S M L: From City to Building

Page 1

S

M from city to building

ALEXANDER AYRES

L



for Elena




The following pages contain a series of drawings of three different cities that address increasingly smaller scales, from city to building. The drawings are graphical responses I created while observing these cities from aerial views and through research. The drawings are intended to loosely describe what’s given in order to evoke a response or, a question, of how larger geographical form and organization can relate to a single building or space. Ideally, one can gain a basic understanding of each city throughout the course of this short book.

Austin, Texas


Barcelona, Spain

Abu Dhabi, UAE


S

M

L


These three Capital cities were originally chosen due to similar total areas according to an online database. It was thought cities similar in area would have an increased capacity to be compared and analyzed from differenring scalar persepctives. However, upon drawing their municipal boundaries as determined by Google Maps, an unintentional “S, M, L� condition was discovered. Therefore, the succeeding drawing anaylsis is employed with an intentional regiment and repetition, providing a framework for understanding Barcelona, Austin, and Abu Dhabi.


city

neighborhood

Barcelona

06

08

10

32

Austin

14

16

18

38

Abu Dhabi

22

24

26

44


public space

building

34

36

52

60

40

42

54

64

46

48

56

68


01

CITY SCALE Barcelona, Austin, and Abu Dhabi are small, medium, and large cities respectively. The three cities are evaluated at three different scales which correspond to three respective concepts. From largest to smallest scale: city access, relationship to water, and the grain or directionality of city blocks are mapped in the following pages.


L / ABD

M / AUS

S / BCN

ACCESS WATER GRAIN

02


03

S 39.3 square miles 1,620,943 inhabitants Capital city of Catalonia, Spain

BARCELONA


04


05

Barcelona El Prat Airport

The main routes of access into the city of Barcelona also define the Topological landscape. The road and train lines follow the rivers which have eroded paths through the surrounding mountains into the sea. Other routes follow along the coastline where the topography is generally more gradual.

ACCESS Barcelona


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Former mountain streams turned into roads or paths

A coastal town, Barcelona is defined by distinct geological features on all four sides. El Llobregat to the Southwest and El Besos to the Northeast are the two rivers bordering the city. With the mountains opposite the sea, we can assume the city is on a gradual plateau. Even though it’s surrounded by water, the integration of city and water is minimal.

WATER Barcelona


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Extents of original city

The city grain or directionality of Barcelona is modual and distinct. The planning restrictions of recent past have kept dimensional constraints on how city blocks are constructed. This makes older parts of the city easily identifiable. The contrasting grains meet along major roads or thoroughfares.

GRAIN Barcelona


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M 271.8 square miles 885,400 inhabitants Capital city of Texas, USA

AUSTIN


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Like most American cities in the midwest, Austin is accessed primarly by interstate highway. A ring surrounds the city to connect all of the interstate routes and assists travelers to avoid spending time driving through the center. Because access routes appear to come from all directions, it can be assumed that the topography surrounding the city is relatively flat or similar.

ACCESS Austin

Austin-Bergstrom International Airport


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Prominent green spaces surrounding streams and river

The Colorado river is the primary aquatic feature of Austin, Texas. The supplementary streams that feed the Colorado define the surroudning topography with their direction. The landscape seems to slope from Northwest to Southeast following the general paths of the streams.

WATER Austin


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Texas state Capitol

Similarily to Barcelona, Austin’s grain is very rigid. However, where BCN’s grid was modular, Austin’s has a discernable directionality. The natural features (river and streams) break up this grid. Where the city grid is broken, different spaces, parks for example, are able to exist.

GRAIN Austin


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L 617.53 square miles 921,002 inhabitants Capital city of the United Arab Emirates

ABU DHABI


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The coastal regions of the Middle East are where the majority of the population dwells. Because Abu Dhabi lies on a penninsula, it is accessed by specific routes from a specific direction. One highway, coming from the Northeast, does not follow suit and stands alone. Even though automobile paths come from a limited sources, the city’s integration with water undoutedly provides access by boat.

ACCESS Abu Dhabi

Man made canals


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Man made islands

It is obvious that Abu Dhabi has a very integrated relationship with water. It is surrounded on all sides by natural and man made water features. Man made islands are used for additional development and shielding from tides. The canals surrounding the city undoubtedly provide additional means of access.

WATER Abu Dhabi


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Unlike the other two cities, Abu Dhabi does not have a homogenous grain or direction. Each large city block has its own specific orientation. Most of these blocks follow the angle of the larger pennisula except for one outlier which has an almost horizontal (EastWest) alignment. The nearly random orientation and rhythm of blocks gives evidence to the incredibly fast rate at which Abu Dhabi is developing.

GRAIN Abu Dhabi

Developing city block


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NEIGHBORHOOD SCALE What determines the size of a neighborhood? What are its boundaries? Streets here are anaylzed by boundary type and by their function in or around a neighborhood. Or, in Abu Dhabi, how has rapid development affected the programming of neighboorhood blocks?


28


29

Path

Narrow, low speed, low traffic, easily crossed

Hybrid

Multi-use lanes, crossable, moderate traffic

Border

Wide, several high speed lanes, uncrossable


La Bonanova

Gracia

Tarrytown

Zilker

Al Reem Island

Al Khalidiyah


31

Barcelona

Both neighborhoods are adjacent to the mountain range that borders the city. La Bonanova has a grid structure unlike that of the rest of Barcelona. The streets running perpendicular to the mountains man follow historic paths or former streams traveling towards the ocean.

Gracia does not have a unique, similar blocking throughout like Bonanova. Instead, there is an obvious mix of the old village, the robust grid of the greater city, and an additional hybrid that stems from the foothills of the mountains, possibly originating similarly to La Bonanova’s streets.

1 LA BONANOVA

2 GRACIA


32

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1: Travessera de Dalt / Border At first glance this street looks more integrated, but streetview reveals that the wide road and busy traffic posit this as a border, dividing pedestrian activity. 2: Passeig de La Bonanova / Path This 4 lane street, although capable of sustaining large volumes of traffic, acts as an integrated thoroughfare freely crossed within the neighborhood. 3: Ronda de Dalt / Border Such a large motorway will undoutedly be difficult for pedestrian crossings. This roadway also traces a natural boundary where the foothills begin

LA BONANOVA Barcelona


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1: Travessera de Dalt / Border The streetview looks very consistent to La Bonanova. The concrete medians and construction staging placed in the medium reinforces this road as a border. 2: Avinguda Diagonal / Hybrid Even though there are many lanes and greenspace spanning this road, bike lanes and tree cover make it an integrated and inviting area for pedestrians. 3: Ronda de Dalt / Border Even though the highway is lowered to become less apparent, its width is still too great to allow for pedestrian movement.

GRACIA Barcelona


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Austin

Tarrytown is tightly knit and contains a variety of uses, but remains primarily residential. It appears dense but does not match the desnity of Barcelona neighborhoods, by virture of more recent conception. Natrual elements, namely the river and golf course, play a large roll in the boundaries of the neighborhood.

At first glance Zilker is very similar to Tarrytown. Apparently dense, many houses, and significant tree cover. Zilker is also primarily residential, but hosts commercial functions along its main thoroughfares which also act as semi boundaries to the neighborhood. Significant adjacent parts and green areas improve Zilkers reputation.

1 TARRYTOWN

2 ZILKER


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1: Enfield Road / Hybrid The large part of this road contained within Tarrytown borders a golf course and is thus unused. The rest is semi-usable as a crossing point with relatively less traffic. 2: Exposition Boulevard / Path This road pesonifies a typical US neighborhood thoroughfare. Bike lanes and proximity to nearby residences reinforce Exposition as a integrated street through Tarrytown. 3: MoPac Expressway / Border Even though this highway is elevated, it creates a definite boundary to the Tarrytown neighborhood. Pedestrian movement below is near non-existant.

TARRYTOWN Austin


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1: S. Lamar Boulevard / Border The poltical boundary of Zilker continues past this road, but the pedestrian accesibility does not. Perhaps the parallel metro line futhers this effect. 2: Baron Springs Road / Border An actual typology change occurs on opposite sides of this road. MultiFamily housing and retail occupy the northern side of the road while stand alone houses remain south. 3: Bluebonnet Boulevard / Path Just as in Tarrytown, this neighborhood thoroughfare features bikelanes and an unintimidating possibly of crossing by foot.

ZILKER Austin


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Abu Dhabi

Al Khalidiyah is relatively small but similar to all of the other blocks within downtown Abu Dhabi. The streets all act as strict vehicular boundaries that seperate individual mega blocks as ‘neighborhoods’ themselves. Pedestrian movement is entirely limited to crosswalks or within an individual blocks.

As a testimate to the incredibly fast development in Abu Dhabi, only portions of Al Reem island are actually built. Here different blocks take on drastically different programmic functions, perhaps reinfocing the fact the blocks are not inter-connected. The island also has an arbitrary grid opposed to that of the main pennisula.

1 AL KHALIDIYAH

2 AL REEM ISLAND


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Block 1: Greenspace Blocks in this neighborhood an throughout downtown have specific programs. Here the entire block is taken up by Al Khalidiyah Park.

Block 2: Shopping Mall Common in Abu Dhabi, the vast majority of this block is programmed for a shopping mall, its parking, and open space for retention and drainage.

Block 3: Mid-Density Housing More typical throughout downtown, this block is consumed by semidense, high-rise housing and its supplementary parking.

AL KHALIDIYAH Abu Dhabi


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Block 1: In Construction Further perpetuating the idea of fast development, this ‘block’ is currently under construction. Large (multi-use?) towers and adjacent open space take up the majority. Block 2: University Here the Paris-Sorbonne University takes up single block rather than acting as a system of blocks in a typical college campus.

Block 2: Undeveloped Made apparent by the overall neighborhood drawing, most of the island has yet to be developed. If this book were made 10 years from now the story could be reversed.

AL REEM ISLAND Abu Dhabi


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PUBLIC SCALE Public space and its placement within cities is crucial to their livelihood, or lack there of. Here, primary city axes and their effect on public space’s organization and location is investigated. Also, how surrounding public areas cohere to said axes and intersect plazas, parks, etc.


Parc de La Ciutadella

Capitol Square

Lake & Formal Parks


51

“Nolli� Public Space

Parc de la Ciutadella lies on a transition of organic, old city, to regulated, new city. Undoudtedly due to the presence of the Catalonian Parliament and the formality of its program, the Park follows the grid of new city. Major public thoroughfares stem perpendicularly from the borders of the park, reinforcing its prominent axes.

PARC DE LA CIUTADELLA Barcelona


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Austin, a strictly gridded town to begin with, positions the Capitol Square in accordance to this strict network in the heart of downtown. The Capitol Building’s entire design is based on this grid and the precise positioning along Congress Ave. The city does have areas attempting to resist the grid, such as Waterloo park pictured on the East side of the square.

CAPITOL SQUARE Austin

“Nolli” Public Space


54 56


55

Similarly to the homogeneous programming to city blocks throughout Abu Dhabi, parks exist as green, public ‘islands’ within a dense urban and aqautic fabric. Lake and Formal parks are divided by the primary city axis following the direction of the pennisula. The long, narrow shape of the parks engage the coast as a public buffer to the water.

LAKE & FORMAL PARKS Abu Dhabi

“Nolli” Public Space


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BUILDING SCALE Buildings with primarly public programs were intentionally chosen. Their architectural connection with public space is diagrammed, as well as how their form might trace or relate to the surrounding city.


Santa Caterina Market

Austin City Hall

Aldar Central Market


59

Architect Enric Miralles Year 2005 Area 150,000 sqft A renovation to update the original covered marketplace dating back to 1848 on this site. Irregular wooden arches with steel structural reinforcement cover a public market area.

SANTA CATERINA MARKET Barcelona


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100’


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Architect Antoine Predock Year 2004 Area 185,000 sqft Natural materials and unique formal moves distinguish Austin City Hall from it’s rigid surroundings. The building rests on the edge of the Colorado River and Downtown.

AUSTIN CITY HALL Austin


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100’


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Architect Norman Foster Year 2006 Area 6,050,000 sqft Luxury boutiques are paired with food markets and craft based trades in this modern reinterpretation of the mall, which are so common in Abu Dhabi.

ALDAR CENTRAL MARKET Abu Dhabi


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100’


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Fin.


A

LEXANDER YRES



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