Karlsson & Co. I

It has now been a while that I have been feeling like I should write a couple of paragraghs about SIGRAD conference on computer graphics and visualization and some more on what I have recently been into in Länsstyrelsen Gävleborg (Gävleborg County Administration). At this moment, however, I feel a stronger urge to report on what is happening in Karlsson and Co. restaurant (Stockholm, Kungsgatan). Below you can see how the place looks like at this time when the owners and I keep on discussing placement of lights, speakers, smoke dispensers, etc. using interactive and collaborative media. Here you can see a re-organization plan over the entrance level followed by a number of shots:

VIP section with a separate entrance will be here.

Here is the view through where is going to be the main dance floor. The upper left side of the photo is where the central scene will be established.

This photo depicts the location of the dance floor in the pub  located in the basement.

the scene in the pub will be attached to the wall illuminated by the light.

and finally, where the bar for the pub will be placed quite close to a lounge .

I will keep an eye on the project and hopefully come up with updates. SIGRAD and LST are also on the agenda for further blog posts.

City Engine

As an introduction: CityEngine® is a standalone software and a conceptual design and modelling tool for professional users in entertainment, architecture, urban planning, GIS and general 3D content production. It is primarily aimed at time-efficient creation of 3D cities and buildings. The main concept of CityEngine is the "procedural" approach towards modeling. The computer is given a code-based "procedure" which represents a series of commands - in this context geometric modeling commands - which then will be executed. Instead of the "classical" intervention of the user, who manually interacts with the model and models 3d geometries, the task is described "abstractly", in a rule file.

Coming across Bekerman's experiments with City Engine on his VenICE project, I was wondering whether Procedural Inc.'s approach for further development of their flagship product goes to city modelling or city planning. The example mentioned above is a modelling practice, while recent cooperation among Procedural Inc. and ESRI is a true evidence of their interest in stepping more deeply into the planning realm.

That is in fact the choice that many other practitioners such as Agency 9 have also made in recent years. Agency 9 AB which is a privately owned Stockholm-based visualization firm was founded in 2003. The firm started as a game design group and then shifted to production of online 3d maps and visualization tools. Their planning application, City Planner is a user-friendly and web-based tool for creating, sharing and communicating of future urban plans. The inputs to the program are 3d models of planned urban entities constructed in SketchUp, Maya or 3D Studio Max. Proposals are located in their surroundings and are made available to all stakeholders. This software provides the infrastructure required for adding geo-referenced feedback to a developing urban plan.The most dominant characteristic of CityPlanner is user-friendliness, simplicity and ease of communication through web. The tool has its focus on providing 3D visualization for planning procedures and does not include so many analytic functions or data-processing capabilities.

Sources: 

City Engine Help manual

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lJLvawS_5lA

Academia

In September, I had the opportunity to share outcomes of my recent studies with students of the master program "Sustainable Urban Planning and Design" in two occasions:

5th September, an overview of use of visualization in participatory planning was presented. This was in fact a revised version of my thesis work complemented by more background information, less focused on web-basedness and altered to better reflect the entire picture rather than my personal approach.

On the 14th of September, I gave a speech on 3d city models and 3d city modeling titled as: "An Overview of Three-Dimensional City Models; Historical Perspectives and a Contemporary Debate: Beauty vs. Brain". This was a summary on - among all - basic concepts in the field such as DEM(1), DSM(2); DTM(3), LOD(4), a history of creation of digital city models, different approaches, the vanishing borderline between digital maps and digital models and contemporary debates namely semantic city models and widespread use of CityGML.

In addition, an introductory lab session was held on use of the digital urban creation tool, City Engine, and implementation of procedural routines and grammar-based modeling. This was mainly focused on getting acquainted to the interface, experimenting basic functions of growing a street network from a scratch with help of shape files, creating urban lots, rendering those lots and streets into photo-realistic urban features based on the rules imposed by CGA files and customizing individual buildings by manipulating a set of parameters...

The above-mentioned were parts of the course AG2119 (Applied Analysis and International Planning Practice), year 2011, KTH.

1) Digital Elevation Model
2) Digital Surface Model
3) Digital Terrain Model
4) Level Of Detail

Do it all again!

The new plan for Slussen is a true evidence of the fact that city planning is not intrinsically consulting firms' business. The pen is trembling in planner's hand with each single stroke on the paper in fear of harsh criticism from high-ranked decision-making authorities and public now and then.

Social Democrats are not satisfied with the proposal for new Slussen and this means that the construction will be postponed again. SD is looking for a more functional and spectacular Slussen. So many stairs will cause problems for handicaps and women with baby strollers commuting between Gamla Stan and Södermalm, they assume. They also think that there is too much room for motor traffic in current proposal considering the vision for a car-free Gamla Stan. SD will therefore ask the City Planning Board not to approve the proposal. Christian Democrats condemn SD's decision for being irresponsible regarding the delay it will cause also for speaking out so late just a couple of months before decision making.

Social Democrats put forth three major arguments for their opposition to Nya Slussen:

• Existing serene skyline will be obstructed by new additions.
• Future underground transportation route to Nacka is not taken into account.
• There is too much room for car in current plan.

Nevertheless, the problem with the 3-year delay in the project required for planning a new solution is how to cope with threatening rise in Mälaren lake's level of water. In current plan, a new water-circulation system has been devised to transfer greater amounts of water from Mälaren to the Baltic Sea ...

The thing is that planning is all a matter of prioritizing. This does not entail that an urban plan can by no means be functional, visually appealing, economical, eco-friendly and collaborative at the same time; but that the necessity for making sacrifices on some aspects in favor of some gains somewhere else should always be perceived when judging final outcome of an urban planning procedure.

Source:
http://www.dn.se/sthlm/s-domer-ut-slussenforslaget
http://www.dn.se/sthlm/s-far-inget-medhall-om-slussenforslaget

Back to the topic

While searching avidly for pioneer practitioners in the field of visualization as part of my thesis work, I came across the visionary product of the Brisbane-based infrastructure visualization company, Urban Circus. Urban Circus is a powerful tool for real-time visualization of large-scale multi-disciplinary urban projects. Its interface is ideally user-friendly and to a great degree interactive. Base models are imported from 3DSMax, Maya, ArchiCAD, etc. Outputs range from 2d rendered scenes, 3d panoramic views, 3d videos and 4d planning environments to interactive web pages featuring all the above-mentioned. Created scenes are fairly realistic and delicately detailed. Urban Circus Company was founded by an urban planner, Dr. Ben Guy in 2004.

As part of a recent conversation among Dr. Ben Guy and me and in response to an inquiry on my opinion about key centres for 3D visualisation study and analysis around the world and where we are standing here at KTH, I made an effort to conclude my findings in the field as followed: 

Diagram 3

Diagram 4

Firstly, the definition and delimitation of 3d visualization is not fully agreed upon among scholars and practitioners. So, I try to delimit the term and clarify in which sense I would prefer to use it before proceeding. As depicted in diagrams 3 and 4, visualization may address the transitory process with an input from the modelling phase and an output for the simulation phase. The term can also be used in a wider sense describing the entire process. Throughout my studies, the latter definition has proved to be more appropriate when mentioning visualization as a means for participatory planning. 

Secondly, contemporary practitioners in the field take different approaches to the very nature of visualization tools and techniques. The variety of categories can - in my opinion - be summarized to two major groups. These two classifications are in turn derived from Raper, McCarthy and Williams' (1999)* categorization of virtual reality tools: Some institutes such as MIT Media Lab are mainly equipment-oriented which can correspond to Raper and others' immersive (egocentric) VR. Batty, Longley and others at UCL's CASA, on the other hand, are more focused on the through-the-window or exocentric definition of VR tools. Again, I find the latter better addressing contemporary needs for 3d visualization and more compatible with participatory approaches. 

Sweden is a pioneer in visualization in Scandinavia and among top ones in Europe with a number of active visualization centers such as those in Norrköping and Göteborg. They are however still more into immersive VR approaches and somehow more specialised in other uses of visualization such as medical applications rather than planning. In recent years, KTH has been offering various programs on visualization which are unique in the sense that they are closely linked to satellite imagery, semi-automated modeling and GIS utilities from one side and visualization of social aspects of planning using Space Syntax, Place Syntax, etc. on the other hand. 

There are in fact vast grounds and potentials for further developments, but still much to be done for integrating the variety of visualization-related activities and research programs within the department before strengthening our links with pioneers in the field. I have much hope and enthusiasm in our recent activities for better embracing the topic at our planning school in the future.

Sources:

Raper, J., McCarthy, T., & Williams, N. (1999). Georeferenced four-dimensional virtual environments: principles and applications.Computers, Environment and Urban Systems , 22 (6), 529-539.

Ball, J., Capanni, N., & Watt, S. (2008). Virtual Reality for Mutual Understanding in Landscape Planning. International

Journal of Social Sciences , Volume 2 Number 2 2008 ISSN 1306‐973X.

Parsanezhad, P., (2010). Towards an Optimal Web-based Visualization Tool for Planning : A Comparative Analytical Survey over Visualization Techniques for Enhancing Stakeholders’ Participation in Planning. Master thesis report, KTH, Stockholm.

http://www.circus3d.com/

Beauty out of Beast





Current KTH School of Architecture

No one is cheered up by an abrupt fire on a stately edifice in a reputed neighbourhood of the city. Burning of KTH School of Architecture in Stockholm, however, triggered ambivalent feelings for many who had longly suffered this arrogant, obstructive and gloomy mass of concrete boasting right in the middle of delicate harmonic urban environment of Östermalm and in the vicinity of the elaborate structure of Engelbrek Church.


After the fire

The catastrophe paved the way for realizing the 10-year dream of integrating the two isolated bodies of KTH through establishment of an accumulative building accommodating both the entrance to the campus and architectural school. It is planned to be located where the three streets of Osquarsbacke, Lindstedtsvägen and Drottning Kristinas vägen meet. Currently, Info Center and administrative units are located there.



The new KTH School of Architecture designed by Tham & Videgård will be a round building with a glassy-steel facade. As part of the project, the building located south of KTH library will be ruined and greenery and artworks in the surroundings will be transferred to other places around the campus. The new school of architecture is expected to be ready to use for spring semester 2014 and will also serve as a meeting place with a number of mini galleries.



New design

Sources:

http://www.akademiskahus.se/index.php?id=487&lProjektID=181
http://www.google.se/imgres?imgurl=http://mobil.svt.se/content/1/c8/02/41/65/20/arkitektbrand-370.jpg&imgrefurl=http://mobil.svt.se/2.33538/1.2416520/pa_vippen_att_hela_skolan_brann_ner&usg=__HMTHfzbqvC390RfiTzDc6jMBKxA=&h=208&w=370&sz=31&hl=sv&start=8&sig2=ycbe3EVFajKYL_5NZzokag&zoom=1&um=1&itbs=1&tbnid=m6mKPcGP6MI52M:&tbnh=69&tbnw=122&prev=/search%3Fq%3Darkitekturskolan%2Bbrand%26um%3D1%26hl%3Dsv%26biw%3D1070%26bih%3D772%26tbm%3Disch&ei=FsQ2Tu-gDo_TsgbUkcS6Ag

The contemporary kitchen

This will not be a comprehensive manual for kitchen design for sure but at least a glimpse of basics of contemporary kitchen design when functionality is prioritized over low costs and aesthetics:

• A sufficiently big sink is a must for comfortably hand-washing the dishes and washing large-sized utensils such as barbecue grill. A small sink with a garbage grinder to avoid a smelly storage of organic wastes is an appropriate complement. Adjustable shower mixer taps and pull-down/pull-out faucets are both convenient and spectacular. Use of a glass surface as splasher reduces cleaning time. 
• A large draining board is a plus. It can always be also used as ordinary countertop. 
• It is better to have plate racks and detergent hanging over the draining board rather than being located on them so that it becomes easier to keep the board clean and tidy. 
• Dish-washer should be placed at convenient working height and close to the draining board. 
• The best material for the countertop is laminate since it is durable and resistant to harm and moisture, is easy to replace and does not require much maintenance over time. 
• Stove should not be better placed into the cooking island so as to minimize spread of splashes and limit children's access. A metal edge for the stove top adds to its durability. 

• Non-open kitchens are more convenient in the sense that a door can well obstruct the noise of food processors. Nonetheless, open kitchens with wide islands are much trendier and even more functional these days considering simultaneous use of kitchen and living rooms as cooking and dining area. Cooking island can be even elevated on wheels to provide more flexibility in re-arrangement of interior space. 
• Upper cabinets should be better extended up to the ceiling to avoid accumulation of dust and dirt and also to provide extra storage space. 
• Unruffled wall surfaces are easier to clean and change when remodeling the kitchen compared with small-sized tiles. 
• Linoleum is resistant to moisture, dirt and fat and is thus a suitable choice for the floor. 
• An ample number of power outlets helps much.

Hagastaden

It took a number of decades for planners to face destructive consequences of urban sprawl e.g. excess of fuel consumption triggered by long-distance intercity motorways, inefficient and wasteful methods of energy distribution, segregation and associated social problems, fast pace of of deforestation, threat on wild life and accelerating consumption of natural resources. As a reaction, a large number of planning authorities around the world, specifically those in middle-sized cities where environmental measures have traditionally been substantial to decision-making procedures have recently headed towards densification and building inwards as a high planning priority.

The star-shaped city of Stockholm is in fact a very fitting example in this context with numerous plans for urban densification including reconstruction of brown- and grey fields, developing the city in the third dimension and utilizing unused lands close to the city center for construction of new districts. The ongoing urban project of Hagastaden is one example. 

By 2025, the area Norrastationsområde will be developed into a new district - Hagastaden including residences, parks, shopping premises, research centers and health facilities. Out of the total 96-ha land area allocated for the project, 30 percent is located in Stockholm municipality and the the rest in the neighboring Solna. 5000 new residential units and 36000 new workplaces will be constructed as part of the project and a number of motor- and railways including E4 and E20 will be placed into underground tunnels and pass beneath the district. The municipality of Stockholm will be responsible for a 10-billion-Swedish-Crown share out of the overall 50-billion expenditures including five billion Crowns for E4/E20 underground tunnels. Hagastaden is primarily characterized as a world-class research and innovation center for life science and health care. The New Karolinska Solna medical university and hospital (inauguration 2016) will be integrated to the project.

Sources:
http://insynsbk.stockholm.se/Byggochplantjansten/Pagaende-planarbete/PagaendePlanarbete/Planarende/?journalnumber=2009-02013
http://www.stockholm.se/Fristaende-webbplatser/Fackforvaltningssajter/Exploateringskontoret/Ovriga-byggprojekt-i-innerstaden/Norra-Station/
http://www.nyakarolinskasolna.se/
http://www.stockholm.se/-/Nyheter/Trafik--Stadsmiljo/Hagastaden--intunnlingen-av-E4E20-har-paborjats/
http://www.google.se/imgres?imgurl=http://www.dn.se/images/2010/12/22/Hagastaden660.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.dn.se/sthlm/hagastaden-ska-satta-halsan-framst&usg=__W3eQ_S09XxG1J6sHBDlcRHtbSFU=&h=396&w=660&sz=80&hl=sv&start=2&sig2=DlsjAh31i2zbp9CrT__cbQ&zoom=1&um=1&itbs=1&tbnid=LxwZvwy7u0yAVM:&tbnh=83&tbnw=138&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dhagastaden%26um%3D1%26hl%3Dsv%26sa%3DN%26biw%3D721%26bih%3D766%26tbm%3Disch&ei=InQcTruJM43csga5yJzgBg

The work summarized in the poster was titled as "Exploratory spatial analysis of theft as a function of land use and socio-demographic data". The emphasis here was more on methodology rather than the outputs or the specific case used. In a brief, we used OLS (classic) regressions to investigate how large the impact of socio-demographic and land-use indicators is on the ratio of theft in Tallinn. The independent variables were derived from the two prominent theories in criminology, routine activities and social disorganizations, and included the followings:

number of pubs, number of bus stops, number of house owners, male population, population of foreigners, proportion of unemployed.

The overall procedure initiated with normalizing the data for the independent variable (theft), running univariate regressions for theft and each of predictors and checking p-value, goodness-of-fit and the diagram in search of a significant relationship. Since we did not observe any remarkable relation, proceeded then with a visual ESDA test: we used box-plots and maps to select and visually compare top positive residuals of y and x variables and came up with the same result: no significant relation between theft and socio-demographic and land-use factors.

The literature, however, suggests some relation between the two. The source of error in our experiment could have been among these:

- We should have normalized data in another way than using logs of the values.
- One multivariate regression should have been performed instead of a set of univariate models. This considers cumulative impact of the factors and will thus better account for the overall impact of socio-demographic and land-use parameters on theft.
- Even though the results of OLS regression were not satisfactory, we should have proceeded and also performed spatial lag and spatial error regressions hoping that they may better fit the data.

This was however a basic and limited spatial analysis study performed in a short time and has much room for further development and methodological modifications.

Applied Spatial Analysis

The above is the invitation to the poster presentation session of the PhD course "Applied Spatial Analysis: An introduction". I will also present a work on "Exploratory Spatial Analysis of Theft as a Function of Land use and Socio-demographic Data" together with Sandra Karlsson.

A much more adorable "lock" for the city

This maybe sounds absurd, but now I feel responsible for communicating final updates on Slussen's re-organization and reconstruction project after keeping an eye on and relating the news around it over such a long time here and in my FB profile! The approved plan is on exhibition for public at Peter Myndes Backe 3 (http://www.stockholm.se/slussen). Followed comes a summary of various elements of the new plan to replace existing perplexed structure present there since 1930's:

• a new park east of Katarinahissen with a panoramic view to Saltsjön and Skeppsholmen
• Slusstorget: a piazza in the middle plus two rectangular pools, cafés, places for sunbathing and sunshading, ...
• a comulative terminal for busses, metro and local trains for ease of change among transportation modes for commuters
• Södermalmstorg: a place for meeting and experiment
• buildings with transparent façades for utmost visual communication of inner and outer rooms and continuity of space
• two low office buildings in front of existing ones (Glashusen and KF-huset)
• project start: 2013, estimated inauguration time: 2020

Other ongoing or approved large-scale urban projects in Stockholm are as followed:

• Citybannan: a 6-km underground tunnel with stations at Odenplan and T Centeralen
• Stockholm by-pass: a 21-km motorway (18 km under the ground) linking north and south of the city with a 15-minute travel time
• Norra Djurgårdsstaden: a new energy-efficient world-class district with 10000 residential and 30000 office units
• Hagastaden: a new district to be located between Stockholm and Solna including a new university hospital, Nya Karolinska Solna

Sources: 
http://www.netcommunity.se/201105174249/BYGG/BIM/Artiklar/stockholm-ritar-om-ny-modell-av-slussenomradet-visar-framtiden-4249/menu-id-472
http://www.stockholm.se/Fristaende-webbplatser/Fackforvaltningssajter/Exploateringskontoret/NyaSlussen/Utstallning-om-framtidens-Slussen/
http://www.trafikverket.se/forbifartstockholm

Slussen

Slussen - Proposal by Foster & partners

Tuesday 12th April, the three alternatives for the future of Slussen were displayed in an exhibition at Hilton Hotel. In less than two months, there will be another exhibition and proposals will be consecutively put to public opinion by the city of Stockholm. These three are the municipality's proposal (Nya Slussen), restoration of existing structure and a third proposal Knutpunkt Slussen.   

Knutpunkt Slussen

Slussen is agreed upon almost by everyone as a problematic example of urban design. A variety of transportation modes (car, metro, bus, bicycles, passengers, etc.) have been placed together in a limited area where at the at the same time, the lock between Baltic Sea and Lake Mälaren separates islands of Södermalm and Gamlastan in central Stockholm.

Reshaping of Slussen has been under discussion since 1970s and a master plan by Foster & Partners was approved by the city of Stockholm following a competition. The main emphasis of the design was separation of motor vehicles and passengers and increasing the overall height so as to compensate the excess of water level and eliminate future risks.
  

Among existing alternatives, Knutpunkt Slussen is quite radical and suggests digging all motorways and railroads down into the ground and freeing up the space for a central park and new construction. Hot debates are going on and deteriorated physical structure of Slussen urges for a resolute action.

Sources:

Wikipedia

http://www.dn.se/sthlm/slussen-under-park-i-nytt-motforslag

http://www.yimby.se/2009/04/foster-partners-och-berg-_726.html

http://knutpunktslussen.se/filer/file/Slussen%20inbjudan%20mail1.pdf

To sell or to build: this is the dilemma!

Followed comes a summary of reports and forecasts on recent and future shifts in land prices in Sweden. The text is mainly a translation of the article by Jonas Lindmark Morningstar, specialist at Morningstar. The most appealing point in the article to me was that it reflects best the most dominant approaches in Swedish spatial planning procedures: strict governmental regulation and control over construction rules, sustainable planning and participatory planning. The three aforementioned concepts are evident through importance and strong impacts of legislation, environmental measures and residents’ opinions on predominant planning routines:

New planning regulations (proposition 2009/10:170) will come into force in Sweden in two months from now. One possible effect is an increase in provision of plots for villa construction which will in turn decrease land prices.

Normally, an increase in prices results in an increase in supply. In the case of land lots, however, a different rule governs: supply of land for villa construction in Sweden has fallen 30 percent in 2010 compared with 2008 while there is evidently a high demand. The number of constructed villas in recent two decades has nevertheless decreased to one third compared with the same time period before 1990.

The reason why municipalities are not that willing to assign land for villa are numerous and not without ambiguities: current regulations have made housing development a less profitable and more risky occupation; more strict environmental measures are being taken by authorities; more objections are made to construction permits by neighbors; many land owners hesitate to sell their lots in hope of higher prices – which is in fact a reliable forecast. Even the monthly rent earned after construction is not a sufficiently tempting motive for land owners to construct since land prices increase in a much higher pace than prices of the houses do.

The new planning and construction regulations aim at simplifying and speeding up the process of land assignment for villa construction. Nevertheless, interest rates in Sweden are currently so low that an access in land assignment for villa construction does not necessarily entail an immediate fall in land prices.

Experts from Building Administration (Boverket) and other responsible organizations believe that current situation will be followed by an increase in interest rates and the trend will persist until house prices are reduced down to construction costs. At the time land prices will start falling in a rapid pace just as they had been increasing previously.

Source: http://www.byggahus.se/artiklar/ar-din-tomt-vard-mer-huset

VIP

Vacuum insulation is an appropriate alternative for more energy-efficient buildings. This method is based on exterior insulation which has plenty of advantages over inside insulation: cold bridges and interstitial condensation are avoided and internal walls are retained as heat-sinks.

VIP (Vacuum Insulation Panel) is an efficient example compared with other available options (EPS-Expanded Polystyren, XPS-Extruded Polysyren, stonewool, fiberglass, Phnolic foam, PUR-Polyurethane,...). The isolation consists of light metal formable heat-sealed panels which are filled with nanoporous material. This inner filler comprises of fumed silica or a combination of superfined fibreglass and phenomic foam.

VIP has a very high insulation capacity. The vacuum inside highly lessens the overall conductivity; a 2-3 cm VIP panel is equivalent to 10-15 cm of mineral wool insulation and thus saves much space. Previously, the technique was only used in fridges and refrigerators.

There are nevertheless also some disadvantages with VIP: costs are still relatively high. More ubiquity in the future will certainly decrease prices and make the choice of material more economic in both short- and long-term. Another problem is that utmost care is required during transportation and construction. The quality decreases over time in a way that the lifetime is 30 - 50 years. Panels should thus be easy to access and replaceable.

Sources:
http://www.byggahus.se/artiklar/nya-effektiva-material-for-miljon
http://www.starch.dk/private/energy/insulation.asp

Sick building syndrome

Built environment affects our lives in a myriad of ways including impacts on health issues. Sick building syndrome (SBS) is caused by indoor environmental conditions of workplaces and houses and causes long term health problems. Symptoms are sensory irritation of the eyes, lips, nose, throat, mucosa and skin and odor and taste sensations

The problem is pinned down to flaws in the heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems. Other causes have been attributed to contaminants produced by outgassing of some types of building materials, molds, lack of adequate fresh-air intake/air filtration, and also sometimes inappropriate ventilation of the ozone produced by some machines in offices.

Ninety percent of 189 cases studied at University of Umeå between 1986 and 1998 of were women. The reason can be the fact that women are more willing to report such things, but can also be due to a more responsive immune system in women.

It is always important to seek care early to avoid persistent problems. Symptoms are normally relieved after changing the work place or improvements in the building.

Sources:
http://sverigesradio.se/sida/artikel.aspx?programid=83&artikel=2510558#articleToolbar
Wikpedia

Ideal city

From the photo collection Lil Contentments by Kiana Farhoudi (published on Facebook )

Villa Leipzig

Everything started with a simple three-dimensional model of the house we are living in to be located on Google Earth as a tribute to this lovely four-storied stately house. In fact, our landlord had previously lectured with a preacher's passion on the reputation of the edifice as one of the oldest buildings in the area. Nevertheless, it was just recently that I discovered that our house - which I had superficially called Örby House before - actually has a cordial historic name: Villa Leipzig!

Stockholm's Yellow Pages, 1922

According to Stockholm's Yellow Pages archive (above), the mansion dates back to latest 1922 and there was - among all - a bakery located in the house. Based on available photos, there has been a two-storied building called Villa Jennylund in the same location in 1910. This was consecutively replaced by current Leipzig House one decade later. It can be concluded that Villa Leipzig is at least 90 years old and has been almost in the same shape from the beginning.

Villa Jennylund, 1910

In 1945, there was a coffee and tobacco shop in the building which are now replaced by a residence and an office. Villa Leipzig undoubtedly deserved a 3d model on Google Earth! New features in Sketchup 8. have largely facilitated construction of new models by incorporating more accurate pictures from Google Map's Street View. Previously, Building Maker online application had been introduced by Google to construct digital models using enhanced oblique photos of the buildings from four different directions.

Villa Leipzig, 1945

Sources:
http://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%96rby,_Stockholms_kommun
http://www.stockholmskallan.se/php/fupload/SMF/SD/SSMB_0023983_1922_12.pdf
http://www.hjle.se/

Life on a leaf

There is a bridge over the entrance to the master bedroom and a heart-shaped window over the bed. Allover the floors, walls and ceilings is covered with sharp colors and lively patterns. Plan of the house located in Åbo in Finland resembles a leaf which was owner's desire from the beginning.

Jan-Erik Andersson who lives in the house with his wife and ten-year-old daughter asked a number of his artist friends to create some works of art around the house and denied to be consulted about what they were going to create. "It was important to bring in ideas to the house that I myself had nothing to do with; since otherwise it would have been like living inside my own brain which is not healthy at all!" he clarifies.

The interesting part of the story is the numerous warnings he had received from prominent Finnish architects while determinedly trying to realize his dreamy house with help of architect Erkki Pitkäranta. They believed that the family of Andersson will soon get bored by striking colors and playful shapes established right in the middle of their daily life and not for example in a play ground or Disney Land. Their opinion however did not come true; at least after one and half year!

If you ask me, I go with Finish architects: "This is a terrible place to live in"! The point is that tastes are vastly different and the client has the right as long as the place is not within the public realm. Still the exterior look should not contradict neighbourhoods ín a way that it could be considered a visual threat to its surrounding.

Source: http://www.dn.se/bostad/konsten-att-bo-i-lovformat-hus

P.S.

On 28 Sep. 2011, I got this message in my mailbox:

Hello Pouriya Parsanezhad!
I would LOVE to comment your blog article about "Life on a Leaf" -house. But the comment form does not work.
So anyway, this is the comment:
I haven't seen you living here ;), so maybe you can not say that "THIS IS A TERRIBLE PLACE TO LIVE IN!" This is NOT terrible place to live in. This is my home. And belief it or not I am (now you can laugh) a minimalist.You are more than welcome to see and experience the real house!
The Wife (still alive)

To which I replied:

Dear Marjo,
Sorry for late reply,and so sorry for having written that sentence even though I had tired to moderate it with the following sentence: "The point is that tastes are vastly different and the client has the right as long as the place is not within the public realm.", still I was partly influenced by DN's article when I was writing that post, I should confess. The thing is that when one reads something in a newspaper, it is considered merely as a written document and one easily becomes ignorant about the fact that behind those words, there are in fact some people with their passions, emotions and lives specifically when talking about a house.
I have vividly gone too far by speaking out in such a deterministic way. This is in fact YOU and your family who are the most legitimate persons to judge how it feels to live in your dreamy house not me, DN's editorial or architectural critiques. Nevertheless, you do not need to bother yourself much since my blog does not have so many readers as far as I know:) ... 
But a 'minimalist' loving such a style for living place still sounds confusing to me I should confess!
Kind regards,- Pouriya Parsa

Lovely Marjo finally left me speechless by replying back as follows:

Dear Pouriya Parsa!
Take it easy, don't be SO sorry ;)! I understand that you need to have some edge when you write something.
We have been hearing criticism so much that it does not bother anymore. And without that there was no reason to do the house. We have also seen so many different people that like about the project that it feels that we made something interesting.
Anyway, if you have some time, look at the house's websites, in spite of that you (and meny other :) don't like the house, the process have been more than interesting.
I use to hate the idea of the house, but the process made me see things in a different way.http://www.anderssonart.com/leaf/index.html
And look all the artist's who have been doing art in the house:http://www.anderssonart.com/leaf/artists/index.html
If you like you can use pictures from the websites and you don't have to be politically correct ;).
best,Marjo
ps: I am sorry to say to you that my partner has also done some works to the public realm. ;) www.rosegarden.fi

Such an amateur blogger that I am, I feel more than indulged to see a single post of mine receiving so much attention!

News on recent changes in housing market in Sweden

Just came across two contradictory pieces of news on changes in housing prices in todays newspapers. Dagens Nyheter addresses a recent fall in prices, while E24 reports in increase during the last quarter of the year in its headline. Eventhough time spans are different, such widely adverse standpoints towards an issue sound amazing! Here comes a summmary of the two:

Dagens Nyheter: House price had a 4 percent decrease in December:
- The fall in prices of residences in December has been 7, 3 and 4 percent respectively in Malmö, central Stockholm and Göteborg.
- Prices have decreased in a more rapid pace in those towns having recovered faster from financial crisis.
- There is no risk of housing bubble in Sweden.
- During the last decade, price of housing in Sweden has risen up to 153%; that of vilas 72%
- The highest increase in housing price in Sweden in recent decade: 218% in Göteborg
- The highest increase in villa price in Sweden in recent decade: 131% in Malmö

E24: Compared to last year, house prices have increased:
- The highest increae was 4% in Gotland
- During the last quarter of the year, prices in Stockholm and Göteborg have been unchanged.
- In the same period, prices in Malmö have increased 2 percents.

Google, Eniro, hitta and others

As part of an initial survey for a modelling project, I made a simple comparison over satellite photos of the terrain provided by prominent global actors such as google (Google Maps http://maps.google.com/) and two major Swedish providers, Eniro (http://kartor.eniro.se/) and Hitta (http://www.hitta.se/). Bing's images were nit detailed enough throughout this area.

Above you can see the result on a sample area. Hitta vividly offers the best quality while Eniro's images are of the lowest resolution. The objective here was to determine which source is more appropriate for us in modelling in cases where high-resolution aerial or satellite photos by e.g. Blom or C3 are not available.

Since there was also a need for oblique and facade images, I made an investigation into a wider range of online resources and checked which features were covered by each of them upon studied area. The features I chose for this purpose were 2-, 2.5- and 3-dimentional representations and panoramic views.

Again, Hitta proves to provide the best results. Specifically, the street view feature in Hitta (Gatubild) is distinguished from the other in the sense that it covers almost the entire city while that of Google Maps only has major roads represented and Eniro has no coverage in the area at all. Nevertheless, 2.5-dimentional views of Eniro are more useful than three dimensional map of Hitta for my purpose. The reason is that Hitta's 3d model is semi-automatically created by image sensering and thus does not fully recognize sides, edges and corners of the buildings, contains lots of distorted building volumes and buildings mixed with trees, whereas Eniro's oblique images (Utsikt) are precisely assembled outputs of high-resolution aerial photos.

In the following table, a summary of analysis is given.

Optimal Web-based Visualization Tool

The following is an abstract of my thesis report titled as Towards an Optimal Web-based Visualization Tool; A Comparative Analytical Survey over Visualization Techniques for Enhancing Stakeholders’ Participation in Planning:

Use of digital visualization tools in planning is nowadays widely practiced around the world by various contributors to the field and in different planning scales. Visualization facilitates perception of underlying thoughts and objectives of planning alternatives and consequently assists with communication of the plan to stakeholders of different groups. This – in turn - enables them to actively and efficiently participate in the procedure from the very initial stages to the implementation phase thanks to the insight provided by user-friendly visualization tools.

Available visualization tools for planning, however, are either not integrated and efficient enough or too resource- or expertise-demanding and thus not entirely fulfilling the qualities mentioned above. This study is a search for a conceptual framework for the optimal web-based visualization tool. Web-basedness diminishes temporal and spatial distance among the users and planning agents and provides the possibility for more participation in and interaction with planning projects.

Within this study, major characteristics of an optimal tool have been investigated through literature and online resources, contacts with experts and practitioners, a survey over existing products and visual analysis of the outcomes. An evaluation cube was initially developed and then used as the basis for a set of duality criteria. A selection of visualization tools were examined against those criteria and results were demonstrated visually. Eventually, findings were used to provide a backcasted example of the optimal tool and suggestions were made for actual development of the package to be used by planning agents. 

P E N U M B R A

Hi!

The word Penumbra implies uncertainty. This is perhaps the most significant characteristic of the planning and design profession. At any specific scale and within any specific disciplinary field, planning and design entails collection, interpretation, synthesis, communication and management of huge masses of multidisciplinary information as a prelude of the eventual decision-making phase.

P E N U M B R A is the private press of mine where thoughts, reflections, comments and anecdotes of an assortment of works and words on planning and design of built environment will be published. Contributions range across vast subject areas and diverse scales; from architecture to regional and territorial planning. The contents will however be primarily based on, inspired by or addressing my actual works and studies. 

My primary intention is to motivate myself to articulate my perceptions, ideas and opinions in a semi-structured manner as well as to communicate my word to a broader public through a fairly accessible, flexible and somehow interactive platform.

Cheers,

- Pouriya Parsa