READINGS The readings are a intended to act as a conceptual foundation and stepping stone for the exploration of concept development. The readings focus on urban design, offering numerous concepts, strategies, and platforms upon which to build a design framework for the studio design project, “The Metabolism of Vernon and the Los Angles River� MAT Urbanism (Stan Allen) Defining the Urbanistic Project (Joan Busquets) Study Areas, Sites and the Geographic Approach to Public Action (Peter Marcuse) Where and How does Urban Design Happen (Alex Krieger) Biomorphic Intelligence (Lootsma)
01 03 05 07 09
MAT
01. MINIMAL FORMAL DISTINCTION
URBANISM: THE THICK 2D BY STAN ALLEN
Stan Allen seeks to further articulate and
assess Alison Smithson’s 1974 article “How to Recognize and Read MAT Building.” Allen offers various examples of the use of MAT Building princliples in contemporary design and planning. MAT Building is now being explored at the urban scale. With it’s emphasis on the diagrammatic and organizational, MAT Urbanism has a new releveance in contemporary planning. Rather than focusing on the deployment of a recognizable language and identity of form, the force of MAT Urbanism is not in its parts but in it’s collective whole.
Formal
Informal
02. MINIMAL SECTIONAL VARIATION
Little variation in sectional heights
03. WALLED CITY VS. OPEN CITY
Closed
Open
Vertical Emphasis
Horizontal Empahsis
04. MERGING OF NEW + OLD
The merging of new + old structures and uses
05. ABSENT OF HIERARCHY, CENTRALITY, AXIALITY, AND SYMMETRY
09. CELL (ARCHITECTURAL SCALE) TO CLUSTER (URBAN SCALE)
At the architectural scale MAT emphasizes the cellular form Hierarchal, Central, Axial
Non-Hierarchal, Central, Axial
06. CONNECTION DRIVEN VS. OBJECT ORIENTED
MAT is oriented to connect buildins and interstitial spaces rather than to the object of the architectural structure
At the urban scale MAT takes on a cstem and cluster-like form
10. ADDITIVE OR SUBTRACTIVE
07. AMBIGUITIES OF EDGES
MAT creates an ambiguity of where one structure/space ends and another begins
08. ANTI-FIGURAL, ANTI-REPRESENTATIONAL, AND ANTI-MONUMENTAL
MAT emphasizes the adaptability of the site and its spaces, allowing for
The antithesis of MAT Building
Buildings should be thought of from the beginning as fragments; as containing within themaselves athe capacity to act with other buildings: they should be themselves links in systems. Alison + Peter Smithson
MAT Building makes no emphasis on the figural or represntational
Defining the Urbanistic project by Joan Busquets
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Joan Busquets looks at ten contemporary approaches that are re-defining urban planning.
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3. Tactical Maneuvers: tactical decisions where funding or large scale development is improbable, small scale improvements begin to redefine the urban fabric, “there is always something to be improved”
4. Reconfigured Surfaces: Reconfigure/reprogram underutilized spaces, the aggregation of smaller scale RTQLGEVU VJCV EQPPGEV VQIGVJGT CPF UVTGPIVJGP VJG larger open spaces.
5. Piecemeal Aggregations: An intermediate scale, 16-24 city blocks, used to change the urban configuration of a city. This scale is used to determine city needs. It also provides services and communal spaces.
6. Traditional Views: A continuance of 19th and 20th century urban design approach but fulfilling the functional needs of today.
4GE[ENGF 6GTTKVQTKGU *WOCP UGVVNGOGPV KU PQV viewed as the primary element in an ecosystem, rather human settlement is one part of a larger ecological ecosystem.
8. Core Retrofitting: Retrofitting traditional and historic fabrics, these places are to function as the core of the city or urban design.
9. Analog Compositions: A large master plan is not the best method for development, look for small and KPVGTOGFKCVG UECNG RTQLGEVU CPF VJG EQPPGEVKQPU DGVYGGP these create an urban fabric.
10. Speculating Procedures: Innovation in the field of urban design is influenced by theory based disciplines such as philosophy, thermodynamics, hydraulics, computer‌ it is viewed as an experimental investigation.
6'%*01.1); 2*+.1512*; *;&4#7.+%5 COMPUTERS
study areas, sites, and the geographic approach to public action by Peter Marcuse
Peter Marcuse criticizes and investigates a new way to look at planning. Current Planning Strategy: 1. Site : a bounded piece of property 2. Study Area: a geographical unit of study such as a neighborhood, street, or zoning district. 3. Area of Concerns: concerns that arise from or influence the study area The approach is looking at the inside out; working at the issues and concerns that are directly related, physically or not, to the site. It limits the scope of work, neglecting possible issues that are not visible from this perspective Proposed Planning Strategy: 1. Area of Concern 2. Study Area 3. Site Peter Marcuse suggests working from the outside in. Larger issues such as pollution and poverty are starting points that contribute in defining a study area. Example: Pollution in a Neighborhood is the study area, source of pollution is determined as the site for action. The study area should also not be defined by geographic political borders because this leads to a wall. What happens outside this defined border? The issues are neglected and can result in assumptions that lead to unexpected consequences. Some areas of concern to consider when determining an area of study: • Physical: the adjacent areas surrounding the site. • Historical: look at the history of the site, begin to determine which is the most significant. What can the site be a monument, museum… • Planning: look at the current, past, future plans that influence the site. • Market: look at the jobs and the people that have and will work on the site, where do they commute from. The real estate value of the site, how far will this site influence that market. • Social: programs offered by the site, who will benefit from these programs? • Democratic: who has access to the planning process of the site. The planning should encourage the participation of all that are willing to participate. Ease of access to planning.
Outside In
Inside Out
Where and how does urban design happen ? by Alex Krieger Alex Krieger has described the ten spheres of urbanistic action that people calling themselves “ Urban Designers� have assumed to be their professional domain, though not all at once, nor even unanimity about the different sub-spheres overall.
Needless Land Consumption Settlement Pattern
S
Zoning Control Sprawl
Resource Allocation
Framework
Min. Environment Harm Architecture
Conser Open Sp
Planning
Smart Growth Bridge
Urban Design
Visiona Urbanis Infrastructure
Engineered Architecturalized
Theorist
Modern Lifestyle
Convenience
Overall Quality
Sustainability
Traditional Forms
Resource Distributiom
Urban Problem Solving
Green Space Future Oriented Human Intended
rve pace
Newer Approach
Local Issues
Placemaking
Shaping Forms
Community Advocacy Influence on future
Architecture of the city Restorative Urbanism
ary sm
ts
Rational Process
Public Policy
Landscape Urbanism
Conservation
Predecessors Evaluation
Permits
Infrastructure Ecology
Public Opinion Softscape / Landscape Shapes
Aesthetics Codes
Local Setting
BMP’s