1.1a Diagramming_Natalie Price
Arch222 Week1 Field Conditions
From Object to Field:
The conditions of a field are dependent on the fluidity and perspective of a composition. The single composition can create a multitude of fields simply by changing ones view of the scene. A map might appear simple, a relatively plain and undulating field with moments of intensity by natural landmarks, such as a body of water. But, if one were to adjust their view, to zoom in to a moment on the map, the body of water would transform from a moment of contrast to an expanse of calm. Fine lines would appear as pathways indicating direction appear, while clusters and elevations of trees and shrubs busy the field. Our perception of the field is not static to an object. It is impacted by the shapes formed through groupings and the surrounding spaces. The impact of an object on the field can drastically change based on ones perspective.
Geometric vs. Algebraic Combination:
When an environment is planned from beginning to end it becomes rigid, an algebraic formation. If an environment is given the permission to grow the resulting field is geometric; given the time to respond to objects that came before it, natural variations are formed with consideration to the ever changing surroundings. Cities form in these ways, geometric and algebraic, based on the context of time and culture. Cities that grew slowly, and had time to respond to the changes the came before it are built with the awareness, it becomes evident which directions to grow as the landscape is occupied, and understood. Cities that erected overnight by an end to end plan are not responding to the challenges faced along the way, their shape and character is nor formed by the place as much as it is by the builders. These approaches to growth(combination) result in varying shape, proximity, and directions within the cities.
Walking Out of Cubism:
Minimalism considers the object and the space around it. The intent is to maintain only what is significant to expressing the form; the object and the figure ground. In doing so, minimalism ignores any idea of process, or of being temporary. It would be fair to say it intends to defy time through the use of ageless materials and images that leave no trace as to their birth. Time is of course always present, and a necessary factor in creation. As land moves, deteriorates, transforms, builds, and crumbles over time so intern do the fields evolve. It is important to consider time with regards to design and creation as life happens around and impacts creation, life being a result of time.
Thick 2D: Moirés, Mats:
How may an object stand out from the fabric of its landscape, while maintaining a connection to the over all field? Perhaps imagining the field as a continuous cloth, and the objects which protrude from its surface are placed instead beneath the cloth, creating undulations of the familiar material. The items which gather and disperse to makeup a field, although separate in their own right, must still be able to be understood as one being, one material. Therefore, the impact these objects have on the field can be seen as a thickening of the universal material, identifying their location while maintaining the “cloth”.
Flocks, Schools, Swarms, Crowds:
Crowds encompass ideas of fluid motion, influenced direction, obstacles, time, and the formation of entirely new fields through mass grouping. While flocks and herds seem to follow simple and regular patterns with regards to movement and reaction, crowds of people operate on a different set of rules, producing a more sporadic, energized grouping. Regardless, both kinds of groupings seems to have direction influenced by the bodies around them (local influence), reaction to obstacles in the environment, and form fields dependent on time, as they are continuously transforming. From these groups patterns can be defined and understood as to how objects respond independently to environment, either static or ephemeral, and intern influence and form the group as a collective entity within a field.
