Environmental stats

So, following the Flame's comments about environment and my project, I do think that it's important to include some environmental factors in this scale jump. I also want to include program stuff in scale. I might need to have two scale shifts: one for environment and one for program. See, I don't think that I can assemble multiple ambiguous spatial conditions for program yet because I don't want to limit the program by specifying stuff. I realize I'll have to do it eventually, but I think that if I leave it later I'll be able to retain more possible programs. Another reason is that it is too much of a jump between the sectional conditions and program. So introducing environmental factors could be a way to bridge that gap.

Environmental factors (all stats from Environment Canada):

Sun.
In winter, we want sun, in summer we don't. The most popular way to get both is to make an overhang that is deep enough to exclude summer sun but not so deep it keeps out low angle winter sun. In Vancouver, the sun is at around 67.5 degrees on June 21. To keep it off the floor of a 8' room, you need an overhang of 3'-4" at 8 feet. The higher you get, the larger the overhang needs to be, at a rate of about 5" per foot. This keeps out sun only June 21st, the summer solstice. Vancouver is hottest about August, so its a good idea to keep the sun out until then.

Rain.
We have more rain in the winter than in the summer, and frankly it's much less pleasant to be wet in the winter than it is in the summer. And while you might expect the overhang to keep off the rain, most of the time in Vancouver rain comes with wind. Which means it rains at an angle so roof cover doesn't always help.

Environment Canada says that in winter, the wind usually comes from the east and blows around 7-7.4 km/hr from the east (or 2 m/s). Small drops of rain fall around 6.5 m/s (or 23.4 km/hr) and large ones about 9 m/s (or 32.4 km/hr). So for our mythical 8' room, we would need an overhang of 1'-10" for small raindrops and 2'-5" for large ones, or between 2.5" and 3.6" for each foot of room on the east side of the building.

The problem is that while that is the average, the maximum hourly is 32 km/hr (which is around 9 m/s) from the north. This means that our 8' room will need an overhang of 8' on the north to keep off all potential rain.

Wind
It sucks when it's cold and windy, but sometimes when it is sunny if you can find a space out of the wind it can be lovely. The fortunate thing about wind is that if you are protected on a couple of sides, you are usually fine. These two sides would likely be those of prevailing breezes: the north and east. Micropatterns exist around buildings, but it doesn't take a lot of shelter to get you out of the wind.

The problem with environmental stuff is it is so directional. I don't want to decide what direction a seat will be facing if I don't know where it is going to go. Stupid catch 22.

ETA: some other stuff: any grassy area need to be extremely well drained. If it gets sun during the day it will be extremely popular with students. IF there is a roof on whatever thing gets produced, it should be accessible.

Using and abusing the chosen few

I've culled my ambiguous spatial conditions: I'm down to 15 from 115, so I think that's useful. I started by getting rid of the conditions that only matched one surface (about a quarter of them) and then I sorted the rest into types and picked the most interesting of each type -- there are a couple with two, but in most cases each type has a single example. I'm going to leave the rest of them for now, with the idea that I chose what I found to be interesting, but there is always the possibility of going back to the well, so to speak.

I spent some time today putting together a use diagram for the bus loop area. This is the diagram from FOA's Yokohama Port Terminal:

This is mine:
Not as interesting, not as dynamic. I'm also not entirely clear how this informs my scale move. I know there are lots of possibilities for things to add: graduation, meeting friends and studying, suntanning and people watching, political meetings. I have a list of all the possible uses, so maybe what I need to do is imagine how many people will want to do each of them at each part of the day. This one starts with the bus loop stuff, which I think is important, but my other use ideas don't really fit with it.

I also need to start looking at what additional factors should be considered in putting together the spatial hubs. Should I make examples that deal with rain/wind/sunlight? There must be a way to integrate shelter without just adding something.

I've been reading some of FOA's stuff today, and my favorite part is the way they use grass to cover slopes over 12%. I think this is awesome, and a great idea to indicate other kinds of uses. I think material fits in here somewhere as well. It's almost environmental: it's more pleasant to sit on a concrete bench in the sun, but a wood bench when it is damp or cold, even if neither of them are wet. So not only should I be arranging ambiguous spatial conditions to protect from/take advantage of sun, rain, wind, cold and hot, but I should maybe also look at what materials can do this.

So maybe I need to start making rules about these things. I have some climate information for Vancouver that shows the percentage of possible daylight hours for months of the year. If there's a 21% chance of sunshine in January, then there is a 79% chance of rain, so almost 80% of the area should be covered or otherwise protected. Maybe I should look at my chosen few to see what parts can also serve as shelter. Yeah, I think I'll do that and get back to you.