Surface FX

Project Description Like all maintenance, economy of operations is paramount to mowing and if any alternative strategy is to be received favorably it must reduce overall mowing. One way to achieve this is by adhering to convention so that the design remains legible to operators and achievable in the field.

By diagramming “the rules” of conventional mow paths, aesthetically and spatially desirable opportunities were identified for the shrinking city.

Two main strategies are identified: the spatial volume, and the field pattern. In the first, mowing only takes place in those areas most under threat from woody invasion, with the added value of creating a spatial volume in what would have been “vacant space.” Patterns are developed by overlaying conventional mow paths to create a cumulative moiré affect. Both are used to guide visual and physical access through a site, reduce overall mowing, and give an aesthetic signature to vague terrain. Both are also intended to be performed at the beginning of the mowing season in late Spring. For the late Summer mowing, the previous paths can be repeated to create frames around successional vegetation or the entire site can be mowed for a blank slate the following year.

In total, eight operations were designed, and range in complexity and time savings. Each were originally drawn in plan based on the formal logic of the mowing typology and then drawn in axon to better communicate their spatial affects.

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