essay

Physical holes in actual space

How can the image of landscape from pinhole be recorded and visualised?

M.Arch

Architectural Design 2010-2011Student: Isik

HongEmail : [email protected]

Blog: http://ishong.blogspot.com/Tutor: Shaun MurrayWords account: 7003

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Contents 5. Design Project

5.1. The trace of image in camera obscura

5.1.1. Direction, Speed

5.1.2. Rotation

5.2. Revealing object in different environment

5.2.1. Living room

5.2.2. St Paul cathedral

5.2.3. The hedge in King Henry's Mound

6. Platform

6.1. Platform

6.2. Drawing

6.3. Narrative

7. Conclusion

1. Definition

2. Premise

3. Introduction

4. Technique

4.1. Technique 1 - Camera Obscura

4.1.1. Camera Obscura

4.1.2. Camera Obscura Experiment

4.1.3. Simultaneous Worlds

4.1.4. Tactics for Calibration (Experiment)

4.1.5. Relationship of Two Pinholes

4.1.6. Vermeer’s Room

4.2. Technique 2 - Observing Through Holes

4.2.1. Peephole

4.2.2. Protected View through the Hedge

4.2.3. Frame

4.2.4. Drawing

4.2.5. Vision Machine

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1. Definition This project uses the meaning of ‘Physical hole’ as the pinhole of a camera obscura as aperture.

1. Physical, adjective (REAL) relating to things you can see or touch, or relating to the laws of

nature

2. Hole, noun (SPACE) an empty space in an object, usually with an opening to the object's

surface, or an opening which goes completely through an object

3. Aperture, noun a small and often narrow opening, especially one that allows light into a

camera

(Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary)

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2. Premise In order to understand the latent needs in the architectural system, a narrative

about a situation in the future is employed. In the future, due to global warming, much

of the land could be covered with water. It is widely accepted that global warming will

increase the sea level over the coming century and beyond. The current sea level rise

has increased at the rate of 1.8 mm per year for the past century. It could trigger a

tragedy for coastal land in the next centuries: for example, many major cities such as

London and New Orleans already need storm-surge defences, and would need more if

the sea level rose further, plus large tracks of coastal land would disappear. (Meehl G.

A., 2005, p. 1769)

“The bulk of the city had long since vanished, and only the steel-supported

buildings of the central commercial and financial areas had survived the encroaching

flood waters. The brick houses and single-storey factories of the suburbs had

disappeared completely below the drifting tides of silt. Where these broke surface giant

forests reared up into the burning dull-green sky, smothering the former wheatfields of

temperate Europe and North America.” (Ballard , 1962)

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This painting illustrates ‘The drowned world’ imagined by J. G. Ballard. Single storey

buildings are ‘drowned’ under water. Only the top of tall buildings remain out of water. The

world submerged under water is illustrated like a tropical rain forest. Although the reason why

the world was drowned in this illustration is different, the result for our environment could be

similar: the reason why the world is drowned in ‘The Drowned World’ is the explosion of a

planet, while the reason in reality might be global warming.

Fig.01 Simon O’Carrigan. Lagoon #2. 2008..

2. Premise

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3. Introduction The project is entitled ‘physical holes in actual space’ is about the movement of the

image in camera obscura. In detail, it explores the trace of the image which is

projected through a pinhole in order to capture and visualise the hidden spaces. It is an

architecture of traces of motion described on a virtual site of projection.

Initially, the project begins with a series of experiments to understand camera

obscura and the characteristic of the pinhole in order to begin to understand it in a

spatial sense and begin to reveal its architectural possibilities

Ways to distort both the real and projected image were explored as a means to

subvert the camera obscura.

Lastly, a series of experiments attempts to show how the landscape can be seen by

the observer through pinholes. This attempts to implicate the position of the viewer

within the camera obscura itself, observing a landscape through a pinhole.

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At the same time, the project explores the movement of the clouds in the sky as viewed

through a pinhole of a camera obscura. Clouds are phenomena which have a dynamic

movement in our environment. This project attempts how the trace, record and visualise their

changes over time on the projection surface of the camera obscura. Moreover, the factors

which affect the shape of trace are investigated and revealed. Through the research,

experiments and drawings, the tactics and method are examined as a way to visualise the trace

of image in differing environments. Through this process a series of ‘calibrating objects’ are

revealed and constructed.

In order to understand the image which is projected by a pinhole in the camera obscura, this

project utilises four different techniques to explore, investigate and subvert the phenomena of

the camera obscura. Additionally, the way to interpret the trace of the image has been

illustrated. It will serve as a basis for a further architectural exploration and visualisation where

the traces of the movements of clouds are seen as ‘choreography’.

3. Introduction

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4.1.1. Camera obscura Etymology

camera ob•scu•ra - noun pl. camera ob•scu•ras

A darkened chamber in which the real image of an object is received through a small

opening or lens and focused in natural color onto a facing surface rather than recorded on a film

or plate. (The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language)

The camera obscura works by light passing through a pinhole, crossing and re-emerging on

the other side. The divergent image created is reversed when intercepted by an object or

screen and can be viewed when light levels are sufficiently low. For this image to become

adequately visible, it is necessary that the screen be placed in a chamber in which the light

levels are considerably lower than those around the object. (Kemp, M 1990, p. 189)

“What begins in the 1820s and 1830s is a repositioning of the observer, outside of the fixed

relations of interior/exterior presupposed by the camera obscura and into an undemarcated

terrain on which the distinction between internal sensation and external signs is irrevocably

blurred. If there is ever a “liberation” of vision in the nineteenth century, this is when it first

happens. In the absence of the juridical model of the camera obscura, there is a freeing up of

vision, a falling away of the rigid structures that had shaped it and constituted its objects.”

(Crary, J 1990, p. 24)

4. Technique

Fig. 02 Camera Obscura Experiment

4.1. Camera Obscura

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4.1.2. Camera Obscura Experiment Sunrise between Pillows

The experiment attempts to understand

how the camera obscura operates via a

pinhole. It entailed transforming a bed room

into a camera obscura as a spatial tool.

When the tiny hole is made after maintaining

complete darkness, the room turns into a

camera obscura. It is a fundamental step for

understanding how landscape can be

visualised through the pinholes in a camera

obscura. The evocative imagery is

reminiscent of a picturesque landscape.

Fig. 03 Camera Obscura Experiment - Sunrise between pillows

4.1. Camera Obscura

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This dreamlike scene was taken by a tiny pinhole. (Fig. 03) The setting for the experiment is a bedroom. The bedroom in architecture

connotes a fundamental space for shelter. Through the black sheet on the windows, the interior is blocked completely off from the exterior.

When the pinhole is made, the bedroom turns into the box of camera obscura and creates entirely new inverted worlds in a private space.

Through the pinhole, the image of the building and clouds over the window is projected into the interior. As a result, the interior in the

bedroom coexists with the exterior. In short, the pinhole makes new an image and the interior experiences the exterior. Moreover, the

image of the exterior mutates the interior. The colour of the exterior is absorbed into the wall, pillows and all the other objects. This place

which is made by the pinhole might occupy an intermediate position not only between private space and public space but also between

static space and dynamic space. This is manifested through the principles of the camera, the pinhole illustrates a moving landscape

precisely such as the clouds and the sun. Furthermore, the speed of clouds can be read and recorded over time. The colour from the

exterior combines with the colour of objects in the interior. What is more, the objects in the interior adopt anamorphic images from the

exterior images.

The image from the pinhole is surreal, it is displayed on the wall upside-down. In addition, it is provocative and visionary. This abstract

night image coexists with vivid daylight image at the same time.

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The series of coexisting images calls to mind the painting, ‘The Arnolfini Marriage’.

It is an example of simultaneousness in imagery.

“Two different worlds existing in one and the same place at the same time create a

sense of being under a spell. For this is an impossibility; where one body is, there the

other cannot be. We have to think up a new word for this impossibility —"equilocal" —

and this we can define as "occupying the same place simultaneously." (Brigham 1985,

p. 73) It could give us an illusionary sensation and a wholly new sense of experience.

Brigham talks about how two co-existent worlds give the sensation of being ‘under a

spell’. Yet it is impossible for two bodies to occupy the same space at the same time. It

could give us an illusionary sensation and a wholly new experience.

The image from camera obscura shows an unfamiliar harmony with interior and

exterior image. This simultaneousness in the camera obscura produces a visionary

atmosphere like ‘Arnolfini Marriage’. It is a possibility that the feeling of knowing a

space could be replaced with an unfamiliar space.

4.1.3. Simultaneous worlds

Fig. 04 Jan van Eyck, The Arnolfini Marriage (detail) (The National Gallery, London)

4.1. Camera Obscura

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4.1.4. Tactics for Calibration (Experiment)

The ways to distort the realistic and visionary image were examined.

Also, in order to have tactics and understand the characters of the image

from the pinhole, several experiments were attempted.

Etymology

an·a·mor·phic

Relating to, having, or producing different optical imaging effects along

mutually perpendicular radii

(The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language)

This image is made by the pinhole in camera obscura. (Fig. 05) The

image of the building is usual, whereas the image of the tree is completely

distorted. The reason being that the image of the building is located in

front of the pinhole. However, the position of the tree has an acute angle

between the projected wall and the pinhole. It seems possible that a

pinhole in camera obscura is able to receive a wide angle like a

pantoscope which is known as a wide-angled photographic lens.

Fig. 05 Camera Obscura Experiment – Distortion in Camera Obscura

Angle (Anamorphic)

4.1. Camera Obscura

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Using a camera obscura, this experiment attempts to show how

an image can be distorted by a sheet of paper as a curved medium.

The paper is shaken back and forth to cause divergent angles from

the pinhole. Through the various angles, the image on the divergent

paper is differentiated from the background image on the wall while

becoming an anamorphic image. One of the most widely known

uses of anamorphosis is Hans Holbeins’s ‘The ambassadors’. (Fig.

06)

Fig. 06 Camera Obscura Experiment – Distortion in Camera Obscura

Angle (Anamorphic)

4.1. Camera Obscura

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The classical example of anamorphosis is Hans Holbein’s The Ambassadors of 1533.

(Fig. 07) “The smeared diagonally object is an anamorphic skull which only assumes full

coherence when viewed from a particular position to the right of picture at the level of the

ambassador’s heads, at about one picture’s width from the edge of the painting, and at a

short distance from the plane of the axes along which the viewer would have approached

the picture in its original setting was through a door abutting on the end of the wall on

which the picture was hung.” (Kemp 1990, p. 207) One can only view the diagonal object

from a particular position on the right of the painting.

Fig. 07 Hans Holbeins, The ambassadors, 1533, London, National Gallery

Angle (Anamorphic)

4.1. Camera Obscura

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According to the distance from pinhole to

the medium on which the projection occurs,

the image can be differentiated. However,

when the viewpoint is identified with the

position of the pinhole, an observer can

view a usual image. This diagram explains

how a distorted image is created. (Fig. 08)

Through V, the original image is

projected to AG. (Fig. 00) If there is no

medium, AG can be perceived to E.

However, due to the 3 medium, image is

projected to HI, BC, JK, DF and LM.

However, E can observe HI, CD and LM.

(Fig. 09)

Distance

Fig. 09 Projection Diagram for the Calibration of Distortion

Fig. 08 Projection Experiment for Distortion

E : ObserverV : Pinhole

4.1. Camera Obscura

A

EV

CB D F G

H IJ K

L M

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Through the speed of a medium, the image is shown differently. On the back of a

curtain in the theatre, the curtain is kicked quickly and then the recorded scene is made

much more quickly and slowly. The flicker of an image breaks up the image of the

curtain in one’s perception. (Fig. 10) When the speed of flicker increases, the eye of a

human can’t perceive the minute changes. As a result, the image appears as

overlapped pictures which have varying degrees of transparency.

Fig. 10 Experiment for Distortion in different Speed

Speed

4.1. Camera Obscura

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For the purpose of this experiment, patterns were projected onto three dimensional

volumes arranged in a scene in order to examine the depth of perception. This

experiment utilises a ‘perception calibrator’ which attempts to calibrate the strength of

distortion in conjunction with a particular point of view as inspired by the anamorphic in

the ambassador. Moreover, this examines a maximum limitation which can be

perceived in correspondance with the strength of image distortion. Obviously, the

perception of human beings tends to simplify the shape of objects. However, the focus

of this experiment is the limitation of the image which can be perceived. Each

individual has a different limitation. The results of the experiment are about perceived

limitation which will be different in accordance to what the start point is; when the start

point is a perfect circle, an observer can perceive the image as a circle for a much

longer time due to the fact that the image would remain in the observers field of view.

Fig. 11 Experiment for Perception Calibrator

4.1. Camera Obscura

22Fig. 12 the experiment with double pinhole: Both Pinhole Open

4.1.5. The relationship of two pinholes

4.1. Camera Obscura

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The purpose of this experiment is to explore how the images are correlated with each other through two apertures. The goal of introducing a secondary pinhole is adding another variable factor in the experiment. Moreover, this experiment attempts to subvert the image in the camera obscura by using two pinholes. The mannequin is chosen as a projection surface in order to introduce a human scale within the camera obscura.

Two pinholes are made on each window perpendicularly. The virtual intersection point of those directions is on the mannequin. Through each aperture, an exterior image is projected into the interior.

Firstly, opening one pinhole triggers the projection of an image from one-side: the image of the building from the east. The mannequin is smeared with the projected image from the exterior. (Fig. 14)

Secondly, when another aperture is created, the southern landscape is projected onto the mannequin and the wall. (Fig. 13)

Lastly, when both apertures are open, two different images are overlapped. In detail, part of the image is blurred and the other part of the image remains. In the other part of the image, one projected image overwhelms the other one. (Fig. 12)

Fig. 14 the experiment with double pinhole: East Pinhole Open

Fig. 13 the experiment with double pinhole: South Pinhole Open

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4.1.6. Vermeer’s room Further exploring the camera obscura, the references of Vermeer and the analysis of Vermeer’s room is

employed to reveal the architectural potential of the camera obscura. It is an effort to spatialise the architecture

of a camera obscura.

It is believed that Dutch painter Johannes Vermeer used the camera obscura to draw his paintings thanks to

the development of 17th century optical science. Philip Steadman reconstructed ‘Vermeer’s room’ completely.

He analyzed the paintings from a thorough perspective owing to the fact that a dozen paintings do indeed show

one and the same room. Moreover, it was possible to work out and compare the widths and heights of the

rooms, and the size and shapes of their various architectural features. (Steadman 2001, p. 59) Although 2

dimensional images are given, 3 dimensional space can be reconstructed.

”These drawings show plans, side views and bird’s-eye views (axonometrics) of the spaces. Ten of these

seem to depict the very same room - although the tile patterns vary. Each picture’s viewpoint is labelled V. Only

those parts of the tiled floors that are visible in the paintings are shown in the plans. In some instances the

positions of objects or parts of objects which are not wholly visible but can be located with confidence, as for

example the legs of chairs or the feet of tables, are shown in dotted lines. The scale of the reconstructions can

be gauged by the floor tiles: the small tiles in 'The Glass of Wine' and 'The Girl with the Wineglass' are 14.6cm

square. The larger tiles in all the other paintings are 29.3cm square.” (Steadman 2001, p.73)Fig. 15 Vermeer’s Room (Steadman 2001, p. 102)

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4.2.1. Peephole A series of experiments are undertaken which attempt to show how landscape

can be seen by observer through holes. These voyeuristic pictures were taken with a

tiny peephole. This experiment is about viewing the exterior through a pinhole. It is

as if one is within the camera obscura looking through the pinhole to the landscape

outside. The aperture of the pinhole frames the landscape.

Fig. 16 Observing through peephole

4.2. Technique 2. - Observing through holes

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4.2.2. Protected view through the Hedge

This is linked to the previous idea of framing a landscape through aperture.

However, it deals with a real view, which is protected view from King Henry VIII’s

Mound in Richmond Park to St Paul cathedral with a telescope. The protected view is

“a planning restriction that requires a particular feature of the landscape or built

heritage to be visible from a set vantage point.” (The London Views Management

Framework 2009)

An aperture is single an opening that frame, a particular view, in this case the

hedge which frames the view could be described as an aperture.

Although, there is a long distance over 16 km, this view of the cathedral through a

special gap in holly hedging is provided. This framing by the hedge is a way to

emphasise the landscape.

Fig. 17 Vista through telescope in King Henry VIII's Mound in Richmond Park

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4.2.3. Frame “This framing is one potential way of using a camera. It does highlight the role of the frame in

making a picture. The frame, whether used conventionally or not, is a rhetorical device that

makes connections where none necessarily exist.” (Edwards 2006, p. 105) The frame plays a

crucial role in the photograph, perhaps even more than it does in the paintings shown

previously. It can be distinguished between the ‘object-frame’ and the ‘limit-frame’.

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4.2.4. Drawing

Fig. 18 Observing from King Henry VIII's Mound to St. Paul’s Cathedral

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This is a composite drawing describing, conceptually, the view from King Henry VIII’s Mound

in Richmond Park to St Paul cathedral. It seeks to evoke diagrams of vision, and viewing

pathways illustrated in an architectural construct.

The purpose of this drawing is to understand the meaning of the protected view. As

established, the protected view is a way to emphasize landscape. The pinhole mechanism

cannot enlarge images so that the images are hard to emphasize. However, if landscape as a

frame could be adopted, there is a way to emphasize landscape.

On the King Henry VIII’s Mound, an anamorphic image is projected to St. Paul’s Cathedral.

Next step, the projected image is trapped by landscape as the frame. The landscape can move

and change slightly.

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An architect who was very much concerned with vision, optics and the architectural

implications therein was Frederic Kiesler. One of the most influential works dealing

with these optical ideas was ‘the vision machine’. Kiesler wanted to advance human

knowledge and experience. He worked within the design of space and discussed the

‘vision machine. Kesler explains about the ‘vision machine,’ stating that “I will only add

that the machine itself, apart from its theatre, gallery, museum setting, is an analog

computer of the type.” (Woods 2009) In brief, the “vision machine demonstrates, first,

the flow of sight. It also portrays the origin and flow of visionary images. All parts of this

machine are connected mechanically, except the object, which remains a separate

unit.” (Woods 2009)

In detail, the system of the vision machine is made up of the object, the eye, the

dividing partition between outside and the inside, a cycle system of man’s physiology,

and a base. It can be triggered by touching an electronic button.

On the other hand, the output of the vision machine needs the interpretation of

users. Kiesler asks us not to ‘see seeing,’ but as with seeing itself, the understanding

of this phenomenon’s consequences is highly personal. (Woods 2009) It is one of the

most crucial parts in this project, and something explored in the previous experiments.

4.2.5. Vision machine

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This chapter explores the trace of cloud in the scene of camera obscura due to the fact that

cloud is one of the objects which have a dynamic movement in our environment. It is not just

the image which is projected from exterior landscape into interior through the pinhole, but the

invisible trace of image over time.

Next, the projected phenomena will be examined, where the two dimensional image

projected in camera obscura is translated into visualised three dimensional objects. Moreover,

the factors which affect the formation of objects are investigated.

5. Design Project


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5.1.1. Direction, Speed This is a series of images taken inside the camera obscura at 10 second

intervals. (Fig. 19) Each image shows the outline of cloud projected from the

pinhole, which can be seen by the observer. The next to last and last image are

more blurred than the first and second images, while each image has slightly

different brightness.

This is the over-lapped image made which is taken at each 10 second interval.

Each point which is chosen on the outline of the cloud is connected to another

point. Each line is illustrated with both a direction and a length. The length of lines

shows the distance travelled in a certain period of time, from which one can work

out the velocity. The position of travel also shows the direction of the wind. (Fig.

20)

Fig.20 experiment for the trace of image

Fig.19 the camera obscura experiment in the living room


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This is a more simplified result for the general

movement of the outside trace through several images in

order to estimate velocity and location of trace. (Fig. 21)

This drawing shows the tracing pattern of cloud movement

and illustrates the changing velocity and the direction of

travel within the projection.

Fig. 21 experiment for the trace of image

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This is an experiment to explore the trace of

image from camera obscura in detail through

visualising the cloud motion in the projected image

of the camera obscura. Each of the cloud images

could be divided into 2 parts; there is a core part

and blurred outside part which occurs from multiple

scattering. This is similar to the previous experiment.

The low velocity of the cloud movement produces

more delicate results over a period of 50 images.

(Fig. 22)

Each line illustrates the multiple scattering parts

of cloud and core parts at the same time through 50

traces. The significance of this image is

meteorological data which illustrates a certain time

and place as a kind of graph. The process of

revealing shape is similar to Rapid Prototyping. This

is an example about three dimensionalising, re-

spatialising and abstracting the cloud form to create

a new architectural object. (Fig. 23)

Fig.23 the outline and inline of the cloud’s traces

Fig. 22 the outline and inline of cloud in camera obscura image

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This work could be an appropriate reference on motion of spatialising traces,

visualising and tracing movement. (fig. 25) This image shows the sketch onto space

could reveal an object. (fig. 24) The four FRONT members have developed a method

which can materialise hand sketches. They make it possible by using a unique

method where two advanced techniques are combined. Pen strokes made in the air

are recorded with Motion Capture and become 3D digital files; these are then

materialised through Rapid Prototyping into real pieces of furniture.

Fig.24 the process of sketch furniture by FRONT

Fig.25 the result through Rapid Prototyping

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5.1.2. Rotation The trace of cloud moves from one point to another

point with different direction and velocity. However, the

real movement of cloud is different from a visible portion

of the air. This diagram shows the movement of cloud.

(Fig. 26) When air moves, it is called ‘wind’. All the motion

of cloud is in a rotating system which is subject to coriolis

force. That wind at higher altitudes usually has another

direction than the surface wind thanks to Ballots law.

(Harris and Lastra 2003)

On the whole, the movement of cloud shows certain

direction. However, in detail, local part of cloud will rotate

with movement in a certain direction.

Fig. 26. Cloud diagram by Harris, M & Lastra


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The image made by the pinhole in camera obscura is different from real image. The image from pinhole could be

distorted by many kinds of environmental factors before it is projected on the screen.

In order to perform a more realistic experiment, three sites which have different environmental conditions were

chosen. These are the interior of Living room, the interior of St Paul cathedral and King Henry’s Mound in Richmond

park in London.’ Each site deals with a different architectural scale.

Firstly, there is the living room. Its features are a flat wall that acts as a projection screen. There is no distortion

by the environment.

The second site is the interior of St Paul’s Cathedral in London. The image will be projected onto the interior of

the dome surface. And it will consequently be distorted by the curvature of the dome in the cathedral.

Lastly, King Henry’s Mound has vista which frames St Paul’s cathedral through a hole in the hedge. The image

will be projected on the bumpy, uneven surface of the hedge.

Every resultant object manifested from the projections in each different environment is materialised through the

process of Rapid Prototyping. The trace of cloud image in camera obscura as is used as the basis for the

projections.


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5.2.1. Living room This is the experiment of

the camera obscura in the

living room. The exterior

landscape is projected into

the living room through the

tiny pinhole. On the canvas,

the outline of cloud is drawn

at 20 second intervals. The

lines are archived and

abstracted. The drawing

illustrates the movement of

the cloud projection over

time within the camera

obscura. Moreover, the

main reason for selecting

living room as a site and

doing the drawing as a 1:1

canvas is to engage with an

architectural scale.

Fig. 27 camera obscura 1:1 drawing in living room


39Fig. 28 camera obscura 1:1 drawing in living room

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This drawing is

an abstracted cloud

pattern from within

camera obscura.

This is a diagram

attempting to

understand the

direction and speed

of clouds. In order to

visualise the trace of

cloud, it is connected

by differing sizes and

shapes of bars.


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In order to examine the trace in a 3 dimensional space, a

virtual section on another axis is chosen. (fig. 31) If P is a real

point located on the canvas (projection surface), then P’is a

virtual point beyond the canvas. This attempts to visualise and

spatialise the movement of cloud on an invisible surface.

Fig.31 diagram for virtual point P’

P’

P

In order to simplify, five points on the same axis are

chosen. And then, the trace is con-nected by a line. The

series of clouds move from left to right side with different

speeds.


visible surface

Invisible surface.

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PHASE 1 PHASE 2 PHASE 3 PHASE 4 PHASE 5

3 POINT FOR TRACE MOVEMENT ROTATE Multiple Scattering

MOVEMENT

MOVEMENT

Fig.32 the process of revealing object from trace

The purpose of this diagram is to create an object from the cloud traces. Objects are

revealed in living room like a 3 dimensional prototyping through the visualisation of the cloud

traces. Firstly, there are three connected points. The traces move to the left with differing

directions and velocities. At the same time, the trace of cloud rotates slightly. Correspondingly,

the outside of cloud is subject to multiple scattering. This process can be regarded as a

translation and transformation owing to the fact that it transfers the information from the cloud

traces and manifests it through 3 dimensional computer techniques.

43Fig.33 The resultant object from the previous step

44 Fig.34 the object from trace in living room

45Fig.35 the object from trace in living room

These calibrating objects are made in the living room. 3 objects are revealed through the

previous steps. Certain objects are combined into one object. The shape of objects is not

concerned with the shape of cloud, only the movement of the cloud’s traces over time.

46Fig.36 the object from trace in living room

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5.2.2. St Paul cathedral The site is St Paul cathedral in London is used in order to

adopt a spherical environment. (fig.37) The virtual image of cloud

projected by pinhole is projected onto the curved interior surface

of the dome in St Paul’s cathedral. Consequently the image is

distorted. (fig. 38) From this distortion on the interior surface of

the cathedral, objects are revealed.

Fig.37 inside dome in St Paul cathedral Fig. 38 the trace on dome.


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If image is projected into flat surface, the image will be

made like fig. 39. However, if the image is projected onto

a spherical surface the image is distorted like fig. 40

4. Design Project

Fig.40 the distorted object in St Paul cathedral

Fig.39 the object in flat place

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Fig.41 the distorted object in St Paul cathedral

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4. Design Project

Fig.42 the idea for St Paul cathedral

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5.2.3. The hedge in King Henry's Mound

This last site is King Henry’s

Mound in Richmond Park in London.

(fig.43) The place is surrounded by

hedgerow and has a protected view

of St Paul’s Cathedral framed

through a hole in the hedge. The

crucial condition of environment is

rugged qualities.

In order to examine the image

distortion when projected onto the

hedge, a uniform grid image is

projected on the leaf surface. (Fig.

44) Due to the differing distances and

angles from observer to leaf, the

projected grid is distorted completely,

similar to the earlier experiments

exploring the anamorphic distortion

of the tree in the camera obscura.

Fig.43 King Henry's Mound in Richmond Park

Fig. 44 the experiment for distortion on hedge

5. Design Project


52

This gray scale image is used for calculating height through the differing tonal

qualities of the image. (fig.45)

This is for examining the curvature which is made by the projection (fig. 46)

Fig. 45 the surface of hedge Fig. 46 the curvature of hedge

53Fig. 50 the distorted object from the hedge

Fig. 47 trace of cloud on hedge

Fig. 48 perspective view of traces

This is the trace of the cloud projection on the hedge, shown as a plan view. (Fig. 47)

However, the shape of trace is completely distorted by the curvature of the hedge when shown

as a perspective view. (Fig. 48)

Through the previous step, the shape of object is revealed. The object is a result of the

traces of images passing along bumpy hedge surface.

The significance of this image is the use of meteorological data which illustrates certain time

and place in narrow place as another kind of graph. The process of revealing the shape is

similar to Rapid Prototyping.

Fig.49 the distorted object from the hedge

54

Fig.51 the idea for The hedge in Kings Henry Mound

55

For the next stage, the objects are manifested in the different environment and will be

combined into floating island as a platform. The objects are recast as an architecture in the

landscape and will be used as an observatory made by the camera obscura upon the platform

for recording the archived image of surrounding environment. It becomes an observatory,

through a coalescing of an number of parts of the project thus far. All the time-based images will

reside and be archived in the observatory. The method of archiving is not digital recording as

modern technology but an analogue plan chest.

Each technique throughout the previous chapters explored how the image can be archived

and recorded visually with physical holes, and how the information would be interpreted in the

future.

The main idea is how the image of landscape can be recorded and archived through

pinholes. I am designing a hovering platform to record and archive the image of a landscape. It

is not simply a recording of certain objects in detail but archiving objects and the context of

landscape through time. Moreover, it can be a vision machine in London to support a system of

future landscape as a propositional event space.

6.1 Platform

6. Platform

56

The main purpose of the platform is to help landscape reconstruction due to

preserving the flow of sight through time in order to prepare for natural disasters such

as earthquakes and floods.

That is to say, the platform will archive the everyday landscape before London is

covered under water. When natural disaster occurs, the image in the platform could

support the reconstruction of the landscape. Moreover, the preserved time-based

image might be used in a museum as a London landscape history.

The platform consists of both a recording part and observing part. In the recording

part, there will be a rolling object to which a light sensitive chemical is applied like a

rolling curtain, and a supporting device.

In the recording system, due to the weather, many parts in the archived image

might be absent so that it will be dependent on the interpretation of the perceiver. The

dynamic change of weather and the strength of daylight have an influence on various

images: clear, blur and smear. Even the speed and direction of wind can be examined.

Fig. 52 Context Map

6.1 Platform

6. Platform

57

Fig. 53 Context Map

6.2. Drawing

6. Platform

58

Through the drawing, the system of the platform is examined. The platform as a

vision machine that hovers in the sky from St Paul’s cathedral to 3 different sites: King

Henry VIII’s Mound in Richmond Park, Parliament Hill in Hampstead Heath and

Greenwich Park. This platform will not record the image of our experienced perception

but instead will archive the flow of the images over a time period. The archiving image

is the data which is able to construct landscape system in reality. It can be a

cornerstone from 2 dimensional paintings to a 3 dimensional real world, like the work

of Philip Steadman. Even though the pinhole is not a 3 dimensional scanner such as

LIDAR system but is a basic system, one which works with the fundamental principle

of light.

59

“All the way down the creek, perched in the windows of the office blocks and department stores, the

iguanas watched them go past, their hard frozen heads jerking stiffly… Without the reptiles, the lagoons and

the creeks of office blocks half-submerged in the immense heat would have had a strange dream-like beauty,

but the iguanas and basilisks brought the fantasy down to earth. As their seats in the one-time board-rooms

indicated, the reptiles had taken over the city. Once again they were the dominant form of life.” (Ballard 1962 p.

18)

The narrative of this project comes from ‘The Drowned World’ of JG ballard. In the book, London has been

‘drowned’ by water which is illustrated with ‘dream-like beauty’ or ‘Eden’. However, it is different from reality.

Human beings can accept the situation similarly to the way the environment does in the water covered city

after the occurrence of a natural disaster.

”Huge pools of water still lay about everywhere, leaking from the ground floors of the buildings, but they

were little more than two or three feet deep. There were clear stretches of pavement over a hundred yards long,

and many of the further streets were completely drained. Dying fish and marine plants expired in the centre of

the roadways, and huge banks of black sludge were silted up into the gutters and over the sidewalks, but

fortunately the escaping waters had cut long pathways through them.

J.G. Ballard.” (Ballard 1962)

6.3. Narrative

6. Platform

60

It is possible that this environment is not a disastrous landscape. Human beings can adapt to the situation. One day, the

archived image which includes the flow of London's time will be released from the platform. They will be in the confusion of

current values due to realising the reality. There are two possibilities; the restoration to the past or the adherence to the

present. Obviously, there is a common perception which is represented in the period. The common perception of the

present can be differentiated with it from the past, due to the fact that common perception can be dissimilar according to

each period. For instance, people usually see the object through their perception, which does not ‘see seeing’ but perceives

something from ‘previous experience’.

Schopenhauer commented that viewing beautiful things was not only a question of all people seeing the same but was

also dependent on the kind and quality of the brain which is perceiving them. (Crary 1990, p. 84)

Moreover, the interpretation of the recorded image is distinct to each individual. The image is visionary and abstract like

the output which is made by the ‘Vision machine’ of Kiesler. The interpreter might try not to make the same as the

landscape of the past but instead try to make the ideal city fit to the current situation. If they deny the current situation and

return to the past, then they try to drain the water as in the plot of ‘The Drowned World,’ and then they will reconstruct their

city according to the revealed reality. It is the middle between the past and present owing to the fact that they reside within

different ideology and environment.

6. Platform

61

This project began with an interest in the camera obscura, and the phenomena of the real

exterior image being transmitted into an interior surface by a pinhole. The project has explored

the traces of images made by pinhole in the camera obscura through several experiments and

drawings. Various tactics were employed as an exploration of the architectural potentials of the

camera obscura. Through an architectural analysis of the relationship between projected

environment and its trace, different ‘calibrating objects’ are revealed across three different sites.

The trace-generated objects form part of the landscape, representing meteorological data

which illustrates certain times and places. The objects from each site are adopted into platform

and appropriate functions which correspond with the three sites; a house, church and

observatory. These revealed objects operate as an architecture in a landscape and will be

imagined as an observatory, using the camera obscura in the platform for recording an archived

image of the landscape. The observatory is a facility in the floating platform, where the camera

obscura is employed for recording a time-based image of landscape.

Fig. 54 Tactic Drawing

7. Conclusion

62

Through these investigations, what needs to extend further is the development of

the work. The system of the platform will be constructed. In detail, the system inside

the platform will be constructed visually. Additionally, the shape of platform and more

specific narrative will be attempted. The purpose of this platform is as a vision machine

to record and archive the image of landscape, for the reason that it could help

landscape reconstruction if or when London is submerged under water. This platform

will archive the everyday landscape through the pinhole of a camera obscura.

67

Ballard, J 1962, The Drowned World, Harper Perennial, London.

Barthes, R 1980, Camera Lucida, Jonathan Cape Ltd, London.

Brigham, J 1985, The magic mirror of M.C. Escher, Tarquin Publications, Stradbroke.

Crary, J 1990, Techniques of the Observer, The MIT Press, Cambridge.

Edwards, S 2006, photography, Oxford University press Inc., New York

Harris, M & Lastra, A 2003, Real-Time Cloud Rendering, University of North Carolina, North Carolina

Kemp, M 1990, The science of art, Yale university press, New Haven.

Meehl, GA, Warren, M, Washington, William, D, Collins, Julie ,M, Arblaster, Aixue, H, Lawrence, E, Buja, Warren, G,

Strand & Haiyan, T 2005, ‘How Much More Global Warming and Sea Level Rise?’, Science, vol. 307, no. 5716, pp.

1769 – 1772, March 18, 2005

Steadman, P 2001, Vermeer’s Camera, Oxford University press Inc, Oxford.

The London Views Management Framework 2009, Retrieved June 3, 2010, from

http://legacy.london.gov.uk/mayor/strategies/sds/spg.jsp

Woods, L 2009, Kiesler’s Double Vision, Retrieved June 3, 2010, from

http://lebbeuswoods.wordpress.com/2009/12/22/kieslers-double-vision/

Zakia, R 2007, Perception and imaging, Elsevier, Oxford.

References

essay

Documents

drowned world

camera obscura4

global warming

camera obscura5

camera obscura experiment

noun space

single storey buildings

actual space