FULL TEXTS TRANSLATED FROM CHINESE

In 2015, I proposed the theory of God’s-Eye-View Architecture, and published three articles in the journal Urban Design. This is part of my study on future architecture and urban design in recent years. Today, human beings are already in the digital era, and the virtual space represented by smartphones is everywhere. Responding to the challenge of architecture in the digital era, the theory of “God’s-Eye-View Architecture” advocates “God’s-Eye-View First” in design concepts,and pays attention to “flat design” in design methods. As a real virtuality form, the QR code can be combined with architectural design and landscape design; creating a QR code form aesthetics. In the past three years, the outline of “God’s-Eye-View Architecture” has been continuously enriched and formed a preliminary theoretical framework. But the meaning of many terms is not clear. A set of terminology with accurate meaning is the premise of establishing theory. This article comprehensively combs and reinterprets 34 terms associated with the theory of “God’s-Eye-View Architecture”(Figure 1).

[Flat Design]

Flat design refers to the design style that emphasizes abstraction, minimalism, and symbolization, bringing itself back to the basic. A more comprehensive and systematic representation of the flat design comes from the designer of the designmodo website,Carrie Cousins. She proposed five pretty distinct characteristics on her website: one is No Added Effects, the other is Simple Elements, and the third is Focus on Typography. The fourth is Focus on Color, the fifth is Minimist Approach, and the other is “Almost” Flat Design. For the mobile Internet, the iconic event that has an impact is the iOS 7 operating system released in 2013 with the launch of the smartphone’s first mobile phone. The user interface design of this product abandoned the skeuomorphic design of the Steve Jobs era, and adopted flat design,which became one of the earliest popular softwares using flat design （Figure 2）.

[City Landmark]

City landmark generally refers to buildings or structures that has a prominent image and is impressive and carrys the city’s historical and cultural genes.Since Man’s-Eye-View streetscapes are the main way people experience architecture, city landmark is often experinced from Man’s-Eye-View. Under the God’s-Eye-View First of Google Earth satellite maps, the experience of city landmark has become the main relationship between the rooftop of the building and its surrounding area. A technical drawing similar to the fabric analysis of the surrounding area becomes a city landmark that can be experienced in the satellite image. In other words,on urban-scale and block-scale maps, city landmark usually identify their location by annotating abstract points; but with God’s-Eye-View First, the visual experience of city landmark becomes possible. That is to say, in the city landmark design, the roofrop of the building or the fifth facade of the building becomes more important.

图13 / Figure 133D Tracing设计方案，2018Proposal 3D Tracing, 2018

[Urban Fabric]

Urban fabric refers to an orderly structure of urban space, which is not only the material expression of historical and cultural heritage, but also one of the sources of urban space aesthetic experience. In a large city, city can often be divided into several different districts with thier different fabrics, which constitutes a clear identification of urban space. Under God’s-Eye-View First of Google Earth satellite map, it is very easy to experience the urban fabric.

[Urban Design]

Urban design refers to the design of the space that can be identified and experienced from God’s-Eye-View first. Under the priority of the Google Earth satellite map, the zoom in & zoom out toolbar allows regions, cities, blocks and buildings on all scales to be identified and experienced. Thus urban design needs to take more consideration of the rooftop or the fifth façade of the building from God’s-Eye-View first. In modern cities, many modern buildings have not considered the design of the rooftop of the building, resulting in the formation of a ridiculous urban surface occupied by a large number of equipment and facilities in the city and even in the city center. From the macro to micro scale of large cities, urban design needs to consider the roofrop of the urban surface including the rooftops of all buildings.

[Phubbing]

The Phubbing refers to people who addicted to smartphones and other screens for information and communication in the mobile Internet era. Today,no matter how old or young, men and women, more and more people become the Phubbing. Such a lifestyle will inevitably affect the experience and design of architecture and cities, as more and more buildings and cities are prioritized on the screens of virtual spaces, especially on small smartphone screens. A theory “God’s-Eye-View Architecture” offers bold explorations in this regard.

[Landmark Design]

Landmark design refers to the design of city landmark from God’s-Eye-View. In addition to considering the Man’s-Eye-View streetscape experience,it is also necessary to consider the landmarks of the Google Earth satellite map with the God’s-Eye-View to identify in the fabric of the city and the neighborhood. The iconic fifth facade of the building become very important. Today, in the era of mobile Internet,smartphones are widely popular. Landmark design also considers the architectural experience on the small screen of smartphones.

[Flat Design of City Landmark]

Drawing on the theory of flat design, Professor Zhu Wenyi proposed the five principles （Figure 3） of flat design of the landmark design of Google Earth satellite map with the God’s-Eye-View, namely, 2-Dimensional, Minimalism, and Typographic, Symbol,and Figure-Ground. Broadly speaking, not only city landmarks, but all buildings, it is necessary to consider the wide-ranging effects of flat design. This is because for the experiencer, except for a handful of buildings that have the opportunity to reach the live experience, most of the buildings actually exist only on the interface of the smartphone, on the computer screen or in the helmet of the virtual reality.

图14 / Figure 14地标设计还要考虑智能手机小屏幕上的体验，2017-2018Landmark design also takes into account the experience on the small screen of the smartphone, 2017-2018

[Fifth Façade]

The fifth façade refers to a side presented by the roof of the building. According to the hexahedron to understand the building, there are four elevations in the four directions of the southeast and the northwest; due to gravity, the surface of the building floor is positioned as an indoor space; thus, the side of the building facing the sky can be called the fifth façade.Under the God’s-Eye-View frist of the Google Earth satellite map, the fifth façade of the building can be understood as the first façade of the building, even the main façade and main entrance of the building.

[QR Code Form Aesthetics]

The QR code （short for Quick Response Code）serves as a bridge to connect real and virtual worlds,such as scanning code to browse websites. In addition to the fast response speed and high information capacity, the advantage of the two-dimensional code is that it has a strong sense of form (Figure 4).The QR code uses several geometric shapes corresponding to binary to represent literal numerical information, converts the information into binary geometric shapes, and generates a matrix map. The combination of black and white small squares generated on the basis of mathematical binary must have its unique form aesthetics. The first is simplicity. For those who admire minimalism, the QR code must be their favorite. Because the QR code pattern appears as a flat two-dimensional plane, and is simple to black and white. Second is the sense of balance. The overall form of the two-dimensional code pattern gives a sense of balance and stability. Similar to the art of seal cutting in Chinese culture, the “white and black” of the QR code is very attractive. This is an artistic form of pattern, and there must be a correspondence between binary mathematics and aesthetics behind it. The third is the sense of dynamics. Three squares resembling are placed at the three corners of the square pattern, and a smaller square layout is placed at the center of the lower right corner. Such a configuration allows the QR code pattern to be dynamic. The aesthetics of the QR code form still needs to be further explored.

[Man’s-Eye-View]

The Man’s-Eye-View is also known as the Eye Level View, which is a viewing point of 1.5-1.6 meters from the ground. The so-called “Man’s Eye View” first refers to experiencing the building as the main way of eye-level perspective. This is because the main behavior of people under the influence of gravity is to stand or walk on the surface of the Earth. This is the perspective of most architectural design considerations,that is, the perspective of experiencing the building facade. The so-called architectural form and style, the form of streets and squares, as well as the main facade of the building and the main entrance, city landmarks,etc., all refer to the experience of the Man’s Eye View.But the buildings and cities that are experienced from the Man’s Eye View are partial and incomplete, mainly lacking the experience of the building’s roof or the fifth facade of the building.

[Google Earth]

Google Earth is a map browsing software launched by Google Inc. in 2005. With this software, people can find their home in the shortest time and in the most convenient way. From the largest scale of the Earth to the scales of cities, neighborhoods and buildings, Google Earth presents architectural and urban forms in the sense of visual experience.Among them, the God’s-Eye-View first has been created to view the satellite map by Google Earth.At the same time, the satellite maps in Google Earth and its “zoom in & zoom out” browsing style have bridged the macto and micto scale of the spaces.This revolutionary invention greatly expands the range of experience and design architecture.

[Google Street View]

Different from the Man’s-Eye-View, the “Google Street View” view point is slightly higher than the eye-high street view, about 2.0 meters from the ground. This is the viewpoint height of the camera on the Google Street. Unlike the Man’s-Eye-View,which is usually different on the sidewalk, the location of “Google Street View” is generally on the road, but it is different from the road streetscape in the eyes of drivers or passengers about 1.0 meter from the ground. Experience architecture and city in a virtual space, and the street view from God’s-Eye-View can be understood by the streetscape created by Google Street View (Figure 5).

[Minimalism]

Minimalism refers to simple geometric forms such as squares, circles, and triangles. Architectural design pursues such simple geometric forms. In most modern cities, the architectural form is too rich, the architectural style is too varied, and the architectural styles are different, resulting in the disorder of the cities. In some urban blocks, almost every building emphasizes its importance and centrality. Under such circumstances, the city landmarks designed in a minimalist style are simple and generous, but it is easy to reform order of the neighborhood （Figure 6）.

[Architectural Design]

Architectural design refers to the design of architecture from the God’s-Eye-View first, in addition to considering the material space design, but also the experience of the Google Earth satellite map priority view of the building on the computer screen and the virtual space on the small screen of the smartphone. There are two points: one is the rooftop or the fifth façade of the building experience with the God’s-Eye-View first; the other is the Identity and experience of building on the small screen of the smartphone.

[Rooftop of the Building]

A building roof is the top of a building, also known as the fifth facade of a building. There are three sections of a building so called as roof, wall and pedestal, in classical architecture. This is from Man’s-Eye-View first experience of architecture. In modern architecture, except for the design of a few skyscraper buildings, the top of which is designed with a few architectural integrated skin designs, the top of most modern buildings are occupied by simple fire stairwells and messy equipment. One of the reasons is that the building roof has become a blind spot for architectural design due to the absence of architects. Under the God’s-Eye-View of the Google Earth satellite map, the building roof is not only the fifth façade of the building, but also the first façade of the building: the main façade and the main entrance of the building. Therefore, the design of the building roof should be prioritized (Figure 7a).

[Main Elevation]

The main façade mentioned here is not an abstract elevation in architectural drawings, but a façade with a height of 1.5-1.6 m from the ground, from the front or side through the visual experience of the main entrance of the building. In the Google Earth virtual space, the main facade of the building can be experienced by Google Street View at a height of about 2.0 meters from the ground.But from God’s-Eye-View, Google Street View presents the non-architectural facade, but the second main facade of the building. Because of the God’s-Eye-View first, the building roof or the fifth façade of the building becomes the first main facade of the building (Figure 7b).

[Main Entrance]

The main entrance to the building is the most important part of the building and even the highlight of the building. This is a key space for communication inside and outside the building, and it is also a place where people recognize the use of buildings. Normally, the name of the building will appear at the main entrance of the building. From the Man’s-Eye-View to experience the building, the first thing to see is the main entrance of the building and the main facade of the building. The first thing to experience is the roof of the building or the fifth facade of the building through the God’s-Eye-View. Therefore,from the God’s-Eye-View frist, the building roof or the fifth facade of the building can be regarded as the main entrance of the building and its façade.It can be considered that the design of the building name on the roof of the building or the fifth façade of the building (Figure 7c).

[Skeuomorphic Design]

Skeuomorphic design refers to the ultra-realistic design, that is, the pursuit of the object’s texture, halo,shadow and other special effects in the design. In the era of book reading, people are used to reading B5, A4 and A3 size paper books at a distance of 40-50 cm. High-quality printing technology expresses the exquisite pictures of the materialized design.But in the era of mobile Internet smartphones, Jobs’“hand theory” determined that the maximum size of a small screen is about 6.5 inches. The UI design of the Apple’s smart phone before iOS7.0 is designed for skeuomorphic design; for iOS7.0 and later versions, Apple’s design abandoned the style of the skeuomorphic design, and instead used a flat design to design the screen interface. Such a change follows the changes of the times.

[Bird’s Eye View]

The bird’s-eye view refers to the visual experience of the city and the building as if the bird were fly-ing in the air. Usually, around 30 - 45 degrees is a common view of the city and architecture. In fact,mountain city residents, people living and working in high-rise buildings, passengers traveling by air,etc. have the opportunity to experience buildings and cities from a bird’s eye view. In the Google Earth, more and more buildings in the city center area of large cities have simulated a full-scale bird’seye view close to the real visual experience. In the physical and virtual spaces, the bird’s eye view of the building and the urban experience is consistent.

[Location]

Location refers to the relative position of a building,and is generally identified by abstract points on the city and block map. Under the priority view of the Google Earth satellite map, the scale of the identification location extends to the region to the Earth. On the scale of cities and districts, under the God’s-Eye-View, the city landmark can not only be identified as location, but also be experienced as architecture on the satellite map (Figure 8a).

[Interior-Exterior]

In the architectural and urban experience, indoor -exterior refers to the interior space of the building associated with the outdoor. Unlike indoor spaces, indoor - exterior scenes focus on indoor and outdoor interfaces, focusing on indoor and outdoor spatial interactions and even the connection between architecture and the city. For example, the facade of a large transparent floor-to-ceiling glass has the potential for indoor and outdoor scenery; the public space in the high-rise building is also the experience of indoor and outdoor scenery; and the building roof itself is the best experience for indoor and outdoor scenery. Except for the observation deck at the top of the skyscrapers, most building roofs are potential for exploring indoor exteriors. Under the architectural and urban experience with God’s-Eye-View, the building roof becomes an important place for indoor and outdoor scenery.

[Being Digital]

In 1996, a book called “Being Digital” was published. The author is Nicholas Negroponte, a professor and futurist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. According to his explanation, human beings live in a virtual, digital space. In this space,people use digital technology to engage in information dissemination, communication, learning,work and other activities, which is being digital.He predicted that digitalization, networking, and informatization will make a huge change in the way people live, and thus bring a new way of living. In 2007, the Apple CEO Steve Jobs launched the iP-hone, and later released the iPad, opened the era of mobile Internet. Today, Phubbing in the city proves that Negroponte’s prediction of “Being digital ” has become a reality.

[Figure - Ground]

The figure-ground refers to the relative relationship between urban landmarks and surrounding neighborhoods in urban fabrics. In a city that usually has a good relationship with the figure-ground, the city landmark as the “figure” and the surrounding buildings as the “ground” are distinct and complementary, and together constitute an orderly urban fabric.In the traditional European cities, the figure-ground of many ancient cities is very clear. However, in most modern cities, the chaotic “figure-ground” is manifested in the disordered urban space, the disappearance of urban landmarks, and the “lost space”.Today’s architecture and urban design aims to enhance the “figure-ground” of urban space through smart ideas and designs, highlighting city landmarks and reshaping surrounding neighborhoods.

[God’s-Eye-View]

The God’s-Eye-View, also known as the perspective of God, refers to the way in which literary works are expressed in the third person. In the experience of architecture and urban space, the God’s-Eye-View refers to the top view. What is expressed is the rooftop or “fifth facade” of the building. Usually, the Master Plan is the building and city that the point of view is perceived and understood at infinity directly above. It represents the abstract architecture and urban space, and does not belong to the category of visual experience architecture and city. A generally flat world map is a global geospatial space that is displayed in a folded and unfolded manner, which is far from the true circular earth of the visual experience. This is certainly not the earth from the God’s-Eye-View. The God’s-Eye-View refers to the perspective of Google Earth maps on the “Google Earth” satellite map from the macro to the micro scale (Figure 9).

[God’s-Eye-View Architecture (GEVA)]

The theory of God’s-Eye-View Architecture was proposed by Professor Zhu Wenyi of Tsinghua University in 2015. Architecture in the digital age has three directions （figure10）: First, digital architecture,such as CAD, Sketch Up, Revit, BIM and big data,provide a strong technical support for architecture;Second, the architecture under digital design, such as parametric design, architectural skin design and 3D printing, has made the future of architecture more possible; the third is the architecture of Being digital, which is the popularity of mobile Internet with smartphones, a new field that emerged afterwards. The theory of God’s-Eye-View Architecture is a preliminary and bold exploration in this field.Briefly summarize this theory, that is, advocate the God’s-Eye-View first in the design concept; focus on the flat design in the design method; and explore the aesthetics of the virtual reality form such as QR code. Compared with the partly visual experience of architecture based on the Man’s-Eye-view first in real space, the theory of God’s-Eye-View Architecture realizes the complete visual experience of the building from a macroscopic to microscopic scale.

[God’s-Eye-View First]

From the perspective of Google Earth, the experience of cities and buildings from the macro to the micro, from the large scale to the small scale, from the earth to the region, from the city to the building,presents the God’s-Eye-View first （Figure 11）. When people open Google Earth, the first thing they see is satellite maps of different scales from the God’s-Eye-View first. Such a perspective means that the importance of the building’s roof or the fifth facade of the building is prioritized. And this is what most modern urban buildings are most neglected. The building roofs of city centers in many modern cities have even become the location of the Chasing scenes of police and gangsters that cops-and-robbers movie directors prefer. From a design perspective,such a building roof has absence of architects. Putting forward the God’s-Eye-View first is also a call for architects to pay attention to the design of the building roof or the fifth façade.

[Physical Space]

Compared with virtual space, physical space is the real space that human beings can perceive through visual and auditory perceptions. In the Being digital era, there are three spaces: Physical Space, Spiritual Space, and Virtual Space. Physical space is a space called objective existence that is different from spiritual space and virtual space.

[Real Virtuality Form]

Real Virtuality Form refers to the form that can connect real space and virtual space. Usually, real space and virtual space are independent of each other. As the existence of physical space, architecture can enter the field to experience indoor and outdoor space; while the screen serves as the interface of virtual space, you can experience the virtual building displayed in the picture on the interface. There is a special form that can be used as a bridge between reality and virtual space. QR Code is one of the most popular forms. Such a form implies virtual content as it is, and can use QR Code for architectural design and landscape design to create a QR Code building and a QR Code landscape.

[Symbol]

Symbol refers to the significance of the building carrying the historical and cultural genes. Architecture is a history of stone. In every charming city, architecture is telling people about the past, and a small number of buildings that exist as city landmarks are more story-telling. This is an architectural phenomenon that can be seen in the historical and cultural city that has accumulated thousands of years. However, in many modern cities, architecture has no value for “history books”. When the “story” of all buildings ends, it is the day when residents flee the city. Under the God’s-Eye-View first, architectural design should not only consider its symbolicity in physical space, but also its symbolicity in virtual space, which is also displayed on Google Earth satellite map (Figure 12).

[Virtual Space]

The virtual space refers to the non-material space that is presented by the computer under the Being digital era and is mainly subject to visual and auditory experiences, such as various types of electronic screens, VR helmets, and AI scenes. This is a space designed and presented by people. Under the digital existence, the virtual world cannot be understood by the material and spiritual dualism, and the virtual world can be understood as the artificial world independent of matter and spirit by material, spiritual and virtual ternary theory.

[Night View]

The night view, the nightscape experience of architecture and the city usually takes place in stately administrative districts, lively business districts and holidays. This kind of experience is mostly based on the Man’s-Eye-View first, and rarely considers the roof of the building or the fifth facade of the building from the God’s-Eye-View first （Figure 13）.

[Smartphone]

Today’s smartphones, to be precise, should be called“mini laptops”. This is because more and more people use smartphones instead of making phone calls, but to browse information, get information,record information, and process information. And such a function is usually owned by computers. This explains in one aspect why in 2007, the computer company’s Jobs, not the communications company,invented the smartphone. the throry of God’s-Eye-View Architecture explores a way to think about designing and building buildings and cities on a small screen of a smartphone (Figure 14).

[Typography]

The typography refers to the design of the main façade and main entrance of the city landmark by means of the name of the building. With the God’s-Eye-View first, the building’s roof or fifth façade becomes the main façade and main entrance of the building. Therefore, it is possible to creatively enhance the image of the building roof as the main façade and the main entrance by font typography in city landmark design. This design also takes into account the identification of city landmarks on satellite maps small screens of mobile Internet smartphones.The typography belongs to the category of graphic design. It is a bold exploration as an architectural language for architectural design under the God’s-Eye-View.

[Master Plan]

The master plan is the technical drawing in the architectural drawing, which is usually used to mark the absolute coordinates of the land area of the building, the exact location of the building in the site and the site planning of the site entrance, road,parking lot, green space and so on. When the building is completed and put into use, the master plan is usually used as a file for storage. Under the God’s-Eye-View of the Google Earth satellite map, the roof or fifth façade similar to the master plan is no longer a technical drawing, but is regarded as the main façade and main entrance.