maps and tracings

Matters of Urbanism: Toxicity

Cultural Difference Map

map of vegetal area

finding the vegetal pole...

Shifting Economic Condition

Maps and Tracings

Crime and the City Solution

Tracing and Map: Water

(Note: there are many downloadable files embedded in this posts. Click on the blue links!)

York South/Weston is situated within the The Humber River Watershed. The Humber River bounds the ward to the west, while Black Creek bisects the ward, beginning in the north-east and eventually flowing into the Humber in the south-west. Constructed water systems in the ward include: sewers, including storm sewers which collect surface flow through catch basins, and combined sewers which add effluent to the mix; and water mains, which bring municipal water to taps and fire hydrants. There are about 12000 catch basins and 2000 fire hydrants in the ward.

My Tracing represents the primary tool of the architect: AutoCAD. By overlaying the systems in question - surface topography, watercourses, catch basins and surface channelization (curbs), we obtain a seemingly objective representation of the water situation in York South/Weston.





The tracing provides no points of entry, no lines of flight, and is particularly illegible to the non-architect. In order to plug this tracing back into the map, I performed a second operation, an operation for which the tracing was an essential step. I created a milled 3D model of the ward, at 1:25,000 scale.

On one surface, the topography is represented, with a 10x exaggerated vertical scale.



Here's a detail showing Eglinton Flats and Black Creek, which both drain into the Humber.



On the bottom, the major elements of the storm-sewer system are represented.



The map is meant to be directly instrumental. By pouring water on either surface, the user directly experiences the flow of water on the site, and the rhizomatic nature of natural flow in contrast to the arborescent nature of constructed flow. This characterization is true to reality. Surface run-off and groundwater percolation are highly multi-variate, non-linear and unpredictable, with pockets of turbulence and huge variations in rate. Open channel flow, the type that occurs in a sewer system, has been intentionally devised to be as predictable, stable and smooth as possible. It's interesting to note that all constructed water systems (arborescent) ultimately flow into a natural (rhizomatic) water system.










I also discovered a group that explores Toronto's storm sewer systems. Their efforts are catalogued at The Vanishing Point .

In York South/Weston, we find the
Westview Greenbelt Drain, Interestingly, Carl recalls exploring this drain as a youth. Its access point is shown below.

where to walk for groceries

Section 1: Matters of Urbanism

(Click here to download this handout as a PDF)


ARC3016Y Assembling a molecular architecture

Tuesdays 9am – 1pm and 2pm-6pm; Thursdays 2pm-6pm
Adrian Blackwell
Adrian.blackwell@utoronto.ca
Office Hours: By appointment


TERM PROJECT assembling a molecular architecture

SECTION 1 matters of urbanism

Make a map not a tracing… What distinguishes the map from the tracing is that it is entirely oriented toward an experimentation in contact with the real. The map does not reproduce the unconscious closed in upon itself; it constructs the unconscious.
Gilles Delueze and Felix Guattari – A Thousand Plateaus

Make a map of the South York / Weston neighbourhood that focuses on one of the following topics:

Eating:

Food
1. food distribution
2. urban agriculture
Environmental Ecology
3. water systems
4. vegetal systems
5. toxicity
Social Ecology
6. community health
7. economic indicators

Performance:

Cultural Production
1. cultural production
2. changing places of work
Cultural Consumption
3. venues and festivals
Social Ecology
4. Employment
5. Cultural Difference
6. Crime


METHODOLOGY

1. Research:
Collect data on your assigned subject. Plot the data on a plan of the site in black and white at a scale of 1:5000 in illustrator. Present this map as a digital PDF only on Thursday the 10th of January.

2. Experiment: plug the tracings back into the map
Use Deleuze and Guattari’s distinction between the map and the tracing as a challenge. What external possibilities and trajectories present themselves to make a map of this tracing?

3. Walk the site with the map: connect the map to the real;
Design a tour of the site that lasts 10 minutes using the map as a reference tool

Digital Aerials can be downloaded from the Map Library Website, although the highest resolution files need to be requested in person, check the website for details. Property Data maps must be requested in person from the map library on the third fourth floor of Robarts Library.


SCHEDULE

Week 1
Tuesday
9:00 – 10:00 – studio introduction and P1 section1
10:00 – 10:30 – Introduction to “A Thousand Plateaus”
10:30 – 4:00 - Reading
4:00 – 6:00 – Reading discussion
Thursday
2:00 – 6:00 - site research discussion / proposal for research

Week 2
Tuesday
9:00 – 12:30 Site research desk reviews
4:00 – 6:00 – reading discussion
Thursday
2 – 6pm Review of Site Research – site walk and tour

SECTION DUE DATE
Black and white digital file in illustrator and final map are both due January 17 - 10% 2:00pm. On site. Location TBA.


SUPPLEMENTARY READING

James Corner: The Agency of Mapping.