《Urban Design：Ornament and Decoration-THE CORNER.pdf》由会员分享，可在线阅读，更多相关《Urban Design：Ornament and Decoration-THE CORNER.pdf（17页珍藏版）》请在三一文库上搜索。
1、 INTRODUCTION The design of the corner where two planes meet is a visual problem giving scope for expression in the design of almost any artefact, the design of the urban scene is no exception to this rule. Indeed, the handling of the corner is often an indication of the quality and mastery of the d
2、esigner. To recognize the importance of a corner site and give it signifi- cance is to enrich the visual environment and the urban townscape. The corner, because of its signifi- cance, has often been an important element on which to bestow formal ornament or more personal- ized decoration: this, how
3、ever, has not always been so. During the early period of modern architecture corner treatment was stark and unadorned. There have, however, been other times when the corner was not celebrated: many fine Georgian buildings in Britain, for example, presented the transition of planes at the corners of
4、buildings simply with quoin details in materials which differed from those of the general faade (Figure 3.1). While the question of embellishment of corner details is a matter of style, it is nevertheless possible to distinguish two generic types of corner: the internal corner where two planes meet
5、and tend to 3 THE CORNER 4 9 Figure 3.1 Quoined corner, Regent Street, Nottingham enclose space and the external corner where two planes meet and present a three dimensional view of the building. The first type is most commonly found in the public place or piazza and the second will mark the junctio
6、n of streets. The importance of the corner as a node of pedes- trian activity is often reflected in residential areas by the location there of corner shops and public houses. Until after the Second World War, the angled plot at street corners was considered choice terrain much sought after for priva
7、te mansions, large luxury stores, panoramic apartment blocks, and prestige banks. These corner activities and the build- ings which enclose them are often a counterpoint to less prestigious neighbouring buildings. This was frequently reflected in more elaborate ornamental work to mark the corner. Th
8、e art of turning the corner is an aspect of town design which frequently exercised the minds of builders in the generations prior to the so called Heroic Age of the Modernists. This problem of turning the corner, in its most fundamental form, is expressed in the method used to resolve the junctions
9、between gable and flanking walls of the megaron type structure common in countries with a northern European climate. The solution to many problems of building design often have their origin in the Hellenic period. The Greeks of classical times resolved this particular problem by taking the entablatu
10、re round all faades of the building and by returning, at an angle, part of the flanking cornice to enclose and edge the tympanum of the gable. The columns supporting the gable were returned round the flanking walls enclos- ing an external ambulatory or covered colonnaded walkway, the peristyle. All
11、four walls of the typical temple were unified by the repetition of the column theme supporting a common entablature and supported on three steps. The corner of the building U R B A N D E S I G N : O R N A M E N T A N D D E C O R A T I O N 5 0 Figure 3.2 Parthenon, Athens Figure 3.3 Internal corner o
12、f the Palazzo Medici Riccardi, Florence 3.3 3.2 is formed by a typical column with symmetrical base, shaft and capital (Figure 3.2). The early Renaissance architects also favoured a simple formula for turning the external corner relying upon a flat pilaster or rusti- cally expressed quoin stones. Mo
13、re exuberant expres- sions of the corner are exhibited in baroque buildings where transition from plane to plane is prefigured in a ripple of pilaster upon pilaster. In Victorian and Edwardian Britain those architects taking their cue from medieval form gave expression to the corner using the tower
14、or cluster of towers. The internal angle, while not possessing the same scope for expressive design, also presents design problems for the creative artist. The arcaded courtyard where arches meet at an internal corner can appear struc- turally or visually weak, or clumsy in the extreme (Figure 3.3).
15、 So far corner design has been discussed at the scale of the single building. While for those practising urban design architectural analogy is important, nev- ertheless, for the purposes of this discussion, the building in its townscape setting is of greater rele- vance. In addition the townscape se
16、tting gives the corner an added dimension and scope for imaginative treatment. The street corner when given emphasis with decorative treatment becomes memorable in the mind of the viewer. It thus takes on added signifi- cance, performing the role of landmark. As such it is significant in strengtheni
17、ng the imageability of the city. A further function of the corner is its role in uni- fying two adjacent faades often acting as a vertical foil or contrasting element to the horizontality of the street scene. THE CORNER TYPOLOGIES Post-modern theoretical developments in architecture and urban design
18、 have frequently sought inspiration from historical precedent. Often these lines of enquiry have led to the construction of typologies (Krier, 1979; Rossi, 1982). A type can be defined as a characteristic specimen or illustration of a class or group of objects. The following typology of urban corner
19、s is one of physical types, a classification based on physical form rather than usage or function. This interest in the identification of spatial types and the construction of typologies has stemmed from the study of traditional urban forms as a reaction to Modernist approaches to urban form and des
20、ign. The interest in typologies, however, is not a new con- cern. Zucker, for example, in his book Town and Square (1959) defines spatial archetypes for the analysis of urban squares. Zuckers typology is based on the subjective impression of spatial quality and is entirely independent of the specifi
21、c function of that space. The construction of a typology involves identifying common characteristics among the set of objects studied. In other words, for the purpose of this study, corners as they are used and appear in the townscape must be capable of arrangement in sub- groups. For the typology t
22、o be of use it should have the capacity both to analyse existing situations and to act as a design tool. The purpose of the present typology is to assist the urban designer with the task of decorating the city. For this purpose the individual categories identified are relatively distinctive and dis-
23、 crete while, it is hoped, they are not so general as to be meaningless. The aim of this typology is to be both comprehensive and complete without the use of a catch-all category into which all odd or maver- ick corners defying definition are neatly swept. As with any typology it is difficult, if no
24、t impossible, to draw precise boundaries between archetypes, and since this study is based largely upon historical prece- dent, new and evolving forms of corner may not fit within its parameters. There are two typologies of corners: one for street or external corners, the other for piazza or interna
25、l corners. Figures 3.4 and 3.5 illustrate each typology in diagrammatic form. The street corner can be categorized as: the negative corner; the angular corner; the curved corner and the towered corner. The last three categories can be further sub-divided. The angular corner can take the form of T H
26、E C O R N E R 5 1 a simple angle corner, or be a faceted corner. Within the curved corner type it is possible to distinguish three sub-types: flowing, wrapped and hinged corners, while the towered type can be attached or detached. The piazza, that is, the space-enclosing corner, can be categorized a
27、s: the non-corner, the curved corner and the angular corner. Each of these categories can be subdivided into further recognizable types. The non-corner occurs where the flanking buildings do not in fact meet to form a junction: such corners can take three main forms: open, arched, or pavilion. The c
28、urved piazza corner can be either geometric or sinuous while the angular piazza corner, probably the most common corner for a public square, may be a simple internal corner or a more complicated faceted corner. THE STREET CORNER TYPOLOGY THE NEGATIVE STREET CORNER Post-Second World War designers, ha
29、ve tended to ignore the problem of the street corner. A survey in U R B A N D E S I G N : O R N A M E N T A N D D E C O R A T I O N 5 2 Figure 3.4 Street corner typology Figure 3.5 Piazza corner typology 3.4 3.5 Brussels found that architects and public powers neglected the treatment of corners whic
30、h are now systematically denied or destroyed (Murdock, 1984). The authors of this survey suggest that the neglect of the corner imperils the traditional urban structure and is one reason for the city centre having the appearance of a slum. These strong views about Brussels hold true for many cities
31、throughout Europe. One reason for the dismissive treatment of corners may have arisen from the imposition of engineering sight lines but this requirement was also supported by the urban philosophy of the day with its lack of respect for traditional urban spatial arrangements, streets, squares and th
32、e urban block. As Le Corbusier, (1967) wrote: Our streets no longer work. Streets are an obsolete notion. There ought to be no such thing as streets; we have to cre- ate something that will replace them. The negative corner takes the form of two buildings with gables exposed exhibiting the three dim
33、ensional form of both abutting buildings. The re-entrant corner is often a wasteland or it may be decorated with planti- ng or murals painted on the gables. Often it becomes an ideal location for large advertisement hoardings. There is a need for strongly defined corners to estab- lish the form of t
34、he urban street block, therefore, the negative corner is not recommended here as being suitable treatment for the meeting point of streets. It is included to establish a complete coverage for the typology. THE ANGULAR STREET CORNER The types of corner subsumed under this general heading are usually
35、associated with buildings of the Modern Movement. The junction of walls, while giv- ing emphasis to the expressive possibilities of the corner, nevertheless have been consciously designed: they are not, like the negative corner, the result of neglect. They are a response to the belief that the unado
36、rned meeting of planes on a vertical line results in the most pleasing appearance for such a junction. Such corner types are not usually associated with ornament or decoration. (i) The Simple Angular Corner This sub-type arises when two street faades meeting at a corner join to form an unadorned sha
37、rply defined line. The faades may or may not join at ninety degrees. In this case the corner is often of less importance than the two faades, and in many instances is given no additional recognition or special decorative treatment. The different or similar design of the two faades may indicate or re
38、flect the two streets coming together being of different or equal importance. This corner type is less than ideal where shop fronts are required on the corner of both faades. (ii) The Faceted Corner This design type is a primitive attempt to come to terms with the functional and expressive require-
39、ments of the corner while retaining modern lines and a machine finish. The angle of the corner in this sub-type is simply chamfered, which improves the sight lines for the traffic engineer and resolves the difficulty of arranging shop window and/or entrance on the corner (Figure 3.6). T H E C O R N
40、E R 5 3 Figure 3.6 The faceted corner: Glasshouse Street, London THE CURVED STREET CORNER The corner types within this broad category arise where the two street-facing faades meeting at the corner do not meet at an angle, but instead the change of direction is negotiated through a curve. There may b
41、e strong horizontal elements which suggest that the building flows around the corner, or strong vertical elements which emphasize the corner as a distinct design element in the street frontage. (i) The Flowing Corner A flowing corner is one where the whole building frontage forms the corner. The cur
42、ve is gentle, the corner is almost imperceptible, and can be emphasized using simple decorative features such as projecting eaves, string course or curving shop fascia. Cutaway ground floors within curving corners, unless carefully detailed and integrated with arcading or colonnade, can destroy the
43、sweeping lines of this particular townscape feature (Figure 3.7). (ii) The Wrapped Corner The wrapped corner is also a continuous curve but the degree of curvature is much tighter than the last example. Strong fenestration detailing can be repeated from street faade to street faade encom- passing th
44、e curve without change of rhythm. As a corner type it is most useful with deeply incised arcuated window forms where highly decorative and boldly modelled cornices and string courses sub- divide the wall plane into flowing horizontal bands (Figure 3.8). (iii) The Hinged Corner The hinge can be a neu
45、tral method of linking the two street frontages or it can present an opportunity for embellishment which explicitly U R B A N D E S I G N : O R N A M E N T A N D D E C O R A T I O N 5 4 Figure 3.7 The flowing corner: Market Street/ Upper Parliament Street, Nottingham Figure 3.8 The wrapped corner: L
46、ong Row, Nottingham 3.8 3.7 acknowledges the additional significance of the corner. The hinged corner is similar to the faceted type except that in this instance the corner is negotiated by the insertion of a curved or faceted building element that is quite distinct from the street frontages forming
47、 the corner. Ideally the element forming the hinge should start at ground level and continue to the eaves: it is also explicitly differentiated from the neighbouring street elements by vertical setbacks in the wall. Linkage between neighbouring faades may be achieved by carrying cornices and string
48、courses around the corner. The unified effect produced by these linking features however will be undermined if they become so prominent that they conflict with the general verticality of the hinge (Figure 3.9). THE TOWERED STREET CORNER The most powerful expression of the corner is the tower. Giving
49、 emphasis to the roof line or silhouette of corner buildings is one of the most successful and dramatic ways of turning a corner. Vertical impact at this important point in the urban scene can be achieved by extending the building faade beyond the eaves or parapet to make a strong elevated fea- ture; the round or octagonal turret was a popular fea- ture for this building element during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. This corner type is a useful focal point for a district or neighbourhood and is ideal as a city landmark. (i) T