We came by a love of maps and aerial photography honestly - fascinated by the built environment, scale and the patterns of urban design. Whether gazing out of the window seat on a plane or studying an historic Nolli map, seeing the relationship of buildings and adjacent open spaces in cities and towns provides insight and lessons for our design work. Of particular interest is the ‘Figure Ground Diagram’ which is typically a high-contrast graphic showing built and unbuilt spaces. As Morphocode describes, “A figure-ground diagram is a mapping technique used to illustrate the relationship between built and unbuilt space in cities. Land coverage of buildings is visualized as solid mass (figure), while public spaces formed by streets, parks and plazas are represented as voids (ground). In urban planning, this simple yet powerful graphic tool is used to explore built form patterns and the continuity of open space.” [Read more about the Figure Ground Diagram and its origins at Morphocode’s website here.]

As a way to further study such urban patterns and pay homage to locales where we have lived or are living, RDA architect Judy Dixon created diagrams for Charleston, SC; Blacksburg, VA; and Saluda, NC. Each scale varies and was chosen specifically for that city or town to memorialize the differing urban patterns i.e. a walled city, a college campus and a more rural historic town.