城市儿童公共空间 —广州俄罗斯方块商业广场景观设计

Tetris Square is a commercial plaza located in a corner of a large mixed-use development in Tianhe District, Guangzhou. Designers treated the site as an urban public space rather than a commercial place simply for children play, with focus on younger users and core families. Landscape architects attempt to respond to a series of community demands with a smarter proposal. Instead of a direct use of finished play equipment, designers create many flexible spaces for diverse play experience, and “hide” a grove by integrating it into the play facilities, which introduces an urban oasis attracting more visitors to the square. This does not follow the conventional design principle of commercial spaces which is to plant as few trees as possible for a maximum storefront display. The grid modules of squares make facility fabrication and installation much easier, helping save the costs and ensure the construction quality. Assembled precast concrete outdoor furniture was used extensively in the whole complex. Landscape architects designed only two basic precast concrete modules, which could be assembled into more than twenty combinations. Now Tetris Square is an urban playground for children and their parents, as well as a public space for other residents in adjacent communities. The project provides children with fun and happiness through user-friendly and naturalized design, encouraging children’s cognitive learning from the external world, and simulating their imagination and creativity in play.     

路缘沉积:利用原型思维过程探究如何通过路缘及路肩设计截留暴雨中的路面污染物

The design of a curb is straight forward. The curb itself provides a conveyance of stormwater, facilitating the movement of water and pollutants from the street into waterways. Pollutants such as sediment, nutrients from lawn fertilizers, bacteria, viruses, pesticides, metals, and petroleum byproducts accumulate on the road surface and are released during storm events, carried to storm drains, and deposited into waterways, often without treatment. Once pollutants enter the waterways they impact the ecosystem and affect water quality. How can discrete standards—like a curb—be leveraged to have larger systemic impacts? The redesign of the curb to perform as a magnet for pollutants can challenge this design standard. During the summer of 2019, the interdisciplinary research team tested alternatives to the standard concrete curb and apron at Ohio State University. The team used an iterative design process to add patterning and crenellations to the face of the curb and apron. Using full scale models to test simulated storm events, the team collected data to evaluate the performance of 21 alternative designs. The results suggest the new combined curb and apron designs can abstract pollutants from roadways before they are detrimental to water bodies and aquatic ecosystems.     

控制与不确定性:对原型思维范式的展望

This paper maps out a new paradigm of prototyping that acts as an alternative to the model-making paradigm. By juxtaposing the cybernetics movement with landscape design, the authors have mapped out a development in landscape discourse that mirrors the movement of cybernetics in the 20th century and early 21st century. The early deterministic and linear understanding of systems dynamics is replaced by an emergent and openended view. Taking on a framework of emergence, the authors highlight a special type of model that does not fit within the conventional modelpredict-control framework. Rather than models that represent another living system, these models are living systems in themselves with autonomy and lives. This special type of model can be understood as prototypes. Prototyping replaces model-making and exhibits three distinctive qualities: 1) A prototype has a life of its own, which serves as the basis for design and creativity; 2) The real usefulness of a prototype lies in its undefined identity rather than its defined and direct application; And 3) the identified quality provides a wide range of possibilities, thus changing our relationship with the future from chance and prediction to anticipation and hope.