Sierra Club Public Service Announcements

Description: In the late 1960s, UC Berkeley's College of Environmental Design established the Environmental Simulation Laboratory in response to people's growing concern for the environment and ecological well-being. The Lab developed methods for measuring and communicating the effects of urbanization on cities and landscapes, utilizing bespoke scale models and in-house cinematographic technical innovations. According to retired lab director and urban design professor Peter Bosselmann, the films were produced as studies "to test how model simulation could aid the decision-making process in the approval of large planning and engineering projects. A computer-guided camera mounted on a moving crane traveled at eye level through a model landscape and recorded, on 16mm film, the experience" of moving through simulated spaces. John Dykstra, working with the Lab prior to achieving fame for his Academy Award-winning visual effects work on the first Star Wars film, helped to develop the Lab's special camera system, which was a precursor to the Dykstraflex system used in Star Wars. This simulation uses a computer model to explore the environmental impact of the proposed Sand Hill Road housing development in Palo Alto, California. The tape explores the process of creating the simulation and the end result, as well as several other proposals in the area (senior housing, parking garage, etc.).