Pia Fricker

The Landscape of Change. 2022. The series of sections set their focus on the overlay of ground conditions. The existing layer of the landscape, predominantly visualized through its true color “cuts” through the internal floors of the turfhouse, emphasizing the connections between the system of resistance and adaptation and the system of change, informed by environmental forces. The two ground conditions interact with modesty and respect, intelligently arranged to embrace and protect. Neither can exist without the other. 
The Landscape of Change. 2022. The series of sections set their focus on the overlay of ground conditions. The existing layer of the landscape, predominantly visualized through its true color “cuts” through the internal floors of the turfhouse, emphasizing the connections between the system of resistance and adaptation and the system of change, informed by environmental forces. The two ground conditions interact with modesty and respect, intelligently arranged to embrace and protect. Neither can exist without the other. 
The Impact of Black and White vs. The Beauty of Light, 2022. The horizontal section of the most private unit plays with the scarcity of natural light in the interior of the turfhouse. Reading, writing letters to communicate with the world, spinning wool to produce yarn while having a framed view to the impressive landscape, is a predominant feature in this arrangement of sections. The colored point cloud evokes phantasy, a story is generated infilling the actors of the scene, whereas the uniform, monochrome section supports the reading of the spatial arrangement, and the fragility of the structural component in comparison to the void, the turf, supporting the rich inner live to withstand the external forces of time. 
The Impact of Black and White vs. The Beauty of Light, 2022. The horizontal section of the most private unit plays with the scarcity of natural light in the interior of the turfhouse. Reading, writing letters to communicate with the world, spinning wool to produce yarn while having a framed view to the impressive landscape, is a predominant feature in this arrangement of sections. The colored point cloud evokes phantasy, a story is generated infilling the actors of the scene, whereas the uniform, monochrome section supports the reading of the spatial arrangement, and the fragility of the structural component in comparison to the void, the turf, supporting the rich inner live to withstand the external forces of time. 
A Conversation Between the Wind and the Organisms of the Soil, 2022. - One thin, horizontal, almost straight delicate line acts as a backbone to invite the flow of wind and the organisms of the soil to a conversation. While the image on the left is viewed from the perspective of the curious wind, the right perspective is viewed from a calm, superficially viewed, slightly lazy soil organism. The wind is curios to feel the porosity of the turfhouse, it feels partially invited, yet completely unwelcomed at other areas. Once inside, it can exaggerate its speed, restlessly interacting with static and non-static elements of the turfhouse. The soil organism is overly attracted by all the possibilities offered by the new system component. A new mega system, with perfectly fitting porous system boundaries to interact with. The imprint of the turfhouse feels like a warm attractor field, huge and diverse, partly vibrating. The organism feels energetic and informed by the system of turfhousians to become part of a new community. It feels for the first time the gentle touch of the restless wind passing by.
A Conversation Between the Wind and the Organisms of the Soil, 2022. - One thin, horizontal, almost straight delicate line acts as a backbone to invite the flow of wind and the organisms of the soil to a conversation. While the image on the left is viewed from the perspective of the curious wind, the right perspective is viewed from a calm, superficially viewed, slightly lazy soil organism. The wind is curios to feel the porosity of the turfhouse, it feels partially invited, yet completely unwelcomed at other areas. Once inside, it can exaggerate its speed, restlessly interacting with static and non-static elements of the turfhouse. The soil organism is overly attracted by all the possibilities offered by the new system component. A new mega system, with perfectly fitting porous system boundaries to interact with. The imprint of the turfhouse feels like a warm attractor field, huge and diverse, partly vibrating. The organism feels energetic and informed by the system of turfhousians to become part of a new community. It feels for the first time the gentle touch of the restless wind passing by.
A Balanced Composition of Positive and Negative Spaces, 2022. The longitudinal slicing of the turfhouse emphasizes the complexity of the inherent system, to be understood as a living organism guided by the flow of light, the flow of energy and the flow of the multispecies users. The adaptive system is capable to grow or shrink according to the needs imposed by internal or external factors.   
A Balanced Composition of Positive and Negative Spaces, 2022. The longitudinal slicing of the turfhouse emphasizes the complexity of the inherent system, to be understood as a living organism guided by the flow of light, the flow of energy and the flow of the multispecies users. The adaptive system is capable to grow or shrink according to the needs imposed by internal or external factors.   
The Impact of Black and White vs. The Beauty of Color, 2022. Juxtaposing color-informed point-cloud data with black and white point-cloud data allows for re-setting our perception. How are spatial compositions perceived? What is the individual rule upon our brain composes information out of singular pixels? What is the logic of the visually generated patterns and what is the intangible, we would like to decode? 
The Impact of Black and White vs. The Beauty of Color, 2022. Juxtaposing color-informed point-cloud data with black and white point-cloud data allows for re-setting our perception. How are spatial compositions perceived? What is the individual rule upon our brain composes information out of singular pixels? What is the logic of the visually generated patterns and what is the intangible, we would like to decode? 
Unveiling a Complex System of Spatial Relationships, 2022. The generated sections of each turfhouse unit demonstrate the rich and diverse arrangement of representational spaces (arranged towards the main façade), functional spaces (situated at the inner core of the turfhouse) and private areas (placed uphill). Each of the sections allows the viewer to study also the invisible, the non-spaces. The complex typology functions through its inner logic and order, guided and supported through a plethora of actors, alive, not alive, active and static. 
Unveiling a Complex System of Spatial Relationships, 2022. The generated sections of each turfhouse unit demonstrate the rich and diverse arrangement of representational spaces (arranged towards the main façade), functional spaces (situated at the inner core of the turfhouse) and private areas (placed uphill). Each of the sections allows the viewer to study also the invisible, the non-spaces. The complex typology functions through its inner logic and order, guided and supported through a plethora of actors, alive, not alive, active and static. 

The Unexpected View — from Datapoints to Immersive Experiences

76 scan positions, informed by curiosity to see and experience more…!

Point clouds are an increasingly important tool in a range of fields, including architecture and landscape architecture, due to their ability to provide accurate and detailed information about complex sites. Point clouds are generated by collecting data from various sources such as laser scanning, photogrammetry, and lidar, and processing this data to create a 3D model of the scanned object or landscape. The high precision and accuracy of point clouds make them useful for a range of applications such as evaluation, conservation, documentation, iterative performance studies, planning, and design (Urech et al. 2020). This very personal speculative research is driven by scientific curiosity, referring to the term “Cloudism”, understood as a technique that uses point clouds and algorithms to generate designs that are inspired by natural processes, such as erosion patterns (Girot 2019). This research involves creating immersive experiences that allow users to explore and interact with information in unexpected ways. The generated imagesare part of a storyline, which allows for a switch of perspective and roles to experience the hidden layers of a turf house through curated entry points. Each carefully generated image represents a frozen snapshot of an immersive experience that unveils typological rules of interaction across scale and time (Fricker 2022a). Besides the provided entry point for the immersive experience, the duration of interaction, and exit point are arbitrary, and the interaction creates an overlay of stories that can be revisited, adjusted, revised, or erased. Turfhouses, viewed as “living organisms”, have a unique typology fullof embedded knowledge (Carlsen 2022, Grétarsdóttir and Hafsteinsson 2020), offering possible solutions for rethinking the current trajectory towards the grand challenges imposed by climate change. The conceptual and practical development of hybrid point clouds, capable of connecting temporal, spatial, and speculative design data, requires a radical new composition of knowledge domains towards dynamic systems of interactions (Fricker 2022b). This synergetic discourse between science and design enables transversal interactions between the actors in our environments, and aims to create premises for a new model of environmentally responsible action across disciplinary barriers (Stritih, Bebi, and Grêt-Regamey 2019).

Images: Pia Fricker & Yao Chaowen – Aalto University

References

Carlsen, A. (2022). Turf Houses in Iceland — a Disappearing Cultural Heritage. Royal Danish Academy.  https://royaldanishacademy.com/project/turf-houses-iceland-disappearing-cultural-heritage

Fricker, P. (2022a). Augmented Co-Design Methods for Climate Smart Environments: A Critical Discourse and Historical Reflection. In  F. M. Ugliotti & A. Osello (Eds.), Advances in Human and Social Aspects of Technology (p. 156–83). IGI Global. https://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-6684-4854-0.ch008

Fricker, P. (2022b). Computing with Nature: Digital Design Methodologies across Scales. In R. Monacella & B. Keane (Eds.), Designing Landscape Architectural Education: Studio Ecologies for Unpredictable Futures (p. 229-239).  Routledge. .https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003145905-25

Grétarsdóttir, T. &  Hafsteinsson S. B. (2020). Pulses of Future Architecture. Tera 1: 90-103.

Girot, C. (2019). ‘Cloudism’ Towards a New Culture of Making Landscapes. In  E. Braae & H. Steiner (Eds.), Routledge Research Companion to Landscape Architecture (p. 113–24).  Routledge.

Stritih, A. P. B., & Adrienne Grêt-Regamey. (2019). Quantifying Uncertainties in Earth Observation-Based Ecosystem Service Assessments. Environmental Modelling & Software 111, 300- 310. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsoft.2018.09.005.

Urech, P. R.W., Dissegna, M.A. Girot, C. & Grêt-Regamey, A. (2020). Point Cloud Modeling as a Bridge between Landscape Design and Planning. Landscape and Urban Planning 203, 103903. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landurbplan.2020.103903.