Week 5: Design of the City

Design of the City

We were presented with a perfect quote on how cities are interpreted and how they take form.

"The building of cities is one of man's greatest achievements. The form of his city always has been and always will be a pitiless indicator of the state of his civilization. This form is determined by the multiplicity of decisions made by the people who live in it." 

The formation of cities is purely determined by the inhabitants of the place. To design a utopia, you need to have the users who want to be living in utopia. The form is of the city and it's spaces, are dictated by how people occupy and use the space. So all in all, it is designed by the users, not be the designer. This is all so that the city provides for the users needs. 

Designing a city can also come with many other ways: utopian design, surburban design, designing with a planned grid, designing with respects to the view, designing with respects to power. 

Utopian designs do not correspond very well to the needs of the users. This is because utopian designs, design according to the most ideal arrangment of the buildings. The shaped each and everyone of the buildings to allow the most efficient way of building. It is critical to design according to the user, as they are the ones who are using the space, not the designer. 

image sourced from: www.mheu.org

Another interesting way of design is design with respects to power. The way a city would be designed would be according the the monarch of the area. The very core of the city would be where the ruler would be and everything would then be built outwards for the centre. This very idea intrigued me as it is designing for the user (the ruler), however it is also building with respects to the designer (which is also the ruler).

Week 4: Elements of the City

Elements of the city

To be able to differentiate the different elements of the city, provides us with an even greater understanding of specific types of cities and the relationship it has with the buildings within and its urban environment. There are a few elements that determine how it city is depicted:

• Streets
• Squares
• Parks
• Canals
• Urban Facilities
• Mobility Facilities
• Railways
• Urban Motorways
• Transport Facilities

Image sourced from: www.freeimageslive.co.uk

Streets aren't just streets, there are many different tpyes of streets and they all provide a different purpose for the city the dwell in. Streets are often shaped by the culture of the area and can change depending on the context of the environment. Streets are the foundation of the city, the pathing that intertwines the spaces within the city, the connecting lines to all different places.
Squares is a stand-still area that's main purpose is for congregation. As it is define as "public meeting space", it is appropriate to say that we have a sense of belonging when at one of these spaces.
Parks are similar to that of a square, however instead of a place of meeting, it is more of a recreational space.

                         Image sourced from: http://www.lapetitemortgallery.com
Canals are not very common in cities, however when they are present, the often act as a sort of street. It provides an alternative means instead of streets. It also gives the city a sort of symbol, the city would be more easily recognised with a canal, as they are uncommon. Venice is a prime example of canals.
Urban Facilities, these are just different types of buildings, often built around squares.
Mobility facilities is exactly as it sounds, any means of transportation throughout the city is in this category.

Week 3: Urban Analysis

Urban Analysis

To further our understanding of how Architecture correlates to City, the learning module produced tasks that would assists us in interpreting the urban environment through individual analysis.
The task was done using the city that was chosen for project 2, this will give us a better understanding of the city when producing our project.

Historical Analysis

The analysis helps you determine the starting point of the construction of the city. From there you can see how the city continues to expand and grow. 

Morpho-typological Analysis

This analysis helps up to determine the heights of the buildings in different area. From this we can differentiate the more central areas to the more suburban areas. 

Functional Analysis

The analysis shows the different categories of buildings, We can draw important information from this map as it tells us where everything is located and how it effects the urban context. 

Week 2: Walkshop

Walkshop

I began my walk following the guide that we were provided. Starting from QUT, we can already see very interesting structures like the one on William St, that had won an award for it's architectural design. 

This was the beginning of the walk and capture the buildings along with the clear skies. The weather can affect how you perceive a city. 

Following the road, i continued down onto Queen St Mall capturing this shot. This shot shows the city straight down to the bottom of queen street. You can see the different heights of the buildings change as you progressively make your way down. 

We come down to the commercial buildings, the buildings where people go to work. These buildings are usually high above our eye level and always tower over the shopping malls. 

We make our way down to the riverside where all the commercial buildings are angled towards the scene of the river. These buildings tower over the inner buildings, which also block the view of those buildings from getting a view of the river. The path that we followed, twists and turns until we meet the bridge. 

The howard smith wharf is where our destination ends. The walk provided an insight on the city. When i was walking, i took notice to look above eye level and looked at the towering buildings and the effect if has on the urban environment. 

Week 2: Image of the City

Image of the City

Image Sourced from: architectureandurbanism.blogspot.com

Kevin Lynch formed a theory that users envisioned the city in certain mental ways, and developed these theories and analysed them. There are 5 important elements that Lynch uses to analyse the urban environment of a city: Paths, Nodes, Edges, Landmark, Districts. By analysing these elements of the city, we can come to understand how users interact with their surroundings within a urban space. 

Paths are constructed linear spaces that allow the user to move through certain places by following this route.  These paths are frequently accessed by the users to move through to get from one point to another. Edges are a break between two different spaces, an element that creates a differential between one area from another when moving through a path. Nodes are a place of congregation, a spot were people will see and feel like they can stop here. A nodes purpose is to provide freedom from movement, a space for social purposes. A district is an area which is commonly recognised by a characteristic. A prime example of a district would be 'Queen St Mall', it is most commonly recognised as a large place for shopping and congregation. Landmarks are places that are recognised by a physical element such as statue, monument, etc. A landmark could also be meaningful to the user, the physical element doesn't have to be significant, but needs to hold some value to the user. 

For us to be able to understand the urban environment, we need to be able to differentiate between these different elements of the city and be able to create our own mental images of cities. 

Week 2: Perception of the City

How do we perceive a city?

Image sourced from: http://culsu.co.uk

Perception is a curious matter, and everyone in the world perceives things at a different level. As an architect being able to perceive spaces is very important, as Mirko had mentioned. Perception of spaces is really subjective to the user, a space that we find interesting, won't necessarily have the same effect on other users. Views are also affected by the culture and environment that we were born into.

I have traveled to different places and seen different types of cities and their architecture. Cities have they own way of utilising their spaces, and differences can be seen in the world. Places can be split into 'thick' and 'thin'. Places that are centralized, like large cities, a thin place would be a more rural area. The perception of these places also effect 'thick' and 'thin', if you have had a prior experience at the place, you would classify it as 'thick' and for 'thin', would be a place you would have never been before.

Week 1: Describe the City

Describing the City

The exercises we were required to do for the first module was to describe the city using several methods. These methods would help us depict the urban fabric of the city in different types of ways and highlight aspects that each of the previous methods wouldn't show. 

Form Urbis

This shows the outline of the city and highlights the ways to access the city. 

Conceptual Representation

It highlights the basic functionality of the city's CBD. (blue = river, red = residential, yellow = road, purple = commercial)

City Pattern

This technique further outlines the pattern of the roads which form the city.

Figureground Map

Shows the different building structures

Nolli Map

Further represents the building strucutres by providing some urban context and interior of buildings.

Street Section

shows the height/structural components of the buildings in contract to the typography and human scale

Urban Section

shows the city in contrast to it's environment