The skeleton.
Hollow amber wireframe on absolute black. Every edge describes structure; the space between stays empty.
Read Standard ↗Download specification ↓
EXPERIMENT 03 / A VISUAL LANGUAGE
Less surface.
More structure.
Gridcore is an experiment in making the underlying shape of things visible.
Developed as the visual language of Globe & Atlas, Gridcore is also at home here in the Labs: a specification to explore, test, and put to work.
Its starting point is simple. Strip away texture, lighting, and decoration until the geometry can speak for itself.
Specification on GitHub ↗
From terrain to city systems.
FOUR ORIGINAL STUDY PLATESA few ways to put the language to work. These original concept illustrations explore the four modes; the written specifications remain the reference for their rules.
Standard / terrain study
A landscape reduced to its structural mesh. Ridges, valleys, and changes in relief emerge through amber edges alone.
View full-size image ↗
Lowpoly / application studies
Fifteen studies explore terrain, drainage, buildings, infrastructure, and networks, alongside filled and void rendering modes.
View full-size image ↗
Spectral / Rome study
An illustrative city study layers colored channels over an amber street structure. A visual-language experiment, not a historical reconstruction.
View full-size image ↗
Lowpoly Spectral / application studies
Classified facets explore elevation, land cover, thermal patterns, watersheds, and other possible uses of color as information.
View full-size image ↗Original artwork from the Globe & Atlas Gridcore specification project ↗. Illustrative studies, not measured datasets.
Four specifications. One foundation.
STRUCTURE BEFORE SURFACEDownload specification ↓
The fewest planes.
Coarse structural facets, either filled in flat amber or left as open voids. A deliberately different geometric claim.
Read Lowpoly ↗Download specification ↓
Color with a job.
Wireframe structure with declared data channels. Extra colors carry variables, ranges, or classes.
Read Spectral ↗Download specification ↓
The face is the data.
Classified flat facet fills, with amber edges holding the structure together. Each facet belongs to one declared class.
Read Lowpoly Spectral ↗Download specification ↓
TRY THE COMPANION EXPERIMENT
Change the mode.
See the difference.
An interactive terrain study lets you compare the modes and their channel declarations. It uses illustrative geometry, not live measurements.
Open the interactive demo ↗