Houston Circulation = Paths + Purposes

Path.
Wikipedia, as it relates to computing, defines path as the “unique location in a file system.” Basically, it is the route in
which the computer identifies the location of a file within a system.
Architecturally, it means something similar. “A line or route along which something travels or moves,” as defined by
Princeton’s WorldNet search.

Without a designed path in a place, movement is fragmented. As seen on any university campus, without an efficient
established path, people will make their own. Often, universities get the point and pave the unofficial paths,
making them official. When thinking about paths, do paths form out of obstacles or do objects form around
those paths. Similarly, was it the chicken or the egg that came first?

Purpose
Purpose is a little more simple. Why do we ever go places?

Chelsea Serrano-Piche
ARCH 5502 - Urban Studio
Fall 2010
Assignment 1
Major vehicular circulation
Major vehicular circulation and the inevitable
intersections that follow
Water relative to highway development
Highways, railroads, and water. Water came
first. Which came next?
Courtesy of Trainweb.org
 B

D
B
C
A

Views and Landmarks are indivators are

indicators of direction and place
 D

D
B
C
A

Views and Landmarks are indivators are

indicators of direction and place
Green space and road systems
Points of interest and road systems
Green space, points of interest and roadways
 Overall path

Method change
A

Walking

Driving

Public Transportation

Getting from A to B
Overall schematic of movement and purpose