Urban Design - Individual Strip Development

Following the submission of our group work  we each decided to work on a small strip of the site to develop individually. As most of my work has involved the development of the industrial park to the west of the site I was assigned a strip in this area. As the primary driving point of this development is the transformation of this industrial park into a green park I decided that most of my focus initially needed to be dedicated to working on the new land-form of the site. once solidified (corresponding with group ideas of public transport and the future function of the site, building types etc) this will enable me to proceed more efficiently with the overall master plan. 

LIDAR Map Created From ASC Data

Initially as a group we downloaded quite basic 5m spot heights/contour lines. In order to understand the site more accurately and make more judicious decisions I believed it necessary to first retrieve some more detailed mapping data of the site. Fortunately for myself, in September of this year, the Environment Agency has begun releasing all 11 terabytes  of it's highly accurate LIDAR data for free public use under the Open Government License to be used for any purpose. By downloading The ASC tiles for our site and using the grasshopper algorithm plug-in for Rhino, I was able to use the data to create a very accurate 3D surface of the overall site. This surface has provided much more information than the previous group contour lines and has been very useful especially with regards to issues such as flood prediction. 

Flood Prediction Using Horiztonal Plane

By selecting vertices within the surface I was able to manipulate the land-form to create the effect i desired. A new landscape continuing on from Maryon park that allows the water to penetrate the site from multiple directions. The inclusion of more flat level areas and hidden valleys also allows for possible agricultural areas and hidden building entrances. The image below is a combination of each person's individual strip, followed by a close of of my strip with a particular focus on new contour lines.

Group Masterplan

Revised Topographic Map