An Industrial Site Study: Chevron Refinery, CA

A survey of an industrial site offers different conditions in terms of temporal measurable data such as air quality fluctuations, hazardous waste accumulation, or expansion of the facility into neighboring residential areas. Coupled with the fact that this refinery sits within a fault rupture hazard zone, this site can also be measured in terms of geological tectonic shifts over time. This study investigates the performative aspects of this site that can be translated into quantitative parameters.
At a basic level, this study attempts to visually depict relationships between changing physical boundaries and the modular system that attempts to populate it. Abstract representations of physical edges come from trend data gathered in this study.

Ways in which an edge condition or boundaries of a site can change over time:

As a result of tectonic movement, fault hazard zones are updated and expanded.
As a result of rising water levels, sites in coastal areas are retreating, and zoning regulations are changed.
Hazardous waste areas in an industrial zone are either being expanded or reduced and can affect zoning regulations around the area.
See the study here.

Top Image:
Tod Port. WWW.pbase.com/todd_port/image/62313336

An Ecological Site Study: Narragansett Bay, RI

In analyzing Narragansett Bay in terms of ecological and environmental changes over time, data can be extracted from various scientific studies. Changes in the amounts of nutrients (nitrogen, carbon, phosphorous) that enter the bay affect wildlife and the bay ecosystem in general. Changes in temperature, precipitation, and wind speed over time also contribute to a changing Narragansett Bay ecosystem. These factors that are unique to the area help define localized conditions. With the added temporal component, time and movement can also inform a rationalized process. In what ways can this data influence the basic module? How does a site's evolving nature be used as added criteria in the design of a modular system? Does the system react to it or be influenced by it? Click here to view the study and read the findings.

Landforms and Movement

In geological terms, what we refer to as landscapes are expressions of a larger process in the shaping of landforms. We know that the earth’s surface is a dynamic and complex result of the interactions between the atmosphere, hydrosphere, and the earth’s surface.
The diversity of terrains found on earth influences the patterns of human occupation, use, and the built environment. Landforms are defined as natural terrain units that, where developed under similar conditions of climate, weathering, erosion, and mass wasting, will exhibit a predictable range of physical and visual characteristics. This means that distinctions can be made between terrain types so that we can describe unique topography, composition, or structure.
These shaping process works over long periods of time before most landforms show significant change, although some of these processes, some influenced by man, can significantly influence the landscape at a much faster rate. If we begin to think of landscapes as dynamic elements in terms of time and motion, measurable and quantifiable data can be extracted. Performative aspects of a site can be used as parameters in a rationalized design process.

Readings and Images:
Douglas Way. Terrain Analysis.
McIntyre, Eilers, Mairs. Physical Geography.
Kim Sichel. To Fly.

Evolving Modular Techniques

In investigating modular systems in terms of systems of proportion, the scale of rationalization centers on human interactions and movement. The extent of modular parameters takes the living unit as a basic module although dimensions may vary based on locally informed decisions of the designer. We have seen in Habitat 67 that structural considerations, connectivity, and methods of aggregation can also influence the basic module, although within the framework of the human scale. What if we extend these influences beyond that of the human scale and begin to understand that landscape as part of a system also informs us of unique interactions and movement? Understanding that landscape is integral to creating a system that is both universal in technique but localized in response is the first step in a modified process of modular design.

Case Study #1: Habitat 67

Moshe Safdie’s use of a repeated modular system to create Habitat 67 can be examined in terms of its dimensioning logic, aggregation logic, materiality, his attitude towards site, and his position regarding social issues and urban communities. Click here to view pdf file.

Data Visualization

If we take the three dimensional number system described previously, the numbers can be input into a 3D drawing tool to get a visualization of their relationships. This initial probe examines ways to take numerical data and translate them into visual representations using a scripting language. The first step was to recreate the table by employing mathematical functions in an array. Three arrays were created based on the three ‘plates’. To represent objects in three dimensional space, x,y,z coordinates were taken from each of the three plates, creating twenty five planes in space. Simple forms were generated with dimensions based on the same three coordinate numbers to show their relationships in space.

Three Dimensional Number System

In 1956 Ezra Ehrenkrantz proposed a three dimensional numbering system based on the Fibonacci sequence coordinated with the doubling and tripling of the numbers in a three dimensional table. What resulted is a more flexible numerical system of dimensions due to the number of 'choices' available for use. Each dimension is logically referenced to each other which makes scaling possible in a number of ways.