Assimilation of the Lost Site: Establishing Architectural Identity on Sites Defined by Conflicting Grids and Conflicting Programmatic Typologies

<p>The contemporary urban dilemma of the ‘lost site’ has arisen due to the ever-increasing density of our urban environments, where boundaries of contrasting urban contextual grid conditions overlap, forming pocket sites that ultimately must respond to multiple grids yet belong to none. These lost sites are the sites trapped by opposing contextual constraints, needing to respond to multiple and often conflicting conditions and as such ameliorating the architect’s ability to provide them with a single unique sense of holistic identity. This research investigates approaches for the design of these lost sites, particularly when they must not only respond to multiple grid conditions, but are also required to engage multiple diverse programs and reflect conflicting programmatic typologies. The vehicle for this design research investigation will be the actual site and program for the proposed new New Zealand School of Music on Jack Ilott Green in the northeast corner of Wellington’s Civic Square. As an example of a ‘lost site’, this site must establish a public identity that responds to its principal frontage Jervois Quay and the Harbour, while simultaneously resolving and responding to a civic identity required by Civic Square and a more local identity required by Harris Street. The program must establish an academic identity as a music school, while simultaneously establishing civic identity as a public concert hall on Civic Square in conjunction with Capital E, Michael Fowler Centre, Town Hall, City Council, Public Library, and City Gallery. The thesis argues that architecture on ‘lost sites’ can be conceived as a metaphorical ‘joint’ as a means of responding to opposing site and program conditions. The thesis argues that architecture's potential to be manifested as a joint can be strategically used as a viable means of addressing lost sites. This approach further suggests that a building on a lost site can be conceived as having multiple ‘front’ façades – each expressing identity in response to a different set of contextual and programmatic conditions. The thesis tests how this approach might enable architecture to establish a holistic identity upon an urban ‘lost site’, even with each of its façades needing to engage a different identity.Recent demographic shifts which involve more families living in New Zealand’s urban centres have led to an ever-increasing density of our urban environments. The denser the urban environment becomes, the greater the number of ‘lost sites’ begin to emerge. Most buildings address this dilemma by either considering only one dominant set of conditions, or by being conceived as an ‘object in a field’ which actively denies the contextual conditions. These complex sites are an urban and architectural issue in need of active critical resolution. This thesis explores how such diverse opposing requirements can be resolved holistically while establishing unique identities for each set of unique site conditions.</p>

Assimilation of the Lost Site: Establishing Architectural Identity on Sites Defined by Conflicting Grids and Conflicting Programmatic Typologies

<p>The contemporary urban dilemma of the ‘lost site’ has arisen due to the ever-increasing density of our urban environments, where boundaries of contrasting urban contextual grid conditions overlap, forming pocket sites that ultimately must respond to multiple grids yet belong to none. These lost sites are the sites trapped by opposing contextual constraints, needing to respond to multiple and often conflicting conditions and as such ameliorating the architect’s ability to provide them with a single unique sense of holistic identity. This research investigates approaches for the design of these lost sites, particularly when they must not only respond to multiple grid conditions, but are also required to engage multiple diverse programs and reflect conflicting programmatic typologies. The vehicle for this design research investigation will be the actual site and program for the proposed new New Zealand School of Music on Jack Ilott Green in the northeast corner of Wellington’s Civic Square. As an example of a ‘lost site’, this site must establish a public identity that responds to its principal frontage Jervois Quay and the Harbour, while simultaneously resolving and responding to a civic identity required by Civic Square and a more local identity required by Harris Street. The program must establish an academic identity as a music school, while simultaneously establishing civic identity as a public concert hall on Civic Square in conjunction with Capital E, Michael Fowler Centre, Town Hall, City Council, Public Library, and City Gallery. The thesis argues that architecture on ‘lost sites’ can be conceived as a metaphorical ‘joint’ as a means of responding to opposing site and program conditions. The thesis argues that architecture's potential to be manifested as a joint can be strategically used as a viable means of addressing lost sites. This approach further suggests that a building on a lost site can be conceived as having multiple ‘front’ façades – each expressing identity in response to a different set of contextual and programmatic conditions. The thesis tests how this approach might enable architecture to establish a holistic identity upon an urban ‘lost site’, even with each of its façades needing to engage a different identity.Recent demographic shifts which involve more families living in New Zealand’s urban centres have led to an ever-increasing density of our urban environments. The denser the urban environment becomes, the greater the number of ‘lost sites’ begin to emerge. Most buildings address this dilemma by either considering only one dominant set of conditions, or by being conceived as an ‘object in a field’ which actively denies the contextual conditions. These complex sites are an urban and architectural issue in need of active critical resolution. This thesis explores how such diverse opposing requirements can be resolved holistically while establishing unique identities for each set of unique site conditions.</p>

Direct inversion of surface wave dispersion data with multiple-grid parameterizations and its application to a dense array in Chao Lake, eastern China

Summary The direct surface wave tomography has become an efficient tool in imaging three-dimensional (3-D) shallow Earth structure. However, some fundamental problems still exist in selecting the grids to parameterize the model space. This study proposes to implement a model parameterization approach with multiple grids to the direct surface wave tomography. These multiple grids represent several overlapping collocated grids with the same or different grid spacings, such as staggered grids, multiscale grids, and multiscale-staggered grids. At each iteration, direct inversion is applied to each individual set of collocated grids to invert for the shear-wave velocity (Vs) model; the models are then projected onto a set of predefined base grids (usually the finest grids) using 3-D B-spline interpolation. At the end of each iteration, we average the Vs models of all sets of collocated grids to obtain the average 3-D Vs model, which is then used as the initial model for the next iteration. The properties of this approach are explored by applying it to a newly deployed dense array in Chao Lake (CL), eastern China. Synthetic and field data tests demonstrate that the method using multiple grids recovers anomaly patterns better than that using the individual set of collocated grids, though it does not necessarily achieve the smallest traveltime residual. We then obtain a high-resolution 3-D shallow crustal Vs model beneath the CL. The 3-D Vs model reveals two prominent features: (1) a stripe-like structural pattern of velocity variations, where the Hefei basin and eastern CL display low-velocity anomalies while the Tanlu fault zone (TFZ), Zhangbaling uplift, and Yinping mountain present high-velocity anomalies; (2) north-shifted low-velocity anomalies beneath the eastern CL as depths go shallow. The shallow Vs features are consistent well with the local geological units and topography. We suggest that the two main features could be associated with the multistage tectonic activities of the Tanlu fault. The multiple-grid scheme proposed in this study could be conveniently extended to other 3-D direct inversion approaches in the near future.

On the Optimal Resolution of Inverse Kinematics for Redundant Manipulators Using a Topological Analysis

The redundancy resolution schemes based on the optimization of an integral performance index are investigated from the topological point of view. The topological notions of self-motion manifold, C-path-homotopy and extended aspect are clarified in relation to the limitations of the necessary conditions of optimality provided by calculus of variations. On one hand, they do not guarantee the achievement of the optimal solution, and on the other hand, they translate into a two-point boundary value problem (TPBVP), whose resolution, under certain circumstances, may not lead to a feasible solution at all. In response to the limitations of calculus of variations, a dynamic-programming-inspired formalism is developed, which is based on the discretization of the state space and on its representation in the form of multiple grids. Building upon the topological analysis, effective algorithms are designed that are able to find the optimal solution in any condition, across all C-path homotopy classes and self-motion manifolds, with no limitation due to the passage through singularities. Moreover, if the grids are representative of the manipulator’s extended aspects, the topological notion of the transitional point can be used to reduce the computational complexity of the optimal redundancy resolution algorithm. The results are demonstrated on a canonical 4R planar robot in two different scenarios.

Software tools for automated transmission electron dmicroscopy

In the recent years, electron microscopy in the life sciences has witnessed increasing demand for high-throughput data collection in both structural and cellular biology. We present a combination of software tools that enable automated acquisition guided by image analysis for a wide variety of Transmission Electron Microscopy applications. Using these tools, we demonstrate dose-reduction in single particle cryo-EM experiments, fully automated acquisition of every single cell in a plastic section and automated targeting of features on serial sections for 3D volume imaging even across multiple grids.

Multi-Grid Lanczos

We present a Lanczos algorithm utilizing multiple grids that reduces the memory requirements both on disk and in working memory by one order of magnitude for RBC/UKQCD’s 48I and 64I ensembles at the physical pion mass. The precision of the resulting eigenvectors is on par with exact deflation.

CFD Simulations of Non-Linear Sloshing in a Rotating Rectangular Tank Using the Level Set Method

In this paper, numerical simulations of non-linear sloshing in rectangular tanks are presented. Model implementations in the open source software REEF3D are tested and results compared with experimental data. Three different conditions are compared with experiments in 2D. First, the free surface time-evolution is compared for both linear and non-linear sloshing. In the last case, video images from the SPHERIC project are compared with simulations images of the free surface. A condition with lateral wave impacts in sloshing, with a frequency closer to the natural frequency of the first mode, can be found in this case. The non-linear sloshing, case 2, is also simulated in 3D. The numerical model is solving the RANS equations with the k-ω turbulence model. The level set method is used to capture the interface. Higher order discretization schemes are implemented to handle time-evolution and convective fluxes. A ghost cell method is used to account for solid boundaries and multiple grids for parallel computations. It is found that the limiting factor for the eddy-viscosity has significant influence in case 2 and 3. As the sloshing becomes more violent, the increased strain at the gas-liquid interface overproduces turbulence energy with unrealistically high damping of the motion. 3D simulations are only performed in case 2, which shows slightly better comparison than with 2D. Due to non-linearities and small damping, the time to reach steady-state may take several cycles, but no information is given in the paper [1]. The last case shows promising results for the global motion. As expected, the break up of the liquid surface makes it difficult to resolve each phase. But overall, the numerical model predicts the sloshing motion reasonably well.