HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE & CULTURE - VI

UNIT I

HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE & CULTURE – VI

CLASS – 3A

MARG INSTTUTE OF DESIGN AND ARCHITECTURE SWARNABHOOMI

AR .MEENA.K

MIDAS AR.K.MEENA
 HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE & CULTURE - VI

Team 10

Team 10
Team 10, just as often referred to as "Team X", was a group of architects and other invited
participants who assembled starting in July 1953 at the 9th Congress of C.I.A.M.(International
Congresses for Modern Architecture) and created a schism within CIAM by challenging its
doctrinaire approach to urbanism.

The group's first formal meeting under the name of Team 10 took place in Bagnols-sur-Cèze
in 1960; the last, with only four members present, was in Lisbon in 1981.

They referred to themselves as "a small family group of architects” who have sought each
other out because each has found the help of the others necessary to the development and
understanding of their own individual work."

"Core family members" included:

• Jacob B. Bakema, The Netherlands

• Aldo van Eyck, The Netherlands
• Alison and Peter Smithson, England
• Georges Candilis, Greece
• Shadrach Woods, USA/France
• Giancarlo De Carlo, Italy

Other participants and their contributions are of course important, particularly those of José
Coderch, Ralph Erskine, Pancho Guedes, Rolf Gutmann, Geir Grung, Oskar
Hansen,Reima Pietilä, Charles Polonyi, Brian Richards, Jerzy Soltan, Oswald Mathias
Ungers, John Voelcker, and Stefan Wewerka.

Team 10's theoretical framework, disseminated primarily through teaching and publications,
had a profound influence on the development of architectural thought in the second half of the
20th century, primarily in Europe.

Concepts/Contributions of TEAM X

• Alison and Peter Smithson , John Voelcker and William Howell developed a tool
they referred to as the ‘scale of Association’ which was meant to encourage
architecture and town planning to be socially and topographically responsive instead
of stylistically or historically based.

• Jacob Bakema argued that modern architecture ought to be democratic and provide
variety so that people could exercise the right of choice.

• Aldo Van Eyck operated from a philosophically anti rationalist and anthropological
premise.

• Georges Candilis built on the basis of a culturally and regionally sensitive

International style.

• Ernesto Rogers argued for a modernism that took into account present conditions
which in his understanding included everything that led to the present-its historical
context.

MIDAS AR.K.MEENA
 HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE & CULTURE - VI

Two different movements emerged from Team 10:

➢ New Brutalism of the English members (Alison and Peter

Smithson)

➢ Structuralism of the Dutch members (Aldo van Eyck and Jacob

Bakema).

Brutalism

➢ Brutalism is a movement in architecture that flourished from the

1950s to the mid-1970s, descending from the modernist
architectural movement of the early 20th century.

➢ The term originates from the French word for "raw" in the term used
by Le Corbusier to describe his choice of material brut (raw concrete).

➢ British architectural critic Reyner Banham adapted the term into

"brutalism" (originally "New Brutalism") to identify the emerging
style.

Characterisitc features:

➢ Brutalist buildings are usually formed with repeated modular elements

forming masses representing specific functional zones, distinctly
articulated and grouped together into a unified whole.

➢ Concrete is used for its raw and unpretentious honesty, contrasting

dramatically with the highly refined and ornamented buildings
constructed in the elite Beaux-Arts style.

➢ Surfaces of cast concrete are made to reveal the basic nature of its
construction, revealing the texture of the wooden planks used for the in-
situ casting forms.

➢ Brutalist building materials also include brick, glass, steel, rough-

hewn stone, and gabions.

➢ Exposure of the building's functions—ranging from their structure and

services to their human use—in the exterior of the building.

Examples: In the Boston City Hall, designed in 1962, the strikingly different and projected
portions of the building indicate the special nature of the rooms behind those walls, such as
the mayor's office or the city council chambers.

MIDAS AR.K.MEENA
 HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE & CULTURE - VI

From another perspective, the design of the Hunstanton School included placing the facility's
water tank, normally a hidden service feature, in a prominent, visible tower.

➢ Structuralism as a movement in architecture and urban planning

evolved around the middle of the 20th century.

➢ It was a reaction to CIAM-Functionalism (Rationalism), which had led

to a lifeless expression of urban planning that ignored the identity of
the inhabitants and urban forms.

➢ Two different manifestations of Structuralist architecture exist.

Sometimes these occur in combination with each other. On the one
hand, there is the Aesthetics of Number, formulated by Aldo van Eyck
in 1959.

➢ This concept can be compared to cellular tissue.

➢ The "Aesthetics of Number" can also be described as "Spatial

Configurations in Architecture".

➢ On the other hand, there is the Architecture of Lively Variety

(Structure and Coincidence), formulated by John Habraken in 1961.
This second concept is related to user participation in housing.

➢ The "Architecture of Lively Variety" can also be called "Architecture

of Diversity" or "Pluralistic Architecture".

➢ Structuralism in a general sense is a mode of thought of the 20th

century, which came about in different places, at different times and in
different fields.

➢ It can also be found in linguistics, anthropology, philosophy and art.

Origins

➢ Structuralism in architecture and urban planning had its origins in

the Congrès International d'Architecture Moderne (CIAM) after
World War II.

➢ Between 1928 and 1959, the CIAM was an important platform for the
discussion of architecture and urbanism.

➢ Various groups with often conflicting views were active in this

organization; for example, members with a scientific approach to
architecture without aesthetic premises (Rationalists), members who
regarded architecture as an art form (Le Corbusier), members who
were proponents of high- or low-rise building (Ernst May), members
supporting a course of reform after World War II (Team 10), members
of the old guard and so on.

MIDAS AR.K.MEENA
 HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE & CULTURE - VI

➢ Individual members of the small splinter group Team 10 laid the

foundations for Structuralism.

➢ As a group, Team 10 was active from 1953 onwards, and two different
movements emerged from it:

- New Brutalism of the English members (Alison and Peter

Smithson)

- Structuralism of the Dutch members (Aldo van Eyck and

Jacob Bakema).

Outside Team 10, other ideas developed that furthered the Structuralist movement -
influenced by the concepts of Louis Kahn in the United States, Kenzo Tange in Japan
and John Habraken in the Netherlands (with his theory of user participation in housing).

➢ Herman Hertzberger and Lucien Kroll made important architectural

contributions in the field of participation.

In this context, Hertzberger made the following statement: "In Structuralism, one
differentiates between a structure with a long life cycle and infills with shorter life
cycles."

CIAM-Congres internationaux d Architecture Moderne

CIAM captured the spirit of the machine age but before it had done too much damage to the
urban environment and in particular urban housing,some younger member began to question
their architectural solutions.

➢ Under the leadership of Le Corbusier , CIAM’S vision was of a utopia,

a city which could provide the perfect life for its inhabitants.

➢ His vision inspired hope but ultimately failed to create such a place
resulted instead in destroying places and a memories which are
integral to a person’s identity.

➢ Signed by 24 European Architects representing France, Germany,

Italy, Austria, Belgium ,Spain, Holland, Switzerland.

➢ Le Corbusier ,Helene de mandrot and sigfried giodian

MIDAS AR.K.MEENA
 HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE & CULTURE - VI

➢ Other founder members include Karl moser(First

president),VictorBourgeois, PierreChareau, Josef frank, Gabriel
Guevrekian, Max Ernst Haefeli, Hugo Haring, Hochel ,Huib Hoste,
Carlo Enrico Rava ,Gerrit Rietveld, Alberto sartoris, Hansschmidt,
mart stam, Rudolf Steiger, Henri-Robert, Von der muhll and juan
de Zavala

➢ Other notable members later included Alvar Alto and Henrik Petrus
beriage.

CIRPAC

The elected executive body of C.I.A.M was CIRPAC ,the cmite international pour la
Resolution des problemes de I’Architecture Contemporaine.

‘It is possible for a city to have an ideal arrangement for its industry, commerce and
transport,to be equipped with magnificient public buildings and yet fail as a social
community through lack of suitable housing conditions for large number of its
inhabitants’
Patric Abercrombie

➢ By 1939 forshaw and Abercrombie had already identified four major

defects in their country plan for London,

➢ Over crowding and out of date housing

➢ Inadequate and misdistribution of spaces

➢ Jumble of houses and industry compressed between road and rail

communications

➢ Traffic congestion

The white city housing estate in hammersmith.

MIDAS AR.K.MEENA
 HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE & CULTURE - VI

➢ One of the first solution to the housing problems in London was the
white city housing estate in hammersmith.
➢ It was recognised even a far back in 1936 that high rise housing
solution would need to have more space around them due to the
amount of people per acre.

CIAM’s conferences consisted of:

1928, II,La sarraz, Foundation of CIAM

Architecture must face new social and economica reality-
“URBANISM”

1929 II,Frankfurt, “Low income housing “

1930, III,Brussels, “Land organisation and city zoning”
1933, IV,Athens, “THE FUNCTIONAL CITY”
Planning based on principles of:
Dwelling, Work,Recreation,Transportation
Otimal density,modern technology
Minimal distance between dwelling and work areas
1937,V,Paris, “Standardization Public housing”
1947,VI,Bridgewater, Criticism of primacy of industry dictates
1949, VII,Bergamo, Reaffirmation of the Aims of CIAM
1951, VIII,Hoddesdon, “URBAN CORE” / “ THE HEART OF THE CITY”
1953,IX,Aix-en-Provence, Study of the nature of human habitation
1956, X, Dubrovnik, Breaking up of CIAM and emergence of TEAM X

➢ The C.I.A.M Organisation disbanded in 1959 as the views of the

members diverged.

➢ Le Corbusier had left in 1955,objecting to the increasing use of

English during meetings.

➢ Link between the phenomenon of architecture and the general

economic system.

➢ ‘Economic Efficiency’ = maximum commercial profit with

production demanding minimum working effort.

➢ Economic efficiency needed for all impoverished states.

➢ Efficient method of production arises from ‘rationalization’ and

‘standirdization’ both in architecture(conception) and Building
industry(Realization)

Simplification of working methods

- Reduction of skilled labours & more unskilled labours under highly skilled technicians.

- A revisions in demands with consumer himself.

MIDAS AR.K.MEENA
 HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE & CULTURE - VI

EMPHASIS (CIAM DECLARATION)

BUILDING than ARCHITECTURE

➢ Architecture contingent on issues of Politics and economics

➢ Depend on the universal adoption of RATIONALISED PRODUCTION

METHODS (for the level of quality not on craftmen)

➢ Need for planned economy and Industrialisation.

➢ Advocated introduction of NORMATIVE DIMENSION AND EFFICIENT

PRODUCTION Method as the 1st step.

PRE REQUISITIES:

➢ Preference for regularity- FORMAL

➢ For increasing Housing production

➢ And superceding methods of a craft era

TOWN PLANNING (radical attitude)

“RADICAL ATTITUDE” towards TOWN PLANNING

➢ Need for collective and methodical land Policy

MIDAS AR.K.MEENA
 HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE & CULTURE - VI

➢ The re distribution of land must include-The just division between the

owners and the community of the unearned increment From works of
joint interest

➢ The essence of Urbanisation – Functional Order Cannot be conditioned

by pre existent “Aestheticism”

➢ The chaotic division of land resulting From sales, speculations,

inhertances must Be abolished by the adoption of a Collective and
methodical land policy.

3 STAGES OF DEVELOPMENT CIAM

STAGE 1 – 1928 – 1933

“DOCTRINAIRE”

➢ Problems of minimum living standards

➢ Issues of optimum height and block spacing for the most efficient use
of land and materials.

Establishment of CIRPAC

STAGE II – 1933 – 1947

➢ Domimated by Le Corbusier
➢ Functinalism envisions the city as a collection of uses to be
accommodated:
➢ Residence, work, Leisure and the Traffic systems that serve them.

FIRST – The city was characterised as a machine

LATER – As a complex organism and as a network or constellation of community

centres linked to and directed by central core.

A functionalist city is equitable:

➢ It does not favour or neglect social groups

➢ Everyone benefits from adequate sunlight, Fresh air and access to
open spaces.
➢ Functionalist theory treats residence, work, and leisure as discrete
elements.
➢ Activities should not mix.
➢ Hence zoning is a key element of the functionalist city, for in a zoned
environment, activities can proceed with little or no inference from other
activities.

MIDAS AR.K.MEENA
 HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE & CULTURE - VI

➢ In functionalist urban planning, organizing functional relations in a two-

dimensional plan usually takes precedence over organising other
relations.
➢ Through functionalist theory calls for the separation of activities , in one
local .the heart core of the city, these must be commingled.

ATHENS CHARTER

Idea

➢ Dwelling

➢ Recreation
➢ Work
➢ Transportation
➢ Historical buildings

Short comings

➢ Rigid functional zoning

➢ ‘Single type of Urban housing’ termed as ‘high and widely spaced
apartment blocks.
➢ Idealistic, Rationalistic, unrealizable.

1. Single open space for a living - the modernist city would be a single,open space for
living that was organised by a central state planning authority.

2. Traffic system with a hierarchy- In place of the mixed- use road syste, modernist city
would have a traffic system separated hierarchically according to function.

MIDAS AR.K.MEENA
 HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE & CULTURE - VI

3. Mass housing - The housing would be dealt with by erecting whole areas of mass
housing, all built to the same standard , and offering light, air, and sun for all.

4. The charter of Athens became the guide book for all new town planning and building
world wide in the decades that followed.

5. Its emphasis on the functionalist theory treats residence, work and leisure as discrete
elements.

ATHENS CHARTER

FUNCTIONALIST THOUGHTS

➢ The idealized purpose of the urban centre is “ to enable people to

meet one another to exchange ideas”
➢ Therefore that centre “must be attractive to all types of people in the
region it serves”

➢ In sum, the urban centre should engender “civic consciousness”

➢ It is more than a machine for making money and more than a cross
roads for traffic and goods.

➢ “The core includes other elements of interest too”

➢ Necessary to the success of the urban centre is the absence of

vehicular traffic, for the urban centre is the domain of pedestrians.

➢ The quality of functionalist design depends on how competently it

accommodates needs and activities and how well it uses light,space,
and greenery.

MIDAS AR.K.MEENA
 HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE & CULTURE - VI

For Aldo van Eyck, “ The time has come to bring together the old into new: to rediscover
the archaic principles of human nature”

The humanist urban designer pays attention to small scale , superimposed geometries.

Design in human scale achieves familiarity and the sense that things have been made by and
for people.

Van eyck affirms the importance of fitting architecture to the people who inhabit it: the mission
of architecture , in other words, is to assist in man’s homecoming.

Humanist designers, moreover, advocate a mixed use of the urban environment.

STAGE III – 1947- 1956

Human emotions in art form
Liberal idealis triumphed over materialism.
Monumental Approach
Attempted to transend abstract sterility of the functional city.
The city is shaped by and reflect the indviduals and groups who inhabit them.
Humanist designers expect the inhabitants of a city to :appropriate” the environment and
make it their own:they believethat the city should be that which people should specify and
help to create what they want.
END OF CIAM
Critique / challenge of the four functionalist categories of the Athens charter by Alison and
Peter smithsons , Aldo van eyck in CIAM IX 1953
DWELLING,WORK,RECREATION ,TRANSPORTATION

MIDAS AR.K.MEENA
 HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE & CULTURE - VI

The smithsons, Eyck, Bakema, Candilis and woods searched for

➢ Structural principles of urban growth
➢ The next unit above the family cell

➢ Dissatisfaction with modified functionalism, with the “idealism “ of Le Corbusier, sert,

Alfred Roth, Groupius

➢ Responded to the simplistic model of the urban core by positioning a more complex
pattern which would be responsive to the need of the society.

➢ “BELONGINGS” IS A BASIC HUMAN NEED Its associations are of the simplest

order

From belongings- identity – comes sense of neighbourliness

➢ Man may identify with his own hearth but not with the town within which it is placed
Dismissed the rationalism of the Functional city
➢ The critical drive to find more precise relation between the physical form and socio
psychological need became subject matter of CIAM X

ALISON AND PETER SMITHSON

➢ English architects Alison Smithson (22 June 1928 – 14
August 1993) and Peter Smithson (18 September 1923 – 3 March
2003) together formed an architectural partnership, and are often
associated with the New Brutalism (especially in architectural and
urban theory).

➢ (Peter was born in Stockton-on-Tees in north-east England,

and Alison was born in Sheffield, South Yorkshire.

➢ They met while studying architecture at Durham University and married in 1949.

➢ Together, they joined the architecture department of the London County Council
before establishing their own partnership in 1950.)

➢ They first came to prominence with Hunstanton School which used some of the
language of high modernist Ludwig Mies van der Rohe but in a stripped back way,
with rough finishes and deliberate lack of refinement.

➢ They are arguably among the leaders of the British school of New Brutalism.

➢ They were associated with Team X and its 1953 revolt against old Congrès
International d'Architecture Moderne (CIAM) philosophies of high modernism.

MIDAS AR.K.MEENA
 HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE & CULTURE - VI

➢ Among their early contributions were streets in the sky in which traffic and pedestrian
circulation were rigorously separated, a theme popular in the 1960s.
➢ Smithdon High School:
(formerly known as Hunstanton
Secondary Modern School) is a
comprehensive school in Hunstanton,
Norfolk.
➢ Designed by the architects Peter
and Alison Smithson and completed in
1954, the school was immediately
acclaimed by the architectural critics.
➢ However, its stark and
uncompromising design, particularly the
large expanses of glass (inspired by the
work of Mies van der Rohe) caused some practical problems with heating and
cooling, and this has since been modified by the addition of black panels in place of
glass.

➢ Inspired by the concepts of Patrick Geddes; a biologist, sociologist and urban planner
who was interested in the relationship between life and its environment, The
Smithson’s used Geddes’ Valley Section to devise a range of house types to suit
different communities; the hamlet, the village, the town and the city.

➢ These designs were hugely influential, with a number of housing schemes taking
inspiration from them. The term ‘Cluster’ is used to avoid association with the
concept of the ‘street’; a place that the Smithson’s felt was outdated, since the use
of cars prevents the street from being a place for a resident to identify with their
environment.

MIDAS AR.K.MEENA
 HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE & CULTURE - VI

➢ This led to their project ‘Golden Lane’, designed in 1952, a multi level project with
housing occupying one side of wide ‘streets in the sky’, designed to provide
residents with direct pedestrian access to activities intended to give the community a
strong sense of identity.

➢ The Smithsons' house type designs appear in a number of urban planning schemes,
most notably ‘Hamburg Steilshoop’.

➢ This project is discussed in one of two chapters entitled ‘Connection allows scatter’,
along with ‘Berlin Haupstadt’

➢ Both were large utopian masterplans for development, designed with similar basic
concepts; allowance for maximum mobility, which was done by separating pedestrian
and vehicular movement as much as possible with pedestrian ‘streets in the sky’;
the creation of an inverted profile to allow for open space in the centre; allowance for
growth and change and the inclusion of green space.

➢ Both schemes are designed with transportation networks forming the primary
structure; connections and routes, whether vehicular or pedestrian, are the main
focus for much of the Smithsons' urban planning.

Hamburg Steilshoop

MIDAS AR.K.MEENA
 HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE & CULTURE - VI

➢ ‘Connection allows scatter’ is a concept that is also reflected in the projects studied
in the chapter ‘Cohesion’; which concerns the ‘poetry of movement, the
connection of the city’.
➢ In this chapter we see plans for a triangulated net of urban motorways, as well as
‘greenways and land castles’; intended to allow London to develop as a motorised
city while maintaining safe, green pedestrian and cycle connections.
➢ Similar to the ‘Greenways’ of London are the ‘Wild Ways’ of Berlin; a leisure
network of green routes created using the disused railways in Berlin.

➢ Alison and Peter Smithson also briefly introduce their ‘ideal city’ as an infrastructure
of motorways connecting scattered points of intensity which are three miles apart;
the ‘3 mile measure’.

➢ These proposals are illustrative of a recurring concept in the book, ‘Pavilion and
Route’.

➢ The Smithson’s idea was to separate the two, and allow them to develop
independently.

Robin Hood Gardens is a residential estate in Poplar, London designed in the late 1960s
by architects Alison and Peter Smithson and completed in 1972.
It was built as a council housing estate with homes spread across 'streets in the sky':
social housing characterised by broad aerial walkways in long concrete blocks, much like the

MIDAS AR.K.MEENA
 HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE & CULTURE - VI

Park Hill estate in Sheffield; it was informed by, and a reaction against, Le Corbusier's
Unité d'Habitation.

The landlord is Tower Hamlets Council.

As with many other council housing blocks in the UK, tenures have diversified somewhat
and include social housing tenants, leaseholders who exercised the right to buy and
subsequent private owners, and private tenants of leaseholders.
The estate comprises two long curved blocks facing each other across a central green
space, and in total covers 1.5 hectares (3.7 acres).
The blocks are of ten and seven storeys, built from precast concrete slabs and contain 213
flats.
In the central green area is a small man-made hill.
The flats themselves are a mixture of single-storey apartments and two-storey maisonettes,
with wide balconies (the 'streets') on every third floor.
The complex is 200m north of Black wall DLR station, with its direct links to the City of
London and separated by a bus terminus.
It is within sight of the nearby Balfron Tower; both are highly visible examples of Brutalist
architecture.

Following the approval of a redevelopment scheme as part of a wider local regeneration

project in 2012, demolition of the estate began in 2013.
An earlier attempt, supported by a number of notable architects, to head off redevelopment
by getting the estate listed status, was rejected by the government in 2009.

MIDAS AR.K.MEENA
 HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE & CULTURE - VI

THE ECONOMIST BUILDING

➢ This austere tower is considered one of the key architectural designs of the 1960s in
Britain.
➢ Impressively situated among the grandiose 18th
century streets of St James’s is The Economist Plaza.
➢ This group of three iconic buildings is a
testament to the inimitable style of the 1960s and
epitomises everything that is cool and minimal about
the structural design of the time.
➢ The Plaza exudes a chic and vibrant quality
where art meets architecture to create the ultimate
office environment.

➢ The Economist Buildings in

London are widely recognised as
one of the great triumphs of 1960s
architecture.

➢ The modest development based

on the tower and plaza format,
achieves rare elegance and
structural logic, while showing
great consideration for its
sensitive location amongst the
18th Century streets of London’s
St James.

➢ Despite the radical proposals for

building put forward by its
architects throughout the post-war
era, it is this rather conservative
building that is their greatest
legacy in the city.

➢ In 1988 it received Grade II listed

status and is an enduring

MIDAS AR.K.MEENA
 HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE & CULTURE - VI

Robin Hood Gardens is a residential estate in Poplar, London designed in the late 1960s by
architects Alison and Peter Smithson and completed in 1972.
➢ It was built as a council housing estate with homes spread across 'streets in the sky':
social housing characterised by broad aerial walkways in long concrete blocks, much
like the Park Hill estate in Sheffield;
➢ The landlord is Tower Hamlets Council.
➢ The estate comprises two long curved blocks facing each other across a central green
space, and in total covers 1.5 hectares (3.7 acres).
➢ The blocks are of ten and seven storeys, built from precast concrete slabs and contain
213 flats.
➢ In the central green area is a small man-made hill.
➢ The flats themselves are a mixture of single-storey apartments and two-storey
maisonettes, with wide balconies (the 'streets') on every third floor.
Concept
➢ In this construction there are two fundamental concepts: the tall building in the green
and the building and street-link neighbourhood social relations, movement of vehicles
is completely excluded from the area of design.
➢ The architects Alison and Peter Smithson conceived the project of Robin Hood
Gardens in the debate on collective housing buildings as generated by the Unite
d´habitation of Marseille of Le Corbusier.

Project
➢ The project was carried out in an area of east London a little planning and socially
degraded. The idea was to build two huge concrete blocks flanking a central green
area of the landfill obtained from the rubble of the work.
➢ One of the characteristics of the project was access to housing is through long
corridors outside, rigidly excluding vehicle traffic around the area of the complex.

Spaces

MIDAS AR.K.MEENA
 HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE & CULTURE - VI

• Context of the residential

➢ The residential complex that occupies about two hectares, consists of two long blocks
containers facing each other, at whose head sits the busiest route, thereby exerting an
effect buildings barrier that protects the large interior space the land where they were
built is exposed to traffic on three sides.

➢ The external facades overlook the streets of the city and are preceded by a garden

• Buildings

➢ One of the blocks has ten plants and another seven, bringing a total of 213 apartments
surrounding a central garden area, some of a plant, other duplex.
➢ Departments in the bedrooms and kitchens and dining are into the green, away from
the noise, leaving the access gateways and living rooms on the side closest to the
street noise.

• Balconies

➢ Every three floors are wide open balconies were designed with the idea of serving to
children's play and neighborhood meetings, as traditional streets, similar to what has
been done by Le Corbusier inUnite d´habitation of Marseille

• Garden

➢ A large green, protected from the bustle outside, where children can play and can be
performed outdoors. But rescuing the concept of street as a passage and encounter,

MIDAS AR.K.MEENA
 HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE & CULTURE - VI

as well as the wide corridors of buildings, the garden is crossed by streets, some
upward, with its plazas and community spaces.
• Materials and Structure
➢ The building structure is made of iron and covered with precast concrete.

➢ Doors and woodwork are made of wood.

➢ The balconies are placed every three floors were closed with iron bars for security.

➢ The small hill which forms part of the garden area was created by debris left over from
construction

ALDO VAN EYCK

Van Eyck’s thinking fundamentally proceeded in terms of reconciling opposites.
Throughout his career, he applied himself to the exploration and the relationships between
polarities, such as past and present, classic and modern, archaic and avant-garde, constancy
and change, simplicity and complexity, the organic and the geometric.
WORKS:
➢ Amsterdam playground project (1947-78), he conceived of elementary forms that
included both architectonic and biomorphic connotations: on the one hand low,
massive concrete sandpits and stepping stones, on the other, slender somersault
frames, arches and domes made of metal tubing.

➢ All of these elements lent themselves to various kinds of child play but at the same
time their archetypal forms implied multiple meanings.

➢ The arches and the domes were basic tectonic forms that fitted seamlessly in the
language of the city.

➢ Playground Zaanhof, Amsterdam, 1948. © Aldo van Eyck Archive, photo Wim Brusse

MIDAS AR.K.MEENA
 HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE & CULTURE - VI

➢ The sandpits, round or square, were simple geometric forms but at the same time they
constituted receptive bodies, welcoming and sheltering the playing child.

➢ In some cases this applied to the playground as a whole.

➢ The playground in Mendes da Costahof (1957, built 1960) for example, consisted of
three circles of different diameters, linked by an axial path.

➢ They could be seen as an axial succession of simple geometric forms, but at the same
time the composition evoked a somewhat anthropomorphic figure, a shape ‘carved
out’ from the surrounding shrubbery.

➢ The playing children were harboured within a body-like space, in a kind of maternal
body.

➢ This was, however, but one of Van Eyck’s compositional techniques, all of which were
aimed at evolving different forms of non-hierarchical order.

➢ Time and again he set up shifting frames of reference, marked out equivalent vantage
points, and relativized the conventional spatial hierarchy by establishing excentric
centres and symmetries.

➢ In the playgrounds, Van Eyck succeeded, in the words of Georges Candilis, in creating
an architecture of exceptional quality using the most modest of means, an architecture
‘that consisted not only of hard, tangible materials but also of immaterial materials.

The Amsterdam Municipal Orphanage (1955-60)

➢ After a decade of experimenting with elementary forms and their interrelations, Van
Eyck’s views were synthesized in an iconic building, the Amsterdam Municipal
Orphanage (1955-60). Here he succeeded in reconciling a great many polarities.

➢ The Orphanage is both house and city, compact and polycentric, single and diverse,
clear and complex, static and dynamic, contemporary and traditional; rooted as much
in the classical as in the modern tradition.

➢ The classical tradition resides in the regular geometrical order that lies at the base of
the plan. The modern one manifests itself in the dynamic centrifugal space which
traverses the classical order.
➢

MIDAS AR.K.MEENA
 HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE & CULTURE - VI

➢ The archaic tradition shows up in various aspects of the building’s formal appearance.

➢ Due to the soft, biomorphic cupolas which cover the entire building, the first impression
it evokes is that of an archaic settlement, reminiscent of a small Arabic domed city or
an African village.

MIDAS AR.K.MEENA
 HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE & CULTURE - VI

➢ The geometrical order of the building is articulated by a contemporary version of the

Classical Orders, composed of columns and architraves.

➢ The columns are slender concrete cylinders with fine ‘fluting’ left from the shuttering;
the architraves are concrete beams, each with an oblong slit at the centre.

➢ Their joined extremities give the impression of a capital, though capitals as such are
absent.

➢ The small domes form a grid that extends evenly across the entire building so that the
overall pattern can be read at every point.

➢ Along the axial lines of this grid, pillars, architraves and solid walls mark off a number
of well-anchored, enclosed spaces:

➢ The living rooms and adjoining patios, the festive hall, gymnasium and central court.

➢ All are spaces related primarily to their centre, a centre established by the large dome-
shapes, the axial lines of the grid generated by the small domes, and the axially placed
doors.

➢ The inner court seems to be a latter-day version of a Renaissance ‘cortile’ and the
interior streets at times recall Romanesque clois

➢ The focus of the interior court is a circular seat marked by two lamps, which rather than
occupying the geometric centre of this space, is shifted four metres or so diagonally
from it.

➢ And if this piazza is indeed the centre of the entire settlement, it does not dominate as
such.

➢ From it the settlement fans out centrifugally in all directions; it is the fixed point from
which decentralization is developed and delineated.

MIDAS AR.K.MEENA
 HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE & CULTURE - VI

➢ Thus, the axial ordering of the square does not extend in any way to the internal
circulation areas.

➢ It merely provides the initial impulse for the two interior streets, which branch out in
contrary zigzag movements, to give access, via interior and exterior courtyards to the
various units.

➢ The basic forms of the two groups of residential units are a union of distinctly ‘open’
and distinctly ‘closed’.

➢ The ‘rear’ of the units that back on the north consists of an unbroken, solid right-angled
wall, their south-facing front being a right-angled succession of glazed walls.

➢ In the quarters for the older children, glazed and brick walls unite in a simple elongated
L-shaped space, but in the units for the younger ones, the brick wall envelops most of
the domed area and the entire dormitory wing.

➢ The glazed walls jut southward to mark out an additional shifted space, upon which,
returning to the dormitory wing, they penetrate the building perimeter to hollow out a
roofed terrace beyond the columns and architraves.

➢ Embodying a maximum amount of both closeness and openness, these units also
represent a striking example of Van Eyck’s view that architecture should, just like man,
breathe in and out.

MIDAS AR.K.MEENA
 HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE & CULTURE - VI

➢ And remarkably, the ground plan of these interlocking units appears to resemble that
of the whole building.

➢ In this ‘little city’ as a whole, the ‘houses are linked to the outside world by articulated
external spaces with loggias. These outside spaces, both large and small, are
characterized by a similar centrifugal structure.

➢ Similarly, the diagonal direction which cuts across the orthogonal structure of the whole
building is also recognizable in the residential units.

➢ The large-domed spaces which are primarily centralized, self-contained places, are
not confirmed in their centralism by the arrangement of the built-in elements.

➢ The focus of the interior, a round or square playhouse, is offset diagonally with respect
to the geometric centre.

➢ Furthermore, the main central axes of the domed space are offset by secondary axes
marked by the three columns which delimit the open south-east corner of the space.

➢ Together with the eccentric playhouse, these shifted axes give the domed space a
diagonal direction that relates to the second, southwards-shifted living room.

➢ The third tradition, the ‘vernacular of the heart’, fuses organically with the classical
one.

➢ The perforated architrave combines with the dome into an expressive biomorphic form
which, variously underpinned, evokes a changing archetypal image.

➢ It may be firmly planted in the ground on two columns, spanning a bay which may be
filled in with two-part glazing; or resting on a solid wall and articulated into a pregnant
T-shape by an axially placed window or door.

➢ Thus, in the orphanage, Van Eyck turned not only to the idea of the Classical Orders,
which, as well known, are considered to be anthropomorphic, but in the rather reduced
sense of being an abstraction of human proportions. Inspired by archaic form
language, he made this anthropomorphism more tangible by reverting to the
communicative features of the human body, the symmetry of its frontal appearance,
the binary appeal of the human face.

➢ The residential units are much like the recurring theme in a fugue, a single theme in
various shapes which, linked by modulating ‘interludes’, interlock contrapuntally.

➢ This impression is indeed produced by the roof which displays a grid of identical
squares.

MIDAS AR.K.MEENA
 HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE & CULTURE - VI

➢ But the conceptual sketches show clearly that this grid was by no means a basic
assumption.

➢ It did not appear before the final stage of the conceptual process, when Van Eyck
decided to cover the building with a structure of domes.

➢ Nor do the conceptual sketches start form an a priori concept, a preconceived ‘pre-
form’ (to use the word of Kahn) that maintains itself through the processing of the
‘circumstances’ contained in the brief.

The design process proves to be a patient ars combinatoria, an unremitting exploration of the
ways to connect the various parts of the programma, a gradual development of relevant
patterns that eventually coalesce into a balanced, non-hierarchical organism.

ALDO ROSSI (1931-1937)

• Theorist

• Writer

• Product Designer

• Artist and Painter

• Architect

• MOST OF HIS WORKS WERE BASED ON FORMS.

• MANY OF HIS BUILDINGS ARE BOX LIKE WITH PITCHED ROOF.

• HE LIKES TO REPEAT IDENTICAL FORMS TO MAKE A BIGGER WHOLE.

• His signature gestures of the cone, the cylinder and the square endlessly recombined
with colonnades, windows at unexpected scales and towers might have seemed coldly
mechanical if it were not for his skill at manipulating the rhythms of shadows and light.

• First to use steel

• He held that the city remembers its past and uses that memory through monuments;
that is, monuments give structure to the city.

• He argued that a city must be studied and valued as something constructed over time;

TEATRO DEL MONDO

According to Rossi theatres were “ places where architecture ends and world of imagination
begins
Architect: ALDO ROSSI
Construction year: 1979
Location: Venice, Italy
Type: temporary theatre

MIDAS AR.K.MEENA
 HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE & CULTURE - VI

Style: modern

GROUND FLOOR FIRST FLOOR

PLAN PLAN

➢ Floated in water, The idea was to recall the floating theatres which were so
characteristic of Venice and its carnivals in the 18th century , the floating theater gives
a dream-like impression in its formal simplicity and bold colors.

➢ Constructed of wood (relating to Venice's wood pile foundations) and iron scaffolding
the temporary structure has become Rossi's most famous, and possibly most
important, building.

➢ Rossi believed, it tapped into the collective architectural memory of the city.

MIDAS AR.K.MEENA
 HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE & CULTURE - VI

➢ Use of basic geometrical shapes.

Octagon theatre.

➢ The form includes a conical dome,

and a composition of basic
geometry, often seen in all his
designs

➢ His theater is not a place solely to

watch performances but also a
place to be watched, a place to
observe and to be observed.

➢ This is accomplished on two levels,

by placing the theater as an object
in the water and, on the inside, by
placing the stage in the center of
the seats. 250 people

➢ Bold colours to give the theatre

dreamlike fairytale look. Yellow
against the blue brings out the
contrast. Square windows

MIDAS AR.K.MEENA
 HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE & CULTURE - VI

Tubular
steel
Zinc frame
cladded
roof

Upper
galleries
Central
stage
Wooden
cladding
➢ The building was built with a tubular steel frame covered with wood and reached a
height of 25 m.

➢ The main body is composed of a parallelepiped under 9.5 square meters side with a
height of 11 m.

➢ At the height topped octagonal drum, whose roof is zinc. Inside the scene was placed
at the center, the public is located on the sides or on two platforms in the galleries
located on the upper floors accessed via stairs that are placed on the sides of the
parallelepiped.

SAN CATALDO CEMETERY, MODENA ITALY

Architect: ALDO ROSSI

Year of completion: 1971
Location: Modena, Italy
Type: Cemetery Complex
Style: Neo Rationalism

MIDAS AR.K.MEENA
 HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE & CULTURE - VI

MIDAS AR.K.MEENA
 HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE & CULTURE - VI

Jane Jacobs
Jane Jacobs (1916-2006) was an urban writer and activist
who championed new, community-based approaches to
planning for over 40 years.
Her 1961 treatise, The Death and Life of Great American
Cities, became one of the most influential American texts
about the inner workings and failings of cities, inspiring
generations of urban planners and activists.
Her efforts to stop downtown expressways and protect
local neighborhoods invigorated community-based
urban activism and helped end Parks Commissioner Robert
Moses’s reign of power in New York City.

DEATH AND LIFE OF AMERICAN CITIES

PURPOSE OF THE BOOK:

➢ Attack on the current methods of city planning and rebuilding
➢ Explanation of new principles

MIDAS AR.K.MEENA
 HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE & CULTURE - VI

➢ An argument for different methods from those now in use

➢ An alternative to conventional city planning

Reasons cited by conventional city planners – decline of cities

➢ Blighted by too many people
➢ Mixtures of commercial , industrial, residential uses
➢ Old buildings and narrow streets.
➢ Small landholders who stand in the way of large scale development.

Results:
➢ Breed apathy and crime
➢ Discourage investment
➢ Contaminate areas around them

Solutions:
➢ Tear them down
➢ Scatter inhabitants
➢ Rebuilt area to integrated plans
➢ Lay out super blocks
Influences – City planning range from…..
Ebenezer Howard - Garden city

Patrick Geddes - Regional planning

Mumford - Culture of cities

Le Corbusier - Radiant city

Daniel Burnham - City beautiful

Diversity requires 4 essential conditions:

1. Mixed land uses
2. Small blocks
3. Buildings from many different eras
4. Sufficient building densities

MIDAS AR.K.MEENA
 HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE & CULTURE - VI

PERSPECTIVES
Cities as Ecosystems.

PART 1 – THE PECULIAR NATURE OF CITIES

Social behaviour of people in cities

Uses of sidewalks
➢ Safety
➢ Contact
➢ Assimilating children
➢ Uses of neighbourhood parks
➢ Uses of city Neighbourhoods

➢ Jacobs approached cities as living beings and ecosystems.

She explained how each element of a city – sidewalks, parks, neighborhoods,
government, economy – functions together synergistically, in the same manner as the
natural ecosystem.

➢ This understanding helps us discern how cities work, how they break down, and how
they could be better structured.

SAFETY
➢ Streets in cities serve many purposes besides carrying vehicles, and city sidewalks –
Pedestrian parts of the streets- serves many purposes besides carrying pedestrian.
➢ If the streets are safe from barbarism and fear the the city is tolerably safe.

➢ Well used in the city street apt to be safe street

MIDAS AR.K.MEENA
 HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE & CULTURE - VI

Three main qualities are essential for a street

> Firstly, there must be clear demarcation between what is public space and what is private
space
> Second, there must be eyes on the street, eyes belongs to those we might call the natural
proprietors of the street.
> All the buildings must face the street.
> Third sidewalks must have users on it fairly continuously.
> The street should be able to induce users.

MIDAS AR.K.MEENA
 HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE & CULTURE - VI

PART 2 – THE CONDITIONS FOR CITY DWELLERS

Economic behaviour of cities

>The generators of diversity

>The need for primary mixed uses
>The need for small blocks
>The need for aged buildings
> some myth about diversity safety

CHILDREN
➢ Children in cities need a variety of places in which to play and to learn.
➢ They need among other things,oppurtunities for all kinds
➢ At the same time they need unspecialised home base from which to play, to hang
around in, and to help form their own notions of the world. – lively sidewalks.
➢ Sidewalks thirty feet can accommodate virtually any play and loitering potential for
youths.

Four conditions are required to generate diversity

>The district ust serve more than one primary function: preferably more than two. These must
insure presence of people who go outdoors on different schedules and are in places for
different purpose but are able to use functions in common

MIDAS AR.K.MEENA
 HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE & CULTURE - VI

>Most blocks must be short: that is streets and opportunities to turn corners must be frequent
>The districts must mingle dwellings that vary in age and condition ,including a good proportion
of old one that they vary in the economic yield they must produce
>There must be sufficient dense concentration of people: for whatever purpose they may be
there . This includes dense concentration in the case of people who are there because of
residences.

Mixed-Use Development.
➢ Jacobs advocated for “mixed-use” urban development – the integration of different
building types and uses, whether residential or commercial, old or new.
➢ According to this idea, cities depend on a diversity of buildings, residences,
businesses and other non-residential uses, as well as people of different ages using
areas at different times of day, to create community vitality.
➢ She saw cities as being “organic, spontaneous, and untidy,” and views the
intermingling of city uses and users as crucial to economic and urban development.

Bottom-Up Community Planning.

➢ Jacobs contested the traditional planning approach that relies on the judgment of
outside experts, proposing that local expertise is better suited to guiding community
development.
➢ She based her writing on empirical experience and observation, noting how the
prescribed government policies for planning and development are usually inconsistent
with the real-life functioning of city neighborhoods.

The Case for Higher Density.

➢ Although orthodox planning theory had blamed high density for crime, filth, and a host
of other problems, Jacobs disproved these assumptions and demonstrated how a high
concentration of people is vital for city life, economic growth, and prosperity.

➢ While acknowledging that density alone does not produce healthy communities, she
illustrated through concrete examples how higher densities yield a critical mass of
people that is capable of supporting more vibrant communities.

➢ In exposing the difference between high density and overcrowding, Jacobs dispelled
many myths about high concentrations of people.

MIDAS AR.K.MEENA
 HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE & CULTURE - VI

Local Economies.
➢ By dissecting how cities and their economies emerge and grow, Jacobs cast new light
on the nature of local economies.

➢ She contested the assumptions that cities are a product of agricultural advancement;
that specialized, highly efficient economies fuel long-term growth; and that large, stable
businesses are the best sources of innovation.

➢ Instead, she developed a model of local economic development based on adding new
types of work to old, promoting small businesses, and supporting the creative impulses
of urban entrepreneurs

JANE JACOBS OBSERVES THE CONDITIONS OF

Mixed uses
➢ Dense population
Old buildings
>Decentralised ownership
Create
Opposite of slum
Neighbourhood and regenerate themselves spontaneously
Full of variety of diversity
Attract large numbers of casual visitors ad responsible new residents

Encourage investment
Revitalize areas around tem
Eg BOSTONS NORTH END, GREENWICH VILLAGE,

CHRISTOPHER ALEXANDER

➢ Cristopher Alexander was born in Vienna, Austria in 1936.

➢ He graduated with degrees in mathematics and architecture from Cambridge

University and with a Ph.d in Architecture from Harvard University.

MIDAS AR.K.MEENA
 HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE & CULTURE - VI

➢ For his doctoral dissertation, Alexander developed a computer program that attempted
to analyze and create new environments based on logical programmatic analysis.

➢ This interest in creating new environments would mark all of his future works.

➢ Christopher Alexander is a practicing architect, builder, and Emeritus Professor of

Architecture at the University of California, Berkeley.

➢ He is also the author of numerous articles and books,

including The Nature of Order: An Essay on the Art of Building and the Nature of the
Universe (2004) — a four-volume compilation representing 30 years of work and
offering three vital perspectives on our world:

(1) A scientific perspective;

(2) a perspective based on beauty and grace; and

(3) a common sense perspective based on our intuitions about everyday life.

The four books in the series include The Phenomenon of Life; The Process of Creating Life; A
Vision of the Living World; and The Luminous Ground.

This series provides a new framework for perceiving and interacting with the world, a
methodology for creating beautiful spaces, and a cosmology where art, architecture, science,
religion and secular life all work comfortably together

PERSPECTIVES
➢ The Phenomenon of Life (Nature of Order Book One). Alexander proposes a
scientific view of the world in which all space-matter has perceptible degrees of life and
sets this understanding of order as an intellectual basis for a new architecture.

➢ With this view as a foundation, we can ask precise questions about what must be
done to create more life in our world — whether in a room, a humble doorknob, a
neighborhood, or even in a vast region.

➢ He introduces the concept of living structure, basing it upon his theories of centers and
of wholeness, and defines the fifteen properties from which, according to his
observations, all wholeness is built.

➢ Alexander argues that living structure is at once both personal and structural.
The Process of Creating Life (Nature of Order Book Two).
➢ In the 20th century our society was locked into deadly processes which created our
current built environment, processes of which most people were not really aware and
did not question.

MIDAS AR.K.MEENA
 HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE & CULTURE - VI

➢ Despite their best efforts and intentions, architects and planners working within these
processes, could not achieve a living built environment.

➢ In this book, Alexander puts forward a fully developed theory of living process. He
defines conditions for a process to be living: that is, capable of generating living
structure. He shows how such processes work, and how they may be created.

➢ At the core of the new theory is the theory of structure-preserving transformations. This
concept, new in scientific thinking, is based on the concept of wholeness defined in
Book 1: A structure-preserving transformation is one which preserves, extends, and
enhances the wholeness of a system.

➢ Making changes in society, so that streets, buildings, rooms, gardens, towns may be
generated by hundreds of such sequences, requires massive transformations.

➢ This book is the first blueprint of those transformations.

A Vision of a Living World (Nature of Order Book Three).

➢ Providing hundreds of examples of buildings and places, this volume demonstrates

proposes forms for large buildings, public spaces, communities, neighborhoods, which
then lead to discussions about the equally important small scale of detail and ornament
and color.

➢ With these examples, laypeople, architects, builders, artists, and students are able to
make this new framework real for themselves, for their own lives, and understand how
it works and its significance.
The Luminous Ground (Nature of Order Book Four).

➢ The mechanistic thinking and the consequent investment-oriented tracts of houses,

condominiums and offices in the 20th century have dehumanized our cities and our
lives.

➢ How are spirit, soul, emotion, feeling to be introduced into a building, or a street, or a
development project, in modern times? In this final text, Alexander breaks away

MIDAS AR.K.MEENA
 HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE & CULTURE - VI

>completely from the one-sided mechanical model of buildings or neighborhoods as

mere assemblages of technically generated interchangeable parts.

➢ He shows us conclusively that a spiritual, emotional, and personal basis must underlie
every act of building.

➢ This radical view can conform to our most ordinary, daily intuitions.

➢ It may provide a path for those contemporary scientists who are beginning to see
consciousness as the underpinning of all matter, and thus as a proper object of
scientific study.

➢ And it will change, forever, our conception of what buildings are.

A Pattern Language: The Living Structure of Places.

➢ Looking closely at the living structure in good and bad buildings, human artifacts, and
natural systems, Alexander proposes that the living order depends on those features
that closely connect with the human self.

➢ The quality of works of art, artifacts, and buildings is defined not merely in terms of
living structure, but also in their capacity to affect human growth and human well-being.

The Overlapping Organization of Cities.

➢ In his classic essay, “A City is Not a Tree,”(1965) Alexander explains why separate
functions have come to dominate the world of urban planning, and why this is an
unhealthy way of building our cities.
➢ City-building, he holds, has become dominated by narrowly focused professions,
mainly because human beings do not seem to possess the mental capacity to
holistically perceive the complex social, environmental, and economic processes that
collectively shape urban life.

➢ Referring to a variety of experiments, Alexander demonstrates how the human mind

tends to separate elements and arrange them in categories and visually separate
spaces.

MIDAS AR.K.MEENA
 HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE & CULTURE - VI

➢ When people are faced with complex organization, they reorganize natural overlap into
non-overlapping units.

➢ He refers to this non-overlapping structure as a “tree,” and argues that the complex
organization of cities is in fact more suited to “semi-lattices”– which are healthy
places, although extreme compartmentalization and dissociation of internal elements
can lead to destruction.

➢ In a human, dissociation marks schizophrenia, and in a society it marks anarchy.

➢ For a city to remain receptive to life, social interaction, and human prosperity, it must
unite the different strands of life within it.

➢ Planners and designers must therefore allow for a mix of functions and be open-
minded to organic change.

Interactions between Cars and Pedestrians.

➢ While most people are either for cars or for pedestrians, Alexander believes the two
can function as a pair. While the relationship between pedestrians and cars has always
been an uneasy one, their simple separation is not a sustainable solution for making
cities livable.

➢ He has instead developed a pattern for analyzing and improving the interactions
between cars and people.

➢ In the ideal interaction between pedestrians and cars, both are vibrant, and the two
zones are separate but touch everywhere. He describes five ways in which this can
happen:

➢ Where cars are moving slowly, people and cars can mix up, meaning that at very low
density traffic, there do not necessarily need to be sidewalks.

➢ Creating quiet places with good space for pedestrians and narrow slow space for cars.

➢ Wide, densely traveled pedestrian streets may cross densely traveled roads with cars
and buses, best at a right angle.

MIDAS AR.K.MEENA
 HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE & CULTURE - VI

➢ Pedestrian lanes can be designed to be internal to a block. According to Alexander’s

observations, most points on pedestrian paths should be within 150 feet of the nearest
road.

➢ Where cars dominate there should be easy access to beautiful and pure pedestrian
space.

Starting with What is Beautiful Now.

➢ By beginning with spaces that are already beautiful, Alexander shows how we can
adopt an organic process of city-building and discover the “right” order of places.

➢ Designing places in the right order has a major impact on the quality of community life.
The right order for a place is often unexpected.

➢ To discover the right order of a particular place, we should begin by implementing any
tiny improvements that are feasible now. Specific spots or segments in a city that work
well do so for a reason, and because they are naturally used by the community, these
spaces form the “spine” of the area and making good starting points for wider
improvements.

➢ According to Alexander, small incremental changes will enhance the spirit of the place
and encourage the accumulation of further changes.

➢ Using this approach, we can connect new spaces to already beautiful ones while
allowing for change and adaptation through lived experience.

Harmonizing the Shape of Public Buildings.

➢ The quality of public buildings depends on how they harmonize with their surrounding
environment.

➢ A great public building makes the environment better, but its construction must draw
upon the existing positive patterns in that environment.

➢ Alexander emphasizes that great buildings emerge without artifice and without egos,
and that the volume and space around the building site must inspire the building’s
construction.

MIDAS AR.K.MEENA
 HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE & CULTURE - VI

➢ His pattern language provides guidelines for how to proceed through such a process
of inspiration in a logical but also emotional way.

Triangulation: Arranging Overlapping Functions in Small Spaces.

➢ Although he was not the first to use the term, Alexander has greatly enriched our
understanding of how triangulation fits into larger patterns of urban life.

➢ Triangulation occurs when a space allows for two or more overlapping functions and
thus facilitates additional activity and interaction between people.

➢ It often occurs in small spaces through the precise positioning of an object or two
around a key location, such as a street corner, a bus stop, a newsstand.

➢ Such objects might serve a necessary activity, or might simply engage or entertain the
passer by. Alexander explains how triangulation works, and also how it can create
great public spaces

➢ Pattern language is a significant effort to understand environmental wholeness

because, first, it provides a compilation of time-tested environmental possibilities,
envisioned and arranged from larger to smaller scale, that contribute to a place
exuberance; second, the approach provides a programmatic means for explicating
new patterns as needed and integrating them with existing patterns to concretize new
pattern languages for buildings, places, and situations not imagined in the original
language of 253 patterns.

MIDAS AR.K.MEENA