In the discussion between contained or continuous, and serial or unique, we looked to establish a level of abstraction that offers both a homogeneous organization and heterogeneous experience.
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We began the process with a 2d free-fall - an exploration of pure graphic patterns - It was through this process that potential for urban spacial quality and composition were weighed, instilling the d.n.a. of this pattern into a raw, or not yet developed, urbanism. The result of this free-fall was an urban footprint that allowed for a dynamic level of heterogeneity of urban space.
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Using the contour lines of an engineered 3d surface offered a separation to known prototypical urban schemes. What was once a process approached as 2d>3d was now 3d>2d>3d. Various iterations of this surface extraction were explored using the 3d surface as a control for the composition of 2d vectors; a process that quickly offered new typologies for a city that is continuous but separate.
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As the development of the vectors became realized, associations with various precedents began to unfold as well as lesser known building types such as the building within the courtyard. Barcelona and Tokyo were two examples in the built world that were seen as starting points to compare urban events; most notably the courtyard building and the small urban corridor.
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After a process in which building mass was categorized according to characteristics of geometry and program, the typologies of education, office, residential, and cultural were each articulated in section using varying profiles, creating a method of pedestrian way-finding and allowing a further level of hierarchy to be established. These profiles were created with the hope of creating a catalog of “products” with the interstitial of these products generating something new altogether.
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The end result is a found urban ecology - a common form and counter-form urban reading as well as sub environments unique to each program. This scheme presents itself as a homogeneous blanket of heterogeneous objects; allowing for multiple levels of visual navigation.