ABSTRACT
Grading is the design of earthworks, of topographic gradients. Landscape architects reshape terrain, grading paths and roads with gentle slopes, leveling ground for buildings, and building new landforms such as mounds and ridges [17]. Terrain can be designed as expressive, tectonic forms like Hargreaves Jones’ South Pointe Park [19] and West 8’s Hills of Governors Island [14]. These landforms are geomorphic metaphors, abstract artistic references to physical processes. Terrain can be designed for performance like Snøhetta’s MAX IV Laboratory Landscape, which dampens highway vibrations [13], or H+N+S’ Park Buitenschot, which dampens noise from Schiphol Airport [15]. Terrain can also be designed as a catalyst for processes like the Sand Motor [18, 16] or the River Aire [12]. Programs for designing earthworks include Civil3D [1] and Landmark [2]. Grasshopper also has plugins for designing earthworks including Bison [11], Landkit [3], and Docofossor [9]. Earthmoving operations can be classified as cut or fill, as excavation or embankment. For cutting operations, earth is removed – either dug out or pushed away. For fill operations, earth is added – either deposited or pushed in place. In this chapter we will model cut-and-fill operations with Docofossor. Download and install this plugin from https://www.food4rhino.com/en/app/docofossor.
