WEEK 05

DESIGN OF THE CITY:

In this lecture Mirko anaylised the deisgn of the city with the key points in designing being:

• the Utopia
• Suburbia
• the View
• the Grid
• the Power

DESIGN THE UTOPIA:

from the lecture, Claude Nicolas Ledoux design layout ideas of the Royal Saltworks at Chaux

DESIGN THE SUBURBIA:

Perfect city= social theories + transport = SUBURBIA

DESIGN THE VIEW:

The introduction of the perspective, the design of towns has been riven by the visual experience for the city users. In a more modern context I found this image of a contemporary building to which displays this aspect.

http://www.trendir.com/house-design/modern-geometric-house-design-built-around-the-view-7.jpg

DESIGN THE GRID:

The grid has different characteristics in different civilizations.

• Roman grid- the grid is oriented taking into consideration the main feature of the landscape.
• Spanish grid- grid is rotated 45 degrees with respect to the north point in order to maximize the shadows in the public spaces.
• American grid- north-south layout organise the rural and urban landscape

DESIGN THE POWER:

Cities are the main stage where a society represents itself. There are 3 main components.

"a public space is for living, doing business, kissing, and playing. Its value can't be measured with economics or mathematics: it must be felt with soul."

 

ASSIGNMENT:

We began our background research into the city of Haifia and the over layout. We searched for maps of the area but had trouble findings maps that were of use. Mostly tourist maps kept showing up. We changed our search words from english into Arabic which provided us with many more maps.

خريطة المدينة



These maps were used for the historical analysis. Looking at the maps it is obvious the city/town centre was located near the ocean for commercial reasoning. Haifa being a port city and the economy directly dependant on trade and farming.

 

These maps helped us to see how the city has evovled over time. Some key buildings we found that influence the layout and how the city has changed was the Shrine of the Bab which runs on an axis down towards the port. Large garden areas surround this and is the centre for the Bahai religion.

WEEK 04

STREETS AND SQUARES THE ELEMENTS OF THE CITIES:

In this week 4 lecture various aspects that make up the city environment was discussed. These included streets, squares, canals, parks, urban facilities and mobility facilities.

STREETS:

Mirko talked about the street being more than a traffic corridor and looked at how important it is in the urban environment. The street can be seen as the boundary between the public and private spaces, its a division between areas (FIGURE 1).


FIGURE 1: BOUNDARY BETWEEN PUBLIC AND PRIVATE.

Every street has an economic and social significance (FIGURE 2). The street forms a display for the workings of the city.

FIGURE 2: http://www.touropia.com/famous-streets-in-the-world/

Wall Street is the historic heart of the financial district and the home of the New York stock exchange
 

The street is more than a traffic channel it is a complex civic institution, it is culture specific and is a host for various activities (FIGURE 4).


FIGURE 4

Mirko than talked about the street being a connecting place and the different street typologies he talked about were;

• Residential Street- Terrace house typology & Courtyard typology
• Commercial Steet- Courtyard typlogy & Tower typology
• Boulevard
• Avenue- Commerical & Residential
• Promenade
• Esplande
• Mall
• Monumental Mall

SQUARES:

"the square is where we exercise our franchise, out sense of belonging"

 

Paul Zucker's classification of urban space.

• The closed square- the space is static and self contained
• The dominated square- the space is dynamic, it is directed toward a object
• The nuclear square- space is formed around a central element
• Grouped squares- a series of spaces are connected
• The amorphous square- the space is formed by the intersection of other units

 

Joseph Stubben talks about the square having a harmony between the buildings and the square itself which can be achieved by applying symmetry or using a public building which gives character of the square. An example in the local CBD area that I find relevant to this would be the new Brisbane City Council building. The building is connected to the square where markets are usually on. It creates an atmosphere.

a public square.

 



Types of squares discussed;

• connection of different urban section
• access square
• intersection square
• monumental square
• town hall square
• grouped square- on axis, around a building & with layout
• amorphous square
• harbour square
• residential square

Other elements which form a city that were looked at were, parks, canals, urban facilities and mobility facilities.

ASSIGNMENT:

This was the first week of our assignment, we choose to go with the Mediterranean market cities and decided to go with Haifa which is located in Israel and is the second largest city. Our group consisted of 4 members, me, alana, dan and dutchey. We first sorted through the items required and divided them up inbetween the group.

Alana:

• context
• stats
• history

Me:

• forma urbis
• city pattern
• usdefull sites found (openstreetmap.org) (topomapper.com)

Dan:

• context
• historical expansion
• functions of the city

Dutchey:

• timeline
• history

WEEK 03- ANALYSIS THE CITY

HISTORICAL ANALYSIS:

The maps which were used to analysis the expansion of the Brisbane city area were from the following years, 1820, 1840, 1858, 1875, 1895, 1920 and 2013. After the 1920's no much really changed as the main city area had already been extensively developed. A key development however was the Storey Bridge which connect the north to the south and was completed in 1940. The Botanical Gardens is one area which has remained untouched over this period of time.

MOBILITY ANALYSIS:

A mobility analysis provides information on the main roads and infrastructures and clearly shows how traffic should flow through areas. They can focus solely on one method of transport, or cover everything from road vehicles, pedestrians, bus routes, railway and even water transport.

FUNCTIONAL ANALYSIS:

A functional analysis allows for an understanding of how the urban space is being used. It highlights the different land uses in the area and attempts to differentiate blocks or areas in relation to the activities that occur in those spaces (function).

URBAN MORPHOLOGY

WEEK 02 REFLECTION

In this lecture, Mirko first talked discussed the topic of spaces, and the way in which different people perceive the spaces. Although an architect may design a space to be seen in a certain way, the person using the space could have different cultural and social experiences that influence their view on how the space is seen.

The three key topics covered were:

• Perception of the environment

• Techniques to read the city

• Design and perception

The two key points in the perception of the environment was described as thick and thin spaces. A person observing a thick space would see it as a place which supports a broad and deep lived experience of place whilst a thin place was a space seen to been erased of any local specificity. However, the interpretation of these places depend on the user and the experiences of that user which all influence their view on the place.


The two theories discussed was by Gordon Cullen, the "Concise Townscape 1961," and "Image of the City 1960," by Kevin Lynch. Gordon Cullen looks at a city or settlement in three ways:

• Serial vision, (individual images)

• Place, (here and there)

• Content, (this and that)

Kevin Lynch describes the city in greater depth, the four main points he see's the city as are:

• Mental image of city

• Visual quality: legibility of the cityscape

• Identity: structure and meaning

• Imageability: the quality in an object which gives it a high chance of evoking a strong image an an observer

 Lynch's five elements used to further analyse the city was then discussed these elements helped to interpret a place in terms of:

• Paths

• Edges

• Districts

• Nodes

• Landmarks

These five elements helps me to further anaylise the spaces in the city and made me think about the way design and architecture can influence the surroundings and the people using the spaces. A building has a direct impact on the surrounding spaces and can embrace them or ignore them.

WEEK 02- READ THE CITY

CITY WALK:
PATHS, EDGES, NODES, LANDMARKS, LIMITS

Kevin Lynch's concept from, "The Image of the City" uses the above five elements to break down and analyse the components of a city. These elements can help us as designers on how to design a space or building and the influences it has on it. The series of sketches below is an example of Gordon Cullen's serial vision depicting the key elements in each one.

Intersection on Alice St and George St.

This sketch is framed by the trees of the Botanic Gardens and is the main entrance way for students going to QUT. Both the buildings on this intersection are from the 1800's with the key landmark being, Parliament House which is still a key landmark today. There is a large buffer space in front of Parliament House which keeps the building distant from the growing construction of new buildings (shown in the diagram on right). The fence line is a limit which prevents people from wandering through the gardens. It directs the flow of pedestrians and creates an edge between the natural and built environment.

There are two different building typologies in this sketch, the old and historical and the new and modern. The more modern buildings boundaries seem to blend into the footpaths and allow for pedestrians to move around freely whilst the older buildings have fences which dictate the flow of pedestrians. The more historical buildings are very earthly and symmetrical which seems to give the surrounding space a very stationary feel.



 

 

The park area makes the space very open and allows for users to meander through the area. It seems to be a very relaxed area in the city. One the the very few green spaces.

 

The initial feeling from the street is that it appears to be unfinished. The node highlighted in green in the backside of the Myer Centre which is a key building in the Brisbane CBD. The vacant block next to the Myer Centre is a wasted space and has no connection with the street whilst the pub opens up onto both streets, inviting by passers in.

This sketch of the Post Office shows the scale of the building in relation to the surrounding skyscrapers. The materials and architecture are all in direct contrast to each other which I believe makes this building a landmark in the area.

Walking along the river boardwalk a key landmark i noticed was Customs House. Highly noticeable as it is an old building in a very modern and developed area of the city. It's dome shaped roof and heavy stone pillars are some key features. The boardwalk directs users along the rivers edge toward the Howard Smith Wharves.

 

This final sketch shows a feeling of openness. At this point the pathway ends and there is panoramic views of the river and city. The key landmark highlighted in this drawing is the Storey Bridge.

WEEK 01- DESCRIBE THE CITY MODULE

FORMA URBIS:

a forma urbis is the outline of the general shape of the city.

Above is a forma urbis of Toowoomba. The main elements that inform current design and also future design are illustrated within the Toowoomba area. By highlighting the current densley populated areas and disregarding the less dense parts we are able to establish a clear image of the central area of the coty and how it may be expanding. The water ways, railways and highways are some key factors that influence the growth of the city.

 

CONCEPTUAL REPRESENTATION:

outline patterns and relationships between different elements in the urban environment.

A conceptual representation is a method of illustrating the structure and street network of the city. In this representation of the Brisbane area, a dominate feature is the Brisbane River and the network of streets and lane ways that all connect in a central position in line with the Storey Bridge. Highlighted on the map are some key public buildings and areas that characterize the structure of the area.

CITY PATTERN:

shows how streets, squares and other public spaces are interconnected.

This city pattern illustrates highlights the roads and alleyways which seem to all radiate from the Storey Bridge.

FIGUREGROUND MAP:

a figureground map details all buildings and clearly identifies all open spaces.

NOLLI MAP:

the nolli map shows not only the building layout and vegetation but also the internal layout.

URBAN SECTION:

the urban section shows the relationship between the Storey Bridge, cliff face and the Brisbane river.

 

STREET SECTION:

A street section of Martin street shows the contrast between the two different building types. The building on the right is an old factory which has been converted into a home or shop whilst the building on the right is more modern and is commercial.