PROCEDURAL MODELLING OF CITIES WITH ESRI CITYENGINE
September 21-30 2016
Tutor: Grete Soosalu, SmarterBetterCities / CloudCities, Zürich
Participants: Liis Juuse, Allan Pintson, Anne Kaljas, Veiko Vahtrik, Kertsi Nigols, Paulina Pähn, Johannes Madis Aasmäe, Jaanika Sau, Ingrid Kaur, Jüri Nigulas, Martin Melioranski, Renee Puusepp
Critics: Toomas Tammis, Andres Ojari, Paco Ulman, Raul Kalvo
Supported by: HITSA (Information Technology Foundation for Education) IT Academy Program
The workshop consisted of different thematic blocks. In the beginning Grete Soosalu gave an overview of CityEngine’s protcedural logic and the international projects she has been involved in. This was followed by a series of assignments for deeper understanding of different workflows and applications of CityEngine, including connection to GIS data and publishing the generated results of existing rules-packages to CloudCities online environment for web browser based viewing of 3D model.
The first assingment “from scratch” was writing CGA code for CityEngine. Every student/participant had to quickly produce a sub-code for a building facade division or detail (massing division, entrances, windows, balconies, roof etc). The aim was to later assemble these code-snippets into a unified building, and also practice the effects gained by group work in larger or multistage assignements. The collection of code-snippets was a reference collection for the next assignemnts as well.
This was the first time for most students to use procedural modelling and text-based programming in architecture.
The second assignment was to produce a code for a building in large scale housing district, and based on that code and OpenStreetMaps 2D map – a 3D model of the whole area or block.
For the third assignment the students had to choose their previously done studio project and make the surrounding cityscape in CityEngine. This in turn ment that they had to import a 3D model from non-native software to the system, make a reduction if necessary, and addition of urban context. Again, the results were published in 3D online.
The fourth assignment was Utopian Cities. The work consisted of selecting urban typologies, creating street structure with lot subdivision, and generating a massing model for the aforementioned. The students made different spatial citystructures that resembled Manhattan, Barcelona or favelas/slums. The focus of it was to produce multiplicity by selecting various inputs like bitmaps for generating a terrain model, building heights or roofs, and if necessary the ability to add analytic data to guide the process.
The Final Review took palce at EAA Department of Architecture and Urban Design’s Auditorium with invited critics. A discussion followed on the potential of using CityEngine’s capabilities in both academic assignments and urban research projects. We concluded that it is an immense potential.