Canyon

Canyon is an experimental design process that extends ideation through drawing via a novel hybrid of hand sketches, soundscapes and virtual reality (VR). The inspiration for the project is the dynamic undersea landscape of Kaikōura Canyon, Aotearoa, New Zealand. The experiment draws atmospheric qualities from the unseen topography and vast body of water of the canyon, recently jolted by huge forces in the 2016 Kaikōura earthquake. The ominous scale and power of this submarine landscape is distilled through multi-modal architectural drawing, merging presences within drawing with those in landscape. The early phases of the Canyon project located a mixed media installation in the Palazzo Bembo for the XVI Venice Biennale. This paper reflects on the capacity for drawing to observe and record intangible presences, augmented by the affordance of VR and spatial soundscapes. Canyon also opens up a critique of the traditional view of landscape and its relation to architecture. It alludes to alternative ways in which landscape and architecture might intersect, drawing instead from landscape’s intangible, scalar and material presence. The unseen marine canyon landscape is used as a virtual poetic site to provoke and test drawing and experiential techniques; drawing is expanded as a hybrid medium, able to research architectural presences through multiple platforms. Read the full article online at: https://drawingon.org/Issue-03-02-Canyon