blog feedback response

i have sent a reply email to Chris, but thought it would be better to post it up so that it is read by both Chris and you (Kathy). I have amended some of the earlier posts which i had not included any writing in and caused some confusion for Chris.



The reason why there are several maps for the mass and the park is the categories within them. Park has actual park and what you have referred to as the spaces we don't conventionally think of as being a public space.

The key is simply meant to be a navigation within the boxes, hence why where it was needed such as the masses there are the three different components which made the final map of masses. I stayed away from any notation as i wanted the maps to be used as references that would be read in conjunction with the others to see their placement in the actual context. The map here is a little difficult to see, however in the actual map i provided colour coding to show relationships between the words and the contents of the map.

The other point regarding the engagement, I think those that did have a look at the students work, did engage with the opening and unfolding as intended. It was good to see some of the maps start to get creases in all directions because of the way people would unfold and fold. I have definitely enjoyed this process, and have realised that sometimes the space where the work is going to be exhibited is of more significance.

I would really like to develop this concept (pedestrian usage and creating a series of systems and diagrams which might inform the architecture and mapping of space) a little further next year for my thesis as it was linked to my design, and the earlier drawings would have worked better had I the space which was intended (referring to the drawings in exploration and cartography). In the end that had to be the trade-off.

The final product was definitely something I did not anticipate in way of presentation when we first started the seminar in the beginning. Chris you did seem to think that the final drawings seemed a little conventional, however I think considering the presentation and the isolation of each component it would not have worked well to produce those drawings which I showed earlier.
The complexity and the abstract nature would not have been very easily understood by people viewing and engaging with the exhibited work. To me it appeared that only one aspect had to have an unconventional element to it, and in the end the presentation of the mapping components separated and contained within individual boxes had to be the dominant element.

exhibition wall

exhibition

locate

it is a little difficult to see on the drawings, that the link to the drawings and the boxes is the colours used to denote what is represented on each drawing. it seemed very obvious that people were attracted to the box that was a different colour, and made it easier to navigate themselves around the other pieces of work.

final

market and centre

mass

the final product of the massing, became an analysis of the three main categories within massing. black and white map consists of general massing such as commercial buildings, cultural and recreational. the next map with the green is the tertiary education facilities and the fuchsia is the massing of housing, which encompasses the mass housing, students housing facilities and residential areas. the final map is a product of all three aspects. the reason why i chose to focus on those two specific aspects in being significant, is purely the reason of my focus as a student in locating areas of importance. also those two have the most dominance in respect to other types of buildings in the city.

streets, roads, motorways

water

park and "public space'

the first map deals with what we do not conventionally consider public spaces. areas around the motorways which are inaccessible are considered a public space yet their inaccessibility and awkward situation making them difficult to access in same way as other parks and public spaces. the second map consists of the conventional public spaces which are designed for such uses. the final map of park and public space consists of the two.

the final development and exhibition

due to the nature of the exhibition, it was a little difficult to have large drawings such as those intended on the wall. i had to go back, and work with the basic components. in this direction, rather than having the new cartography created through the process of layering, and secondly breaking down elements of mapping to isolate and detail specific areas which could be applied at a range of scales.

i took the second idea and took the existing layers present in a map, and isolated each component.

so rather than layering, this was breaking down. it might seem that the previous work, may be redundant however the process and the analysis meant that i could go either direction.

i concentrated the map, in a longitudinal direction spanning the inner city and the surrounding network, at a scale of 1:3000. in effect looking at a small grid that makes the city of auckland.

by isolating each element we are able to see each of the contributing factors and the scale of their presence. it is something which over the development of my design has been present. the ability to design with only certain elements of the map present, such as mass. how such aspects effect how we treat those conditions, and if we are still bound by them.

this brings me to the second point, if only one element is present on a map, do we read it as just that, or are we consciously aware that it fits into something larger. this is what determined the decision of placing them into separate boxes. and it seemed a more appropriate way of exhibiting in the space that was provided.

there are 6 boxes (green perspex) containing maps and one clear containing a key navigating the boxes.

exploration

this series of drawings and images below are examples of urban cartographies.
i have already begun my own series of explorations of drawings. these are modelled loosely on the studies i did, with building heights along k.rd, symonds st, and other connecting points.

i superimposed the streets at their points of intersection. in some areas abstracting and exaggerating the density patterns and building typology (explored through the height drawings) to create a cartography that is representative of the area, but in an idealistic view. the analysis and research conducted regarding mapping methods have shown that no matter what period of history, it is always from one viewpoint. and these drawings will be represented through mine.

cartography 3

cartography 2 - detail