AAVS SHANGHAI 2016 - LIQUID TOPOGRAPHIES

AA VS Shanghai 2016 LIQUID TOPOGRAPHIES WU Wenjing // WANG Yadian // HAENTJENS Chloé

AAVS Shanghai Director Tom Verebes is the Creative Director of OCEAN CN based in Hong Kong. Former Associate Dean (Teaching & Learning) (20112014) and currently Associate Professor of Architecture at the University of Hong Kong. Former co-Director Design Research Lab, at the AA, where he had taught from 1996 to 2009, and former Guest Professor at Akademie der Buildenden KĂźnste ABK Stuttgart (2004-2006). Verebes has published over 140 books, chapters, articles and project features; has exhibited in over 50 venues worldwide, and has lectured extensively in Asia, Europe, North America, and the Middle East.

He is also the director of the AA Visiting School Shanghai, which has been running uninterrupted since 2006. This booklet shows part of the work developed during the 10th edition of the AAVS Shanghai in July 2016.

AAVS 2016 SPECIFICITIES // 04 ECOLOCAL INFRASTRUCTURES // 06 TUTORS // 08

STUDIO INTRO

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SHANGHAI // 10 HISTORICAL APPROACH // 12 ENVIRONMENTAL APPROACH // 14

SITE RESEARCH

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METHODOLOGY

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INDEXING

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TRANSFORMATION

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EMERGENCE

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CREDITS

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METHODS // 16 TOOLS // 18

AQUA CLUSTERS FLOW FIELDS DRAINAGE NETWORKS CATCHMENT AREAS

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LOCAL TRANSFORMATIONS // 20 GLOBAL TRANSFORMATIONS // 22 TOPOGRAPHIC ITERATIONS // 24

TOPO-LOGICS // 28 RELATIONAL PROTOTYPES // 30 CITIES AS LANDSCAPES // 32

TEAM YADIEN WANG WU WENJING CHLOE HAETJENS

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0 // STUDIO INTRO AAVS 2016 - SpecifiCities In an era of unprecedented city building, the 10th consecutive AA Shanghai Summer School will focus on issues related to urbanization in China. In the past year, China’s central government has announced both the Southern China Metropolis (pop. 45 million), and Jing-Jin-Ji Supercity (pop. 130 million). Shanghai serves as the programme’s laboratory for the study of the complexities of the contemporary city within this context of massive urbanisation. Given the pervasive legacy of assembly-based repetitive production paradigms, and the monotonous, generic effects of standardization on cities, we will address the question of what makes a city unique. In response, we will delve into design methods by which to shape specific urban characteristics and identities.

AAVS Shanghai has persistently championed computational approaches applied to the problematic of the twenty-first century city. As an intensive nine-day studio-based course, clusters of tutors and students will engage experimentally with advanced computational design, to investigate a toolbox with which to confront the prevalence of generic urbanism. Students will apply code-based and time-based modelling, generative techniques to model growth and change, and physics-based simula­tion, towards multiple, variable and recursive urban and architectural systems.

1. Official AAVS Shanghai 2016 poster 2. AAVS Shanghai 10th Anniversary Exhibition poster

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0 // STUDIO INTRO Eco-Local Infrastructures (Unit 1) This unit’s agenda focuses on the generative potential of the local drivers of singularities, within the environment of Shanghai’s informal urbanism. In consideration of the concept of uniqueness in the context of China, this unit will explore design intersections at the moments of the floating social condition within urban fabric of Shanghai. The focus will be on the ground plane and open space to recharge areas of unworthiness and establish the populations based on their capabilities. These aspects will be defined as a hard and soft system.

These systems will explore topics based on the sites social and environmental specificities, as well as how to provide design solutions for such temporary phenomena.

The design methodology will employ a tool kit comprised of definitions pretested from Rhino and Grasshopper as well as associated Grasshopper plug-ins. Through a series of scales and design layers, teams will research the city fabric at the city region scale down to the megablock, block and finally into an urban structure. The techniques explored will cover exercises in regional mapping, contextualizing information within the city fabric, as well as analysing environmental conditions. The design proposals will explore iterative design techniques that will address different levels of analysed intensities within the urban fabric. The resultant design will be a composition of all of these aspects in the form of a structure that could be locally built through a series of simple instructions. The designer is to consider the final proposal as a kit of local specification for the users, which can address a range of outcomes that can exist. Through the flexibility of the system, the designs can be situated to the urban fabric in a way that allows for in-situ results.

1. Pollution indexign - AAVS Shanghai 2015 2. Road pollution influence - AAVS Shanghai 2015 3. Networks and urban flows indexing - MAPS 2014 4. Uban natures proprosal - AAVS Shanghai 2014 5. Uban natures proprosal - AAVS Shanghai 2015 6. Uban natures proprosal - AAVS Shanghai 2014

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0 // STUDIO INTRO Tutors (Unit 1) The Ecolocal Infrastructures studio unit was lead by Mary Polites and Ignacio Lopez Buson, both directors and founders of the Shanghai-based office MAPS (Methods for the Architecture of Patterns and Systems).

Their backgrounds comprise a full design scale scope ranging from material design to urban planning and territorial research.

This combination allows them to integrate large scale design techniques into small scale projects and vice-versa, resulting in the development of an integrative non-scalar design methodology.

MAPS MAPS (Methods for the Architecture of Patterns and Systems) is a design collective specialized in developing innovative design solutions for the integration of human and natural systems at all scales.

Founded in 2014 by Chen Du, Mary Polites and Ignacio Lopez Buson, MAPS main office is located in Shanghai (China), with realtime collaborators in London (UK), Madrid (Spain) and the Canary Islands (Spain). MAPS network is formed by architects, urban planners and landscape designers with an expertise in digital technologies and a multi-scalar design methodology based on a scientific yet humanistic approach. MAPS main focus is to analyse the complexity of current social, economic and natural systems and articulate their logics into integral, diverse, innovative, and habitable environments.

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Ignacio López Busón

Mary Polites

An architect and urban planner from Spain, Ignacio López Busón has 10 years of international professional experience in Europe and in Asia, focusing on innovative urban design, master planning and largescale projects.

Mary Polites is a full time professor at Shanghai’s Tongji Design & Innovation College. She teaches studios, lectures and seminars related to biomimetic and environmental design and co-directs the BiDL (Biomimetic Design Lab).

He holds a Bachelor and Masters in Architecture from ETSA Las Palmas GC and another Master degree in Landscape Urbanism from AA, and is an expert on teaching methodology based on implementation of Geographic Information System (GIS), generative design, systems thinking and parametric design. He has over 5 years of teaching experience on courses and international workshops related to urbanism and digital design, including teaching and guest critic positions at the London based Architectural Association School of Architecture (AA), Tongji University in Shanghai and Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD).

Her background is in architecture with professional experience in architecture, urban and landscape architecture. She completed her postgraduate master of architecture at the Architectural Association in London in Emergent Technologies and Design program (EMTECH) and has a Bachelors degree in Architecture from New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT). She has taught at Washington State University under the Weller teaching and research fellowship and currently is a tutor for units at the Architectural Association Visiting Schools in Shanghai.

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1 // SITE RESEARCH Shanghai What makes Shanghai unique?

Shanghai (上海) literally means “above (Shang,上) the sea” (Hai, 海), and it is a city whose history and development are definitely tied to its relationship with water.

Once a fisher water town, then an industrial harbour and now a strong world-ranked megalopolis, with a population of more than 24 million people.

Dotted with many rivers, canals and lakes, Shanghai is known for its rich water resources, with the water area totalling 697 square kilometres and accounting for 11% of the city’s total territory. Most of the rivers, including the Suzhou Creek, Chuanyang River and Dianpu River, are tributaries of the Huangpu River. Originating from the Taihu Lake, the 113-kilometer-long Huangpu River winds through the downtown area of the city. The river is about 300 to 770 meters wide with an average width standing at 360 meters. The Huangpu River is the main waterway in the Shanghai area. The Shanghai section of the Suzhou Creek runs 54 kilometres, with an average width of 45 meters.

1. Shanghai satelite image - Google Earth 2016

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1 // SITE RESEARCH Historical Approach Shanghai’s geographic location is in an alluvial plane which means that the vast majority of its 6,340.5 km2 land area is flat, with an average elevation of just 4 meters. This positioning lead to Shanghai’s successful development throughout history to be closely integrated with the use of water ways as its main infrastructure. The initial generation of the cities growth was organized by the connections of canals as a means for transportation and moving goods.

This use changed over around the time that cars were modernized and the cost of carving out waterways versus generating a new road met a crossroads. Therefore the link between man-made water connections and natural waterways has completely been blurred throughout the development of the of the modern city.

1. Plan of Shanghai - USA Army Map Service, 1935

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1 // SITE RESEARCH Environmental Approach The current city composition still holds a close link with its water ways, but with a different relationship than as a main infrastructure. Due to the city´s flat topography, the maximum height of 4 meters puts the city in a contentious location for development. On a global scale, if the sea level rise continues as expected, by 2100 there will be about a +5 meter increase in height. This rise will affect 43% of the worlds cities, including Shanghai.

The question becomes how will the city address its relationship with the water and its preexisting geographic conditions and allow for its continuous rapid growth due to urbanization.

1. Shanghai topography analysis - AAVS 2016

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2 // METHODOLOGY Methods The workshop was structured into 4 main phases: mapping, indexing, transforming and emerging. First, the mapping phase allowed the students to build a comprehensive digital model of the site. An introduction to geographic on-line resources led to the collection of datasets including topography, buildings, roads, infrastructure, etc.

The indexing phase is based on finding hidden spatial relationships between the different geographic layers of the model. In the transforming phase, these patterns were to be subsequently used as forces to deform the urban environment, thus creating an experimental field for potential urban and natural growth. Finally, the emerging phase focuses on studying bottom-up logics that could serve to populate and activate the “transformed� space, creating an alternative urban model that aims to integrate natural and social logics seamlessly.

1. Parks proximity model 2. Parks density model 3. Park >1 Ha spatial model 4. Park <1 Ha spatial model 5. Park proximity network studies 6. Vector field studies 7. Parks voronoi studies 8. Parks voronoi studies

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Tools Rhinoceros and Grasshopper are the main design tools in the workshop. Rhinoceros is a commercial 3D computer graphics and computer-aided design (CAD) application software developed by Robert McNeel & Associates. On the other hand, Grasshopper® is a graphical algorithm editor tightly integrated with Rhino’s 3-D modeling tools created by David Rutten.

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For the mapping phase, Grasshopper plugins such as Heron (by Brian Washburn) or Elk (by Timothy Logan) helped to download the found geodata sets and import the information into Rhinoceros in order to build our digital model. In further phases, other Grasshopper plug-ins were intensively used, such as Giulio Piacentino’s Shortest Walk or Carson Smuts’ Mosquito.

9. Water runoff analysis 10. Topography contours analsys 11. Proximity to river analysis 12. Topographic iterations model 13. Slope triangulation studies 14. Topography mobility studies 15. Water retention system 16. Final proposal

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3 // INDEXING Aqua-Clusters The first study attempted to create spatial entities based on proximity that could have any relationship with water, with the potential to become water reserve.

Morphologies such as low points, parks, gardens, wastelands and actual water bodies (rivers and lakes) were considered. These virtual regions could later inform the water runoff analysis.

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Flow Fields Before simulating water logics within Shanghai, we used the Huangpu river as an attractor source and created several vector flows diagrams to understand how the relation between land and river could potentially re-organize the urban tissue.

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Drainage Network After unsuccessfully trying to run water runoff simulations on Shanghai´s flat topography, it was assumed that due to the urbanized environment, rain flows were redirected into the streets (and drainage system), and in this case would follow the shortest path in the urban network.

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Canal Catchment Areas After studying the shortest paths within the street network in terms of rainfall and the river (Huangpu and Suzhou creek), the most intense flows were selected and unified offset boundaries were automatically generated. The resulting map showed similar patterns of the old canal system in use in the 20th century. Partially shown in the 1935´s Plan of Shanghai by the US Army Map Service (p.12).

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4 // TRANSFORMATION Local Transformations After the generation of a spatial system based on potential drainage logics towards Huangpu river, we decided to study the urban implications of this system on a smaller scale. We used each resulting water catchment areas as a local tissues for morphological experimentation. Following the previous water logics, we developed a challenging question: what if we could use the physical and social influence of water in a specific area to shape this same area and turn it into a literal topography? The shifting from an urban environment to a natural one, would allow us for the use of landscape design techniques to inform potential urban strategies.

Within the boundary of each canal cluster, we evaluated the distance from each point to both the river (Suzhou creek or Huangpu) and to the canal branches. According to the distance to water, each point would move vertically, creating depressions or mountains.

Thanks to this new topography, real run-offs could be simulated and represented.

1. Offset canal boundary with parks integration 2. Canal points subdivision for distance analysis 3. Run-offs studies towards canal 4. Points distance to canal 5. Contour modelling and runoff studies 6. Topography height analysis

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4 // TRANSFORMATION Global Transformations The rule sequence applied to one cluster was then tested on the canal system for the entire city, resulting in a group of disconnected sub-topographies. In order to create a whole seamless system and not just a collage of separated topographies, we applied the previous transformation logics to Shanghaiâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s topography.

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1. Local topographic studies 2. Local topographic studies 3. Local topographic studies 4. Global runoff studies 5. Global topographic studies 6. Global contour analysis

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4 // TRANSFORMATION Topographic Iterations After altering several parameters, such as overall distance to water, pre-existing topography height or run-offs lengths among others, we developed an endless catalogue of topographical studies. Instead of imposing a determined form, we studied how to influence the outcome of our rule set. We could search for more â&#x20AC;&#x153;desiredâ&#x20AC;? solutions thanks to a second set of rules to analyse and evaluate the iterations in real time.

1. Shanghai topography model 2. Topographic iterations - stage 1 3. Topographic iterations - stage 2 4. Topographic iterations - stage 3

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AAVS SHANGHAI 2016 // ECO-LOCAL INFRASTRUCTURES //

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5 // EMERGENCE Topo-Logics As explained in the methodology chapter, the emerging phase focuses on studying bottom-up logics that could serve to populate and activate the new spatial condition created in the transformation phase. Since in this case the â&#x20AC;&#x153;transformed spaceâ&#x20AC;? is a new topographic system, it provided us with the opportunity to test several landscape techniques for its analysis and evaluation. First, basic contouring and triangulation techniques were used to rationalize the topography geometry and qualify it. Subsequently, orientation, height and slope were the main parameters to determine emergent spatial conditions within the topographies.

1. Topography contouring and height evaluation 2. Topography triangulated model 3. Slope Analysis

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5 // EMERGENCE Relational Prototypes From the combinatory techniques the hidden relationships between height, topography, water management systems and growth were linked and explored. The first example of this cross-connection was shown through the triangulation of the topography, From this, areas with height and valleys could be isolated and separate for areas of growth and areas of water systems. Using each of these types of areas now separated, the second exploration focused on testing orientations and allocations of densities for growth. These growths were organized off of two main principles, within zones of access to each other based on slope, and outside of areas prone to water. The resultant clusters were distributed throughout the topography.

A secondary study was carried out to connect these growth clusters with each other to suggest a connectivity network.

These lines followed base rules of slope and minimal span in terms of distances.

The two results shown illustrate the un-rendered view with all the steps interconnected and the final visualization with heights.

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1. Topological model A 2. Topological model B 3. Topological model C 4. Prototypical model A 5. Prototypical model B 6. Prototypical model C

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5 // EMERGENCE Cities as Landscapes This workshop challenged the way we normally understood and designed cities by turning a specific urban environment into its hypothetical natural counterpart. In doing so, we aimed to blur all the established preconceptions in urban planning regarding morphology and spatiality, and attempted to re-design an urban condition following landscape and natural logics. Although openly experimental, this strategy links to contemporary fields in urban planning such as landscape urbanism, and has the potential of opening our cities to new hopeful models of integration with natural systems and the urban conditions. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The city of the future will be an infinite series of landscapes: psychological and physical, urban and rural, flowing apart and together. They will be mapped and planned for special purposes, with the results recorded in geographical information systems (GIS), which have the power to construct and retrieve innumerable plans, images and other records. Christopher Alexander was right: a city is not a tree. It is a landscape.â&#x20AC;? (2)

1. Final proposal - top view 2. Turner, Tom. City as landscape, London, 1996

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6 // CREDITS Team The Liquid Topographies team came together with shared interests regarding landscape design and urban planning. Their complementary backgrounds allowed for a quick focus on the main organizational devices concerning urbanity and their potential integration with natural systems.

The development of the team´s work was lead by their deep commitment to learning at an intense rate, and at an intense pace over the course of the workshop. This booklet is just a small but clear sample of the intense, passionate and collaborative work between tutors and students developed during the AA Visiting Shanghai 2016.

Wang Yadian Yadian is a current undergraduate student in the College of Landscape Architecture at the Beijing Forestry University in Beijing, China.

Her background and interests focus on the study of the ecologies both in the natural and the built environment. In her professional background she worked in 2015 as an assistant designer for Ciyuanlin Landscape Architecture Design Company.

She attended the AAVS workshop to continue exploring new techniques focused on the ecological development of cities in China.

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Wu Wenjing

Chloe Haentjens

Wenjing is an urban and landscape designer.

She completed her undergraduate degree at the University of Shanghai, at the Science and Technology College. With a background in Environmental Art Design, she continued her studies from 2013-2014 at the University of Nottingham, where she was part of the Sustainable Design Master´s program.

Chloe is currently a master´s degree student in Urban Planning and Sustainable Development at the University of Lille, France. Although she was initially interested in architecture during her undergraduate degree, eventually she moved into the urban scale as the concerns of spatial design of the city were more appealing to her. As a result, she studied urban planning as her primary degree for undergraduate.

Professionally she has worked as urban designer at LAB Architecture studio from 2011-2013, and currently she is part of the Landscape and Urban Design team at Logon, an architecture office based in Shanghai.

She came to the AAVS aiming to explore digital design tools and techniques and their application into landscape and urban design.

She came to China as an exchange student at Tongji College of Architecture and Urban Planning, where she took part in a studio that focused on digital design and urban design.

Her interests in the AAVS were to explore parametric design applied to urbanism and to study new methodologies and approaches regarding spatial organization of contemporary cities.

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ACA D E M Y

www.mapsmethods.com