Cloudnets 2: Project Hitogahitoyobu

Project Hitogahitoyobu, by Jess In & Peter Charles

CLOUDNETS 2: RMIT Architecture

Paul Minifie, Tim Schork
August – November 2008
project hitogahitoyobu : Jess In + Peter Charles

Investigations into Emergent Urbanism and Architectural Form through the use of RhinoScripting.

Cities can appear to us as very real, material objects – we, as architects, tend to observe and manipulate forms, materials and appearances. Although we pay lip-service to the idea of program, very often we take this as given. We have a site, and decide what program it should be, then concentrate on local organisation and form.

 

Another perspective sees the city as a distribution of valuable activities that are made possible by their relationship to other activities. These relationships may be effective at a small scale – what is next door – or at a much larger scale – how are the things that happen in this city different from another city some distance away.

Consider, as a modest example, the difference between convenience stores and motorcycle shops. Convenience stores distribute themselves at equal distance from one another. Motorcycle shops are, by contrast, all next to each other. The difference is explained by the idea of search cost. Someone buying a motorcycle wants to shop around and compare – so a shop will do better business if next to another similar – despite the added competition. On the other hand, no one cares about comparing the price and quality of a litre of milk – so convenience stores are distributed to capture a territory without competition.

This perspective sees cities as emergent phenomena – that is, simple rules generate complex kinds of ordered patterns. Put another way, it is collection of all the things that we wish to do, and all the ways that we have of going about doing them, that leads to the phenomena of cities.

This elective is interested in examining these kinds of emergent relational phenomena. We use various computational techniques to model aspects of these relationships, and examine how they can lead to certain patterns within cities.

Project Summary:

Hitogahitoyobu describes the Japanese cultural phenomena “people call people”. When a new noodle shop opens, people line up to try out the new product. Some times rent-a-crowds are hired.. Passers by notice. The customers serve as advertising. If the line stays constant. More customers will come. This can be applied to different architectural programs that inhabit the city, forming patterns of constant growth and decay. Clusters and dispersment are formed.

This investigation focused on an area in central Tokyo, Shibuya. Initially studies were made into the study of programs that typically cluster together/ or don’t. It was hoped to research possible local level phenomena that form creating a city, and then change the rules that govern these phenomena to emerge into another city. Typically higher topography is of higher value in Tokyo, but Shibuya originally emerged from the crossing of a trade route with a river (the silent attractor) in a valley.

The overlapping of 4 train lines has created a super-node, property with proximity to which currently gains highest pedestrian traffic, and rental yields, outweighing the higher ground. Road networks radiate out from station, forming a centrifugal field. Coffee shops & Video Stores occupy vantage points overlooking plazas, stacking vertically. Bars and Love Hotels occupy dark areas in back-streets and cluster together. Specialty music stores create their own precint. Restaurants hide themselves behind screens. Convenience Stores are only needed 3 for every block. They reach saturation.

Observations on the Ephemeral:
The apparently ephemeral phenomena can usually be traced to logical/ tangible causes. Around the station, advertising billboards face directly onto the plazas from all angles. On main roads, buildings face the roads. Slopes are conducive to entertainment. Setback from main roads, for bars and love hotels. Muddy River banks even when hidden from view, cant have high rise development.

Different conditions, next to infrastructure, create different values. Roads, Rivers, Highways, Footbridges become attractors and detractors. A road crossing over a river, provides different condition to a train line crossing a road. Property Law and Property value informs how small properties merge together over time. Properties are forced to merge, and new buildings have greater setbacks.

4 major conditions were chosen:
1 Station Sphere of Influence
2 Topography
3 Radial Vector Field that orientates buildings
4 Property Law and Property value

- The 4th condition governs the conditions set out by the first 3.
- Zones result from the overlapping of distance from the station.
- Initial buildings are mapped, and their orientation set towards the station.

The city was then set in motion, working with property laws, and property values as its guide for development. It reconfigures itself reaching up, occupying less ground plane. The city evolves from dense honeycomb, into objects in a field, all facing to a central point. Program is ambiguous, maintaining its stacked and scattered order, stretched vertically. It illustrates the values of today’s society.

project Hitogahitoyobu online links:

• RMIT Architecture: Cloudnets 2: http://architecture.rmit.edu.au/Projects/cloudnets.php

exhibitions:

• Visions: Beyond Media Festival, 2009 : Spots on School Exhibition
  RMIT Curator: Brent Allpress, RMIT Architecture Research Director
  Venue: Stazione Leopolda, Florence, Italy
  Dates: July 9-17, 2009

publications:

• Schork T, Burrow A + Minifie P (2009), CloudNets – A Workbench for Emergent Urbanism and Architectural Form, eCAADe issue 27