ezweb123 is amazing, easy to build a website, you don’t need to know HTML, Dreamweaver, or CSS, but it might be slower to load, and depend heavily on Flash, so not iPad friendly.
Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category
a cool software that records your mouse motion
Photo (Mouse pointer track after 3 hours of working in Photoshop. Black circles are pointer stops (not clicks).) from: http://www.flickr.com/photos/anatoliy_zenkov/4271592658/
For both Mac and Windows
Design + Research: National Mall as a system
Design + Research: National Mall
This project is cooperated with Hu Di
A system of everyday street life + A system within the urban forest of Washington DC
Is National Mall part of the DC complex system or a segment?
The most part I gain from the course is the idea of system, and how to look at an individual house, or an individual landscape as part of a larger system. For the LAR8010 Studio, I am trying to integrate the “cut-off” National Mall back to the system of Washington DC.
The current NPS Plan looks at the Mall as a unit part of Washington DC, and aims to preserve it as an individual element.
[NPS Plan for National Mall (Preferred alternative)]
However, compared to a proposal by the National Capital Planning Commission, the Mall is a part of the urban forest, a system of the whole Washington DC.
[Special Streets – Park System Plan The REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT GUIDE 1966-2000 By the National Capital Planning Commission]
So the Challenge is, how to design Washington Mall as a system, to reconnect it back to the city and use it not only as a destination for tourists but can be used as a part of everyday life for the residence of DC.
One issue is, whenever we look at National Mall, our attention are so abstracted by the East-west axis, from Capitol Hill to the Washington Memorial, then to the Lincoln Memorial, the North-South axis, from White house to Washington Memorial, then to the Jefferson Memorial. However, the North-South Axis is so dominated by the current White house-Washington Memorial-Jefferson Memorial one, within the Mall, North-South connections are weak, comparing to the East-West predominated axis.
Learning from Historic MCM Plan, the North-Shout axis was given the equal emphasis to the East-West axis, and learning from the Downing Plan, outdoor rooms were created, a meandering path connection those rooms then integrated them to be a system of urban forest, these features are lost in the current mall, with two homogeneous Elm Bosque, and an empty large area of Lawn.
So how can we copy the North-South Axis from MCM plan, and reinvent them into the mall, creating a series of thresholds, that leading people to the mall, and break the invisible boundaries between the Mall and the everyday street life.
Small landscape additions were inserted. By creating a roof structure that virtually connection the canopy that was covers the gap between two elm boxes, and act as a welcoming gesture.
A underground highway is located in this site, so no woody plants are allowed, however, a constructed roof structure could be inserted. The roof structure is trying to form a feeling of connection, from the roof of Metro Entrance to the Elm box, from the Bus station, to the Elm box.
Hence, a line of curvilinear benches are also inserted, connecting the predestine circulation as a whole.
Hence, smaller scale water features could be inserted, to connect the Union Square water basin, and brings water to the mall.
Integrated with the bench line, lighting device could be hided inside.
To wrap up, a design that integrated all elements that NPS plan proposed and assemble them together into a system, finally adapt it into the whole system of urban life.
[elements proposed by NPS]
[Integrated features as a system]
Reference:
Special Streets – Park System Plan The REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT GUIDE 1966-2000 By the National Capital Planning Commission
Final National Mall Plan/Environmental Impact Statement document by National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior
The world, the city, the building, the human, a system watching and being watched
The world:
Satellite + Google Earth
The city:
Traffic Camera + Control Center
The building:
Security camera + Alarm system that connects to police station
The human:
Your webcam in your favorite MacBook, or the camera in your favorite iphone + YouTube or MSN messenger
Chand Baori in Movies/MTVs
Chand Baori is a famous stepwell situated in the village of Abhaneri near Jaipur in the Indian state of Rajasthan.
This step well is located opposite Harshat Mata Temple, constructed in 800 c. and is one of the deepest and largest step wells in India. It was built in the 9th century and has 3500 narrow steps in 13 stories and is 100 feet deep.(Wikipedia)
Interesting place for movies~~
India MV:
Deleted Song – Sakhiya (Bhool Bhulaiyaa): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1742ZCN11g
The same location is used in Tarsem Singh’s The Fall (filmed in India).
the Telugu film Chandamama
Song: Muvvala Navvakala from Pournami (Telugu) over on the “Best South Indian Song Picturisation” poll:
song: Theendai Theendai from En Swasa Katre (Tamil):
Paheli, the movie
Another by-product during my random Google search: a very cool costal line in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh (Vizag Port.) Telugu film Bunny
bay game 2
for some unknown reason, the post didn’t come out.
According to Meadows, elements, interconnections and a function or purpose are necessary components in systems. Describe the elements, connections and/or functions or purpose in the Chesapeake Bay watershed system. Diagram the system including these elements.
Many elements are included in the bay game, but there are 3 of these elements I found was really important to the health of the bay, one is producer, namely, waterman (which is my role), crop farmer, animal farmer. The other is Consumer (which is not visible during the bay game, but has a deep impact on the price of the products from producer). And the last is regulator. Regulator setup rules mainly for producer, and then, producer changed their productivity according to the change of the rules set by producer. And this change eventually affect consumer via the price. It’s a complex long distance system, that system lag during the loop is critical. During bay game I played, I deeply experienced the lag. And regulator will be the key to predict the lag in advance and response in an appropriate time frame.
I think the objective of the system is not merely keeping the bay healthy, or gaining profit, but to keep a dynamic balance that all parts are benefit. A win-win game.
This is the previous version
This is a new version
Describe how your diagram and understanding have changed since your first diagram of the Chesapeake Bay watershed system.
I didn’t realized how important the economic and “goal of the system” is. I think the first diagram is more about activity oriented, and the second one is more player oriented. In terms of economy, I started to observe that nobody is willing to keep the bay healthy by sacrificing their economy profit. It’s not desirable to have a healthy bay and poor citizen. Another issue is, the goal of each person involved in the bay system is responsible to the bay health, but everyone has their own calculation. How can a regulator (as a key player in this case) draw an appropriate line, and say that, this is the limit. How to define the limits is a real challenge.
How do you think delay affects the efforts to improve the health of the Bay?
During the Bay Game, when the bay is declining in health status, everyone is quite focus on saving the bay by shifting to “harvest less”. And regulators became to tighten the limits. This in return raised the health status. But when the bay seems to be in good status, people started to think more about their profit, and their happiness, and regulators became to loosen. I think that at some points, it’s better to have an unhealthy bay but people actually aware the warning and trying to lift up the environment condition then having a seemingly healthy bay with people feeling relief and starting to ignore the environmental problems. So as the old famous Chinese saying, “生于忧患，死于安乐” (Survive in Disasters, Perish in Comfort / Hardship will lead to prosperity, while comfort will incur destruction). Always keep your eyes open and always do things appropriate to the bay.
What was your perceived understanding of the goal/s of the game? Did you think the overall goal/s “fit” with your goals as a stakeholder and citizen? Describe how your understanding of the goal/s affected your actions within the game?
I perceived the goal of the game is to agree into a balance that every role can achieve their own personal goal and at the same time, keep the bay healthy. The goal might be utopia given that it might never satisfy the greedy majority. But if the majority is less greedy and taking actions that have more beneficial impacts to the bay, I think that having the good strategy, making the appropriate decision, the overall goal will fit with personal goals no matter what role they are playing. I set my goal as my happiness and my concern of the environment and the economy are the same weight. I review my decision and make shifts during every round. It’s going closer over rounds.
We are improving the UVA Bay Game with each iteration and would like your feedback. Please share any thoughts you have on how the game could be better, what you liked, how it could be best used, and any other comments you have.
It’s really a great strategy game. I think it’s really helpful to know some more background information not only about the environmental issues about the bay, but about how those roles actually setup into the game. For me, I am kind of making random decisions in the first several rounds.
And, maybe this is too far away, but if we can add AI players and can practice myself several times before playing with human players as emulation, that would be really helpful. If we can get some Blizzard staff onboard, that will be great.
City as Ecosystem[unfinished]
Cities as ecosystems:
Citys are places where human live, interacting with each other and with other living organisms as well as abiotic elements.
Self-organizing system as sustainable or viable if all the system characteristics (or “orientors” as he calls them) are in a satisfactory state.
Healthy(effective)[meeting energy need | Meeting Matter Needs | Biodiversity and Coevolution]
Zero waste
Self-regulating
Resilient and self-renewing
Flexible
Health effective:
Use of solar energy
Autotrophic or regionally autotrophic system
Cycling of matter
Intergration of functions
Erosion ctrl
Network coevolution
Zero waste:
Cycling of matter
Filtration
Self-regulation:
Negative feedback loops, facilitated by proximity and functional matching
Resilience and self-Renewal:
Diversity
Panarchy (nested adaptive cycles); ecological memory
Positive feedback loops
Flexibility:
Networks
(Bossel 1998)
Sustainable societies
Ethics based on strong emotional connections
Psychological fulfillment[Equitable, Cooperative Social Arrangements | Varied activities for creativity and stimulation | A sense of meaning and belonging through traditions]
Cooperative coexistence [Self-Regulating Communities of Place | adaptive learning and environmental feedback]
Connective practives that nurture and sustain an ethic of care- for each other and for one’s “life-place”
Visibility of the more-than-human world
Protection of cultural, economic and ecological diversity
Solar-based and ecological architecture
Sustainable design of support systems
Another Model (Ecosystem succession Principles for city form and structure) by Newman (1975)
Energy and material
Land and structures
Information
Control/governance
City concentrate power…however, they are sill shaped and structured by one fundamental driver: personal mobility. Average: 30min travel time (this is interesting)
Walking city: Copenhagen | Bern, Switzerland | Mesopotamia | Persia | Roseland | some Chinese Cities | (old cities, traditional cities)
Transit Cities: mid-1800s rail node
Automobile Cities: since 1950s, rapidly in the new world high ecological footprints and high economic costs. Social Problems
BedZED Beddington Zero Energy Development
Summary of the Ecosystem Succession Model
World night map = FAKE?? [Article from Domus]
• There is an image famous among scholars of the contemporary city. perhaps the most famous of all (thanks to the work of architects and town-planners such as Stefano Boeri and Bernardo Secchi) that presents a “Iuminous map” ofthe planet’s cities in a nocturnal satellite photograph. In actual fact. it’s a fake. on at least two counts The first is that as it is a projection oft he entire terrestrial globe. the image is course made up of a series of different nocturnal photos that are assembled to get her to create a paradoxical (as well as poetic) “planetary night”.
The second false aspect. that is also the reason why the image is so widespread among contemporary town-planners is the visual proof of the existence of the phenomenon of “urban dispersion” or the “diffused city”. It is a kind of city that goes beyond its own limits. however mega they are. and is fused and confused in immense new inhabited configurations – the city of Europe. The city of the East Coast of America. And so on – transforming the actual cities in their various areas. So much attention has been given to this image (the visual and the theoretical one) that we often forget to consider a second ‘ map’ that is something of a projection of the great global luminous city: the map of the sky
The suggestion to do so comes from astrophysicists such as Gianluca Masi of Rome University. for whom the famous satellite photograph is above all a negative “Iitmus test” for seeing the light pollution produced by cities. The image seen ofthe sky. Masi explains. Has in recent years been completely altered by the increase in artificial light: since 2003 it has been recognised by Unisco as a heritage of humanity. One could also say that the urban landscape now also extends to the sky. Encompassing it in a’single low contrast “territory “. Not all light sources however contribute to this phenomenon. onlythose that cause “dispersion – in this case – of light”: in other words that do not direct the beam in a precise and punctual way. Faithful to geometry. to a design. Contrast to ddfslight pollution thus takes on a diverse connotation and calls into play the sustainable principle of energy saving. technological innovation. and why not. the originality of industrial design in conceiving precise and punctual solutions.
At first glance. the idea would seem to be limited to large outdoor areas. exactly those ones now achieved – as has already been the case with interiors – by the revolution of LEDs and the consequent rewriting of the codes of lightingdesign.ln reality light dispersion also comes from inhabited spaces. public and private interiors: it is not something that is so much to do with the use and nature of illuminated places as with the “nature” of the gesture that designs and orientates light. According to some maps. the ancient Maya cities were designed based on the position of the stars: today perhaps we can do the exact opposite.
by Guido Musante
Domus 939 maps of the mayas the design of the light can affect the look of the city and the design of the city the look of the sky
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