Opinion about web site. . . . .

[garethace]

http://www.visualisierungen.net/home.html

 

I think this site is great. The reason? Well, i have noticed they mastered the technique of showing a space surrounded by buildings.

 

Far too many renders of architecture focus too much on just the building - like a close up view of the skin, and structural details.

 

I was very nice for a change, to see a site where it is understood how important making space is. Good spaces where people can always walk, talk, eat their sandwich, enjoy the breeze and the sounds of birds singing.

 

I appreciate this very much in any urban environment. The creation and preservation of good quality urban space, of all kinds is a joy. That is why i think this site's images are a joy to look at too.

 

This book was interesting i thought, well written and is from the same place this web site is from:

 

http://www.birkhauser.ch/books/va1/6556e.html

 

[ May 06, 2003, 11:29 AM: Message edited by: garethace ]

[david whiting]

Gareth

 

Thanks for pointing out the site. I agree with the importance of illustrating a building in it's context.....problem is in many cases, environment and entourage can take more time and $'s to model effectively than the building....but still a worthwhile objective.

 

I also love the animation "the Moving Bones....an homage to Santiago Calatrava"

 

David

[garethace]

Thankyou for your reply David. The subject of urban space is something very close to my perception of how design should happen, because i normally am involved in masterplanning projects from an early stage. That is, by the time the large master plan begins to go on site, i am well gone - moved on to another new incubation masterplan design problem.

 

There is only one way to learn to perceive good spatial design. That is to be out and about with the masses, enjoyed/struggling with the activities of daily living in cities and towns. Only after spending ages doing this, will one being to 'get it'. When i am out walking or cycling around the city i live in, i am most likely looking/observing the behaviours of people and crowds in spaces that either

 

1. Already work.

2. Should work but are off the beaten track.

3. Could work and have enormous growth potential with the 'right sort of development'.

 

I am not saying the 'right sort of development' is always the kind of development that ultimately happens. What normally happens in my city, is too many buildings are squeezed onto a site, leaving NO space for freedom and public movement outdoors. This is a short sited strategy, but i suppose one that can always be righted later on, with a bit of luck, by simply flooring a few bays, or a block here and a block there.

 

It is amazing the transformations you can make by removing certain structures altogether and leaving open space instead.

 

A very good authority on the subject, is Helmer Stenros. The History of the Laboratory for Visual Simulation and Research Work in Tampere

cumulative index of computer aided archiectural design

 

http://itc.fgg.uni-lj.si/data/cumincad/robots/0319.htm

 

----------------------------------------------

 

The images here are very nice, without showing very much context.

 

http://www.roccella.com.au/

 

But i think, the images still manage to show the natural behaviour of people - they don't look so much like cg clipart - i like actually computer meshed dummies rather than the clip art 'stuck in'.

 

[ May 06, 2003, 12:08 PM: Message edited by: garethace ]

[david whiting]

Gareth

 

Thanks for the comments and the Roccella Design site.

 

Makes me want to work on my photomontage skills instead of trying to model settings. The sense of detail, space and character of a site comes across much better using photomontage

 

David

[garethace]

Thanks for the comments and the Roccella Design site.

 

Prepare to have your eyes surprised at this.

 

http://www.pechara.com/proj-caliente.htm

 

But some other images using 'real mesh people' are here:

 

http://www.pechara.com/proj-heritage7.htm

 

http://www.pechara.com/proj-heritage8.htm

 

http://www.pechara.com/proj-unitarian2.htm

 

http://www.pechara.com/proj-unitarian1.htm

 

That is probably the most extreme of approachs ever, i have seen of designing the environment around the physical reality of people.

 

Makes me want to work on my photomontage skills instead of trying to model settings. The sense of detail, space and character of a site comes across much better using photomontage

 

Well your comment rather does highlight the pit fall i fell into around 1998/99 when i first got into cg work as an architect. At that point, i swallowed all the marketing slogans, telling the architect - oh, no need to move from your chair, your screen and your mouse anymore - a new era of digital creation and freedom.

 

Really, now it is 2003 and i can safely say there is no photomontage, no animations, no VR, no type of image/graphic/content whatsoever that can substitute for actual experience of space/urban environment/building. I will tell you, it was hard after 4/5 years having sold my walking shoes, my mountain bike and my warm coats and hat suddenly starting back out into the real world again, which i had forsaken for my computer workstation. But a worthwhile effort and i am glad i did it.

 

Have you got anything to do with this web site David?

 

http://www.members.shaw.ca/rdmainstreet/index.htm

 

It seems to me, alot of the work at that website, is based upon survey and observation of real environments.

 

[ May 06, 2003, 01:48 PM: Message edited by: garethace ]

[david whiting]

Gareth

 

Ya that's me in Red Deer. Didn't know the client had this site up. I'd better talk to them and get some better models up...the stuff there is pretty old. We've actually modelled a lot of the mainstreet environment and will be doing more this summer

 

Thanks for the other site link

 

David

[garethace]

We've actually modelled a lot of the mainstreet environment and will be doing more this summer

 

Sounds very interesting David. I only wish that my architects here at the firm in Ireland, were that little bit more accepting of digital media - still i have learned much about observation/experience of real sites and situations. It is now up to the younger and more digital-savy generation like myself to spread new wings.

 

My point though, is that in spreading these new wings - i have found it difficult to learn the lessons available from the older experienced designers at the same time. I cannot learn their lessons sitting at a workstation like i am at the moment.

[david whiting]

Gareth

 

Being an 'old guy' I've done all of the 'traditional architectural' stuff from walking the site and sketching in the field to drawing with set squares. The advantages of digital media are incredible, but the insights that come from seeing and experiencing our environment first-hand cannot be overestimated.

 

The old skills of forcing yourself to 'draw' on site actually makes you 'see' the environment in a different light. I worry about a whole generation of architects who only want to work in a digital environment and don't want to experience the smells, sounds, lights and activity of a real sight or building. In the end, their 'art' reflects that experience (or lack of it)

 

David

[Ernest Burden III]

Prepare to have your eyes surprised at this. rendering

Damn, you're right! A whole bunch of white people hoggin' up the pool!

 

OK, so they all forgot their bathing suits. But what's her problem?

 

[garethace]

In the end, their 'art' reflects that experience (or lack of it)

 

I think there will eventually be a recognition of this fact by the younger crop of designer minds. But until then, the digital tools and methods remains their opium, their sole motivation and only perspective of 'the real world'.

 

You would be just amazed how many how students studying architecture at the moment, who purchased very pricey digital cameras - i wasn't aware just HOW good the pictures from these digital cameras really are nowadays.

 

But still, whilst the perfect set of digital images of a site is a nice thing to have on tap at your workstation - like you say, i am very suspicious about how 'much awareness' of the actual site and the spaces around the site go into peoples conscious awareness nowadays - since it seemingly is 'all on tap' now in the form of digital site surveys.

 

Which makes me extremely suspicious of the way architects are doing larger masterplanning competitions nowadays - you can just log onto the local architectural institute web site and partake in any competition of any large urban regeneration project - a place you might never have walked through in your entire life.

 

This is particularly cronic in my experience in the Dockland regeneration plans here in my country - Ireland. Where alot of the cities are 'facing back toward the waterfront' again. Only recently i walked and cycled a large waterside area, for which i had studied the master plan graphics available to anyone on the web.

 

It is simply amazing how difficult it is to convey a feeling of a water-front environment spatial dynamic experience on a web site. Yet most architects i know in this country have never been to the actual urban pheriphery in question - yet all have strong notions about the thing.

 

I have spent the last few years involved in 7 or 8 different urban masterplans, and i have seen the same thing time and time again. There is a good page of links here, you may be interested.

 

http://www.rte.ie/tv/dublin/weblinks.html

 

The Ballymun regeneration plan in particular is worth a look.

 

[ May 07, 2003, 07:14 AM: Message edited by: garethace ]

[garethace]

This site still manages to show alot of the building whilst also showing context. It is difficult, but worth it and can be done.

 

http://www.3d-win.com

 

It is nice to see an attempt to describe the quality of space in a nice landscape park here.

 

http://www.arcstudio3d.com

 

http://www.3-ddesign.com/html/ed.htm

 

These websites are a bit like pechara, or architron because of the way that people and open space are treated as subject matter, rather than just the building structure part itself.

 

i like the movies at 3-ddesign because, they include much live footage of the area of the development, to give you the 'unique feel and sense' of the place, not just focussing exclusively upon the building stainless steel bracing or something, which could be 'anywhere' in the world.

 

A couple of more good 'entourage' images:

 

http://www.unibase.com/~4dsol/homepage.html

 

http://home.iprimus.com.au/absolute3d/

 

[ May 13, 2003, 11:05 AM: Message edited by: garethace ]

[Pechara]

That was the clients request. All the staff had to be partially "covered". hehehe that was a fun project. That rendering was used for an add that ran in Playboy...