César Torres-Bustamante, Ph.D.
| Position | Professor |
|---|---|
| Phone | 805.756.1534 |
| ctorresb@calpoly.edu | |
| Office | 34-211 |
| Office Hours |
Mondays 10 - 11:30am Wednesdays 10:30 - 11:30am Fridays 10 - 11:30am |
Areas of Expertise
Representation of Landscape as a design operation
Mapping and diagramming of processes and temporalities
Imaging through video, animation and cinema
Modeling through 3D and ActionScript
Faculty Biography
César received an Architecture degree from Universidad de las Américas in Mexico. After working as an architect in Puebla, he headed to Melbourne, Australia, to study a Masters of Landscape Architecture at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT). Though the analysis of urban parks in Mexico he became interested in the dynamic nature of landscape, and was intrigued by diagramming and mapping techniques that engage more closely with temporality. He developed various maps and diagrams that combine graphic and digital media such as film, animations and ActionScript.
César was awarded an Endeavour International Postgraduate Scholarship, to study a PhD by Project at RMIT University. He used the conventional ‘figure-ground’ technique as a laboratory for graphic and representational experimentation, developing a series of patterns and moirés that addressed temporal phenomena and irregularities in landscape systems. César demonstrated that ‘figure’ and ‘ground’ are not complementary but rather interdependent and coordinated concepts, unveiling the potential of institutionalized representation techniques and exposing their ability to facilitate visualization of active landscapes. A particular area of interest within the representation discourse is the design of the printed form, in which he has developed various experimental book designs.
His research interests are the conception of landscape as a medium, informed by fields of continuing processes, and their representation as operations that not only depict but also actualize design. In his critique to institutionalized means of representation he uses temporal phenomena to experiment with conventional and innovative techniques to unpack new potentials across the discourse of Landscape Architecture and Landscape Urbanism.
