THE BARTLETT SCHOOL OF PLANNING
BPLN0056 | URBAN DESIGN: LAYOUT, DENSITY & TYPOLOGY
CONTENTS ○ INTRODUCTION - Locality & The Built Environment ○ OVERVIEW - Building Typologies ○ BUILDING A - Pavilion Type [Clifton Court] ○ BUILDING B - U Court Type [Beaux Arts Building] ○ SPATIAL ANALYSIS - Form & Function of Blocks ○ QUALITY OF PUBLIC REALM + SENSE OF PLACE ○ REFLECTIONS - Merits and Challenges ○ REFERENCES
TASK 1
ANALYSIS OF URBAN FORM Greater London
Borough of Islington
Finsbury Park Ward
A
B
FINSBURY PARK ISLINGTON
ANJALI MANIAR | (MSc) URBAN DESIGN & CITY PLANNING [2021 - 22]
THE BARTLETT SCHOOL OF PLANNING
TASK 1
BPLN0056 | URBAN DESIGN: LAYOUT, DENSITY & TYPOLOGY
Locality: Finsbury Park Ward, Islington
ANALYSIS OF URBAN FORM
Introduction
Finsbury Park is a Ward in the London borough of Islington, and is famed as a busy multi-cultural neighbourhood, just south of its namesake park.
Building Use KEY Residential Commercial Mixed-Use
De-constructing the urban tissue within this ward, shows it is typical in the nature of its development: (i) The ward is a predominant housing neighbourhood, with a variety of development typologies. (ii) Commercial zones developed close to the high roads. (iii) Administrative block are located central to the ward. (iv) Public/Institutional buildings like schools, medical facilities are central to residential zones.
Institutional Administrative
The Built Environment
Map 02: Figure Ground - (in focus) Finsbury Park
The figure-ground shows a dominance in minute urban grain, than the large urban “boxes”, yet with fewer divisons in-between blocks. Layers of the Urban Tissue Designated Green Spaces
Map 01: Building use - Finsbury Park War, Islington
Private, Semi Private Open Spaces Roads Railway lines Buildings
Though not seen on maps, a large portion of the green cover in this ward, is from tree canopies present along most pavements in this ward. Images: (Self clicked) Streets of Finsbury Park, Islington
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Road Hierarchy Primary Roads (High Street) Secondary Roads Tertiary Roads Local Roads Private Roads
Map 03: Division of Open space
ANJALI MANIAR | (MSc) URBAN DESIGN & CITY PLANNING [2021 - 22]
THE BARTLETT SCHOOL OF PLANNING
TASK 1
BPLN0056 | URBAN DESIGN: LAYOUT, DENSITY & TYPOLOGY
ANALYSIS OF URBAN FORM
Building Typologies in Finsbury Park
Overview
● The Urban Form in Finsbury Park has been classified into 4 broad categories 1. Housing Typologies - Detached, Semi detached, Slab, Ribbon, Terraced 2. Large Urban Blocks - Linear blocks, Closed box Blocks 3. Pavilion Type development - Free tower, Tower with plinth 4. Courtyard Type developments - U- Courts, Closed Courts, Detached Courts Building A - Clifton Court High Rise Tower (Pavilion) Detached blocks
Building B - Beaux Arts Building
Semi- Detached blocks
Terraced blocks
Slab development
Ribbon blocks
Linear block
Closed Box Block
Tower block
Tower + Plinth
Mid Rise Courtyard
a
Map 04: Distribution of building typologies in Finsbury Park
● In reference to Map 04, the Housing Development Trends near any given zone, tend to replicate themselves as per the surroundings. Eg. Courtyards, Terraces and Slabs, though developed separately, are clustered close to other developments of the same typology.
b
● Developments along the High street tend to take up new forms as low rise “box- like” developments or “Plinths” with towers over them. ● Detached Courtyard developments, essentially consist of slabs or terraced blocks, and can therefore be a categorised as an “Urban Block” rather than a building typology.
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U- Courtyard Development
Closed Courtyard Development
Detached Courts/ Perimeter blocks
ANJALI MANIAR | (MSc) URBAN DESIGN & CITY PLANNING [2021 - 22]
THE BARTLETT SCHOOL OF PLANNING
TASK 1
BPLN0056 | URBAN DESIGN: LAYOUT, DENSITY & TYPOLOGY
Building A - CLIFTON COURT - Pavilion
ANALYSIS OF URBAN FORM
A - Pavilion Type
Clifton Court is a Fully Residential, High-rise Tower in Finsbury, and is part of the council housing development adjacent to it. Sitting on 11% of the Plot, this development has designated recreational space, and a formal landscaped cover.
● Wrought Iron fences all along open spaces - allowing visual continuity alone. ● Spatial restrictions for all
Among 19 storeys only the top 17 are for housing (4 units on each floor) - G+1 floor used for storage/admin purposes.
Comparable height to surrounding buildings Neighbouring low rise developments allow privacy on higher levels
● Main Entrance: - Street Interface with little to no interaction/ activity. - Facade consists of gates and inaccessible doors - impossible to enter unless with a resident.
● Secondary access point from opposite side. ● Outdoor spaces are fenced, though left for free movement.
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● Large Paved Walk way - also acts as access to other housing units - space for interaction. ● Parking spots on public road.
Plot Size (sqm)
Plot Cover (sqm)
Ground Cover (%)
No. of Storeys
No. Of Units
F.A.R.
Density (units/ha)
3230.7
345.7
11%
19
68
2.03
210
ANJALI MANIAR | (MSc) URBAN DESIGN & CITY PLANNING [2021 - 22]
THE BARTLETT SCHOOL OF PLANNING
TASK 1
BPLN0056 | URBAN DESIGN: LAYOUT, DENSITY & TYPOLOGY
ANALYSIS OF URBAN FORM
Building B - THE BEAUX ARTS BUILDING
B - Court Type
The Beaux Arts Building is a mixed use Residential and Community Building. It is under a long term leashold, and is among prime property in the region. Intitially a government building ( Royal Mail - Money Order), it was later modified to a residential building (1900s) with 180 units, a reception and several other recreational facilities. ● Manor House Community building accessed from main entrance only.
The units at the front facade go up to 7 storeys high, whereas the units on the court side are double storeyed and go up to 3 storeys.
Double ht. apartments Courtyard
● Single access point into the building (restricted to residents) ● Other doors on the facade used as fire exits (accessed from inside)
● Access to building restricted only to residents/staff. ● Access to private road and parking - gated.
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● Double lane road to the front facade (single access) ● Parking spots available inside the plot - on road.
Plot Size (sqm)
Plot Cover (sqm)
Ground Cover (%)
No. of Storeys
No. Of Units
F.A.R.
Density (units/ha)
7798
3203.6
41%
7
180
2.9
230
ANJALI MANIAR | (MSc) URBAN DESIGN & CITY PLANNING [2021 - 22]
THE BARTLETT SCHOOL OF PLANNING
TASK 1
BPLN0056 | URBAN DESIGN: LAYOUT, DENSITY & TYPOLOGY
A - CLIFTON COURT - Pavilion Type
Density No. Of Units
Density (units/ha)
68
210
● Though the tower development has a significantly greater open space, and lesser unit, the density between both typologies is comparable.
ANALYSIS OF URBAN FORM
Spatial Analysis - form & function Accessibility
Open Space
● Visual Access on all 3 sides of the road facing plot. ● Spatial access restricted through fences
Entrance to Building Private Route Fire Exit
● No private open spaces. ● Designated play area and landscape open to public access.
Accessible frontages
B - BEAUX ARTS BUILDING - Court Type No. Of Units
Density (units/ha)
180
230
● This court development is significantly denser, but the density of housing is comparable since a large portion of its floor space is allocated to other activities.
05
● Courtyard formally maintained as a space for recreation and gathering. ● Views from double height residences directly into the courtyards. ●No shared open spaces
● Visual Access on road facing side only ( Including Fire Exits) ● Access restricted to entry of the building.
ANJALI MANIAR | (MSc) URBAN DESIGN & CITY PLANNING [2021 - 22]
THE BARTLETT SCHOOL OF PLANNING
BPLN0056 | URBAN DESIGN: LAYOUT, DENSITY & TYPOLOGY
A - CLIFTON COURT - Pavillion Type
TASK 1
ANALYSIS OF URBAN FORM
Quality of Public Realm + Sense of Place ● Inactive Street Interface, possibly due to lack of human centric spaces on the ground floor. ● Activity restricted to designated open spaces (park), and not allowed to flow. ● Poorly maintained - Short time spent outside the building, hence low priority on maintenance. ● Large open spaces - dominated by parked cars - lack of comfort and safety. ● No additional Security outside
B - BEAUX ARTS BUILDING - Court Type ● Plain Wall Blocking View on a narrow sidewalk. ● Low sense of neighbourhood safety (Lack of eyes on the street) ● Road well maintained, not too wide, and with sufficient cross over points. ● High fences made of wrought iron - caged feeling when walking on other side. ● No additional Security outside.
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● Open Space in front of building used only as buffer space. No potential zone for interaction outside
ANJALI MANIAR | (MSc) URBAN DESIGN & CITY PLANNING [2021 - 22]
THE BARTLETT SCHOOL OF PLANNING
TASK 1
BPLN0056 | URBAN DESIGN: LAYOUT, DENSITY & TYPOLOGY
MERITS ● Both the Pavillion type and the Court type offer high dwelling densities, and are an ideal solution to the density difficulties with other units. ● This study overlooks both high rise, high density buildings to create a comparable understanding of the different typologies of built form. Since one is council housing and the other privately owned, they offer a stark contrast in the influence of social status and quality of the built environment. ● Building high renders a low ground cover, allowing the possibilty of developing the open space to cater to the neighbourhood through the day. ● Court style developments allow the community to engage in interactions other than social - including safety of neighbourhood, comfort of space, etc.
Pavilion Type
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Court Type
ANALYSIS OF URBAN FORM
Reflections
CHALLENGES ● Density alone is not a criteria for the construction of a specific typology of housing units - often times the high density cannot be adjust to. ● Recent news from the Beaux Arts Community has stated a new proposal to increase in the housing units in the building by converting the lobby, and moving it to the basement instead - this proposal has faced a lot of backlash from the Manor House Community since they already lack interactive spaces within the building. ● Council Housing is often neglected, and is treated differently in terms of designing for safety, interaction and gathering. This study alone cannot be seen as a suitable enough case for the quality of public realm of the space. ● Similarly, since the Court type development was repurposed into a residential apartment (and not initially designed as one) there exist certain gaps in explaining the lack of development in the public realm of such a dense residential development. ● The lack of ground level interaction can lead to the public realm being neglected which can cause a great sense of discomfort with passing time. ● Designated open spaces, can be more restrictive than encouraging. Designating space isn’t enough, it needs to hold significant function, over dictation of use.
ANJALI MANIAR | (MSc) URBAN DESIGN & CITY PLANNING [2021 - 22]
THE BARTLETT SCHOOL OF PLANNING
BPLN0056 | URBAN DESIGN: LAYOUT, DENSITY & TYPOLOGY
TASK 1
ANALYSIS OF URBAN FORM
References
Maps: islington.gov.uk/map digimap.edina.ac.uk google.co.uk/maps Bibliography: Burklin, T. and Peterek, M. 2008. Urban Building Blocks. Basel: Birkenhauser. Carmona, C. 2010. Contemporary Public Space: Critique and Classifcation, Part One: Critique. Journal of Urban Design, Vol. 15 Carmona, C., Tiesdell, S., Heath, T. and Oc, T. 2010. Public Places - Urban Spaces. Oxford: Architectural Press. Second Edition. Dovey, K. (2016). Urban Design Thiking: A conceptual toolkit. Bloomsbury Publishing: London. Images: (All images are my own) Aerial views via Google Earth pro
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ANJALI MANIAR | (MSc) URBAN DESIGN & CITY PLANNING [2021 - 22]