Interpretation Machines

RUINED HEART A guide for growing ghosts in interpretation machines.

ALBERT REX

“Nothing but sincerity as far as the eye can see!”

I knew if I refused to work... it would only be a matter of time before Krennic realized he no longer needed me to complete the project.

So I did the one thing that nobody expected: I lied. I learned to lie. I played the part of a beaten man resigned to the sanctuary of his work. I made myself indispensable, and all the while I laid the groundwork of my revenge.

We call it the Death Star. There is no better name. And the day is coming soon when it will be unleashed.

I’ve placed a weakness deep within the system. A flaw so small and powerful, they’ll never find it.

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Galen Erso, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, 2016 The Bordeaux Botanical Garden interprets the natural and cultural landscape of the Aquitaine region in which Boreaux is located.... In chapter 21 I called the creation of such performative installations “interpretation Machines”, aimed at revealing geomorphological and ecological processes.

Raxworthy, J , 2013, Novelty In the Entropic Landscape, University of Queensland, pp84 All actions take place in time by the interweaving of the forces of nature, but the man lost in selfish delusion thinks that he himself is the actor.

But the man who knows the relation between the forces of nature and actions, sees how some forces of nature work upon other forces of nature, and becomes not their slave.

Capra, F, 1983, The Tao of Physics, Harper Collins Publishers, pp153.

(From the Bhagavad Gita) All we have are ruined memories, ruined dreams, ruined past.

Delacruz, Khavn, 2015, Ruined Heart: Just Another Love Story Between a Whore and a Criminal, Khavn

PRECEDENT: EUREKA PAVILION & VORONAI

The project began with having a look at what the fuck Grasshopper is and how it actually works. These two images are the basis structure/extrusion of a ‘voronai’ mesh created with a specific component in grasshopper. Voronai is widely used and frankly, a bit of a grasshopper cliche, but it serves as an effective means for the rapid synthesis of form.

Here the initial Voronai panel has been manipulated into a cube to give a greater sense of the potentials for 3 dimensional space. Voronai works by creating lines in the gaps between a field of points.

The denser the field, the denser the voronai, one can almost think of the point individual points in the field as a repellent to the lines that criss-cross it.

Here the Voronai has been re-applied into build-able cells in the early stages of an attempted replica of the ‘Eureka Pavilion’ at the Kew Gardens in London. The individual cells generated by this script are acurate to the extent that they could be cut on a CNC and easily assembled as is.

The script also serves to cut and arrange the panels to scale for cutting.

Also worked this week to bring greater detail to the Eureka Pavilion precedent test. I worked to develop the voronai script to a level where it could accommodate 3 subsequent nested levels of pattern. This involved a fair amount of list based trimming with the ‘trim with regions’ component and the listing at this stage was a bit much for me.

As such, to achieve this level of detail, I was forced to sacrifice some levels of practical build-ability in the algorithm.

(It can no longer be instantaneously de-constructed for manufacture.

PRECEDENT: SPACE FRAMES & LISTS

A fantastic exerciser that really helped me get my head around listing.

The process for constructing this space frame relies on the creation of a grid over a Rhino built undulating surface. The grid is then grafted into lists of 4 points with a ‘series’ component which means that ‘contained’ ‘sub-lists’ of points can be operated upon independently and at the same time.

This allows for the generation of a range of patterns and structures quickly and easily, but most importantly, based on a list structure divided into small sub-lists of 4 points.

PRECEDENT: KEIO & ATTRACTOR CURVES

Based on the Keio University roof garden, this exercise allowed my to develop a tool for expressing gradients of scale through geometry in response to a given input.

This technique can easily be extrapolated and used later in Semester, it will be particularly useful for visualised data through geometry, as it can be used as an input for a number of things other than circle radius. (extrusion height, offset distance, etc)

SITE VISIT

(Photos have all been GPS linked and placed on a master map with everyone else’s.)

SITE VISIT SNAPS (Which have all been GPS linked and placed on a master map with everyone else’s.)

SITE ANALYSIS

This week we undertook our initial mapping of site. This is based on a system where given variables a graded with a score ranging from 0-5. The variables we were analysing included: Levels of erosion, Arboreal Coverage, Stream Shading, Path & Amenity Quality, Vegetation diversity, Public Infrastructures etc.

And using evornote they were mapped on to a master-plan of the site using GPS co-ordinates based on a visualisation technique where the radius of a given circle was indicative of the number value of a variable at given points.

With this system we hoped to observe graded variation in features across site, something that would allow us to loosely target areas of the expansive creek for specific improvement.

I was mapping the variable of ‘vegetation diversity’ on the left side of the bank, as seen on the image to the left.

Working as a class to independently map features and subsequently bring them together in a large master map is a pretty cool start, especially when the site is so large and daunting to digest.

This system gave a great (loose) understanding of quantifiable features on site the were great to work on from.

I’m curious however how it might work on a smaller scale. I reckon this kind of system could be great for measuring data in (for example) someone’s front yard, however the GPS co-ordinates surely wouldn’t be accurate enough to accrue any meaningful data.

Perhaps this large scale strategy could be re-worked to uncover things we don’t usually notice at smaller scales.

SITE OF INTERVENTION

MY HOUSE

METRICS USED IN THE GENERATION OF THIS APPROXIMATED VISUALISATION INCLUDE: .LEVELS OF EROSION .STEEPNESS OF EMBANKMENTS/CLIFFS

This map was developed from an amalgamation of site visit data and became invaluable throughout the project for pinpointing areas of interest on such an overwhelming site.

The map highlights the effects of ‘temporal distortion field’ on site by aggregating data on erosion, stream width, arboreal diversity, path traffic etc. to estimate the speed at which matter moves through space on site, where green indicates relatively fast movement and red relatively slow.

A map like this becomes very useful when one has the express goal of slowing down or freezing change/time.

EARLY, VORONAI BASED INTERVENTION CONCEPTS Began to experiment with applying a Voronai mesh to real space on site. Curves and non-uniform shapes led to the creation of interesting alterations to the script necessary for application.

The Voronoi mesh could be applied to banks to combat erosion, this mesh could also ‘catch’ matter flowing down the creek, creating interesting agglomerations.

While it is unclear what it actually achieves, applying the pattern to the curved underside of the bridge proposed some interesting challenges in terms of projection and re-mapping. It took a few alterations to the script to get it to a stage where it could conform to these less uniform surfaces.

The geometry could serve a more aesthetic purpose, filling out railings and barriers in an interesting way.

The idea of a literal ‘seed’, released into the creek at the top of the site and built to catch at points of constriction.

At these points it would somehow ‘grow’ in a generative manner to highlight and exaggerate points on site where matter and waste tends to agglomerate.

Kind of like a science experiment, litmus test, which while give us a bet understanding of how the creek operates.

In 1992 a shipping container full of rubber ducks was lost at sea. Over the following decades scientists used data about where the ducks rocked up to develop an unprecedentedly complicated map of ocean currents and patterns.

The kind of area a ‘seed’ like this may catch.

AN AREA OF FOCUS

Initial design concepts were vague and loose.

To move forward I decided to focus on a specific 100 meter stretch of the site near my house. The hope here was that a more specific site would elicit a more specific response.

A rough sketch illustrates the basic topographical/vegetative makeup of this section of site.

UNDERSTANDING/ TESTING MATERIALS

I wanted to get an understanding of the kind of materials that would be useful by working with them and introducing them to site. I also hoped to do experiments around how exposure to site would effect materials, an idea that would play back into the project in a much more significant way later on.

My material experimentation culminated in this installation in my front yard. At this point I knew i was wanting to work with a permeable skin of some kind, namely one that was capable of producing something of a dialouge with its environment over time that could teach us something.

So i made this concrete block with holes in it and put it in my front yard with the intention of leaving it there for the duration of the semester and monitoring it’s/ the landscape’s interaction.

The results of this experiment will be addressed towards the end of this documentation.

CONCEPT WORK: COCOONING THINGS

I focused back on my internal contradiction. I didn’t want to change the site but I knew it had to change. I began to look at how objects on site could be preserved or cocooned as something of a battle armor against time. Could robots working with a Voronai based structure help to automate this preservation?

Perhaps robots could be used in the process of landing an intervention on site.

These robot arms sit in big rubber rings and motor around the creek to areas where the algorithm deems intervention necessary.

Either the robots or areas of the creek itself (or both) could be given an Arduino based virtual nervous system to monitor data on which the robots could base their response.

This data mapping would be similar in how it would be used to the data we have taken from site in previous weeks. It would be different in that it would be of far higher resolution, producing a constant stream of inputs to which the robots will be programmed to respond without human intervention.

The new ‘artificial’ layer of the system will grow in dialouge with existing creek systems over time and work to produce their own unexpected and novel geometries and ecologies.

PHOTOGRAMETRY: 3D SCANNING

Photogrametry came to the fore as an obvious strategy to utilise in any process of ‘petrification’. Photogrametry is a simple rapid and mobile tool for generating acurate models of landscapes onto which perfectly conforming geometries can be easily projected onto. It also deals with time in an interesting way...it doesn’t at all, there is no discrimination on photogrametry between a loose pile of earth and massive boulder, it is a tool of temporal ubiquity, generating an output of a single, non-discriminatory mesh.

Here photogrametry has been used to capture geometric data aproximating the 3d form of the tree stump seen to the right. While obviously not perfect, this technology has the capacity to rapidly codify a large amount of spatial information very quickly.

This test proves that photogrametry can also be effective in larger scale environmental scans.

We we see a photogrametric reinterpretation of a creek bank which was in fact taken from the opposite side of the creek as seen in the image to the right.

This capture maintains a relatively high degree of acuracy despite being taken from a relatively large distance and also not employing the full 360 degree photo-set that photogrametry purportedly requires.

This proved to us that photogrametry is far more robust of a tool than initially thought and may indeed be useful for larger scale environmental scans.

CONFORMING TO SCAN Here we see the iterative digital manipulation of the photogrametric capture explained on the previous page.

This process is undertaken in Rhino and lofts from the captured surface a basic ‘skin’ that could possibly be laid back onto site, conforming perfectly to its specific topography.

6. Divided

5. Panels

6. A grate pattern is applied to each panel in Grasshopper, working on each panel individually through specific listing, These will be cut as gaps in the panels which will allow growth through the grasshopper ‘skin’.

5. The grid is reduced (4 in 1) and unrolled in Lunchbox to sit flat on the C plane in Rhino. These unrolled flat pieces should sit angled on site but be able to be cut flat with a laser.

4. Planar

4. A lunchbox based grasshopper script is used to interpolate the surface into a grid where all cells are individually planar.

3. Surface

3. A surface can be generated from a point cloud. A surface type geometry is required for subsequent operations to work effectively.

2. Point Cloud

2. The mesh is imported into Rhino and reduced back down to a point cloud.

1.

1. A mesh of a bank of the creek is produced through phone based photogrametry.

Mesh

The product of the process outlined on the previous page, theoretically these panels should conform perfectly to the scanned bank area of the landscape which generates a lot of potential given their relative ease of manufacture. (Sadly the waffle structure scale replica of the bank itself failed to cut properly ((tolerances)) and so this model could not be properly tested).

SQUARE PANELS ARE BORING

Began to use grasshopper to develop an alternative patterning system ‘skin’ to plain square panels. This was not just an aesthetic choice! for the algorithm to grow and conform to a range of topographies it need to be robust and pivotable at a number of points. With the base ‘units’ of the square panels being large squares, this was never going to work.

In addition it was important for me for the intervention to look beautiful, working off the ‘if it were actually there would it just look shit?’ it was clear that square panels were indicative of a clear lack of thought and development that did not do the creek justice.

Experimentation brought a new base pattern into play and also the idea of a gradiated intervention, with the premise being that if nearly all other distributions along the creek: Species, Soil Types, Stream Widths etc. worked on gradients, then it was important to follow that same system.

The simple and highly geometric ‘star’ pattern became vastly more interesting as it was applied to undulating/non-uniform topographies. Places where mistakes could mutate into novel geometric forms which could operate in unforeseen ways.

Rough isometric visualisation of the intervention as it could appear on site. We see a strong gradient from the central ‘petrification’ at its centre, out to large open areas hemmed in by thin and brittle walls at its extremities.

#2#3-

#1-

Proposed locations for intervention on our small 100 stretch of site. We see that even in plan they appear as gradients of varying size.

#4-

Grasses

Wattle

Mixed Eucalypt

#5-

Tanbark

Riparian

Dirt Tracks

Private Gardens

Sheoak

Focus Area

Field Distortion

The gradiated temporal fields of the interventions mapped on the previous page were red indicates areas of where the intervention is preserving/petrifying the landscape for a longer period and green indicates where the temporal systems of the creek continue to operate unaffected.

The temporal field produced by a single intervention on installation.

AFTER 50 YEARS

INSTALLATION

AFTER 1 YEAR

AFTER 5 YEARS

AFTER 100 YEARS

AFTER 500 YEARS

AFTER 1000 YEARS

Field mapping using groundhog illustrates the intended breakdown of the site over time.

DEGRADATION OVER TIME

1 YEAR

INTERVENTION

10 YEAR

100 YEAR

A more relatable diagram indicating the break-down process of the intervention.

500 YEAR

AS WE CAN SEE, THE DEGRADATION OF THE INTERVENTION DOES NOT

USING MATERIALS TO STAGE DECAY

TEMPORAL DISTORTION FIELD MATERIALITY

Rought Iron

Heavy Concreting Light Concreting Gravel Cover

Titanium Petrification

Concrete

Timber

SECOND SITE VISIT

Returned to site to collect more photogrametry scans at different scales, also to increase understanding of creek vibes. Sadly they don’t have an app for that one yet though. I guess vibes are generally pretty tricky to quantify.

DIVIDING UP CELLS

New photogrametry scans were taken into Rhino/Grasshopper and the decision was made to rebuild the algorithm. The current algorithm did not divide the intervention up into areas to which it could assign different materials which was becoming an increasingly important element to the design.

In addition, at this stage it was decided that certain quirks of the photogrametry process should be reflected in the intervention. I have a strong belief that despite so many architects getting away with it, Grasshopper does not justify itself as a strategy for generating form. Grasshopper is a powerful tool but things will always look shit if the people who made them were dull.

The flip side of this is that tools like grasshopper and photogrametry are essential to the geometry they help to generate and as such should be given due credit by leaving their mark on geometry. As such the decision was made to graft the ‘cells’ of the intervention directly off a simplifed version of the mesh imported into Rhino from photogrametry.

These meshes are not geometrically consistent, have areas of focus just like the creatures that invented them.

Instead of icing over this we have decided to turn it into an essential feature of the design. The algorithm visuailsed on the lefit divides the cells of a simplified mesh into a continuous gradient based on cell size, where different materials will be assigned to geometries depending on which cells they sit in.

Here we see an important transition between a continuous data channel on the left and discrete data ordering on the right. The algorithm that produced the cell structure on the right has been divided up so that different colour tags are given to surfaces with a given domain of surface area’s. This means that unlike the infinitely variable colour tags on the left, the cells on the right have been divided into 4 discrete categories that can have basic materialities applied to them.

It takes a bit of domain massaging to get the cells to divide up nicely but after this is done the algorithm reveals a large amount of analytical data about photogrametry product. For example we see here that the mesh was most dense around the base of this drain access cover, clearly the way shadows bounce contribute to mesh resolution.

BUT WE STILL DO NEED GEOMETRY We needed to take a step backward. The meshes generated by the photogrametry were simply too complicated to use to generate geometry straight off the bat and when simplified they lost too much resolution to be able to be usable. As such, the following process was developed for generating useful meshes: 1. Mesh brought into rhino 2.Meh divided up into discrete areas according to domains of triangle density.

3. Mesh areas surfaced.

4. Point field of varying densities projected onto surfaces based on their corresponding initial mesh density. (this part of the process can be controlled in grasshopper) 5. A point field is generated, which can be used to accurately generate geometry.

5. Geometry generated from points

A scan is divided up according to domains of traingle density.

4. Higher still

3. Hinger resolution

Essentially, all this process does is break down the meshes that come into Rhino and rebuilds them in a way that is most useful to you.

2. Area of lowest resolution scan

A map highlighting discrete areas of point cloud density on the scan to the right.

1. Base Geometry

Early iterations of a ‘peg pad and pole’ system lofted from a divided mesh. Rectangular pads sit on pegs hammered at varying depths into the ground. From these pads extrude poles which connect a network of taution wires which hold the intervention together.

Developing the algorithm to negotiate 3 dimensions. Do objects build planar to the landscape or a flat plane?

1. Torsion Wires

1. Poles

1. Pads

1.Landform

1. Pegs

A loose geometry that doesn’t really do much. But importantly, its divided up into discrete groups based on cell size derived from a photogrametry mesh, a strategy that will be able to be applied to future, more developed geometries.

TESTING ALGORITHM VERSATILITY

DEFINITION TEST

CONSTRAINING METRICS POINT CLOUDDENSITY MAP

Point cloud generated via photogrametric imaging. Like any form of representation this is an abstraction, with areas rendered in a gradient of detail. Algorithm acknowledges and incorporates this quirk of representation.

CELL AREADISCRETE PLANTING SCHEME

Algorithm divides cells according to volumetric capacity. (Which has already been influenced by photogrametric density). These cell sizes are treated differently in terms of materiality with the goal of creating areas that operate differently over time.

FINAL ALGORITHM RE-WORKING

In the last few weeks a final re-write of the algorithm was made.

There was a fundamental shift here where the listing focus changed from cell based operations to line based operations.

Instead of central pieces of geometry linked by lines, geometry was constructed out from each line individually this geometry was parametrically restrained in such away that it would extend outward to meet at points of connection with other units.

Through this process the central connection areas were retained instead of actually being their own defined geometry, were made instead the product the joining of a series of smaller, sub-structure geometries.

The new algorithm operates by dividing each line of the mesh (mesh construction process remains unchanged) into 6 parts.

The points that define this division are then offset and manipulated to form shapes (seen just to the left) that are lofted together per cell with a convex hull component. This system retains the colour-marking strategy of the previous algorithm, allowing the essential easy application of materials based on rules.

REPRESENTATION

Here we see how the re-worked algorithm could operate in space. It became clear at this point that keyshot (a product design rendering tool) would not be able to provide the detail required to communicate how this intervention would operate on the landscape.

These drawings did however did prove the workability and superiority of the refined algorithm.

Experiments in v-ray, a Rhino based rendering tool. The goal here was to develop a material palette that was expressive of the creeks environment and how the intervention would inhabit it.

It became clear that for these representations to be successful, most materials would need to be custom built and so a metrial library of about 15 materials was established using textures and colours for the most part taken directly from site.

APPLYING THE INTERVENTION TO A MEDIUM SIZED SITE

1. A photogrametry scan is taken of the pile of bracken and its surrounds. This is done using a smartphone app and is relatively accurate as long as images are not distorted.

It provides a perfectly static image of what Albert remembers from his childhood that will be used as a base for the process of petrification.

The red dotted line indicates the area of site on which the subsequent algorithms will operate.

3. A subsequent grasshopper algorithm is utilised to graft a ‘skin’ over the simplified mesh. This skin is geometrically driven, stable and buildable, with the computer calculating every angle required for the geometry to conform easily to the topography of site (and therefore preserving what Albert hopes to preserve).

2. The scan comes into Rhino as a mesh. Grasshopper is used to simply the mesh and divide it’s resultant triangles into 3-4 groups based on their surface area.

This system will be used as a template for the types of materials that are allowed to be used in given areas with a gradient from red (indicating materials preserved for a longer period) to green, materials that will dissolve back into the landscape relatively quickly.

The different sizes of mesh segments are a result of a quirk of photogrametry which means that different areas of the mesh resolve to different 3d resolutions, with usually the focus of the capture being the most highly resolved section. A ghost in the machine.

4. The algorithm lofts the lines generated in the previous step into 3d, this lofting process generates extrusion height values relative to parts of the site which are particularly relevant to Albert’s memory. In this case the extrusion value has a single centre, the pile of bracken, and as such this is where we see the highest extrusions.

INSTALL. This is what the intervention will look like when initially placed on site. We see that large areas of the intervention (according to the cell area alogroithm outlined above) are filled with concrete, in others some grass has survived the installation process in addition to trees being planted to help instigate the embedding process of the shell.

AFTER 6 MONTHS. We can see that the timber layer of the intervention has been nearly completely consumed by grass, the steel has rusted due to weathering and while the planted trees are growing strongly, other bushes have found root in the shelter of the interventions more solid and higher walled cells.

AFTER 1 YEAR. Concrete is beginning to crack and moss is spreading across its surface. The grass is growing taller and expanding as well as the wild bushes that seem to grow well in the deeper cells of the intervention.

AFTER 2 YEARS. It is becoming clear that it will not be long until the intervention is completely consumed by the systems and process of the creek.

Only a few cracked and moss covered concrete patches remain while the iron centre area is nearly entirely overgrow by wild bushes.

AFTER 5 YEARS. Albert sits dejectedly and confusedly in what was

meant to be the Saviour of his childhood. The insistent slow creep of ecological systems have slowly broken down his understanding of the world, and in the destruction of his vision he begins to see the beauty change.

APPLYING THE INTERVENTION TO A LARGE SIZED SITE

1. A photogrametry scan is taken of the old quarry and its surrounds.

This can not be done with the standard smartphone strategy given the size of site and so is instead done through a back-door photograemtry scan of Google’s public access 3d mappings of urban areas. (A scan of a scan.)

It provides a perfectly static image that will be used as a base for the process of petrification.

The red dotted line indicates the area of site on which the subsequent algorithms will operate.

3. A subsequent grasshopper algorithm is utilised to graft a ‘skin’ over the simplified mesh. This skin is geometrically driven, stable and buildable, with the computer calculating every angle required for the geometry to conform easily to the topography of site (and therefore preserving what Albert hopes to preserve).

resultant triangles into 3-4 groups based on their surface area.

This system will be used as a template for the types of materials that are allowed to be used in given areas with a gradient from red (indicating materials preserved for a longer period) to green, materials that will dissolve back into the landscape relatively quickly.

The different sizes of mesh segments are a result of a quirk of photogrametry which means that different areas of the mesh resolve to different 3d resolutions, with usually the focus of the capture being the most highly resolved section. A ghost in the machine.

4. The algorithm lofts the lines generated in the previous step into 3d, this lofting process generates extrusion height values relative to parts of the site which are particularly relevant to Albert’s memory. In this case the extrusion value has a multiple cnetres, these have been strategically chosen to ensure that the strongest materials are installed on the steepest points of the cliff.

New materials needed to be developed and added to the v-ray library for large site application.

Interestingly, the computer based photogrametry software used here exports renderable textures into rhino, and as such no texturing was required for the base geometry.

INSTALL. This is what the intervention will look like when it is initially installed on site. Because this intervention uses the algorithm to attempt long term containment of large amounts of earth, it is built more heavily. More concrete is used which allows the intervention to last for long, The ratio of timber components to concrete and steel components is also skewed towards the latter. This dialogue between machine and designer is essential for this process to be successful, It is our firm belief that machines alone don’t have the capacity to make anything sincere.

AFTER 5 YEARS. The concrete on site has begun to degrade and the steel has

worn to rust, the timber is beginning to deteriorate as well. We see that various trees have found root in the protective gaps and nooks on site. The growth of these trees will aid Albert’s goal of petrifying the topography as their roots grow underground into strong interconnected support networks.

AFTER 10 YEARS. There are problems with Albert’s plans! Despite all his ef-

forts the cliff is still eroding away. This process is revealing the iron stakes that hold the intervention into the ground. The growth of trees is also not working as anticipated. Instead of preventing movement the root systems are assisting it, tearing up concrete as they grow larger and larger.

AFTER 50 YEARS. Albert is dismayed at how things have gone, this could not

be further from what he wanted. Not only has his large, expensive and incredibly complicated intervention failed to prevent the cliff eroding away, it has transformed what would only have been an almost imperceptible decay over 50 years into an incredibly obvious one, by working as a measuring stick to highlight exactly how much erosion the site has undergone.

AFTER 100 YEARS. Albert is long gone and the creek has completely flooded

what was once his quarry. What is left of his intervention however has produced something entirely novel which is embraced by people from all around.

Large iron stakes emerge from the water and support a complicated and precarious network of treetop paths from which people fish, drink and even jump into the water. No one has broken their back yet which is good.

APPLYING THE INTERVENTION TO A SMALL SITE

1. A photogrametry scan is taken of the tree stump and its surrounds.

This is done using a smartphone app and is relatively accurate as long as images are not distorted.

It provides a perfectly static image of what Albert remembers from his childhood that will be used as a base for the process of petrification.

The red dotted line indicates the area of site on which the subsequent algorithms will operate.

3. Here the standard process is quite significantly altered as a part of what we believe is an essential dialogue between algorithm and person.

While the system has ascribed materials to the object as scripted, Albert has an innate gut feeling that on such a small scale various materials would confuse the intervention and reduce its effectiveness, he doesn’t know this for a fact, he just knows.

As such, Albert steps in at this point and alters the product of the Algorithm to apply an ‘all steel’ material set to this specific version of the algorithm’s output.

2. The scan comes into Rhino as a mesh. Grasshopper is used to simply the mesh and divide it’s resultant triangles into 3-4 groups based on their surface area.

This system will be used as a template for the types of materials that are allowed to be used in given areas with a gradient from red (indicating materials preserved for a longer period) to green, materials that will dissolve back into the landscape relatively quickly.

The different sizes of mesh segments are a result of a quirk of photogrametry which means that different areas of the mesh resolve to different 3d resolutions, with usually the focus of the capture being the most highly resolved section. A ghost in the machine.

4. The ‘skin’ generated from the mesh seen in the last step is lofted into 3d. Here we see the stump as the centre of the intervention’s petrification and as such the highest point, rendering the stump itself the least accessible.

Once again, new materials need to be developed in order for the renders to appear convincing when operating at this different scale. Here more effort was dedicated to the decay of materials over time.

INSTALL. Tabula Rasa. At such a small scale it becomes very clear the devastating effect that the installation of intervention on site has on local biodiversity levels. However, the small scale of this intervention also means that it will be relatively quick to succumb back to the far stronger and more dominant systems and processes of the creek.

AFTER 1 MONTH. We already see life returning ot the site of the

intervention. grass is beginning slowly to grow, earth is churning over and the steel is rusting.

(Yes, in this context, the oxidisation of steel is included broadly in our definition of ‘life’. While not necessarily organic, the oxidation of steel is representative of process and movements, things that these interventions tell us are essential for bringing organic life to its potential.

AFTER 3 MONTHS. Shockingly! Some creek dwelling crea-

ture (surely not a T-rex!?!) has been killed or died and after washing through the creek its severed head has caught in our intervention.

We also see the intervention more broadly continuing to graft into the broader environment with wild bushes growing up out of the cells and grass spreading further and further

AFTER 6 MONTHS. All the Flesh has either been eaten or fallen off the T-Rex skull and it appears as though this has lead to the diffusion of enough nutrients into the ground to encourage wild bushes to grow the T-rex’s mouth to the sunlight, This has caused the T-Rex skull to become thoroughly embedded in site and along with the near complete rusting of the steel and the engulfing of the broader geometry by grass and bushes, it appears as though Albert’s hopes of preservation have once again, even at the smallest of scales, been dashed.

AFTER 1 YEAR. Vegetation covers everything, the dinosaur skull has become inseparable from the broader geometry, and exquisitely complex and unique geometry has been generated. On walking past Albert can’t help but marvel at it’s profound spontaneous beauty, his appreciation for the systems and processes of the creek grows.

AND IN REAL TERMS

Over a 3 month period the concrete experiment discussed at the start of this documentation was left in my front yard. As seen in these images it has been incredibly successful serving as a measuring stick for growth and change.

ALBERT REX

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TUTOR: PHILIP BELESKY