principles of urban design 4 (pud41-1)
handout 05 – 11.4.11
term 2:
what?
- making the open city
how?
- map, evaluate and re-consider existing city site, develop an urban design proposal
why?
- open space systems (should) define + promote access to the city for all citizens
production
1.collate the site photographically, generate a 3 dimensional model of the study area cityscape (group)
2.generate a street elevation profile of the north + south face of jorissen street, plus a perpendicular street of the group’s choice (group)
3.assess the public space system of jorissen street as part of a larger open space system that you identified in your analysis (for example busstops, taxistops, school yards, waiting areas etc.) and develop a visionary urban design proposal [framework] which accelerates its performance (individual)
urban design: the collaborative process of shaping the setting for life in cities, towns + villages.
there is at last a general understanding the making places socially, economically and environmental successful depends on high standards of urban design. what is less understood is how good design can be delivered.
the challenge is to influence the development process, not only on high-profile sites but wherever urban change is reshaping places.
making the open city
in after typology: the suffering of diagrams, william braham states that, architects produce diagrams, not buildings, but diagrams that are wholly immanent, wholly embedded and co-extensive with materials, configurations and forms of buildings. theories of representation and expression have tended to privilege the concept over the building, treating the artifact as a site of interpretation, a mere extension of the process of its production. but if such concepts could be adequately expressed or understood separately from their manifestations, then the buildings themselves would be unnecessary. architectural concepts only exist fully in their realization, as discoveries through the non-linear process called design. that condition of immanence inspires the recurring attention to method and process in the architectural discourse and equally the frustration with the embedded quality of the theorizing it reveals.
we look at what the diagrams have produced and ask if the embodiment of the diagram has been normative and what of its performance in relation to the open city?
our city site will be braamfontein, which is located in the northwestern quadrant of the inner city. the purpose of the exercise is to go beyond mapping. the site braamfontein as a contextual piece of johannesburg urban fabric will be mapped, evaluated and, if necessary, re-configured. the primary focus will be public realm and how it is shaped + influenced by architecture and other forces.
the work will be done within the boundaries of:
n – hoofd , ameshof + jorissen streets;
e – joubert ext. + rissik streets;
w – m1;
s – smit street.
phase 1
a. collate the site photographically.
b. generate a 3 dimensional model of the study area cityscape.
phase 2
generate a street elevation profile of the north + south face of jorissen street, plus a perpendicular street of the group’s choice.
explicit detail of the edge, sidewalk and street reserve must be articulated in terms of use, movement patterns + dialectics. in this component, a strong planning lexicon is to be utilized when articulating the sensory and visual analysis. the observational journey should be taken as a paradigm for producing an interactive and responsive system of design analysis. you are strongly urged to treat that component of the city as a topology of fluctuating networks rather than distinct urban units or blocks.
phase 3
assess the public space system of jorissen street as part of a larger open space system that you identified in your analysis (for example bus stops, taxi stops, school yards, waiting areas etc) and develop a visionary urban design proposal that accelerates its performance.
ultimately, the point of the exercise is to critically assess architectural design performance as a conduit of society within braamfontein urban fabric typology + morphology, in regards to the relationship of the edge, sidewalk + street and use these observations to generate and guide an urban design framework.
schedule
phase 1: 11.4.11 handout, 14.4.11 crit, 18.4.11 crit, 21.4.11 handin 1
phase 2: 5.5.11 crit, 9.5.11 crit, 12.5.11 handin 2
phase 3: 15.5.11 crit, 19.5.11 crit, 23.5.11 crit, 26.5.11 handin 3
open city complete handin (phase 1,2,3) : 30.05.11
note that all phases have to be submitted on the above dates, the complete handin allows for revised material only.
