Cities & Subways

CITIES &SUB WAYS

International City & Subway Design an investigation into environmental design

Tatiana Fogt Adrian Lee Joyce Yoo Batool Akbar Meaghann Lahiff

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contents

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his booklet is an informative text that focuses on the topic of Environmental Design within city scapes. It delves into the design elements and concepts of street signage, layouts, and the revolution of public transportation. It examines the history of universal communication and its importance to the function of society. It also touches on the design genius behind the designer of the NYC Subway, Massimo Vignelli, and his revolutionary use of the Helvetica font, iconography, and simple color schemes for the most effective and aesthetically cohesive look for one of the largest cities in the world.

City Design

An Investigation into the Environmental Design of cities & Universal Communication

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New York Streets The Evolution of City Grids, Signage, & Landscaping

don’t break the grid.

Rule No.1

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he grid plan dates from antiquity and originated in multiple cultures; some of the earliest planned cities were built using grid plans.

By 2600 BC, Mohenjo-daro and Harappa, major cities of the Indus Valley Civilization (present-day Pakistan), were built with blocks divided by a grid of straight streets, running north-south and east-west. Each block was subdivided by small lanes.

2500 BC) at Giza, Egypt, housed a rotating labor force and was laid out in blocks of long galleries separated by streets in a formal grid.

Many pyramid-cult cities used a common orientation: a north-south axis from the royal palace and an east-west axis from the temple meeting at a central plaza where King and God merged and crossed.

Hammurabi (17th century BC) was a king of the Babylonian Empire who

“The grid launched a global system of organization” The cities and monasteries of Gandhara (e.g. Sirkap and Taxila), dating to 1st millennium BC to the 11th century AD, also had gridbased designs. Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan since 1959, was also founded on the grid-plan of the nearby ruined city of Sirkap.

A workers’ village (2570-

made Babylon one of the greatest cities in antiquity.

He rebuilt Babylon, building and restoring temples, city walls, public buildings, and building canals for irrigation.

The streets of Babylon were wide and straight, intersected approximately at right angles, and were paved with bricks and bitumen.

NYC

1811

The tradition of grid plans is continuous in China from the 15th century BC onward in the traditional urban planning of various ancient Chinese states. Guidelines put into written form in the Kaogongji during the Spring and Autumn Period (770-476 BC) stated: “a capital city should be square on plan.

Three gates on each side of the perimeter lead into the nine main streets that crisscross the city and define its grid-pattern. And for its layout the city should have the Royal Court situated in the south, the Marketplace in the north, the Imperial Ancestral Temple in the east and the Altar to the Gods of Land and Grain in the west.”

Teotihuacan, near modern-day Mexico City, is the largest ancient grid-plan site in the Americas. The city’s grid covered eight square miles.

plaNYC

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t’s safe to claim that the grids seen in ancient cities across the globe have greatly influenced the way major cities in this day and age are constructed. It’s created a systematic way in which inhabitants can easily locate and maneouver themselves around a particular place.

With such organization, the grid has allowed for mass public transportation to be easily accessable and extremely efficient. However, placement of transportation and areas for pedestrians to not be overwhelmed by

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the hustle and bustle of city life has proved a challenge for city officials. Meticulus planning has to go in to the layout and organization of a city beyond the use of a grid.

Signage, iconography, and street markings are all what contributes to a smooth, flowing energy to such a large place.

In recent years, New York City has launched a new program with the election of New York’s Mayor called PlaNYC. It’s a program run by the city of New York that focuses on just what makes the city an efficient environment. Lately New York’s largest improvement project has focused on the division between pedestrians and public transportation.

The creation of city bike and bus lanes has immensely lowered the amount of cyclist acciendents. It’s finally made biking in New York a possible form of transit for the economically friendly folk.

As New York Transit commisioner, Stacy McCall states, the city Mayor is all about the numbers and concrete evidence. “It’s allowed the city to become a safer evironment” because of the new direction.

Not only has the city become safer because of this segregation, but it’s also created a booming economy. Over the years because of the emphasis on pedestrians, business in smaller bouroughs and hot spots like Times Square have increased sales and effected the amount of business growth. In the last two years over 8 new Flagship stores for large have emerged.

As New York Transit commisioner, Stacy McCall states, the Mayor is all about the numbers and concrete evidence. “It’s allowed the city to become a safer evironment” because of the new direction.

Not only has the city become safer because of this segregation, but it’s also created a booming economy. Over the years because of the emphasis on pedestrians, business in smaller bouroughs and hot spots like Times Square have increased sales and effected the amount of business growth. In the last two years over 8 new Flagship stores for large brand names have emerged leaving store owners and customers happy campers.

63% of cyclist related injuries have decreased in the past 1.5 years

But more than strictly business and number, the people of New York City are happier. There’s a more calming atmosphere in the city that never sleeps, and the city runs with greater safety and efficiency.

All because of the designation of painted bike ways, the closing of large ave nues between 37th and 42nd street for pedestrian outdoor seating and walking, and taxi/ bus lanes, everyone has their place in the city.

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The Evolution Of Signage

TIMEL

LINE

400 BC

In the late Middle Ages, roads were named after the towns they led to. Signs posted at intersections marked the directions and the distance remaining to certain towns.

1648

At the height of the Roman Empire, the Caesars ordered the construction of 4,400-pound stone markers called milestones. These were numbered and placed at specific intervals along the 62,000 miles of Roman roads, which also featured rest stops and service stations for passing armies and travelers.

1817

In Europe, in particular, friendly cycling organizations and local authorities began posting signs to warn cyclists of dangerous turns and steep hills. Skull-and-crossbone signs ominously warned cyclists of steep hills in 19th-century England.

1960

The shape of a sign can help to convey its message. Shape can be brand- or design-based, or can be part of a set of signage conventions used to standardize sign meaning.

Usage of particular shapes may vary by country and culture.

2005

1955

A grade crossing predictor is an electronic device which is connected to the rails of a railroad track, and activates the crossing’s warning devices (lights, bells, gates, etc.) at a consistent interval prior to the arrival of a train at a grade crossing.

New generations of traffic signs based on electronic displays can also change their text (or, in some countries, symbols) to provide for “intelligent control� linked to automated traffic sensors or remote manual input.

1822

Because of elaborate store front signage, views of streets and scenic landscape began to become blocked. Soon it was made law in 1827 that signs were to lay flat against walls for street info and branding.

1868 Signs in medieval villages for store fronts began to become competitive when it came to design. Those with more elaborate signage were considered to have higher quality products

1827

The first pedestrian crossing signal was erected in Bridge Street, Westminster, London in December 1868.

It was the idea of John Peak Knight, a railway engineer, who thought that it would provide a means to safely allow pedestrians to cross this busy thoroughfare.

1920

Since 1945 most signs have been made from sheet aluminium with adhesive plastic coatings, these are normally retroreflective for nighttime and low-light visibility.

1945

1915

Detroit, the center of the automobile industry, is credited with installing the first proper stop sign that same year. According to Schank, it took the form of a 2-by-2-feet sheet of metal with black lettering on a white background.

The first four-way, three-color traffic light was created by police officer William Potts in Detroit, Michigan in 1920

Subway An Investigation into the mastermind behind the NYC Subway & it’s revolutionary transformation

Design

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The Master

How Helvetica & Vectors Transformed our World

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This is Massimo Vignelli.

Vignelli worked in a wide variety of areas, including interior design, environmental design, package design, graphic design, furniture design, and product design.

His clients at Vignelli Associates included high-profile companies such as IBM, Knoll, Bloomingdale’s and American Airlines.

Vignelli participated in the Stock Exchange of Visions

and Architecture.

In January 2009, Vignelli released The Vignelli Canon as a free e-book; an expanded version was printed in September 2010, but the original remains available for download on the Vignelli Associates website. In the introduction Vignelli wrote, “I thought that it might be useful to pass some of my professional

“If you can design one thing, you can design everything.” project in 2007, as well as publishing the book, Vignelli: From A to Z, containing a series of essays describing the principles and concepts behind “all good design”.It is alphabetically organized by topic, roughly approximating a similar course he taught at Harvard’s School of Design

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knowledge around, with the hope of improving young designers’ design skills. Creativity needs the support of knowledge to be able to per Vignelli worked with the National Park Service and the design staff at the Harpers Ferry Center in creation of the “Unigrid System.”

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A B IBM Smart Ideas for Smarter Cities John Breznicky: Minimalist City Transit Design Massimo Vignelli: The Standard Manual Quilt Grid: unknown

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Fritz

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Jackson Jamesville Jobs

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Ambers

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Klinceowitz

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Carmen

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Dwain Davidson

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Indra

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Mallon McKenna Maggio

N O

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Williams

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Pierce Packs

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Richardson Ralphs

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REFERENCES http://quadralectics.wordpress.com/4-representation/4-1-form/4-13-design-in-city-building/4-1-3-4-the-grid-model/4-1-3-4-3-the-roman-grid-towns/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commissioners’_Plan_of_1811 http://www.humantransit.org/2010/02/the-power-and-pleasure-ofgrids.html http://www.thegreatamericangrid.com/infographics http://globalmoxie.com/blog/nyc-grid-design.shtml http://www.quiltsbyvalerie.com/about-me/ http://www.typetoken.net/publication/helvetica-and-the-new-yorkcity-subway-system-paul-shaw/ http://travelsofadam.com/2013/08/london-underground-design/ http://www.nytimes.com/1998/11/03/arts/harry-weese-83-designerof-metro-system-in-washington.html http://www.aedas.com/Our-Belief-and-Mission http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_City_Subway

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