While working on a major infrastructure project several years ago, I created a digital tree, a sculptural placeholder intended to lodge itself in our client’s imagination and reserve space, both physical and budgetary, for a significant public artwork. The aim wasn’t to assume the role of sculptor or public artist, but to demonstrate how a major commission could serve both aesthetic and practical purposes: wayfinding through a complex road interchange. Melbourne’s arterial roads already offered precedents, EastLink and PenLink’s art commissions had become navigational landmarks: “take the northbound exit just after the 1/3 scale hotel by Callum Morton.”
Creating this placeholder allowed me to experiment with L-system algorithms in Grasshopper, Rhino’s parametric modelling interface. L-systems, introduced by Hungarian biologist Aristid Lindenmayer in 1968, were originally developed to describe plant cell behaviour and model botanical growth. My visual program could test countless tree-like structures, producing recognizable forms, ferns, oaks, even broccoli.
