The Casting The casting portion of the Transformation Project presents many new challenges and educational opportunities. At its simplest the casting can be seen as yet another modification or development of the design language that you have been creating over the past weeks. The faculty have often referred to reciprocal terms of figure and ground. Two dimensional figure ground studies are often realized by reversing the value of elements in a composition.
White elements become black, and black elements become white.
This reversal forces the observer to recognize that the background or field of a composition is just as important as the elements or objects that appear to be placed onto the background. This interplay of positive and negative elements is a central ingredient in the creation of environmental designs. In the area of Urban Design figure ground studies are used to look at streets and public spaces as the place where the life activity of the city take place. Urban Designers often try to control the shape and orientation of public space as well as the relation of specific spaces to the entire city as compositional and organizational elements. In the area of Landscape Design figure ground studies have many applications in the designed and natural environment.