HKU-Landscape-Annual-2013-14

BA(LS)
ARCH2046
Visual Communication for
Landscape Architects
Instructors:
Seth Denizen
Visual Communication for
Landscape Architects
Particulate Matter (PM) is a term that refers to any solid, liquid,
or gas that happens to be of a certain size (between .01 and
100 micrometres). As a category, it therefore encompasses
an enormous diversity of materials. What gives this term
specificity is that things reduced to this size generally begin
to move through the world in new ways, and, as with Mary
Douglas’s anthropological definition of ‘dirt’, these flows
tend to put ‘matter out of place’. Particulate Matter is
therefore a description of a kind of movement, a set of scalar
relationships, and an anthropological category of place at the
threshold between objects and atmospheres.
In PM students explored this threshold as a representational
problem that requires us to imagine new methods of
description. Paying particular attention to scale, place,
and motion, students were required to design and digitally
fabricate particulate matter. This required an engagement with
digital fabrication techniques, physical modelling, analytical
drawing, notational systems, and animation using Rhino3D
and Grasshopper design software. Special attention was
paid to understanding the strengths and limitations of each
form of representation in relation to the particulate matter
being designed. Students was required to pose problems
and develop methodologies for testing solutions. Each
assignment required the acquisition of new technical skills, the
development of an analysis, and the communication of ideas in
drawings.
2
Particulate Matter
1
1
May
Ka Ying CHAN
2
Yu Ming HO
3
Amanda TON
4
Koni
Tsz Wa CHAN
98 99
3
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