7/23/2015

(theteemingvoid):UniformDiversity:SpaceFillingandtheVoronoidiagram
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friday,august13,2010

UNIFORMDIVERSITY:SPACEFILLING
ANDTHEVORONOIDIAGRAM
(THETEEMINGVOID)
AblogbyMitchellWhitelaw:generativeart
anddesign,dataaesthetics,digital
materialitytheory,criticismandpractice.

ME&MINE
mitchellwhitelaw
thevisiblearchive
morewriting
@flickr

Thispostisashortexcerptfromapaperrecentlypublishedin
ArchitecturalTheoryReview15(2)aspecialissueonarchitectureand
geometrywithlotsofgood(Australian)stuff.Mypaper(pdf)isacritical
lookatspacefillinggeometryingenerativedesign.Ittouchesonseveral
thingsalreadybloggedtheWaterCubeandidealfoams,andsome
generativeprojectsthatuseselflimitinggrowth.Thisexcerptlooksatthe
Voronoidiagramasaspacefillingprocess.

@twitter

LINKS
blprnt
cityofsound
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designplaygrounds
generatorx
lightmatters
nervoussystem
serialconsign

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SOFTWARESOFTWAREARTSOUND

TheVoronoidiagramhasbecomeaubiquitousmotifinrecentgenerative
architectureanddesign.It,too,canbeusefullyreadasaspacefilling
model.Informalterms,aVoronoidiagramisawayofdividingupspace
intoregionssothat,foragivensetofsiteswithinthatspace,eachregion
containsallpointsinthespacethatareclosertoonesitethananyother.
Theresultisalsofoamlike,butasamodeltheVoronoidiagramhas
attributesquitedifferenttotheidealKelvinorWeairePhelanfoams.
Firstly,whiletheformalmodelisagainbasedonastrictsetofconditions
(inthiscaseproximity)itworkswithanarbitraryinputthegivensites
ratherthandefiningaregularstructure.TheVoronoiisthusaprocedural

http://teemingvoid.blogspot.in/2010/08/uniformdiversityspacefillingand.html

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7/23/2015

(theteemingvoid):UniformDiversity:SpaceFillingandtheVoronoidiagram

SPACESPECIFICITYSYMBIOSIS
SYNAESTHESIASYNCHRESIS
SYSTEMSARTTHEORY
TRANSMATERIALITYURBANVIDEO
VIRTUOSITYVISUALISATION
VORONOI

RECENTCOMMENTS
ralfbaeckercommentedonafterscreen
arrayaestheticsand:Ontheopposite
therearealotofinstallations,thatplaywith
perceptionandspace,thatare
douro20commentedonthisisdataarguing
withdatababy:TheCGvisualsinthese
commercialswereproducedusingactual
data,processedwithsoftware
Anonymouscommentedonthisisdata
arguingwithdatababy:Ithinkyouhaveall
missedthepoint.Thecommercialisabout
thecuttingedgetechnologythat
Anonymouscommentedoninterviewwith
paulprudenceforneural:Aboutnarrative
ingenerativeartiremembered
EYJAFJALLAJKULLbyJoanie
Lemercier.Whereprocess
Danielcommentedondynamicdesign
threesystems:Thislogoconceptisvery
similartoSagmeister'sCasadaMusica
ideafrom2008.Adynamic

HEY!
Interestedinallthis,andwanttotakeit
further?I'mrecruitingresearchstudents
Honours,MastersorPhD.

geometricstructureinawaythattheidealfoamsarenot:itsstructure
emergesthroughtheapplicationofaspecificprocessoralgorithmtoa
givensetofinputs.Inthisway,thespecificspatialrelationsbetween
neighbouringcellsdependon,andemergelocallyfrom,thegivenspatial
relationsofthespecifiedsites.ThistraitalsogivestheVoronoimodelakind
ofmalleabilitysitescanbeadded,removed,ormoved,andthespatial
structurereadilyadapts
AgainwecanreadofftheattributesoftheVoronoiasamodelinthisway.It
ismultiplicitous,butinadifferentwaytothegridlikeuniformityofthe
foammodels.Inthiscase,themultiplicitycan,infact,beirregular:thesites
canbepositionedanywherewithinagivenspace.However,thisdoesnot
amounttomuch,intermsofheterogeneity:whilethesitescanbe
positionedarbitrarily,theprocedure,andtherelationbetweensitesthatit
encodes,isentirelyuniform.Eachsite,takenasaformalentity,isidentical
toeveryotherthisisakindofuniformdiversity.Likethefoammodels,the
Voronoidiagramtreatsspaceasindefiniteandextensive:itcangoon
foreveritsonlypracticallimitbeingthecomputationalresourcesrequired
tocalculatethediagram.Themodelitselfhasnowayofdefininganedgeor
bound.Finally,thevariabilityoftheVoronoicanbephrasedanotherway,
asarbitrarinessinotherwords,thatthereisnoinherentreasonforagiven
sitetobewhereitis.Thereisnothinginternaltothemodelthatcan
generatethatdifferentiation.

NOTED
OwenHatherleyontheSouthBankCentre,
Brutalismand'Fun'
"Fromworkingclassparticipationto...kidult
tourism"BrutalismandFuninmodern
Londonht@cityofsound

MuseumofModernArt/collectionGitHub
RT@technelily:Datanerdsrejoice!
@MuseumModernArtreleasesobjectdataon
GitHub

johnthackaraonTwitter:"ATeamof
climate&resiliencescientistswarnofmulti
system"synchronousfailure"
http://t.co/q5QW53F5yK"
Compelling(&scary)macrosystemsview.
Crisesspreadfastinamoreconnected,less
diverseworld.

MitchellWhitelawonTwitter:"...alsostruck
byWolseley'suseofformalprocessesand
datavis.Markmakingasaliteraltracingof
complexityhttp://t.co/v7yZc1CRyY"
...alsostruckbyWolseley'suseofformal
processesanddatavis.Markmakingasa
literaltracingofcomplexity

Untitled(http://theconversation.com/john
wolseleyartistemergesasalyricalpoet
andaprophet41500)
SashaGrishinonJohnWolseley's"anti
humanist"landscapes,artistascollaborator
withinamatrixoflivingsystems

MitchellWhitelawonTwitter:"John
WolseleyshowatNGVisjawdropping.
Epic,urgent,movingartforthe
anthropocene.http://t.co/rmnlgVPa3u
http://t.co/F8NNDthR8T"
JohnWolseleyshowatNGVisjawdropping.
Epic,urgent,movingartforthe
anthropocene.

JohnWolseley|NGV
JohnWolseleyshowatNGVisjawdropping.
Epic,urgent,movingartforthe
anthropocene.

InMarcNewson'sVoronoiShelf,forexample(above),weseea
characteristicallyorganicvariety:arangeofcellsizesandshapes,different
wallthicknesses,allinanagreeablestateofharmony.Theformgivesan
impressionofinherentlogic.Itisasiftheharmonyoftherelationships
betweenthecellsitesassuresusthattheremustbeareasonforthemtobe
astheyare.Thisisunsurprising,givenourfamiliaritywith,andaesthetic
attunementto,naturallyoccurringstructuresthatresemblethesecells.The
visualsignaturecarriesanassociationoforganiclogic:butinformalfact
thecellsitesarearbitrary,thatistosay,designed.Thereisnonecessary
relationofonetoanother,only(wecanbutassume)adesigner'schoice,

ChangeplacemarkiconFusionTables

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(theteemingvoid):UniformDiversity:SpaceFillingandtheVoronoidiagram
Help
@miriamkpthisshouldhelp

(404)http://t.co/0163VajLU3>
RT@davpope:Talktothehand,CEFC<my
cartoonintoday's@canberratimes|gallery

whichisconcealedbyanappearance,muchasthesurfaceoftheWater
Cubeconcealstheregularityofitsfoammodel.

DavidPopeonTwitter:"Talktothehand,
CEFC<mycartoonintoday's
@canberratimes|gallery
http://t.co/0163VajLU3>>
http://t.co/snK79BlJtk"
RT@davpope:Talktothehand,CEFC<my
cartoonintoday's@canberratimes|gallery

DoesEarthhaveashadowbiosphere?
SarahScolesAeon
Searchingforashadowbiosphere"lifeas
wedon'tknowit"

EmailaTreeServiceDoesn'tGoAs
PlannedintheBestPossibleWayThe
Atlantic
RT@Yvesi:ThetreesinMelbournehave
emailaddresses,andthey'regetting
thousandsofmessages@gregmore
@climatrisk

#Deepdreamisblowingmymind
Medium
Lucidpiecefrom@memotvon#deepdream
it'sthesystem,notthetrippyaestheticthatis
mostinteresting

MitchellWhitelawonTwitter:
"@tomschofield@MegaloPrintwewere
printingtshirtswiththekids
http://t.co/diWdxyVdSP"
@tomschofield@MegaloPrintwewere
printingtshirtswiththekids

MitchellWhitelawonTwitter:"Fruitsofour
morningat@MegaloPrintenjoyedthe
methodicalhandsonprocessvmuch
http://t.co/tJfYPqYt9h"
Fruitsofourmorningat@MegaloPrint
enjoyedthemethodicalhandsonprocessv
much

MitchellWhitelawonTwitter:"Schoolhols
screenprintingtodayat@MegaloPrint.
http://t.co/l0ifYWqWtU"
Schoolholsscreenprintingtodayat
@MegaloPrint.

MarioKlingemannonTwitter:"#deepdream
hasagreatfutureintexturegeneration.
Objectclassbiasinginbvlc_googlenet:
https://t.co/5qcNSrvmQE
http://t.co/agyCnTMu8K"
RT@quasimondo:#deepdreamhasagreat
futureintexturegeneration.Objectclass
biasinginbvlc_googlenet:

Conversely,somedesignersdirectlyaddressthearbitraryinputtothe
Voronoidiagram,treatingitasanopportunityandexploitingthe
malleabilityofthemodel.AsDimitrisGourdoukiswrites,"theproblemof
decidingontheinitialsetofpointsis,Ithink,oneofthemostinterestingin
relationtovoronoidiagrams."InGourdoukis'AlgorithmicBodyproject
(above),thelocationsoftheVoronoisitesarespecifiedbyasecond
generativesystem,acellularautomatonheretheVoronoiactsasa
geometricfilter,interpretingandinterpolatingonesetofspatialdatainto
another.InMarcFornes'POLYTOP,thedesignerproposesamass
customisedproductinwhichcustomerscandesignthepointcloudthat
drivestheVoronoigeometryhereaproblemofarbitrarychoiceisturned
intoafeature,towardsuniquenessandspecificity.

FlickrPhotoSharing!
RT@quasimondo:#deepdreamhasagreat
futureintexturegeneration.Objectclass
biasinginbvlc_googlenet:

Schedule|BeyondtheDigitizedSlide
Library
Doingdigitalarthistorygreatlooking
workshophappeningatUCLArightnow
#doingdah15post#dh2015

TheConversationonTwitter:"The
"nightmarish"imagesofGoogle's
Inceptionismproject.http://t.co/BEa1j3rcGy
http://t.co/UkEwEOf4P5"
Ontheflawsandinsightsofferedby
#deepdreamvia@conversationEdu

Untitled(http://theconversation.com/what
thedogfishandcamelbirdcantellus
abouthowourbrainswork43904)
Ontheflawsandinsightsofferedby
#deepdreamvia@conversationEdu

GregBorensteinonTwitter:"Itstellingthat
theresmoreconcreteinterestin
#deepdream,apurposelesscreativetool,
thaneveryotherDeepLearningresultthus
far."
Somereflectivedebatetogowithyour
#deepdreameyecandyinthisthread

HomeSocietyforOnePlaceStudies
@PplPlaceStoriesmoreplacebasedwork
thatmightberelevant

POSTEDBYMITCHELLWHITELAWAT11:04AM

FlickrPhotoSharing!
.@kcimcdoes#deepdreamxJonathan

http://teemingvoid.blogspot.in/2010/08/uniformdiversityspacefillingand.html

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7/23/2015

(theteemingvoid):UniformDiversity:SpaceFillingandtheVoronoidiagram

McCabebecauseobviouslywhynot

Untitled
(http://discontents.com.au/unremembering
theforgotten)

LABELS:ARCHITECTURE,CRITIQUE,GENERATIVEDESIGN,MODELS,SPACE,
VORONOI

RT@wragge:Aspromised,my#dh2015
keynote,Unrememberingtheforgotten,is
nowonmyblog:

ThePoeticsoftheArchive
.@tomschofielddemos"searchbyshape"in
@BloodaxeArchivesuperfun#dh2015

MitchellWhitelawonTwitter:
".@tomschofielddiscussingresearch
throughdesign,DHandthe
@BloodaxeArchiveproject#dh2015
http://t.co/xO2tKKH59d"
.@tomschofielddiscussingresearchthrough
design,DHandthe@BloodaxeArchive
project#dh2015

EVAA2016|ElectronicVisualisationand
theArtsAustralasia
#dh2015folksaquickad:joinusMarch
2016forthefirstElectronicVisualisationand
theArtsAustralasia

MikeJonesonTwitter:"@mtchlgreat
howaboutweroundupafewpeople(ifany
areinterested)andmeetoutsidethe
Boilerhouseat5:15pm?"
Nonconfdinnersplintergroupletsgo
#dh2015

HomeDeepeningHistoriesofPlace
ProjectANU
@PplPlaceStoriesthislooksrelevantforyou

DataRevisualization
.@benmschmidtwedon'tneedblurrybar
charts(Drucker)butcanexposeassumptions
withdatarevis#dh2015

1COMMENT:
adamsaid...
IloveVoronoidiagrams.IwhilebackIwasplayingaroundwiththemtotryand
compressanimageintoasetofpointsandcoloursusingonlyageneticalgorithm.
Inevergotveryfarwithitbuthadsomefunandsentapatchtothemaintainerof
Math::Geometry::Voronoiwhichgotapplied.Iforgottopatchthedocsthoughso
I'mnotlistedasanauthor.ThismostlycameaboutafterIsawthehillclimb
methodappliedtoabunchoftranslucenttrianglestogenerateanapproximation
oftheMonaLisa.
IshoulddigmycodeoutagainandseeifIcanmakeitdosomethinginteresting.
1:57pm

POSTACOMMENT
LINKSTOTHISPOST
CREATEALINK

Untitled
(http://www.f.waseda.jp/kusahara/robot.ht
ml)
.@feraldataonJapaneseconceptionof
robotsrecallsMachikoKusahara'sworkon
animismandautomataeg#dh2015

MikeTykaonTwitter:"Ok,folks:Thecode
fromour#inceptionismneuralnetworkpost
isnowongithub:https://t.co/pESzdoDfh4
http://t.co/NI99JYsMhr"
RT@mtyka:Ok,folks:Thecodefromour
#inceptionismneuralnetworkpostisnowon
github:

google/deepdreamGitHub
RT@mtyka:Ok,folks:Thecodefromour
#inceptionismneuralnetworkpostisnowon
github:

HOLOonTwitter:"5.@mtchlandillustrator
EvaHillreinersuccinctlyspeculateon
randomnessinvariousscientific
hypotheses.http://t.co/KdsVrKPtgt"
Myupcomingbitin@HOLOmagazine#2

DH2015:Modellingthe(Inter)national
PrintmakingNetworksofEarlyModern
EuropeMatthewLincoln
@benebfascinatingworkonearlymodern
printmakingnetworksfrom@matthewdlincoln
#dh2015

AVinDHSIG|SpecialInterestGroup
AudioVisualmaterialinDigitalHumanties
IntoaudiovisualDHmaterial?There'saSIG
forthat#dh2015

DH2015ConferenceAbstractsDigital
HumanitiesResearchGroup
RT@perkinsy:Ifyouarefollowing#dh2015
remotelyhavealookatabstractsfor
sessionsbeingtweetedhere:

SuccessionDH2015presentation
GoogleSlides
SorrycorrectlinkformySuccessionslides
#dh2015

ScriptingReadingMotions|TheMITPress
@jaumetetinterestingrecommendationfrom
somewritersforyourCrossreadswork:

pinboard.in/u:mtchl

RECENTPOSTS
http://teemingvoid.blogspot.in/2010/08/uniformdiversityspacefillingand.html

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7/23/2015

(theteemingvoid):UniformDiversity:SpaceFillingandtheVoronoidiagram

GenerativeHeritagenotesonSuccession
ProtoComputinganInterviewwithRalf
Baecker
FiguringData(DatascapeCatalogEssay)
LocalColour:SmallerWorldNetwork
AnInterviewwithPaulPrudence(for
Neural40)
AftertheScreen:ArrayAestheticsand
Transmateriality
DynamicDesignThreeSystems
UniformDiversity:SpaceFillingandthe
Voronoidiagram
MeasuringCup
ThisisData?ArguingwithDataBaby
commonsExplorer
DataWalksa#climatedataproposal
ReadingsinDigitalDesign
RightHere,RightNowHCGilje's
NetworksofSpecificity
WeatherBracelet3DPrintedData
Jewelry
TinySketching
Landscape,SlowDataandSelfRevelation
Transduction,Transmateriality,and
ExpandedComputing
MasterofDigitalDesign/GrowYourOwn
Logotype
WatchingtheStreet(Navigator)/
citySCENE
JCSMRCurls
FabricatedGrowthForms(Processingto
Ponoko)
WatchingtheStreet
DorkbotCBRatManukaCCAS
SynesthesiaandCrossModalityin
ContemporaryAudiovisuals

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