Rar 801 part 6 of 10

AR. CHRISTOPHER PAUL SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE AND PLANNING RAR 801 _ Architectural Design -VII
PART 6 OF 10
ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN – VII, RAR 801

101 Things I Learned in
Urban Design School
Matthew Frederick & Vikas Mehta
Compiled by
Christopher Paul
AIT-SAP

Buildings of a given construction type usually become less expensive as they are made
taller. A 3-story wood-frame building, for example, will cost less per square foot than a
similar 2-story building, all else remaining constant. Steel and concrete buildings also grow
less expensive, but only up to a point. Beyond about 30 stories, square foot costs increase.
51.A. Building taller is more
efficient...up to a point.

This is due to many factors, including construction site logistics; more intensive
systems for foundation, super structure, egress, elevator, fire suppression, and
mechanicals; underground parking and up-front costs to address environmental,
social, traffic, economic, and legal concerns.
Higher construction costs mean higher
rental rates for the finished spaces.
These rates are also driven upward by
the inherent inefficiency of high-rise
floor plans, which give a higher percent
age of their area to stairs, corridors,
elevators, and mechanical services.
Tall buildings are land efficient but
floor plan inefficient.
51.B. Building taller is more
efficient...up to a point.

If a street leads toward a view that is empty
or confusing, the experience of the street
can be diminished.
Straight street: Terminate the view corridor
with a major building, clock tower, water
tower, or other tall element.
Curved street: A subtle curve can close off
an undesirable view and create curiosity as
to what lies just beyond. Provide
intermediate rewards to maintain the
interest of those venturing forward.
Trees: When planted regularly along the
curb, trees will appear to touch in the
distance, closing off the distant view.
52. Avoid a void.

• Wood-frame neighborhood: 2- to 3-story buildings, each with 1 to 3 dwelling units and a small yard.
Demographics range across incomes, from families to single adults. Commerce is usually relegated to
corner sites or a business area.
• Main Street neighborhood: The classic small-town business district, 2 to 5 stories with highly varied uses
and offices and residential apartments on upper floors.
• Apartment-block neighborhood: Midrise (+ 3- to 8-story) buildings of masonry or steel. Ground floor
commerce appears in many buildings. Demographics range across incomes, and from families to single
adults.
53.A. Give the neighborhood a character

• Urban edge neighborhood: Fringe/transitional area with buildings of varying use, size, and character.
Demographics may range widely, from poor and marginalized citizens to avant-garde professionals.
• Town house neighborhood: Classic row houses, typically 3 or 4 stories, brick or stone. Demographics range
across incomes, and from families to single adults. Commerce is usually relegated to corners or a nearby
business area.
• Downtown neighborhood: A center-city area, usually with many high-rise buildings. Building and business
ownership may tend toward the corporate. Ground floor retail may be oriented to serving weekday workers
and weekend visitors.
53.B. Give the neighborhood a character

•As we travel through a district, town, or
city, we naturally seek to understand its
organization and where we are in it. In
the streets and spaces you propose,
identify way finding elements that will
keep users oriented with each step. Have
you given the district a clear identity,
such that people can intuit whether they
are inside or outside it? Can people see
familiar landmarks of different scales,
and at distances and intervals that will
reassure? Have you created memorable
nodes, so pedestrians will be able to
confidently retrace their steps ?
54. Wayfinding

•A 90° street grid gives useful shape to building
parcels and facilitates navigation. If streets are
named systematically, one knows, in travelling
from 2nd Street to 3rdStreet, where to find 4th
or 15th Street. However, the repetition of a grid
can generate its own brand of lostness. One
street or intersection may feel the same as
many others. And if blocks have the same
dimension or character in both directions, one's
directional sense may be challenged. Judicious
deviations in a grid can relieve tedium, improve
wayfinding, and produce unique sites for
special public spaces or exciting buildings.
However, there can't be too many deviations,
as the primary order will be lost and few or no
sites will stand out as special.
55. Order craves variety

• A project needs a
recognizable
gesture or
organizer that
makes its parts in
to a whole.
• But don't seek
merely to unify a
project; unify it
with the rest of the
urbanscape.
56. What's the unifier?

• When we are on the sidewalk, we
rarely are aware of the overall
form of a building, especially if it is
very large or tall, or if we are right
next to it. Our direct awareness
usually is limited to the first floor,
with peripheral awareness
extending upward a story or two.
Thus, an unremarkable building on
the skyline can be a terrific
building to engage up close, and a
great building on the skyline can
be a poor building in direct
experience.
57. How will it meet the ground?

• A building's overall form can express its use, advertise the values of its owners or
tenants, or suggest civic aspirations. The design of buildings likely will be the job of
an architect, but suggest the sensibility of any buildings you propose, especially
those that are tall, freestanding, or otherwise prominent.
58. How will it meet the sky?

• People-watching is almost everyone's
favorite public activity. However, most
people do not wish to gawk at others and
want to control the extent to which they
are watched or engaged. Preferences can
be accommodated in many ways,
including:
– Create spaces with multiple activities. A buzz of
activity guards against one person feeling closely
observed, especially if engaged in a unique
activity.
– Provide edges, nooks, crannies, columns,
screens, level changes, and other articulations
that allow people to have a protected side or to
pass in and out of view. This keeps them from
feeling they are under constant surveillance..
59. See and be seen; watch but don't be
watched.

• People-watching is almost everyone's
favorite public activity. However, most
people do not wish to gawk at others and
want to control the extent to which they
are watched or engaged. Preferences can
be accommodated in many ways,
including:
– Make paths wide enough for strangers to pass
comfortably. Very wide paths can be zoned with
plantings, benches, level changes, and paving
variations.
– Make public benches long, or space them so
strangers can sit near each other without being
confused about communication expectations. In
crowded set-tings, place seats in multiple
directions or make them movable so people can
communicate social intent by body position.
59. See and be seen; watch but don't be
watched.

•A public space lacking an apparent exit at the end opposite from where one enters will
dissuade many people from using it-even if they do not intend to pass all the way
through the space. A dead end subconsciously invokes our defensive instincts: if we are
pursued from behind, we will lack an escape route. A street, alley, public mall, or
interior corridor lacking a through-connection will have fewer people, fewer things of
interest, and less vitality than one with a through-passage. A physical dead end is an
experiential dead end is a social dead end is a cultural dead end is an economic dead
end.
60. As we enter, we look for the exit.

END OF PART 6
Please direct your queries through email.
ar.cp.apj@gmail.com

Rar 801 part 6 of 10

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