MAP-FEST

 

A brief period in my overall story, but it still burns brightly in memory. The red and green zig-zag was a device that appealed to me long before I had any thoughts of moving to Zimbabwe.

I miss that guitar. Bought in a second hand shop on the Wicker in Sheffield for £39. That must be almost 50 years ago. So light with a wide fingerboard and distinctive tone.

I still wear the slide on my little finger but not a sawn-off version like that. Was I trying to play slide without changing the tuning? Probably. What tricks the memory plays.

These shots are from around 2000. A clean-cut me in my late 40s playing a Saturday afternoon gig in Harare.

 

Festoon, garland, swag. Originating in decoration of buildings on feast days with strings of leaves, flowers, fruit. It's a common motif in classical architecture and features in the shophouses of Singapore.

These two feature as panels below windows. I selected one and traced over it on my phone as a first step in simplifying the form. The second stage involves extrusions and revolves in Revit Family editor.

 

In a BIM context we have to decide on an appropriate level of simplification based on the specifics of the situation. In my case, I am doing personal research. There is no contractor or specialist subcontractor taking direction from my model.

All the same I may want to create a rendered view and to show this element at different scales on sheets, with annotations that display information embedded in the element. Firstly to deepen my own understanding of this building typology. Secondly to share my work with others.

Looking back at the original photo, I think I will make a second attempt at this abstraction process.

 

 

Two maps that try to capture the long duree of history. One by me, from 2014, using Revit. The other stumbled across in Wikipedia quite recently.

My map was created in preparation for a conference paper in New Zealand: an over ambitious attempt to study three famous office buildings using Revit models as the core really method.

It was influenced by a couple of books attempting to explain the extraordinary rise of the West and creation of the modern world. I was trying to give a back-storey to Casa del Fascio, Lever House and the Gherkin.

 

The second map delves back much deeper in time to illustrate the notion of successive waves of hominids spreading out of Africa to inhabit diverse habitats and climates.

Apologies to the americas. I trimmed you off 🤣🤣🤣 More about the proportions of the image than anything. I just like these kinds of diagrams.