This is a quick study of the size of the wards of savannah, on the site. The mass is simply the 28 wards stacked vertically.
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Mass
This is a quick study of the size of the wards of savannah, on the site. The mass is simply the 28 wards stacked vertically.
Sunday, April 27, 2008
Density
Density is an extremely important component of my thesis. It is the elemental quotient in the equation that could make a proposal like this be a success or a failure. It would be responsible to do a study of existing density reports to provide a comparison to what I propose.
Background on Density
Density has been a dirty word since the 1950’s when the face of density was low-income government built housing. With bleak buildings set on lifeless landscapes with nearly no connection to surrounding communities, and with no way for the residents to identify with the buildings they just became an incubator for crime, and frustration. The poor design, development and oversight of several high profile high density projects has created a common response of many local jurisdictions to limit density to a land and resource gobbling minimum.
Background on Density
Density has been a dirty word since the 1950’s when the face of density was low-income government built housing. With bleak buildings set on lifeless landscapes with nearly no connection to surrounding communities, and with no way for the residents to identify with the buildings they just became an incubator for crime, and frustration. The poor design, development and oversight of several high profile high density projects has created a common response of many local jurisdictions to limit density to a land and resource gobbling minimum.
Sunday, April 13, 2008
Frustrating Comparison: Boat Vs City
I’m a little frustrated trying to write a research paper on the cruise ship within the framework of my thesis. So, I am just going to write down some thoughts, and not edit, or censor… and maybe this will help get me out of this rut.
I've been trying to compare a cruise ship to the city. (in the framework of my thesis where the city is contained all within one building or campus). There are some obvious connections to be made. Cruise ships are generally self supporting. At least in the manner that for a week, all essential functions of housing, feeding, entertaining, keeping safe, the passengers of the boat along with the crew, takes place all in the same place. This is the obvious connection. Where this connection begins to fall apart… at least in the framework of my thesis, is that all the people on board can fall within two distinguishable and identifiable classes. You either pay to be on the boat, or you get paid to be on the boat. These two classes are very different and beyond one serving the other there is no intermingling. So while I am trying to compare how this is similar to a building as a city, it is difficult, because the boundaries of participation are much more blurry. The people who live in a city perform more than one activity, work, play, entertaining, etc. The people who are on these cruise ships either, play or work. So to compare the spaces in which these people use and how the spaces are connected, is a little weak within the framework of the comparison.
Another obvious similarity is the diverse range of spaces. When I look at the spaces by themselves, the comparison seems to work fairly well. In the city there is a diverse range of activities, and a diverse type of space to serve the activities, and within the types of spaces there is great diversity is quality and style, size and shape. Lets look at housing on the cruise ship for example. For the employees, there is a range of bare tiny rooms without windows that several people share, to the captain’s suite which is large and well appointed. The passengers have nearly the same range, from the interior cabin with no window, barely room for a bed or two and a toilet, to the grand suites, which can have several rooms, and feel and look more like a small apartment, some even with double height spaces. OK… but what is point. What can I really learn from this?
The same thing happens when I look at the program… dining, food prep, entertainment, theaters, bars, casinos, engine rooms, incinerators, power plants, housing, the spaces that connect all of these things. It is a big building… (coincidentally, when boats are commissioned to be built the are called “newbuildings”) so what. When I look at the way the decks are laid out, there are cabin decks and entertainment decks, and most of the ships have very large and tall atriums that span many decks. But in the framework of a building, the way these things are laid out is rather… normal. The dirty work happens at the bottom and the people who do that work live there too. The next level up you have dining and entertainment, retail shopping, etc. Then above that is where the cabins are… and on top of that is the roof, where a mixture of things happen… but still there is really nothing new here. Mechanical in the basement, Retail at the street level, living above, and some fun on the roof.
This is the actual text of the paper that I have been working on… but it is just junk.
An Urban Comparison
The length is one thousand, one hundred and thirty two feet, and height is two hundred and thirty six feet. The population is three thousand, eight hundred and seventy four. There are 14 bars, 10 restaurants, 2 pools, a theater, a spa, a casino, a sports facility, a medical facility, a power plant, a water treatment center, an incinerator, and much more. There is a little bit of everything here. One might this that is the description of a city, or a downtown area. This is a description of the size and amenities of the Queen Mary 2, an ocean liner.
The modern cruise ship is a marvel of engineering, naval architecture, and interior design and planning. The ships are designed to cater to the every need of it’s passengers who have booked trips for vacations, special occasions, and now with the advent of ships such as The World, and The Freedom Ship, a continuous life of luxury on the sea. The thought of a cruise ship often evokes images of pools, and grand dining and ball rooms, casinos and theaters, bars, and dance clubs. Often overlooked though are these ships also must meet the needs of the crew and staff that serve the ship and its passengers, making each ship a virtual microcosm of social, national, ethnic and economic diversity. It is no wonder why cruise ships have been called floating cities. The proposal of my thesis is in part to create an entire city in one place from scratch. There are understandably many differences between a city and a cruise ship, for the framework of my thesis I will attempt to look at the similarities.
Diversity of Program
The opening paragraph of this article lists several of the many spaces that are included on a boat. The most obvious similarity between a city and the cruise ship is the diversity of program, and spaces. From housing, to entertainment, from the captain’s bridge to the engine room there are hundreds of different program spaces to meet the requirements of the passengers and the crew.
Basically, I spent all weekend reading different books about cruise ships, most of which are really a history of boats, and businesses rather than anything interesting about the thought or intention behind the design of the boats, and haven’t really learned squat. ARGGHH…
So in conclusion… it is just neat that a cruise ship houses so many different people, so many different functions, creates a lot of its own power, recycles its own waste, and all this happens in one building. Dandy. Now how does it sit on my site. Ooohh… I can build a boat on the river. (that’s sarcasm) I’m gonna go home now and stop wrestling with this for a while.
I've been trying to compare a cruise ship to the city. (in the framework of my thesis where the city is contained all within one building or campus). There are some obvious connections to be made. Cruise ships are generally self supporting. At least in the manner that for a week, all essential functions of housing, feeding, entertaining, keeping safe, the passengers of the boat along with the crew, takes place all in the same place. This is the obvious connection. Where this connection begins to fall apart… at least in the framework of my thesis, is that all the people on board can fall within two distinguishable and identifiable classes. You either pay to be on the boat, or you get paid to be on the boat. These two classes are very different and beyond one serving the other there is no intermingling. So while I am trying to compare how this is similar to a building as a city, it is difficult, because the boundaries of participation are much more blurry. The people who live in a city perform more than one activity, work, play, entertaining, etc. The people who are on these cruise ships either, play or work. So to compare the spaces in which these people use and how the spaces are connected, is a little weak within the framework of the comparison.
Another obvious similarity is the diverse range of spaces. When I look at the spaces by themselves, the comparison seems to work fairly well. In the city there is a diverse range of activities, and a diverse type of space to serve the activities, and within the types of spaces there is great diversity is quality and style, size and shape. Lets look at housing on the cruise ship for example. For the employees, there is a range of bare tiny rooms without windows that several people share, to the captain’s suite which is large and well appointed. The passengers have nearly the same range, from the interior cabin with no window, barely room for a bed or two and a toilet, to the grand suites, which can have several rooms, and feel and look more like a small apartment, some even with double height spaces. OK… but what is point. What can I really learn from this?
The same thing happens when I look at the program… dining, food prep, entertainment, theaters, bars, casinos, engine rooms, incinerators, power plants, housing, the spaces that connect all of these things. It is a big building… (coincidentally, when boats are commissioned to be built the are called “newbuildings”) so what. When I look at the way the decks are laid out, there are cabin decks and entertainment decks, and most of the ships have very large and tall atriums that span many decks. But in the framework of a building, the way these things are laid out is rather… normal. The dirty work happens at the bottom and the people who do that work live there too. The next level up you have dining and entertainment, retail shopping, etc. Then above that is where the cabins are… and on top of that is the roof, where a mixture of things happen… but still there is really nothing new here. Mechanical in the basement, Retail at the street level, living above, and some fun on the roof.
This is the actual text of the paper that I have been working on… but it is just junk.
An Urban Comparison
The length is one thousand, one hundred and thirty two feet, and height is two hundred and thirty six feet. The population is three thousand, eight hundred and seventy four. There are 14 bars, 10 restaurants, 2 pools, a theater, a spa, a casino, a sports facility, a medical facility, a power plant, a water treatment center, an incinerator, and much more. There is a little bit of everything here. One might this that is the description of a city, or a downtown area. This is a description of the size and amenities of the Queen Mary 2, an ocean liner.
The modern cruise ship is a marvel of engineering, naval architecture, and interior design and planning. The ships are designed to cater to the every need of it’s passengers who have booked trips for vacations, special occasions, and now with the advent of ships such as The World, and The Freedom Ship, a continuous life of luxury on the sea. The thought of a cruise ship often evokes images of pools, and grand dining and ball rooms, casinos and theaters, bars, and dance clubs. Often overlooked though are these ships also must meet the needs of the crew and staff that serve the ship and its passengers, making each ship a virtual microcosm of social, national, ethnic and economic diversity. It is no wonder why cruise ships have been called floating cities. The proposal of my thesis is in part to create an entire city in one place from scratch. There are understandably many differences between a city and a cruise ship, for the framework of my thesis I will attempt to look at the similarities.
Diversity of Program
The opening paragraph of this article lists several of the many spaces that are included on a boat. The most obvious similarity between a city and the cruise ship is the diversity of program, and spaces. From housing, to entertainment, from the captain’s bridge to the engine room there are hundreds of different program spaces to meet the requirements of the passengers and the crew.
Basically, I spent all weekend reading different books about cruise ships, most of which are really a history of boats, and businesses rather than anything interesting about the thought or intention behind the design of the boats, and haven’t really learned squat. ARGGHH…
So in conclusion… it is just neat that a cruise ship houses so many different people, so many different functions, creates a lot of its own power, recycles its own waste, and all this happens in one building. Dandy. Now how does it sit on my site. Ooohh… I can build a boat on the river. (that’s sarcasm) I’m gonna go home now and stop wrestling with this for a while.
Saturday, April 12, 2008
The Arcology Precedent
This is an excerpt from the book “The Urban Ideal, Conversations with Paolo Soleri” as edited by John Strohmeier and published by Berkeley Hills Books and reprinted in 2001.
This particular excerpt is from a recorded conversation between former California Governor Jerry Brown at his hime in Oakland, California. It was recorded in 1995.
JB: Let's focus now on the city of the future. Having talked about all this, I get a sense of the criteria for the new city. It certainly doesn't look like Oakland or Manhattan or Los Angeles.
Soleri: Perhaps it is not too different from the old examples of successful cities. There have been periods in European history, for instance, when cities were successful. They gave us the Renaissance and then developments from the Renaissance up to the present day. The fact that we are gregarious, we are political, we need each other, indicates that eventually, the city is going to be, as it has been in the past, the container of community.
Now, Phoenix, Arizona is a structure of about six hundred square miles. So it's gigantic, and like so many cities, it doesn't work very well. It's sluggish by necessity, because it's gigantic. It depends on logistical systems which are colossal, in fact futile. So just in physical terms, in
terms of gravity and thermodynamics, Phoenix negates what Phoenix would like to be, which is lively, intense, joyful and so on. What we need is to take Phoenix, and in a way, fold it over upon itself, make it three-dimensional, so that we miniaturize its landscape, and by doing that we eliminate all the problems of the gigantic. This is pure physics; this has nothing to do with metaphysics. This is the fact that time and space are very precious and we should use them in the best way we can.
JB: Okay, now as you fold Phoenix into a three-dimensional city, what's it going to look like?
Soleri: Well, perhaps we would subdivide Phoenix into, let's say, ten sections, and then begin to build properties that are no longer one or two floors, but that are many, many floors, maybe up to fifty, maybe more. This is very efficient, it's where frugality comes in, producing less pollution and less waste. Depending upon the population, each section might be a quarter of a mile square, that depends on the number of people and the technology you want to put in.
JB: Would everything people do be done within that building?
Soleri: I would tend to say, yes, if you want to achieve a great efficiency...
This is a good starting point to describe what I want to do with the building form of my thesis. The more I read, and the more I discover about how ineffecient the way we live is, the more I realize that some kind of solution must be presented. Yet, the solution can't be such a change of lifestyle. That will be the challenge. Le Corbusier, and Soleri discuss the wasteful nature of the suburban home. Soleri specifically about the every increasing size of these homes. It is completely unnecessary in most cases for a couple with no children, or children that have grown, to build a new 6,000 sf home. But the nature of this is that it is a sign of stature. Maybe in this new building, the signs of stature can be different. Considering that a home in this building can't be observed from a distance to measure it's size, a person can claim stature, instead of by size, but by quality, or style, or experience. Some of these things are incorperated in societies image of stature already, so it isn't that big of a jump.
So in conclusion of this particular post, it's the environment stupid.
Like the COMfester's say
NO PLANET, NO PARTY
This particular excerpt is from a recorded conversation between former California Governor Jerry Brown at his hime in Oakland, California. It was recorded in 1995.
JB: Let's focus now on the city of the future. Having talked about all this, I get a sense of the criteria for the new city. It certainly doesn't look like Oakland or Manhattan or Los Angeles.
Soleri: Perhaps it is not too different from the old examples of successful cities. There have been periods in European history, for instance, when cities were successful. They gave us the Renaissance and then developments from the Renaissance up to the present day. The fact that we are gregarious, we are political, we need each other, indicates that eventually, the city is going to be, as it has been in the past, the container of community.
Now, Phoenix, Arizona is a structure of about six hundred square miles. So it's gigantic, and like so many cities, it doesn't work very well. It's sluggish by necessity, because it's gigantic. It depends on logistical systems which are colossal, in fact futile. So just in physical terms, in
terms of gravity and thermodynamics, Phoenix negates what Phoenix would like to be, which is lively, intense, joyful and so on. What we need is to take Phoenix, and in a way, fold it over upon itself, make it three-dimensional, so that we miniaturize its landscape, and by doing that we eliminate all the problems of the gigantic. This is pure physics; this has nothing to do with metaphysics. This is the fact that time and space are very precious and we should use them in the best way we can.
JB: Okay, now as you fold Phoenix into a three-dimensional city, what's it going to look like?
Soleri: Well, perhaps we would subdivide Phoenix into, let's say, ten sections, and then begin to build properties that are no longer one or two floors, but that are many, many floors, maybe up to fifty, maybe more. This is very efficient, it's where frugality comes in, producing less pollution and less waste. Depending upon the population, each section might be a quarter of a mile square, that depends on the number of people and the technology you want to put in.
JB: Would everything people do be done within that building?
Soleri: I would tend to say, yes, if you want to achieve a great efficiency...
This is a good starting point to describe what I want to do with the building form of my thesis. The more I read, and the more I discover about how ineffecient the way we live is, the more I realize that some kind of solution must be presented. Yet, the solution can't be such a change of lifestyle. That will be the challenge. Le Corbusier, and Soleri discuss the wasteful nature of the suburban home. Soleri specifically about the every increasing size of these homes. It is completely unnecessary in most cases for a couple with no children, or children that have grown, to build a new 6,000 sf home. But the nature of this is that it is a sign of stature. Maybe in this new building, the signs of stature can be different. Considering that a home in this building can't be observed from a distance to measure it's size, a person can claim stature, instead of by size, but by quality, or style, or experience. Some of these things are incorperated in societies image of stature already, so it isn't that big of a jump.
So in conclusion of this particular post, it's the environment stupid.
Like the COMfester's say
NO PLANET, NO PARTY
Preliminary Site Analysis
Figure Ground
The site is currently a deteriorating and under used civic auditorium and convention space. It is positioned on the Scioto River directly across from the urban core of Columbus Ohio. The adjacent neighborhood, Franklinton, has been neglected for many years due to the fact that it sat within the 100 year floor plain. The Army Core of engineers completed a flood wall in 2002 to eliminate this problem, but the area is still yet to see any measurable growth or revitalization. The site has a direct connection with rail lines that go in several direction from the site. There is an existing bike path that passes through the site. The southern border of the site is Broad Street which is the old national road and has many bus lines traveling on it.
Transpotation Overlay
One of the stengths of this site is it's relationship to existing modes of transportation. As you can see in this overlay, there is existing train lines, an existing bike path, and the southern border of the site is Broad Street which is US Route 40. There is a proposal from the mayor to add an electric street car to the major north/south corridor, I would propose to connect to that proposal with another line, on the major east/west corridor.
The site is currently a deteriorating and under used civic auditorium and convention space. It is positioned on the Scioto River directly across from the urban core of Columbus Ohio. The adjacent neighborhood, Franklinton, has been neglected for many years due to the fact that it sat within the 100 year floor plain. The Army Core of engineers completed a flood wall in 2002 to eliminate this problem, but the area is still yet to see any measurable growth or revitalization. The site has a direct connection with rail lines that go in several direction from the site. There is an existing bike path that passes through the site. The southern border of the site is Broad Street which is the old national road and has many bus lines traveling on it.
Transpotation Overlay
One of the stengths of this site is it's relationship to existing modes of transportation. As you can see in this overlay, there is existing train lines, an existing bike path, and the southern border of the site is Broad Street which is US Route 40. There is a proposal from the mayor to add an electric street car to the major north/south corridor, I would propose to connect to that proposal with another line, on the major east/west corridor.
Saturday, April 5, 2008
Precedent Analysis - Unite d’Habitation. – A Vertical Garden City
Unite d’Habitation. – A Vertical Garden City
The ebb and flow, the expansion and contraction of societies, civics, and economies informs the way that the human lives. In times of great prosperity societies expand geographically as seen in the rise of all the great societies. In times of hardship and depression these same societies contract for many reasons, economy, efficiency or society. It is my opinion that due to a growing problems in the American economy, especially related to the housing industry, combined with an explosive cost of living, and the interest in global climate change, and sustainable living, the way that Americans live and are housed is teetering on the verge of dramatic change.
Just as there was dramatic changes during the Great Depression, and post-war Europe in the way people lived. In terms of my thesis I am researching ways of solving this housing problem. To further frame the idea of housing: housing will not only refer to the places that individuals and families 
reside, but of the all the spaces in which these same individuals and even broader societies reside in the functions of daily life.
There are documented times of civic hardship, and how this changes the way people live. During the Great Depression, “all across the country farms were being foreclosed in rural districts. People who lost homes naturally gravitated towards the city”5, and in response to the influx of people came the Hooverville phenomenon.
Another time period of hardship is postwar Europe in the mid 1940’s.
At this time there was a great need for large scale public housing, and in the words of the architect Le Corbusier there was a great need to ‘deliver a radical solution to the problem of collective housing in both architectural and urban terms’1. Out of Le Corbusier’s desire to examine this problem sprang his idea of ‘une nouvelle Unite d’Habitation’ translated ‘a new housing unit’. Corbusier spend many years developing this concept, but it came to a culmination in the development of Unite d’ Habitation, Marseilles. This paper will further examine this concept in the framework of providing a foundation in precedent for my thesis on vertical cities.
Unite d’Habitation Marseilles
A new urban object
The Unite d’Habitation Marseilles, designed by French architect Le Corbusier is a 19 level, reinforced concrete building. There are 337 apartments designed to house up to 1600 people. The living quarters begin on the second floor set on huge concrete piers, where the first floor is mostly an open sheltered plaza, except for the entrance to the building. Most of the 337 apartments are double height units that wrap vertically around horizontal ‘streets’ that only occur on levels 2, 5, 10, 13, and 16. (See the building section, the ‘streets’ are shown in blue, and the dwelling units are shown in alternating colors to show how the double height spaces wrap around the street.) The design planned for a 24 unit hotel with restaurant and bar (shown in the section in purple) and a variety of shops including a laundry, 
bakery, butcher, salon, pharmacy, and real estate and commercial offices on the seventh and eighth floors accessible from a double height gallery on the west side of the building. “The flat roof is designed as a communal terrace with sculptural ventilation stacks, a swimming pool with children’s play area, a gymnasium, nursery school, solarium, open air theater and running track.”4
The planning of Unite d’Habitation Marseilles, according to Le Corbusier is rooted in the ideals of his concept of the garden city which he describes in his book The City of Tomorrow and It’s Planning. Le Corbusier describes the status quo of the typical suburban garden city, and then proposes a solution so wonderfully it should be included here verbatim.
CONCERNING GARDEN CITIES
… we saw that there were two kinds of population ; the citizens, with many good reasons for inhabiting the city proper, and the " suburbanites," those who could only live to advantage outside the city. These suburbanites, according to their social condition, live in villas, or in dwellings in working-class quarters, or in small working-class houses which they rent.
If we formulate our problem, we shall have :
(a) The present-day solution, which exists all over the world and is looked on as ideal; it consists of a plot of roughly 400 square yards with a little house in the middle. Patt of the plot is a flower garden, and there are a few fruit trees and a tiny vegetable garden. It is complicated and difficult to keep up, and involves endless pains (call it the romantic simple life if you like) for the householder and his wife to keep things tidy, to weed it, water it, kill the slugs and the rest ; long after twilight the watering-can is still on the go. Some people may call all this a form of healthy exercise. On the contrary, it is a stupid ineffective and sometimes dangerous thing. The children cannot play there, for they have no room to run about in, nor can the parents indulge in games or sports there. And the result of all this is a few pears and apples, a few carrots, a little parsley and so on. The whole thing is ridiculous.
(b) The suggested solution: the dwelling occupies an area of 50 square yards and is built in two storeys, which gives 100 square yards of habitable floor space. The flower garden would take up 50 square yards. For sports I would allow 150 square yards, and for the kitchen garden another 150 square yards ; so we have our 400 square yards in full use.
The houses and their " hanging " flower gardens are juxtaposed in immense blocks " with set-backs " in three super- imposed double storeys. The sun gets in everywhere, as does the air. The garden is paved with red tiles, its walls are hung with ivy and clematis; laurels and other shrubs cluster thickly in large cement pots ; the place is gay with flowers ; this is a real urban garden easy to keep up. There is a table sheltered from the rain where the household can eat ; one can converse or rest in the open.
At the foot of the building the 150 square yards allotted for games have been added to those of the neighbours. Football, tennis, running tracks, basket ball, etc., are all available. You come home, you change, you can take your exercise just outside your own home.
Close at hand are the 150 square yards of kitchen garden joined up with the similar plots belonging to the neighbours. So we get allotments of 400 yards by 100 yards, i.e. nearly 10 acres. The watering-can is not needed, for water is laid on; the allotments are automatically watered and can be equally well ploughed with tractors and manured systematically. 2
For the Unite, Le Corbusier extended this concept into what he described as the vertical garden city, which was a synthesis of the garden city, and the model of the city proper. ‘From the ‘horizontal’ garden city, …the concept of the individual dwelling unit and the relationship between architecture and nature; from the city proper he distilled the notions of complexity of density…’ 1
To further describe the concept of Unite d’Habitation
‘The aims of the Unite d’Habitation, declared by Le Corbusier were two fold, “The first: to provide with peace and solitude before the sun, space and greenery, a dwelling which will be the perfect receptacle for the family. The second: to set up in God’s good nature beneath the sky and the sun, a magisterial work of architecture, the product of rigor, grandeur, nobility, happiness and elegance.’1
No city or community is complete without the functions and services that accompany housing. Corbusier’s concenpt of “The extended dwelling”1 is evident in the design of the Unite. “Implicit with Le Cobusier’s notion of the Unite as a vertical garden city is the ideal that the community should be self-supportive… the collective mechanical services and social amenities, such as the nursery school, day care
center, gymnasium and shops that contribute to, and compliment daily life in the individual unit” should all be included.1 The project from its commission in 1945 to the time that construction had begun in 1947 the project had been through 4 different sites, and many different iterations for each site. The final proposal for the second site of the project; ‘Unite d’Habitation de grandeur conform’ literally a building of ‘appropriate size’, was complimented at ground level the functions of the extended dwelling. By the fourth and final site, these amenities had been integrated into the main structure of the building itself rather than at grade. The logic in this could be a result that in earlier proposals versus the final design was the number a buildings and the size of the development. Earlier proposals included 3 or more buildings on the same campus and where the function of the extended dwelling on the ground floor would’ve been more easily accessible to the residents of the other buildings. The thought behind multiple buildings is inherent in Corbusier’s Garden City, while the density of these proposals was much greater.
Closing Thoughts, Observations and Connections –
The Unite is often regarded as an architectural masterpiece. The first example of brutalism, and one of the most graceful, truly achieved a great majority of what Corbusier set out to accomplish. The building is successful in providing dwelling units on a scale that was necessary for the time that it was built. The ‘complex density’ allowed for the generous surrounding area of park land that was a quality
of the Garden City. The arrangement of the dwelling units in the “bottle and wine bin”1 fashion is “In an ingenious use of space, two-story apartments interlock, so that an entrance corridor and elevator stop are required only at every third level.”7 The layout of the dwelling units is valid and logical “and typically combine bright, double-height sitting rooms on one level, with long, narrow bedrooms on the other”7, and provides a flexible usable space for a family, or a single person. The grand building mass reached for elegance and nobility and was true. All of these things are what make this valued architecture in the eyes of all people around the world. In the framework of knowledge though, one should also examine not only the successes but the failures of a building.
As often happens in the field of architecture, and the development of projects, the constraints of site, budget, ‘actual’ user, available material, etc. the ideal that
was so carefully considered, hypothesized, tested, and matured gets very quickly watered down. The architect strives though to keep the fundamental components that make a project successful, yet often times fail. From the ideals of the garden city, missing from the Unite, is the garden in the unit.
“The sun gets in everywhere, as does the air. The garden is paved with red tiles, its walls are hung with ivy and clematis; laurels and other shrubs cluster thickly in large cement pots ; the place is gay with flowers ; this is a real urban garden easy to keep up. There is a table sheltered from the rain where the household can eat ; one can converse or rest in the open.”2
As you can see in the image of the terrace, about all that is left is the red tiles, and barely enough room to ‘rest in the open’. In the framework of my thesis and its foundation in the squares of Savannah, keeping the garden is an extremely important part of the equation.
Additionally, Corbusier’s ‘streets’ of the project, are the hallways, and as hallways they are nothing more. They are described by visitors as gloomy, and dark,
and even scary at times. ‘The internal streets here are oppressive, windowless corridors’6 They are wide, but have none of the elements that could ever be described as a street. The importance of bringing natural light into the corridors of a building are evident in the weakness of the corridors of this project.
In preliminary proposals that included more additional buildings, the public space was located at the ground level. Shops, clubs, restaurants, pools, community space could all be accessed without entering the building. I think it is unfortunate that in the final design these spaces became integrated into the building in a fashion that was less than accessible to the public at large. It is difficult to find data on the success of the ‘shopping street’ on the seventh and eighth floors of Unite. The lack of recent descriptions, and a tourists description of, “(on) the third and fourth levels, an airy Japanese-inspired gallery is a sudden surprise”10 ,would lead me to believe that the shops, besides a small grocery, are no longer there. This may be due to the lack of access. It may however have been a different story if they were located at ground level as was originally proposed. Additionally, the rooftop
terrace with its communal spaces seems much more like a barren concrete rooftop than anything else. Corbusier’s idea of “reclaiming the lost land beneath the building for recreation”7 may have been lost in translation, and as described in his accounts of the garden city, recreation belongs “At the foot of the building the 150 square yards allotted for games have been added to those of the neighbours” 1.
There are many great things to be learned from examining the Unite d’Habitation as a work of architecture in and of itself. More importantly though are, Le Corbusier’s theories behind the design and development of the building. The vertical garden city, the extended dwelling are all important and relevant theories still today. Though, as is evident, and even to a greater extent in some of the later Unites in Berlin, and what became a model for social housing in the U.S., what in the end finally gets built is not always the unadulterated fruit of the intent of the architect or his theories.
References:
1. Jenkins, David. Unite D'Habitation - Le Corbusier. London: Phaidon P Limited, 1993.
2. Le Corbusier. The City of Tomorrow and Its Planning. Mineola, NY: Dover Publications, 1987. Originally Published by Payson & Clark Ltd NY 1929
3. Le Corbusier, as edited by Stanislaus Von Moos. Le Corbusier Before Le Corbusier. New Haven: Yale UP, 2002.
4. Wikipedia contributors, "Unité d'Habitation," Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Unit%C3%A9_d%27Habitation&oldid=198023947 (accessed April 5, 2008).
5. Library of Congress and American Memory – 09/26/2002 http://memory.loc.gov/learn/features/timeline/depwwii/depress/hoovers.html (accessed April 5, 2008)
6. Berman, Jay - 1999 for Galinsky.com “Unité d'habitation Flatowallee 16 Berlin-Westend, Germany” http://www.galinsky.com/buildings/unitedhabitation/index.htm (accessed April 5, 2008)
7. Glinn, Simon – 2001 for Galinsky.com, “Unité d'habitation (Cité Radieuse) 280 boulevard Michelet 13008 Marseille, France” http://www.galinsky.com/buildings/marseille/index.htm (accessed April 5, 2008)
8. Divizia, Caudio – 2006 for Galinsky.com, “Espace Le Corbusier Rue de Saint-Just-Malmont 42700 Firminy, France” http://www.galinsky.com/buildings/firminy/index.htm (accessed April 5, 2008)
9. Wikipedia contributors, "Athens Charter," Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Athens_Charter&oldid=188990011 (accessed April 5, 2008).
10. Arfin, Ferne “More About Marseille's Hotel Le Corbusier” March 24 2007 http://gofrance.about.com/od/provence/a/Lecorbusier_2.htm (accessed April 5, 2008)
Images: All are from; “Unite D'Habitation - Le Corbusier”. With the exception of the photos of the Hoovervilles which come from “Library of Congress and American Memory” and the photo of the corridor which is from “Unité d'habitation Flatowallee 16 Berlin-Westend, Germany”
The ebb and flow, the expansion and contraction of societies, civics, and economies informs the way that the human lives. In times of great prosperity societies expand geographically as seen in the rise of all the great societies. In times of hardship and depression these same societies contract for many reasons, economy, efficiency or society. It is my opinion that due to a growing problems in the American economy, especially related to the housing industry, combined with an explosive cost of living, and the interest in global climate change, and sustainable living, the way that Americans live and are housed is teetering on the verge of dramatic change.
Just as there was dramatic changes during the Great Depression, and post-war Europe in the way people lived. In terms of my thesis I am researching ways of solving this housing problem. To further frame the idea of housing: housing will not only refer to the places that individuals and families 
reside, but of the all the spaces in which these same individuals and even broader societies reside in the functions of daily life. There are documented times of civic hardship, and how this changes the way people live. During the Great Depression, “all across the country farms were being foreclosed in rural districts. People who lost homes naturally gravitated towards the city”5, and in response to the influx of people came the Hooverville phenomenon.
Another time period of hardship is postwar Europe in the mid 1940’s.
At this time there was a great need for large scale public housing, and in the words of the architect Le Corbusier there was a great need to ‘deliver a radical solution to the problem of collective housing in both architectural and urban terms’1. Out of Le Corbusier’s desire to examine this problem sprang his idea of ‘une nouvelle Unite d’Habitation’ translated ‘a new housing unit’. Corbusier spend many years developing this concept, but it came to a culmination in the development of Unite d’ Habitation, Marseilles. This paper will further examine this concept in the framework of providing a foundation in precedent for my thesis on vertical cities.Unite d’Habitation Marseilles
A new urban object
The Unite d’Habitation Marseilles, designed by French architect Le Corbusier is a 19 level, reinforced concrete building. There are 337 apartments designed to house up to 1600 people. The living quarters begin on the second floor set on huge concrete piers, where the first floor is mostly an open sheltered plaza, except for the entrance to the building. Most of the 337 apartments are double height units that wrap vertically around horizontal ‘streets’ that only occur on levels 2, 5, 10, 13, and 16. (See the building section, the ‘streets’ are shown in blue, and the dwelling units are shown in alternating colors to show how the double height spaces wrap around the street.) The design planned for a 24 unit hotel with restaurant and bar (shown in the section in purple) and a variety of shops including a laundry, 
bakery, butcher, salon, pharmacy, and real estate and commercial offices on the seventh and eighth floors accessible from a double height gallery on the west side of the building. “The flat roof is designed as a communal terrace with sculptural ventilation stacks, a swimming pool with children’s play area, a gymnasium, nursery school, solarium, open air theater and running track.”4
The planning of Unite d’Habitation Marseilles, according to Le Corbusier is rooted in the ideals of his concept of the garden city which he describes in his book The City of Tomorrow and It’s Planning. Le Corbusier describes the status quo of the typical suburban garden city, and then proposes a solution so wonderfully it should be included here verbatim.
CONCERNING GARDEN CITIES
… we saw that there were two kinds of population ; the citizens, with many good reasons for inhabiting the city proper, and the " suburbanites," those who could only live to advantage outside the city. These suburbanites, according to their social condition, live in villas, or in dwellings in working-class quarters, or in small working-class houses which they rent.
If we formulate our problem, we shall have :
(a) The present-day solution, which exists all over the world and is looked on as ideal; it consists of a plot of roughly 400 square yards with a little house in the middle. Patt of the plot is a flower garden, and there are a few fruit trees and a tiny vegetable garden. It is complicated and difficult to keep up, and involves endless pains (call it the romantic simple life if you like) for the householder and his wife to keep things tidy, to weed it, water it, kill the slugs and the rest ; long after twilight the watering-can is still on the go. Some people may call all this a form of healthy exercise. On the contrary, it is a stupid ineffective and sometimes dangerous thing. The children cannot play there, for they have no room to run about in, nor can the parents indulge in games or sports there. And the result of all this is a few pears and apples, a few carrots, a little parsley and so on. The whole thing is ridiculous.
(b) The suggested solution: the dwelling occupies an area of 50 square yards and is built in two storeys, which gives 100 square yards of habitable floor space. The flower garden would take up 50 square yards. For sports I would allow 150 square yards, and for the kitchen garden another 150 square yards ; so we have our 400 square yards in full use.The houses and their " hanging " flower gardens are juxtaposed in immense blocks " with set-backs " in three super- imposed double storeys. The sun gets in everywhere, as does the air. The garden is paved with red tiles, its walls are hung with ivy and clematis; laurels and other shrubs cluster thickly in large cement pots ; the place is gay with flowers ; this is a real urban garden easy to keep up. There is a table sheltered from the rain where the household can eat ; one can converse or rest in the open.
At the foot of the building the 150 square yards allotted for games have been added to those of the neighbours. Football, tennis, running tracks, basket ball, etc., are all available. You come home, you change, you can take your exercise just outside your own home.
Close at hand are the 150 square yards of kitchen garden joined up with the similar plots belonging to the neighbours. So we get allotments of 400 yards by 100 yards, i.e. nearly 10 acres. The watering-can is not needed, for water is laid on; the allotments are automatically watered and can be equally well ploughed with tractors and manured systematically. 2
For the Unite, Le Corbusier extended this concept into what he described as the vertical garden city, which was a synthesis of the garden city, and the model of the city proper. ‘From the ‘horizontal’ garden city, …the concept of the individual dwelling unit and the relationship between architecture and nature; from the city proper he distilled the notions of complexity of density…’ 1
To further describe the concept of Unite d’Habitation
‘The aims of the Unite d’Habitation, declared by Le Corbusier were two fold, “The first: to provide with peace and solitude before the sun, space and greenery, a dwelling which will be the perfect receptacle for the family. The second: to set up in God’s good nature beneath the sky and the sun, a magisterial work of architecture, the product of rigor, grandeur, nobility, happiness and elegance.’1
No city or community is complete without the functions and services that accompany housing. Corbusier’s concenpt of “The extended dwelling”1 is evident in the design of the Unite. “Implicit with Le Cobusier’s notion of the Unite as a vertical garden city is the ideal that the community should be self-supportive… the collective mechanical services and social amenities, such as the nursery school, day care
center, gymnasium and shops that contribute to, and compliment daily life in the individual unit” should all be included.1 The project from its commission in 1945 to the time that construction had begun in 1947 the project had been through 4 different sites, and many different iterations for each site. The final proposal for the second site of the project; ‘Unite d’Habitation de grandeur conform’ literally a building of ‘appropriate size’, was complimented at ground level the functions of the extended dwelling. By the fourth and final site, these amenities had been integrated into the main structure of the building itself rather than at grade. The logic in this could be a result that in earlier proposals versus the final design was the number a buildings and the size of the development. Earlier proposals included 3 or more buildings on the same campus and where the function of the extended dwelling on the ground floor would’ve been more easily accessible to the residents of the other buildings. The thought behind multiple buildings is inherent in Corbusier’s Garden City, while the density of these proposals was much greater.Closing Thoughts, Observations and Connections –
The Unite is often regarded as an architectural masterpiece. The first example of brutalism, and one of the most graceful, truly achieved a great majority of what Corbusier set out to accomplish. The building is successful in providing dwelling units on a scale that was necessary for the time that it was built. The ‘complex density’ allowed for the generous surrounding area of park land that was a quality
of the Garden City. The arrangement of the dwelling units in the “bottle and wine bin”1 fashion is “In an ingenious use of space, two-story apartments interlock, so that an entrance corridor and elevator stop are required only at every third level.”7 The layout of the dwelling units is valid and logical “and typically combine bright, double-height sitting rooms on one level, with long, narrow bedrooms on the other”7, and provides a flexible usable space for a family, or a single person. The grand building mass reached for elegance and nobility and was true. All of these things are what make this valued architecture in the eyes of all people around the world. In the framework of knowledge though, one should also examine not only the successes but the failures of a building.As often happens in the field of architecture, and the development of projects, the constraints of site, budget, ‘actual’ user, available material, etc. the ideal that
was so carefully considered, hypothesized, tested, and matured gets very quickly watered down. The architect strives though to keep the fundamental components that make a project successful, yet often times fail. From the ideals of the garden city, missing from the Unite, is the garden in the unit. “The sun gets in everywhere, as does the air. The garden is paved with red tiles, its walls are hung with ivy and clematis; laurels and other shrubs cluster thickly in large cement pots ; the place is gay with flowers ; this is a real urban garden easy to keep up. There is a table sheltered from the rain where the household can eat ; one can converse or rest in the open.”2
As you can see in the image of the terrace, about all that is left is the red tiles, and barely enough room to ‘rest in the open’. In the framework of my thesis and its foundation in the squares of Savannah, keeping the garden is an extremely important part of the equation.
Additionally, Corbusier’s ‘streets’ of the project, are the hallways, and as hallways they are nothing more. They are described by visitors as gloomy, and dark,
and even scary at times. ‘The internal streets here are oppressive, windowless corridors’6 They are wide, but have none of the elements that could ever be described as a street. The importance of bringing natural light into the corridors of a building are evident in the weakness of the corridors of this project.In preliminary proposals that included more additional buildings, the public space was located at the ground level. Shops, clubs, restaurants, pools, community space could all be accessed without entering the building. I think it is unfortunate that in the final design these spaces became integrated into the building in a fashion that was less than accessible to the public at large. It is difficult to find data on the success of the ‘shopping street’ on the seventh and eighth floors of Unite. The lack of recent descriptions, and a tourists description of, “(on) the third and fourth levels, an airy Japanese-inspired gallery is a sudden surprise”10 ,would lead me to believe that the shops, besides a small grocery, are no longer there. This may be due to the lack of access. It may however have been a different story if they were located at ground level as was originally proposed. Additionally, the rooftop
terrace with its communal spaces seems much more like a barren concrete rooftop than anything else. Corbusier’s idea of “reclaiming the lost land beneath the building for recreation”7 may have been lost in translation, and as described in his accounts of the garden city, recreation belongs “At the foot of the building the 150 square yards allotted for games have been added to those of the neighbours” 1.There are many great things to be learned from examining the Unite d’Habitation as a work of architecture in and of itself. More importantly though are, Le Corbusier’s theories behind the design and development of the building. The vertical garden city, the extended dwelling are all important and relevant theories still today. Though, as is evident, and even to a greater extent in some of the later Unites in Berlin, and what became a model for social housing in the U.S., what in the end finally gets built is not always the unadulterated fruit of the intent of the architect or his theories.
References:
1. Jenkins, David. Unite D'Habitation - Le Corbusier. London: Phaidon P Limited, 1993.
2. Le Corbusier. The City of Tomorrow and Its Planning. Mineola, NY: Dover Publications, 1987. Originally Published by Payson & Clark Ltd NY 1929
3. Le Corbusier, as edited by Stanislaus Von Moos. Le Corbusier Before Le Corbusier. New Haven: Yale UP, 2002.
4. Wikipedia contributors, "Unité d'Habitation," Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Unit%C3%A9_d%27Habitation&oldid=198023947 (accessed April 5, 2008).
5. Library of Congress and American Memory – 09/26/2002 http://memory.loc.gov/learn/features/timeline/depwwii/depress/hoovers.html (accessed April 5, 2008)
6. Berman, Jay - 1999 for Galinsky.com “Unité d'habitation Flatowallee 16 Berlin-Westend, Germany” http://www.galinsky.com/buildings/unitedhabitation/index.htm (accessed April 5, 2008)
7. Glinn, Simon – 2001 for Galinsky.com, “Unité d'habitation (Cité Radieuse) 280 boulevard Michelet 13008 Marseille, France” http://www.galinsky.com/buildings/marseille/index.htm (accessed April 5, 2008)
8. Divizia, Caudio – 2006 for Galinsky.com, “Espace Le Corbusier Rue de Saint-Just-Malmont 42700 Firminy, France” http://www.galinsky.com/buildings/firminy/index.htm (accessed April 5, 2008)
9. Wikipedia contributors, "Athens Charter," Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Athens_Charter&oldid=188990011 (accessed April 5, 2008).
10. Arfin, Ferne “More About Marseille's Hotel Le Corbusier” March 24 2007 http://gofrance.about.com/od/provence/a/Lecorbusier_2.htm (accessed April 5, 2008)
Images: All are from; “Unite D'Habitation - Le Corbusier”. With the exception of the photos of the Hoovervilles which come from “Library of Congress and American Memory” and the photo of the corridor which is from “Unité d'habitation Flatowallee 16 Berlin-Westend, Germany”
Friday, April 4, 2008
Performance Program: A descriptive experience.
Home again: Columbus finally got the train running downtown from the airport and in just a few stops I’ll arrive at Memorial Station on the 6th floor of City. On the approach into downtown from the east, the top of City is visible in the distance beyond the height of the downtown skyline. The sun on the curved glass façade creates flashes of light that seem to match the rhythmic drum of the train on the old freight line, its calling me home. I’ve been away for quite a while now and look forward to the unencumbered lifestyle that City provides. We moved in from the suburbs when the alternative school opened in City, and blissfully gone are the days of long commutes and traffic jams. We sold the old cars, and bought a hybrid, but sometimes that seems like a mistake because we hardly ever use it. Everything we need can be found in City. Everything we want to do can be done in City.
The train makes its first stop as we reach the east side of downtown. I sit up in my seat in anticipation of seeing the spiraling terraced base of City with its layers of green tree canopies in juxtaposition to the concrete of its structure that forms and then rises several stories above the west bank of the Scioto River. Home.
The train passes through the arena district, and makes a climb to cross the Scioto and make it up to the level of Memorial Station which isn’t much more than a vestibule between the train and the Lower Boulevard. I haven’t seen my wife in several weeks, so I will walk down the boulevard and stop by Flora, the flower shop, before I head up on the express elevator to Oglethorpe Square. The morning sun is shining on the plants, and they have just been watered so there is that smell, of dew and grass, I love this place. There are other people on the boulevard, some tourists are shopping, most people are just making the transition from the residential to office elevators. It is nice to be back where I recognize many of the faces I see, and when I meet eyes with one of these people they give me a knowing smile that people give you here. It is a special smile that people who call City home give to each other, because we know this secret, about how easy life has gotten since coming here.The flowers that I get from Flora are more expensive than the ones that I can get from the Super Target that is a couple of levels down, but they seem to last a little longer, and it makes me feel good to support the smaller local retailers that are here. The owner recognizes me, and knows my name. “Flowers for Tiffany? Daisies with a single rose right?” She notices me juggling my luggage and offers to bring the flowers up in a little while. I continue down the boulevard. It is a little chilly in the shadow of the tower, but I am almost home.
The elevator is fast. From the glass side I can see the floors of the office tower speed by, until finally they terminate at Scioto Garden. To call this level a garden is an understatement. It is very nearly a forest, unnatural, but beautiful and green in the crystalline top of the office tower. Finally, the automated voice in the elevator lets me know that we are approaching my square, and comes to a stop. Home.
The light streaming onto Oglethorpe Square from the clerestory on the east side of the space floods the elevator when the doors open. My eyes adjust to the light and I see the garden and the square are nearly empty except for a grounds person tending to some of the tropical flowers that can grow in the enclosed squares. My wife and I, well, my wife, chose this square because it was completely enclosed and the temperature and humidity are controlled to allow for the gardens to stay green all year round. I can see the door to my suite, 2 floors up. I pick up my pace as I pass the squares coffee shop and other small business. There are some young children coming out of the church on the opposite corner to play in the garden. Up the stairs, and the only thing keeping me from running is the weight of my baggage. The railing on the walk to my door has flowering vines growing on it from the garden below. It smells sweet. Home.
Finally I open the door to my suite. It is a modest sized unit. Two small bedrooms, and a master suite. Despite the size the space is comfortable and easy to use. The layout makes it easy to find private space for each of us, my daughter can have her own room, but when we entertain we can open the spaces up to make the unit seem larger. I can feel the breeze coming in from the open doors to this level’s green terrace. Everybody that lives in our square has access to the terrace, but we choose to sacrifice a little interior space so we could afford a unit with direct access to it. My wife is sitting on our little patio in the sun, and Savannah is playing with a toy in the grass. Tomorrow I’ll go to work. Today: I am home.
The train makes its first stop as we reach the east side of downtown. I sit up in my seat in anticipation of seeing the spiraling terraced base of City with its layers of green tree canopies in juxtaposition to the concrete of its structure that forms and then rises several stories above the west bank of the Scioto River. Home.
The train passes through the arena district, and makes a climb to cross the Scioto and make it up to the level of Memorial Station which isn’t much more than a vestibule between the train and the Lower Boulevard. I haven’t seen my wife in several weeks, so I will walk down the boulevard and stop by Flora, the flower shop, before I head up on the express elevator to Oglethorpe Square. The morning sun is shining on the plants, and they have just been watered so there is that smell, of dew and grass, I love this place. There are other people on the boulevard, some tourists are shopping, most people are just making the transition from the residential to office elevators. It is nice to be back where I recognize many of the faces I see, and when I meet eyes with one of these people they give me a knowing smile that people give you here. It is a special smile that people who call City home give to each other, because we know this secret, about how easy life has gotten since coming here.The flowers that I get from Flora are more expensive than the ones that I can get from the Super Target that is a couple of levels down, but they seem to last a little longer, and it makes me feel good to support the smaller local retailers that are here. The owner recognizes me, and knows my name. “Flowers for Tiffany? Daisies with a single rose right?” She notices me juggling my luggage and offers to bring the flowers up in a little while. I continue down the boulevard. It is a little chilly in the shadow of the tower, but I am almost home.
The elevator is fast. From the glass side I can see the floors of the office tower speed by, until finally they terminate at Scioto Garden. To call this level a garden is an understatement. It is very nearly a forest, unnatural, but beautiful and green in the crystalline top of the office tower. Finally, the automated voice in the elevator lets me know that we are approaching my square, and comes to a stop. Home.
The light streaming onto Oglethorpe Square from the clerestory on the east side of the space floods the elevator when the doors open. My eyes adjust to the light and I see the garden and the square are nearly empty except for a grounds person tending to some of the tropical flowers that can grow in the enclosed squares. My wife and I, well, my wife, chose this square because it was completely enclosed and the temperature and humidity are controlled to allow for the gardens to stay green all year round. I can see the door to my suite, 2 floors up. I pick up my pace as I pass the squares coffee shop and other small business. There are some young children coming out of the church on the opposite corner to play in the garden. Up the stairs, and the only thing keeping me from running is the weight of my baggage. The railing on the walk to my door has flowering vines growing on it from the garden below. It smells sweet. Home.
Finally I open the door to my suite. It is a modest sized unit. Two small bedrooms, and a master suite. Despite the size the space is comfortable and easy to use. The layout makes it easy to find private space for each of us, my daughter can have her own room, but when we entertain we can open the spaces up to make the unit seem larger. I can feel the breeze coming in from the open doors to this level’s green terrace. Everybody that lives in our square has access to the terrace, but we choose to sacrifice a little interior space so we could afford a unit with direct access to it. My wife is sitting on our little patio in the sun, and Savannah is playing with a toy in the grass. Tomorrow I’ll go to work. Today: I am home.
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