It was the images within your post of 4 December 2004 -- nanoshadow
boxing -- that made me think zometools was a software application. Then too
the zomescape images have a 'virtual' quality to them that made me think
they were a montage of software and reality. Anyway, zomescape is now even
more like the current Calder exhibit in Philadelphia --
www.quondam.com/temp/calder01.jpg
The design you refer to, an open frame with each level a plot of landscaping
with housing, is by SITE, and I can see the connection with the City Tower
project (which was a schematic proposal to replace Philadelphia's City
Hall). A new physical model of the City Tower project was constructed just
over ten years ago for the Kahn exhibition back then. I knew the model
builders, and the design turned out to be much more subtly complex than
first expected. I'd love to construct a computer model of the project, but
without sufficient data, it's futile for me to attempt. Basically, it's one
of those designs that is abundantly virtual in that there is no real
building and even the schematics do not fully render what the real building
would actually be like. Like you suggest via the SITE example, the City
Tower project could wind up containing just about anything.
Anne Tyng is also a key player here, and should not be forgotten. She's the
one that was most interested in numbers and geometric constructs as
structural systems. Her theoretical writing (from back then) is dense and
often obtuse, but perhaps worth reading again with more understanding eyes.
boxing -- that made me think zometools was a software application. Then too
the zomescape images have a 'virtual' quality to them that made me think
they were a montage of software and reality. Anyway, zomescape is now even
more like the current Calder exhibit in Philadelphia --
www.quondam.com/temp/calder01.jpg
The design you refer to, an open frame with each level a plot of landscaping
with housing, is by SITE, and I can see the connection with the City Tower
project (which was a schematic proposal to replace Philadelphia's City
Hall). A new physical model of the City Tower project was constructed just
over ten years ago for the Kahn exhibition back then. I knew the model
builders, and the design turned out to be much more subtly complex than
first expected. I'd love to construct a computer model of the project, but
without sufficient data, it's futile for me to attempt. Basically, it's one
of those designs that is abundantly virtual in that there is no real
building and even the schematics do not fully render what the real building
would actually be like. Like you suggest via the SITE example, the City
Tower project could wind up containing just about anything.
Anne Tyng is also a key player here, and should not be forgotten. She's the
one that was most interested in numbers and geometric constructs as
structural systems. Her theoretical writing (from back then) is dense and
often obtuse, but perhaps worth reading again with more understanding eyes.