Michael Clariday Writing Component

Michael Clariday

ARCH 305 Deyong

16 October 2014

Namba Parks in Osaka, Japan, is an example of natural intervention in an urban environment. Emphasis on circulation and dynamic paths. Hierarchy developed by the progression from parking to cultural space, to public/green space, to residential, to office, and finally, to retail and entertainment. Where paths intersect, points of interest are generated and become individual focal points along a diverse circulating pathway through the site. A common consistency is achieved through the elliptical buildings, concavity of the spaces, and the sinuosity of the paths. A sense of overlay reminiscent of the basic concepts of phenomenal transparaceny are apparent in both plan and perspective. The built environment and the landscape seem to correlate with each other in an interesting way that creates a unique organization between space and objects. Hierarchy becomes more clear in the earliest thesis of the project, evident in elevating topography of the landscape and the aggregation of the built spaces that become more dense as the site progresses. The indexical relationship between the curvaceous topography and the elliptical layout of the built environment in a way become one with each other as they are sewed together by the maleability of the pathway.

Elements adapted from the Namba Parks into our parti include, density, overlay, aggregation, dynamic pathways, and an indexical design language between landscape and built environment. The parti borrows inspiration from the Namba Park’s unique approach to generating form in plan view while still adapting the issue of context. To accomplish this task, we investigated the idea of creating a circulation between the existing public spaces by surrounding the built environment and the motion of the paths around an epicenter located at the intersection of Cevallos and Probandt Street. Density is apparent in the surface articulation which appears more condensed closest to the epicenter and the least condensed away from the epicenter. The concept of overlay is achieved by the extrusion of the surface articulation which translates into elevated topography which translates into interior spaces. Aggregation is apparent in the organization of the extrusions around the epicenter and the converging pathways generated by the proximity of the individual interior spaces. The pathways become dynamic by following the syntax of the surface articulation of the landscape while prioritizing the transitions between the individual built spaces. An indexical design language is evident in the relatable orthogonal/creased form between the shape of the built spaces and the surface articulation.