Design at near-regional scales

Abstract

A reliance on lines, curves and the calculus of turn of the century architectural exploration has stunted the design disciplines' potential to react critically to discontinuous and fragmented scenarios. This talk repositions Geographic Information Systems as a creative medium deep within the design process, enabling designers greater control over complex, highly articulate surfaces, data and territories. Two contextually divergent projects, one visualizing conservation sciences in the Amazon and the other modeling the highly discontinuous ground surfaces of urban Hong Kong, will field GIS beyond geographic analysis and organization towards a parametric and creative medium in which to operate where data is scarce. Both projects work at what is defined as 'near-regional' resolutions, suggesting that the greatest difficulty, both technically and politically, in understanding these territories exists in the zone between local, perceptible human-scale interaction and the coarse grain of remotely sensed information and models. The talk will oscillate amongst conceptually compelling examples and the important yet highly technical means that proof them.