to
tidal forces. This ensures that nutrients are deposited on a regular
basis, creating a rich ecosystem (Amigos de Bolsa Chica). It
also highlights the importance or potential in employing a pattern
of processes on site. This site could be flooded occasionally,
again subverting disturbance to take advantage of its unexpected
outcomes. As the patterned landscape erodes, new conditions
may emerge, enabling the people using the site to determine its
new uses.
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Shown here is a section of the landscape and all the information
or variation that can be loaded into it as a result of its repetitive
and redundant structure. Starting on the left is simple hardscape,draining into a permeable surface. This piece of landscape is
constructed rather than formed. Future structures on site can
be accounted for ahead of time so as to ensure the continuity
of the original use and programming. The landscape can be
allowed to erode or uncovered to reveal the piers as needed.
Lastly, the ridges of the faceted landscape can be embedded with
a more determinate drainage system, creating a new pattern of
determinate and indeterminate water flow and thus new plantings
as seeds and nutrients are deposited.
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82 A Relationship with Randomness
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INPUT
H U M I D I T Y
L O C A L
G L O B A L
M I C R O
M A C R O
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84 Kinzer [North] Site
W A T E R
S H A D E
W I N D
S U R F A C E
V O L U M E
C O L O R
R E F L E C T A N C E
P L A N T I N G
INPUT
P R O X I M I T Y
L O C A L
I C R O
A C R O
V O L U M E
M A I N T E N A N C E
S U R F A C E
W H A T A D E S I G N E R C A N E M P L O Y T O I N C R E A S E
T H E P R O B A B I L I T Y O F T H E I N T E N D E D O U T P U T
Pattern can communicate much more than just a visual or an
aesthetic. Continuing points made on the last experiment, pattern
can be loaded with many forms of information, or be utilized in
several ways, all while retaining its identity and structure. Thisexperiment picks up on those notions as well as incorporating the
public/private/open spatial pattern present in the first experiment.
In addition, pattern is called up on to alter the microclimate of the
site, a pertinent task considering the sweltering climate of North
Charleston.
The diagram shown on this page is essentially a map that describes
how one might design for an intended result that they cannot
necessarily guarantee the emergence of. For example, behavior in
and of itself cannot be designed. However, behavior is the output
of some other input, and so on. Eventually the chain leads back to
what a designer actually can design. Occasionally, as evidenced
by the diagram, there are some non-linear connections. In the
instance occurring in the middle of the diagram, because of the
overlaps between the initial inputs, the design of private, public
and open space may inherently affect the microclimate. If the
design intention were simply private, public, and open space,then the alteration of the microclimate is unforeseen.
OUTPUT
M I C R O C L I M A T E
INPUT
OUTPUT
B E H A V I O R
INPUT
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W H A T A D E S I G N E R I N T E N D S T O I N F L U E N C E
B U T C A N N O T G U A R A N T E E T H E E M E R G E N C E O F
L O C A L
OUTPUT
INPUT
S O C I A L N E T W O R K
B E H A V I O R
A C T I V I T Y
I N T E R A C T I O N
A C T I V I T Y
P R I V A T E S P A C E
P U B L I C S P A C E
O P E N S P A C E
L O C A L
I C R O
OUTPUT
INPUT
RESILIEN
C
E
OUTPUT
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These three diagrams illustrate the process from intended new
microclimate pattern [purple coolest, red warmest]. The underlying
structure is used once again, this time populated with a distinct
pattern of hexagons. The shape of the hexagons mesh well with
base pattern, as well as offering a way of methodically transversingthe site, covering the site in two directions at once, without overly
inefficient zigzagging caused by the right angles of a strict grid
pattern. Finally, the pattern is modified on a local level, altering
the ground plane, creating a canopy to tie all the buildings on
the site into a coherent structure, the use of mist and humidity to
delineate between private, public, and opens space, the inclusion
of water features to induce evaporative cooling on a small scale,
trees and plantings, and varying levels of surface permeability,and color.
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Altering a single ground plane into a pattern of layers creates an
above/below condition to separate private space for employees
working on site. The general public has a place that uses pattern
to reach all their senses. This strategy refuses to categorically
exclude these two groups of people from each other, continuing
the gradation, mixing and blending that in part defines the sites
conceptual identity.
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Recalling previous observations about the general pattern of
development by way of renovating long, rectangular structures
facing the street, this experiment proposes an alternative way
to infuse the buildings with new energy. As there is not currently
an even somewhat desirable street condition to plug into, and
seeing as this site is on axis with a residential neighborhood,
the businesses are in-filled across the short axis of the building,
still enabling the 40 x 80 dimension seen in many stores of
downtown Charleston. In this way, a macro pattern is accounted
for, but deviated from by local adjustment. This creates a unique
situation that is nonetheless legible when compared with the rest
of the development happening at Noisette.
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Conclusions
This thesis process was meant to be an investigation, an
exploration, a questioning, and a testing. As a result of the
scientific nature through which the process was carried out, it
is pertinent to discuss the conclusion in terms of limitations of
the experiments, thoughts, and theories. Throughout the year,
skepticism has become the operative word as every answer has
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skepticism has become the operative word, as every answer has
provided two more questions.
The primary limitation of the project is the blatant and inherent
[literal] top-down analysis. Heavy use of mapping and plan
gave limited emphasis of what pattern may mean for the ground
conditions, elevation, and sectional quality of space. Generally,
heavy mapping and plan analysis tends to turn a project into
an exercise in graphic design as opposed to what may actually
function properly.
There are several questions that must be put forth. For example,
what is the extent or importance that geometry and shape play
in the employment of patterns? Questions of causality come to
light. Are patterns a cause, an effect, both, or neither? This is a
necessary question so as to avoid misled or misguided attempts at
critically using pattern in design.
Firsthand experience also led to the realization that overstatement
or overemphasis on the visual or geometry itself may lead to
arguments of the invalidation of pattern. There could be nothing
worse for a designer attempting to prove that pattern, something
that is vague, ubiquitous, and at time consumed in stylistic fads,
actually matters and must be taken seriously if some pressing
issues in planning and architecture are to be addressed. Notably
that of resiliency and the turning away from large, one-off master
plans.
This is not to say that pattern is the be-all end-all solution for allarchitectural and planning issues. In fact, as elucidated in the
experiments, it may serve well enough as a method of analysis.
However, it should be not be relegated to the sidelines as simply
a way of discovering order of the chaotic and often times frenetic
built environments. Pattern has proven itself to be capable of
embracing randomness and chaos, tempering it with repetition
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and redundancy
BREAD AND CIRCUSES
WISDOM OF THE INCREMENTAL OUTPUT ?INPUT
we design the input [process], not the output [result].
this may be said to be indeterminate, but what might bediscovered is that some inputs have determined outputs
FUTURES
ASSUMPTIONS
butterfly effect...small variations input lead to amplified variations
we can track forwards, but cannot decipher backwards.
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98Beginning A Long Reflection Process...
EX:
WOLFRAMS CELLULAR AUTOMATA
discovered is that some inputs have determined outputs.
some processes are determinate in that they will lead to aconsisten output, or a pattern.
ASSUMPTIONS
PRESUMPTIONS
PRESUPPOSITIONS
PREDICTIONS
PROJECTIONS
PROACTIVE
REACTIVE
?
the designer and design may hope for the emergence ofa particular pattern [behavior, etc.], but cannot predict norguarantee its permanent or existence as intended.
a feedback loop must be implemented so that the designerand design receive information that allows for determinationof the error that is leading to the unintended result.
the designer and design may adjust to correct the unintended result.or they may use this information to anticipate new behaviors, alwaysin an effort to be proactive and not merely reactive. it is a horizontalfeedback system, rather than a vertical one.
meaning, we can follow an input to see what its effect on output iwe cannot disect the output and discover what small input led to iexistence.
employing patterns in design ensures that complexity is presentat all scales.
there are patterns that emerge, and patterns that are designed.
patterns can be designed as the final output, or used as the origiinput. the question remains is whether processes can be patternand if so, what is their output? is the feedback loop not a process
do we design the wave? the dune? the cracked desert ground? odo we design the processes that these patterns emerge from?
does gyorgy kepes quoted phrase, pattern in process, processin pattern have any sort of directionality? meaning, can wedesign the process for the pattern to emerge, but can we alsouse patterns to generate process?
open frameworks in which program, activity, etc. expands intoor the framework which allows the making of individual decisions
pattern being the organization into which something expands
this may eventually lead the original design and designer so farfrom the original that it is hardly recognizable, yet still the resultof a simple system acting in a recursive manner.
BUILTUNBUILT
BUILTUNBUILTns in output
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ACTION
proactive model
RESPONSEREACTION
ACTION
reactive model
RESPONSEREACTION
BUILTUNBUILT
PROJECTION
futures model
ACTION
reactive model
RESPONSEREACTION
BUILTUNBUILT
t is, butto its
t
.
iginalrnedss pattern?
or
s
this opens the discussion of so-called top down andbottom up planning and urban processes.
occasionally it seems planning becomes an exercisein graphic design. however, some very thoughfullyplanned cities in history have been relatively successful.amsterdam is an example of this.
large scale change in a short amount of time isundesirable. enormous master planning (ie noisette)can be likened to the ecological principle ofdisturbance. widespread change at oncethe disrputs the structure, population, among manyother factors, in a short period of time.in this case, it may be determined that too much emphasis
has been given to the look or form of the plan, and notenough on the activity, elevation, section, etc.
ns.
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