Design for sustainability; the zone of mediation between interior and exterior, veranda and the outdoor room;  computer visualisation and landscape including panoramic representation and virtuality and film art and animated imagery.

Peter’s work has been exhibited in Venice (2000) and Florence (2001), and he continues to publish theoretical papers internationally, most recently at the Computers in Art and Design Education conference on the Paradox of Stillness, in Perth 2007.

 

5th International Festival for Architecture in Video
THE FUTURE AND THE CITY
international architectural conference > November 30 - December 3, 2000

 

The city of the future is identified here as an infinite accumulation of suburban sprawl, low-density development all the way to the coast. The remote seashore being the last nostalgic haven from development punctuated by gas-stations. The design brief called for the serial redevelopment of petrol station forecourts into distinctive works of land-art and/or urban landscape (for re-creation), to be experienced from a moving vehicle. Students undertook a road trip to shoot video footage appropriate for each of their landscape designs. An element of futurism was added to the brief, requiring students to address the potential demise or re-invention of the city and the petrol station in the year 2030.

 

 

 

 

The resurgence of the 360- degree panoramic view as a form of computer-synthesised architectural representation.

Robert D. Hotten, University of Auckland, New Zealand
Peter R. Diprose, Unitec, Auckland, New Zealand

Abstract
The conference theme ‘eternity, infinity and virtuality’ may be considered in terms of time, space and the other.  One form of representation which captures all three of these fundamental dimensions, at a glance, is the 360-degree panorama, a medium which is currently making a comeback in the architectural studio.  This paper explores the use of the computer synthesised panorama as a means of representing architectural space and landscape experience, and as a method of informing the design.  The panoramic mural is differentiated from two subcategories of QTVR panorama, the subjective and the objective. The use of panoramic views enable landscape architecture students to design using a 2D image format which can be rendered to provide a 3D spatial effect.  In summary, the paper contends that the process of design, in architectural practice and in architectural education, is significantly enhanced by the dynamic representations of time and/or space offered by the computer synthesised panorama.

1. The panoramic view: Eternity, infinity and virtuality.
The conference theme ‘eternity, infinity and virtuality’ may be considered in terms of time, space and the other.  One form of representation which captures all three of these fundamental dimensions, at a glance, is the 360-degree panorama which reached its height of popularity more than a century ago.  As Comment states – The panorama was one of the most popular and most typical phenomena of the nineteenth century, of which it is in a way the signature. A motley crowd in search of wanton, enigmatic and rarely denied pleasure would rush to see these spectacular paintings… A fundamental shift had taken place in the logic and focus of representation.(Comment, 1999)

In general, the panoramic photograph or painting technique records and simulates comprehensive views of a portion of the earth’s surface, landscape, or built environment (Oettermann, 1997).  Between 1787 and 1900 panorama painting was a medium through which ordinary people could access and experience the other. Namely, for those living in the large established European cities, this ‘other’ was life beyond typical mundane existence, a reality experienced by others elsewhere at some other time.  Through the panorama newly discovered exotic colonial landscapes and architecture were able to be ‘captured’ by teams of painters for homeland audiences. For example, “Panorama of the Congo” by Alfred Bastien and Paul Mathieu (painted in 1913, measuring 15m x 115m) was created for the National Exhibition of Ghent. Being sponsored by the government of the time, this panorama was as much a work of colonial propaganda as it was a work of art, with expressed intention to give young Belgians “a taste for the colonies” (Comment, 1999).

 

The resurgence of the 360-degree panoramic view as a form of computer-synthesised architectural representation.
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From Paris Texas to the Road Warrior. Computer aided landscapes and the road movie - the place of film and television media within architectural education.
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 Real gardens, vicarious landscapes or virtual arenas for stillness and spectacle.

Peter R. DIPROSE Robert D. HOTTEN, Kelly J. O’MEARA

Abstract:
This paper investigates the paradox of stillness within posturban space, and in particular the garden.  Posturbanism is identified as a synthesis of two principle ideas: the city as an analogue of the mind, and for virtual urban space to  satisfy immaterial human needs.  The contention is that for urban theory to be useful and satisfying it must direct the  integration and extension of the real into the virtual.  The human need for spectacle is described in an historical  context.  Only one element of urban landscape is explored here - the garden.  More specifically, the Eastern/Persian paradise garden is juxtaposed to the Western modernist city and park, drawing on (visual) commentary derived from film, virtual gaming arenas, and thirdspace hybrid landscapes.  The paradox of stillness within the real and digital landscapes is critiqued.  It is concluded that a rehabilitated posturban landscape is required if stillness is to be revealed and embraced.

Keywords: Garden, landscape, posturbanism, spectacle, vicarious Introduction

This paper investigates the paradox of stillness within posturban space, and in particular the garden.  At least two distinct trains of thought are evident.  The first of these focuses on the  potential for recently emergent posturban space to satisfy human needs.  This is discussed within  an historical perspective detailing the shift from reality towards virtuality as a primary means of satisfying the desire for spectacle.

The second train of thought (which cannot be fully detailed here) relates to the design and interpretation of garden-space as a metaphor for stillness.  Trinh Minh-ha defines the paradox of stillness as “sound or silence, movement or stillness, not opposed to one another” (Minh-ha, 2005).  In terms of the garden, we interpret stillness as ‘duration’.  Stillness as duration abounds  in Eastern gardens.  Accepting the quantum view of decoherence, there is a flow of information  about an object (for example, a garden) into its surroundings, and since information can be  neither created nor destroyed, the duration of this flow is as timeless as the centuries between the  construction of Eastern gardens and the present and future.

 

Real Gardens, vicarious landscapes or virtual arenas for stillness and spectable
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