Adam Larsen – Environment-urban form-infrastructure

A6- Adam, Ewuraba, Nyah

The urban environment often fails to consider relationships between informal stakeholders in the environment. This submission made an analysis of how the urban environment has characterised relationships between living things at different scales, particularly regarding edge conditions between the different actors, based on personal observations of several sites surrounding lost lagoon. We grouped urban stakeholders at different scales and examined the points on interaction between them, observing how the infrastructure aided/disrupted these interactions. One running thread we observed throughout our visual analysis of the built environment was that the harsh transition between elements and edges causes social hostility within the built environment between humans and other actors. One flaw of the urban environment is that it focuses more on formal built infrastructure and not on the informal elements. Another flaw is the solely human-centric approach to design, which is inherently negligent of other organisms and their patterns of engagement with the environment. In this submission, we propose a framework for analysis of the effectiveness of different urban edge conditions in facilitating streamlined social interaction and cohabitation between humans, pets, wild animals, and plants. Having qualified the levels of effectiveness, we then propose ways to boost the synergy between this chosen set of actors, in any given urban condition: by blurring the margins and magnifying fluidity in the built environment.

Edge relationships along lost lagoon

Edge conditions section(broken up for visibility)

Segment options

The breakdown of segments

What it could look like

Assignment 5: Case Study Part I – Adam Larsen, Ewuraba Essel-Appiah, Nyah LaMarre

Adam Larsen, Ewuraba Essel-Appiah, Nyah LaMarre – Assignment 4: In/Visible

Adam Larsen – Assignment 3: Supernatural

First Site: Nitobe Garden

For my site visit to Nitobe Garden, I sat at four different spots for five minutes each, recording what I heard around me and the general smell.

This final map shows sound discs rotated to the north axis. Note how majority of the blue human sounds are directed toward the highway, and red animal sounds are directed to a large cluster of trees.

Second Site: Jericho Beach

At Jericho Beach I walked toward the water, taking frequent stops to record what I heard and smelled.

This final map shows all of the sound discs aligned to the north and positioned at their corresponding stop points. You can see all of the animal sounds (red) directed toward a general area, revealing the rough location of frogs. You can also map all of the natural sounds (yellow) beginning and ending as I moved through the wooded area.

Adam Larsen – Assignment 02: Cube Method

Site Sketches:

Site Plan:

Details:

Section:

Adam Larsen – Assignment 01: Home Ground

This site plan is set on the corner of Dugas and Seventh in my home town of Dawson City, Yukon Territory. It felt important to reference my childhood spent here, so the houses are playfully hand drawn (my own in blue), the trees are LEGO toys, and the cars are Hot Wheels. Dawson was a secluded place where we depended on meat we hunted for, and shared with our neighbors. Dotted throughout the plan are deer, moose, and some black bears.

My neighborhood plan is intended to showcase more characteristics of Dawson such as dirt roads, spaced apart houses, and autumnal bright yellow birch trees that are characteristic of the Yukon.

The final city plan of Dawson focuses more on it’s history. In the bottom right are rows of people who flocked to the city in the late 19th century for the famous Klondike Gold Rush. Part of the trek to get to Dawson was through the Chilkoot Pass, a mountain passage that colonists reached by the coast of Alaska. Portions of the trail were so treacherous, that many horses died on the journey.