Urban Design Square : Public Space Essay

Small roads with interconnecting patterns of streets and sidewalks within the complex, instead of huge highways surrounding and isolating them, began to be greatly favoured. However, New Urbanism, too, like all other architectural styles had its drawbacks. Alex Marshall, a journalist, argued that New Urbanism was essentially a grand fraud, a gimmick, a marketing scheme that repackaged the conventional suburban sprawl behind the façade of nostalgic imagery and empty aspirational slogans. In some cases that adopted this style, the span of the complex was so large, that providing only pedestrian pathways was not feasible and reliance on automobile was constructed. In other cases, automobiles were allowed inside the complex, maybe a bit too liberally, forcing the design to lose its essence. Also, some so-called New Urbanist designs implement the strategy of segregating spaces according to function and the connecting them through a couple of bridges plonked here and there. So, these towns only wear the veil of a New Urbanist town whereas it is actually following the hundred-and-fifty-year old prototype of an urban

Snøhetta are concerned with the social dimension of architecture and this design imaginatively reinterprets the traditional opera houses that “conventionally limit their public spaces to exterior plazas or grand lobbies, often only accessible during opening hours.” What is striking here is that their Opera House succeeds in giving back to the city a public space. The sloping rooftop becomes a new public area: a recreation space and viewing platform that you can walk on, sit on, sunbathe on, even snowboard on. As a result anyone, whether interested in Opera or not, can enjoy the space. The building has been called "a social democratic monument” by founding partner of Snøhetta, Craig Dykers – and one can see why. In a recent television interview, Dykers went on to remark:

When people think of their environment people think of their immediate surroundings; however, one's environment goes beyond and further into the psychological connection to one's personal environment. To further explain, Gallagher discusses three different aspects of The Power of Place: Outside In, Inside Out, and Synchrony. The book opens doors previously unnoticed about psychological ecology. From reading the book one learns that settings influence behavior more than the personalities of most people.

in order to protect the quality of the project in the event that technical difficulties in the construction

Public spaces are social spaces where social phenomena happens, different activities leading to different social relations and interactions. Spaces with own rhythms of use and regulations that one can discover or rediscover in different cultural context.10 steven To understand how architecture can activate public spaces through play to make social spaces, spaces for public life, this paper first investigates how architecture defines the nature of a public spaces with the possibility of engaging public into play. Then, the paper discuss how play can engage people to redefine spaces and find something that have in common with others. And finally, how people can obtain their freedom through playing in a space will be explored. To do so, the

Steen, Karen. "How Leftover Urban Spaces Can Fix Big Problems for San Francisco." SPUR. N.p., 23 Nov. 2013. Web. 15 Dec. 2016. .

Tenshin-en in Museum of Fine Are is a Japanese garden is designed by Kinsaku Nakane, a garden designer from Kyoto, Japan. This garden is surrounding by the walls, which are made by bricks. From busy street to a little get away place,

The world has been evolving as quickly as the population has grown. As the years progressed, the habitual lifestyle has transformed from spread out house and land living to city and suburban occupation. Along with the living style, cities have progressed from just roads and buildings to multifunctional spaces with copious possibilities. Federation Square in the ‘heart of the city’ is an example of how a space in the city vastly contributes to the visual culture of Melbourne. Times Square in New York also displays how what was previously an intersection of roads, has been transformed into a visual landmark. Melbourne city had always lacked a functional public space ever since its birth.

How does one alter public space? The altering of public spaces means to change the atmosphere of a public area in either a positive or negative way. Some people alter public space based off their appearance, and others with their actions. There are many ways to alter public space, and it happens way more than one may realize. There are not many times in my life where I distinctly remember altering public space, but there are a few significant times that stand out to me. The three most pivotal and memorable experiences that I have had in which I altered public space are the tornado on April 27, 2011, when I first moved to Alabama from Ohio, and when I went to a camp in Colorado for 5 weeks.

Walking through Oakley Station and its entirety draws confused glares from pedestrians as well as the confusion within the mind of the wanderer. Obviously, this is because Oakley Station is designed for cars, not people. Oakley Station’s sidewalks serve less of a utilitarian purpose and instead are there for looks. In other words, Oakley’s Stations sidewalks imitate urbanism while providing no real benefit to pedestrians. In The Death and Life of Great American Cities, Jane Jacobs emphasizes sidewalks creating an engaged citizenry, while severely criticizing auto- oriented development. According to Jacobs, the three main uses of sidewalks are for safety, contact, and assimilating children. Understanding these three uses are crucial to understanding the criticisms of Oakley Station’s sidewalks.

With the addition of an amphitheater, I hope to bring more street performers to the square, which will then bring more people in to stay for longer periods of time while enjoying this time. With more trees than in the current plan, the strong winds will be buffered, allowing visitors to be more comfortable. The greater amount of green space hopes to draw more people in from the surrounding communities to relax and have fun outdoors especially in warmer moths of the year. The design of the pathways permits passersby to more efficiently get from one corner of the square to another. This redesign will also still allow for the square’s current uses to continue including the farmers market. Benches facing inwards on the paths will allow for people to better interact with one another and rest easily. These purposes will attract more people to the square and keep them there for

A tour through Taliesin West would start at his office. But right before you enter, your attention is interrupted by the vibrant, yet complex Asian sculpture that stood in front of the entryway. The idea of him incorporating Asian art within his structure did not surprise me however. Ever since his visit to the Columbian exhibition in Chicago, Wright was closely influenced by Asian architecture and art, and had symbolized his appreciation for the arts by incorporating them throughout his buildings. The sculpture that lies by the front entrance of Taliesin West is one of many sculptures that’s scattered around the building, and it symbolizes a transition into the following area.

          The city I propose as a perfect city, would be as close to an ecocity as possible, although have some differences. For example, for electrical needs, I would suggest the city have a solar power plant, but on those desperate times, energy would be bought from other electrical plants from nearby towns or states.

During the Late Middle Ages town squares and piazzas were starting to become more common around the world for the purpose of getting people together and entertainment. It can be argued that Piazza del Campo in Siena, Italy is the most influential example of these types of structures. The Piazza del Campo helped the advancement of the Medieval piazzas, by incorporating different materials and design elements while still reflecting their original style of design. The typology of this site is a civic space and a space for entertainment. This paper will describe the Piazza del Campo and provide a historical view of the piazza in the way of its cultural form. This paper will first talk about its physical description, it will explore topics such as the structure, decorative aspects and materials used. After talking about the physical description, the historical context of the Piazza will be discussed, as well as the principles of deign which will include the form, function, environmental context and social context. The Piazza del Campo acted as a precedent for art, architecture and town planning.

First of all, to start building a city an urban pattern has to be established, this will make the city look much more organized and well thought. A pattern can be chosen from a whole list of working patterns for a city. Establishing a grid is a common way of equally distributing the city. However, we want to keep in mind, that important buildings, such as businesses, and government buildings must be accessible to the public, but separated from the rest of the city. We have great examples of grids such as New York City, in New York, United States, or Mississauga City, in Toronto ,Canada. Although, when building from scratch it is not possible to leave aside what has already been built, a city indeed has to adapt to what is already existing, as well as to the new global economy, social and political trends, and new issues that arise in the new era, this also changes the structure and tradition of building and forming urban patterns. Using the existing patterns, combined with new ones, both patterns can collide and make new forms in city blocks. Results vary from city to city, but the essence is the same in all of them; old and new patterns coming together to create unplanned shapes, a new form of Urbanism, based on new and old patterns, aiming to satisfy the needs of the modern world. A great example is New York