revised statement and research objectives

revised statement:

The proposal is about designing a new type of public space, using mapping as an exploratory design technique to reveal latent conditions. The activity of mapping is a revelationary act. In architectural practice, mapping is used as formal generator, as intervention, and as analysis. James Corner gives four mapping categories: drift, layering, game-board, and rhizome. But these processes examine mapping as either intervention, or as form, without really examining mapping as analysis. The problem with these  is that mapping as intervention becomes the total design practice, and mapping as form is too often arbitrary. The possibility of mapping to be integrated into the design as analysis is left largely unexplored by Corner.

In this project, mapping is utilized as a form of documentation and analysis. Mapping asks questions about activity and usage and what the spatial and temporal correspondences are. What patterns or events are revealed? What possibilities can the addition of mapping reveal, as a design technique, during the design process?

The proposal is to develop a design project that integrates mapping to extend James Corners idea.  Mapping is integrated into the design process, not as a means in and of itself, but to make the design intervention more contextual and responsive to surrounding conditions. The two possibilities are the creation of affect in a empty public space, or the accentuation of affect in a densely populated public space.



research inquiry:
The method for the proposed inquary is mapping.
This is essentially design experimentation. In terms of research, I have to study and catalogue different mapping practices. The actual design project involves the documentation of site and the collection of data, and the production of images showing important relationships.

I would like to have site documentation and data collection done by the beginning of the next semester, allowing for an entire semester of design production.

My objectives are to produce a pamphlet documenting the design process and design intervention along with the installation.

Issues: What/why of  the site?