Persuasive Artefacts in Architectural Design & Planning

Transcription

1 Chapter Z Persuasive Artefacts in Architectural Design & Planning Ina Wagner Z.1. Introduction Architectural design and planning is a collective activity, embedded in a community of practice. At the heart of the work, therefore, is the need to share materials and to mobilize support. Sketches, scale models, images, plans, etc. have a crucial role in this process. They are created and used for expressing, developing, detailing, communicating, and presenting an evolving design concept (Henderson, 1995; Perry and Sanderson, 1998). One of the most important advantages of such visual and graphical material lies in its ability to create persuasion and to invite others into a dialogue (Latour, 1986). We have explored architects uses of inspirational objects (images, sound, video, animation, 3D objects) for forming ideas, expressing qualities, and for convincing others of the viability and power of an idea. Such inspirational material is open to diverse levels of interpretation and understanding, stimulating contradictory and surprising associations (Büscher et al., 1999). The availability of digital media increases the possibilities of architects to create and share visual materials. Techniques such as rendering, computer animation, and modeling provide a new visual language. At the same time, issues of how to combine digital material with tangible artefacts and how to support fluid transitions between both media come to the fore. This paper examines the role of persuasive artefacts - both digital and tangible - for cooperation in architectural design. Z.2. Visual material in use Ongoing long-term fieldwork in an architectural office is used to analyse the role of persuasive artefacts in cooperative work. Fieldwork material has been collected over a time-span of almost two years through ethnographic observation

2 of work combined with in-depth interviews. It covers a variety of building and urban planning projects in their different stages. We observed how the architects produced, modified, and arranged visual and graphical material in their physical and digital workspaces, collecting examples of it, including the stories of use surrounding them. This paper focuses on three types of visual representations of design work, which seem particularly suited for explaining how artefacts mediate cooperative work. Z.2.1. Narrative sketch We frequently observed how the architects, in intense conversations with each other or in a meeting, produce a series of sketches, while talking through a design problem, identifying constraints, settling or affirming a principle, jumping between different variants of a solution. These narrative sketches consist of two closely interwoven types of material the sketch, either on transparent paper or directly on a plan, and the story. This example of a narrative sketch was created in a meeting of the architects with a lighting designer. Using differently coloured pencils for different types of lighting, the architect developed his notion of light as a changeable surface for Eurocity (a large cinema complex), describing elements such as light strips (on ceilings), light beams (on the façade), projections (from inside, outside), flooding the volumes with light. This combination of sketching and talking had an important role in mediating the cooperative development of the lighting concept: Figure 1: Lighting design The lighting designer got to know the building, walking through, pointing to particular places and elements. Sketching and explaining ideas is tightly interwoven the architect was thinking aloud, listening to questions and suggestions, and simultaneously visualizing the design concept. A common understanding of the concept, including some practical-technical problems was created the coloured photocopies of these narrative sketches were then used as part of presentations to different audiences. A notation was developed, with different colours standing for different types of lighting this notation was then used in all documents around lighting.

3 Colour copies of this set of sketches were exhibited on the walls of the office. The lighting designer used them for a presentation of his design to the client. Still, with the voices of the participants missing, this representation is incomplete. We again and again observed people in the office looking at such a narrative sketch, trying to remember what exactly the idea was, how exactly a joint should be constructed. It might be worthwhile to capture the act of sketching and explaining. This could be done in the form of a small video with the sketch being done with a pressure sensitive pen. Z.2.2. Conceptual sheet As shown in the previous example, the ways representations of work are created, are informal, and often intermingled with talk. This particular example of a conceptual sheet has been taken from an urban planning study. It was produced as part of a first planning session. It contains several elements: A first work plan how to proceed Visual material that should be collected or created (pictures, collages, association images, shadow plans, etc.) - how to represent the design of the urban area Metaphors how to talk about the urban area A specification of methods to define spatial qualities, to intensify rules, etc. Explanatory sketches. A conceptual sheet is not just a list but a complex visualization of a design idea and of open questions. It may include small sketches, arrows, references to material to look for or people to contact. People placed Figure 2: A complex visualization copies of the sheet on their desks. It was present in meetings, annotated, and used throughout the course of the project. Another feature of architects work practice stands out in this example: the mixing of text and images. There are many other examples of this mixing, such as highlighting a particular point on a plan or list by putting a red circle around it, adding detail (correct measures, specifications of material), or marking a part of a drawing or sketch with a post-it with some instructions for changes. The specific form such a document takes is an intricate part of architects work practice.

4 Z.2.3 Assemblies While some of these visual artefacts stand for themselves and assume the role of key artefacts for the design process, some of them melt into assemblies of materials, which tell a story, such as the story of the design concept or of a particular choice of material and product. This assembly of material (Fig. 3) has been produced in support of the concept formation process for a large building project (Pleasure Dome). Several documents were brought together with a metaphorical description to illustrate themes or design principles (Tellioglu et al., 1998): A 3D visualization of the façade as coloured patchwork Association images (a painting by Richard Serra, the coloured glass in the cathedral of Chartres) that express some of the visual qualities the architect had in mind A sketch in which the architect describes his idea of the movie theatres as stones that dip into water - above the surface of a rough, rocky quality, below precious stones that glitter in water silver, gold, ruby, emerald The themes that were formulated in a meeting Playing with volumes, The Big wall, impregnated with colour and light. Theme 1: Playing with volumes Theme 2: The Big wall, impregnated with colour and light Figure 3: Assembly of themes, sketch, inspirational images, and 3D visualization Placed in A4 format close to each workplace, this assembly, together with several large-scale 3D visualizations of the project, which had been produced for an exhibition, acts as reminders of the design idea. It is used to point out things to external visitors, and it provides the designer team with a language, both textual and visual, for talking about the project. This is an artful assembly. Mostly, assemblies of materials are created as an intricate part of ongoing work. An example is the search for a suitable product for the façade of the cinema complex Eurocity. A strong image guided this search process - the notion of wrapping the building into a membrane which uses light for producing an almost imperceptible metamorphosis, from hermetically

5 shimmering in the morning to communicating the building s contents - projected cinematic images, people s movements - in the evening. Several 3D visualizations were constructed. They helped to shape and express the idea of covering the façade with glass of an irregular textile appearance onto which light will be projected. Samples of textiles were scanned and additional properties of the material specified, as non-reflecting, easy to clean, available in 3x3m format, with particular insulating properties, affordable, etc. As such material cannot just be bought from the shelf, a variety of methods for producing it were investigated. Some of this research was taken over by the façade consultant who contacted several producers of industrial glass. Figure 4: Assembly of samples, conceptual sheet, 3D visualization For the architect working on the façade the skin is represented by an assembly of materials: inspirational resources of various kinds images of glass with a textile like surface, architectural projects, samples of textiles; information about research, collected in professional meetings or seminars, by browsing through journals; product information from catalogues and the Internet; information about materials and techniques; samples, ad-hoc assembled, produced by a glass manufacturer, etc. Most of these documents have been stored in folders in a shelf behind the architect s workplace, some are hidden in a pile of papers on his desk, and some (the images) are fixed on the wall behind him. When working on the problem, the architect might assemble part of this material (some of which is shown in Figure 4) on his desk or spread it out on the meeting table, in ways that depend on the task at hand. Another frequently observed assembly involves the use of transparent tracing paper, where a blank transparent sheet of tracing paper is placed over a plan, and

6 anchored by entering some positional markers. The tracing paper is then used, for example, to experiment with design ideas. Such an assembly creates a precise relationship between a design sketch and (one or several) other documents Assemblies represent materials in context. One of their central features is their narrativity. The story of the search for glass starts with a set of images, some of them inspirational, first samples of textile structures, a conceptual sheet. More and more material is added as the search for a solution proceeds. It is evoked, when the solution in mind has to be explained to significant others, is filled with detail. Much of individual and cooperative work is done through creating assemblies of materials. From our fieldwork we have many snapshots of people s desks when they configure materials for a particular task, and reconfigure for the next task. Some assemblies provide a good overview, including pointers to things that should be kept present. Some have a strong narrative character, helping people to remember the context and history of a particular detail. Z.2.4. Viewing persuasive artefacts in context A central characteristic of assemblies of materials in the physical world is their ephemerality. They tend to be arranged for the moment a particular task, an instant in a conversation to be reshuffled with people interrupting, taking away a particular document for photocopying, a request, shift of task, or just the end of the workday. This is a positive feature in the sense that documents and objects can be assembled and arranged relatively easily, for different purposes. Yet the ephemerality of arrangements can also be a nuisance. When a job is done, many documents and objects are returned to their locations, others are thrown away, yet others lost or buried under the continuous flurry of documents and objects on the move. A digitally-enhanced environment, with all its limitations and deficiencies compared to a physical one, may help overcome some of these constraints. The architects may want to place one and the same object in several arrangements at a time. They may want to be able to store the relationships connecting a set of materials, to search for a particular assembly representing a solution, which has been developed in an earlier project. They may want to view several assemblies at the same time, e.g. have all the material representing the search for glass (Fig. 4) present, while at the same time looking at a series of detail drawings and connected product information. The physical environment of cluttered desks, stacks of folders, boxes, etc. is not ideally equipped for this. As part of ESPRIT Project DESARTE, we are developing a 3D environment for assembling and viewing materials in context in the form of workspaces. Figure 5 shows a screenshot from the current Manufaktur working prototype. It shows an open workspace containing (references to) a set of objects. Double clicking any of the document objects CAD file, bitmap, Word, Excel, etc. - will launch it in its respective application with that document, and changes to it will be updated within 3D Manufaktur in near real time. The objects can be sized, moved, rotated, etc; light effects may be applied; documents can be made (semi)

7 transparent; organized into groups; and much more. Several workspaces can reside in one, be opened, closed, referred to, looked at from another workspace. Fig. 5: Configuring materials in a 3D Manufaktur workspace The architect working on the Eurocity project has arranged an assembly of materials relevant for his current work in a Manufaktur workspace. In the centre he places 3D images of the design, below are scanned samples of glass textures, together with a drawing by a graphic designer and a letter from a manufacturer. To the right are two conceptual sheets describing different techniques of producing glass, to the left a page from an architectural journal. Workspaces such as this one can be saved, shared with others. The material can be re-arranged in many different ways. The main advantage of the Manufaktur, which has been described in more detail elsewhere (Büscher et al., 2000, Mogensen and Grønbaek, 2000) is that it provides an overview of assemblies of (visual) materials and the parameters they represent, thereby helping to account for the complexity of a developing project. Seeing the whole thing, being able to zoom into a detail (of a particular document) and out again, supports the oscillating between precision and fuzziness, which is crucial for design work. Z.3. Ways of persuasion The prototypal artefacts described above mediate cooperative design in various ways. Indeed, it could be argued that manipulating these materials is not just a

8 background to the work, but an integral part of it (Büscher et al., 1999). The examples point to the ways in which visual and graphical material helps Create a common understanding of a design idea or task Talk about a design in a rich, metaphorical way, supported by images to be pointed at and referred to Imagine qualities of space and appearance, which could not easily be communicated in words Act as reminders of design principles, approach, method, open questions, etc. Preserve the memory of a design solution and the arguing behind it. Some characteristics of these artefacts stand out. One is the wide range of visual materials used in architectural design, from CAD drawings to sketches and inspirational images. Some of the material is precise and detailed but much of it is conceptual, metaphorical and in formation. While some of these artefacts are produced in digital format or converted to it, others are and remain tangible. Architects valuation of tangible material has partly to do with the qualities of the process they are created in intense interactions with others, partly with the specific qualities of scale and size, colour, touch, etc. Also, preserving the informal and mixed character of visualization such as a conceptual sheet may be better suited to capture the complex reasoning behind a design problem than a neatly structured task list. Another characteristic of these artefacts is the intermingling of visual material with text. Many of these artefacts are created as part of talk. Others contain text as well as visual elements. Relating text (in our case metaphors, short notes, etc.) and image (sketch, 3D image, a scan of an object, etc.) requires multiple translations (Tomes et al., 1998). We saw from the example of the narrative sketch that when there is no text (the voice having faded away), understanding the image may be difficult. These types of visual-verbal relationships are crucial for many design disciplines. As Mitchell argues: all arts are composite art (both text and image); all media are mixed media, combining different codes, discursive connections, channels, sensory and cognitive modes (1994, p. 95). So is writing in its graphic form inseparable from the visual. Conversely, stories are created around images. The growing, metamorphosing idea of a design is represented in the material that is collected and produced, including the talk around it. Most of the material we analyzed was not just or even primarily created for presentational purposes. They are produced as an intricate part of the process of forming an idea, approach, and method. They help taking a step forward in the common understanding of a design. They support its development, expression, and sharing with others. If visibly displayed in the architectural office, they are frequently looked at and referred to as part of ongoing work. So is the scale model used for controlling the spatial aspects of the evolving 2D CAD plans. The 3D images help stretch people s imagination of what the place may look like, before the details of material, colour, etc. have been fixed. The sketch with precious stones that glitter under water reminds of the design idea. The inspirational objects (e.g. Richard Serra, Chartres) express some of the specific qualities the architects have in mind. This interweaving of work and representation is visible in architects use of their office as an exhibition space. The walls are decorated with visualizations

9 from previous and current work. This way of making work visible reminds of ideas to be pursued or further developed, of tasks to accomplish, of standards, etc. It also is an important vehicle for peripheral participation in a project, allowing other members of the office or visitors to enter its context. In our fieldwork we observed that much of the progress of a project - a particular focus of current work, an important decision, the start of construction work, a crisis, or the beginning of a new project - was made visible on the wall. Latour (1986) has argued that visualizations simultaneously support constructing the artefact and staging its performance and understanding by others. A particularly relevant aspect of persuasive artefacts is their openness and interpretive flexibility (Lainer and Wagner, 1998). This is why metaphors and abstract rather than realistic visualizations - sketches, association images, 3D images - play a large role in design work. To create persuasion in a conversation an architect may arrange a variety of artefacts at hand to create a distinct impression. Also, assemblies of materials may be quite subtle, arranging artefacts within spatial vicinity, layering, juxtaposing them, without giving a precise definition of their relationship. The crucial role of persuasive artefacts in design work is that they support open and rich ways of communicating, allowing architects to present their work in a form that invites cooperation and is open to the possibility of change. Acknowledgements This paper refers to several projects of the Architekturbüro Rüdiger Lainer: Eurocity (a cinema complex in Salzburg), Pleasure Dome (an entertainment centre in the Gasometer area in Vienna), and the Gasometer Study, an urban planning project. I am very grateful for the contributions of Monika Büscher, Rüdiger Lainer, Dan Shapiro and the other partners in EU ESPRIT LTR Project DESARTE - The Design of Artefacts and Spaces, funded by the European Commission ( References Büscher M, Mogensen P, Shapiro D, Wagner I (1999) The Manufaktur. Supporting work practice in (landscape) architecture. In: Bodker S, Kyng M, Schmidt K (eds) Proceedings ECSCW'99. Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht Boston London, pp Büscher M, Christensen M, Grønbaek K, Krogh P, Mogensen P, Shapiro D, Ørbæk P (2000). Collaborative augmented reality environments: integrating VR, working materials, and distributed work spaces. Proceedings of Collaborative Virtual Environments 2000, San Francisco. Büscher M, Kompast M, Lainer R, Wagner I (1999) The architect's Wunderkammer: aesthetic pleasure & engagement in electronic spaces. Digital Creativity 10: 1-17 Henderson K (1995) The visual culture of engineers. In: Star SL (ed) The cultures of computing. Blackwell, Oxford, pp

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