Boyle Heights Scan

The project named “Favelization” is using a carefully extracted dataset of existing infrastructure of informal Latin American settlements, to do what is impossible for any urban planner can, design the favela. The project would simulate the urban fabric of these informal settlements and at the same time be able to extract and discern different forms of urban analysis that is automatically generated by a professional perception of the image produced. Furthermore, the design would then take the implied relationships of the produced graphic, and inform how the city functions, how the user can discern zoning, and propose a local network infrastructure.

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Using satellite data from La Paz in Bolivia, Alemao Complex in Brazil, and Buenos Aires, the project divides wanted and unwanted features for how the city should be designed as the “Set B” of images. In the case of the results below the “Set A” images were an unedited aerial photograph of the Paraná Delta River in Rosario, Argentina, chosen for its similarities to how an informal settlement branches of communities from primary geological features. The result of those two images were then cross trained with images of traditional zoning/analytical mapping to delineate fictional zoning and public vs. private area. Narratively, this project holds a greater implication on how a person understands what a city is and holds the medium of satellite imagery in a diferent light. There are all forms of data inherent within any photograph that is produced. In this case being able to derive shapes of forms in cities and compare it to a diagrammatic study of the same plan could be important for the future of master planning.

Architectural Technologies - SCI_Arc

Instructor: David Ruy

AT: Masha Hupalo

Site: Boyle Heights, Los Angeles, California

Aug 2019