CONCEPTS OF URBAN FORM AND SPACE

Kiran Joshi

Chandigarh College Of Architecture

2nd Sem. M. Arch.
January – May 2019

Lecture 6
18 April 2019
 Recapitulation – The Figure-Ground Diagram

FIGURE-GROUND DIAGRAM

Defines ‘voids’ (spaces)

between building masses, to
emphasize the significance
of the voids as urban design
objects in their own right

This treatment of ‘space’ is

a predominant factor in
Figure-Ground Theory,
which says that, in urban
contexts, the most
neglected feature of the
design is the ground plan
used for moving about the
city. Figure-ground studies
are, thus, aimed at
structuring urban space.
CONCEPTS OF URBAN FORM AND SPACE LECTURE 6 2ND SEM. M.ARCH., CHANDIGARH COLLEGE OF ARCHITECTURE 18 APRIL 2019
 Recapitulation – The Nolli Map
THE NOLLI MAP
Presented Rome’s spatial
structure, countering the
tendency to examine
monuments as isolated
objects unrelated to their
contexts.

It provides easy
understanding of the city’s
urban form through the
Figure-Ground Method,
also using light shades to
represent vegetation,
paving patterns, etc. The
city is read as an enormous
mass that has been
"carved away" to create
"outdoor rooms”.
CONCEPTS OF URBAN FORM AND SPACE LECTURE 6 2ND SEM. M.ARCH., CHANDIGARH COLLEGE OF ARCHITECTURE 18 APRIL 2019
 Recapitulation – The Course, Its Objectives And Content

Objectives:
• To introduce Urban Design, its vocabulary
• To differentiate Urban Design from Architecture
• To deal with ‘Components of Urban Design’,
What is ‘Urban Space’
primarily ‘Urban Form’ and ‘Urban Space’,
through historical and contemporary examples

UNIT II: Urban Form, Urban Space: ‘Place-

Types of Urban Space
making’

Urban Form and Urban Space -- Enclosure,

Elements of Urban Space Human Comfort -- effects in Urban Space Design.
– their Characteristics, How does a ‘Space’ become a ‘Place’?
Attributes
Landscape as a tool for urban space design –
role of groundcover, foliage, plantation, water and
other landscape elements as determinants of
urban space and form

CONCEPTS OF URBAN FORM AND SPACE LECTURE 6 2ND SEM. M.ARCH., CHANDIGARH COLLEGE OF ARCHITECTURE 18 APRIL 2019
 Part One

What is ‘Urban Space’

Urban Space Typology

 Defining ‘Urban Space’, ‘Open Space’ , ‘Universal Space’

What is ‘Urban
Space’?

Public Spaces within

cities, created through
arrangement of
buildings and other
built elements;

Related to concept of
‘Public Realm’ --
Public Spaces,
available for free use;

Focus of ‘Urban
Activity’
Above: Ghats, Varanasi Street in Walled City,
Below: Piazza, La Defence, Paris Amritsar

CONCEPTS OF URBAN FORM AND SPACE LECTURE 6 2ND SEM. M.ARCH., CHANDIGARH COLLEGE OF ARCHITECTURE 18 APRIL 2019
 ‘Open Space’ , ‘Universal Space’, ‘Urban Space’

‘Open Space’

Areas of greenery
in or near the city:

natural, park-like

CONCEPTS OF URBAN FORM AND SPACE LECTURE 6 2ND SEM. M.ARCH., CHANDIGARH COLLEGE OF ARCHITECTURE 18 APRIL 2019
 ‘Open Space’ , ‘Universal Space’, ‘Urban Space’

‘Universal
Space’

The vast open

space around
our cities, in
which they ‘sit’

CONCEPTS OF URBAN FORM AND SPACE LECTURE 6 2ND SEM. M.ARCH., CHANDIGARH COLLEGE OF ARCHITECTURE 18 APRIL 2019
 ‘Urban Space’ Typology – Streets, Squares, Precincts
STREETS: Corridors of Space, Channels (Paths):
A public thoroughfare in the built environment, a public parcel of land adjoining buildings in an
urban context, on which people may freely assemble, interact, and move about.

CONCEPTS OF URBAN FORM AND SPACE LECTURE 6 2ND SEM. M.ARCH., CHANDIGARH COLLEGE OF ARCHITECTURE 18 APRIL 2019
 ‘Urban Space’ Typology – Streets, Squares, Precincts

Squares / Piazza / Plaza / Place:

Reservoirs of Space, Rooms (Nodes)
Square -- planned open area in a city,
originally rectangular in shape; ‘hardscape’
suitable for open markets, music concerts,
community gatherings, political rallies, and
other events that require firm ground.

Plaza – a Spanish word describes an open

urban public space. At times of crisis or
celebrations, it was the space where a large
crowd might gather.

Piazza -- an open square in a city, found in

Italy. The term is roughly equivalent to the
Spanish Plaza.

Place – French equivalent of ‘plaza, piazza.

CONCEPTS OF URBAN FORM AND SPACE LECTURE 6 2ND SEM. M.ARCH., CHANDIGARH COLLEGE OF ARCHITECTURE 18 APRIL 2019
 The ‘Urban Space’ in History – The Greek Agora

GREEK AGORAS:
The Agora was an
open "place of
assembly" in ancient
Greek city-states.
Later in Greek history,
the agora served as a
marketplace where
merchants kept stalls Miletus
or shops under
colonnades.

Classical Athens
boasted a large agora
in the very heart of the
city -- a rectangular
open area of about
600 by 750 yards,
bordered with grand
public buildings.
Priene

CONCEPTS OF URBAN FORM AND SPACE LECTURE 6 Priene

2ND SEM. M.ARCH., CHANDIGARH COLLEGE OF ARCHITECTURE 18 APRIL 2019
 The ‘Urban Space’ in History – The Roman Forum

THE ROMAN FORUM was the central area in which commerce and administration of justice took place.

PLANNED ROMAN TOWNS

Timgad, North Africa

The Republican Forum in Rome, The Republican and Imperial Forums together
buildings erected along an irregular axis

CONCEPTS OF URBAN FORM AND SPACE LECTURE 6 2ND SEM. M.ARCH., CHANDIGARH COLLEGE OF ARCHITECTURE 18 APRIL 2019
 The ‘Urban Space’ in History – Medieval & Renaissance Italian Piazzas

Piazza del Campo, Sienna, Italy: Network of Piazzas, Renaissance Rome:

An outdoor living room for the town -- Each urban Space fronts a church and is embellished by a
Climaxes minor plazas and street network. sculptural element
CONCEPTS OF URBAN FORM AND SPACE LECTURE 6 2ND SEM. M.ARCH., CHANDIGARH COLLEGE OF ARCHITECTURE 18 APRIL 2019
 ‘Urban Space’ Typology – Streets, Squares, Precincts

What is a ‘Precinct’ ?
General usage: Area
around a place or a building,
which is enclosed by a wall

British usage: Area in a

town/city, which is closed to
traffic

American usage: One of

the districts into which a city
is divided for election
purposes
A well-defined large urban
zone that includes several
urban masses & spaces,
but, has certain consistent
visual or use attributes

Palace Complex,
CONCEPTS Fatehpur
OF URBAN FORM Sikri
AND SPACE LECTURE 6 Capitol, Chandigarh
2ND SEM. M.ARCH., CHANDIGARH COLLEGE OF ARCHITECTURE 18 APRIL 2019
 ‘Urban Space’ Typology – Streets, Squares, Precincts

Precincts

Palace Complex,
CONCEPTS Fatehpur
OF URBAN FORM Sikri
AND SPACE LECTURE 6 Capitol, Chandigarh
2ND SEM. M.ARCH., CHANDIGARH COLLEGE OF ARCHITECTURE 18 APRIL 2019
 ‘Urban Space’ Typology – Streets, Squares, Precincts

Precincts

Lincoln Centre, New York:

A series of broad plazas which act
as forecourt settings for the
buildings that enclose them.

CONCEPTS OF URBAN FORM AND SPACE LECTURE 6 2ND SEM. M.ARCH., CHANDIGARH COLLEGE OF ARCHITECTURE 18 APRIL 2019
 Urban Spatial Structure

Spatial Structure:
Spatial Structures gives
us the hierarchy and
connections between the
series of similar as well
as varied urban spaces.

Linkages between
various urban spaces, as
well as linkage of any one
space to a special
building placed within or
around it (E.g., as shown
by Nolli Map for Rome),
also establish movement
patterns within the space.

CONCEPTS OF URBAN FORM AND SPACE LECTURE 6 2ND SEM. M.ARCH., CHANDIGARH COLLEGE OF ARCHITECTURE 18 APRIL 2019
 Establishing the Urban Spatial Structure – Examples from History
Fontana’s Late Baroque Plan for Rome: Connecting
shrines of Christianity and other monuments by a
network of streets, with a large piazza and an obelisk /
column / fountain in each

Piazza del Popolo, Rome

Campidoglio, Rome

Piazza St. Peter’s, Rome

CONCEPTS OF URBAN FORM AND SPACE LECTURE 6 2ND SEM. M.ARCH., CHANDIGARH COLLEGE OF ARCHITECTURE 18 APRIL 2019
 Part Two

Elements of Urban Space

Their Characteristics and Role

in Shaping of the Space
 Formal (Physical) Elements of Urban Space
STREETS SQUARES, PIAZZAS PRECINCTS

COMMON FORMAL ELEMENTS

1. The Ground / Floorscape

2. The Walls / Enclosure
3. Other Elements (Built, Natural)

CONCEPTS OF URBAN FORM AND SPACE LECTURE 6 2ND SEM. M.ARCH., CHANDIGARH COLLEGE OF ARCHITECTURE 18 APRIL 2019
 Formal Elements of Urban Space -- The Ground / Floorscape

ATTRIBUTES:
1. Level / Gradient – Slopes,
Steps
2. Surface Texture – Rough,
Smooth, etc.
3. Surface Pattern – geometric /
formal, organic/ informal

ROLE OF ATTRIBUTES:
Level moulds scale, give
directionality, focus, emphasis.

Texture suggests (supports or

prohibits) nature of activity –
pedestrian, vehicular / slow, fast

Pattern moulds movement paths,

gives direction, provides &
enhances focus

CONCEPTS OF URBAN FORM AND SPACE LECTURE 6 2ND SEM. M.ARCH., CHANDIGARH COLLEGE OF ARCHITECTURE 18 APRIL 2019
 Formal Elements of Urban Space -- The Ground / Floorscape

Piazza San Marco, Venice

CONCEPTS OF URBAN FORM AND SPACE LECTURE 6 2ND SEM. M.ARCH., CHANDIGARH COLLEGE OF ARCHITECTURE 18 APRIL 2019
 Formal Elements of Urban Space -- The Ground / Floorscape
THE CAMPIDOGLIO, ROME

CONCEPTS OF URBAN FORM AND SPACE LECTURE 6 2ND SEM. M.ARCH., CHANDIGARH COLLEGE OF ARCHITECTURE 18 APRIL 2019
 Formal Elements of Urban Space -- The Ground / Floorscape

Lincoln Centre for Performing Arts, New York

CONCEPTS OF URBAN FORM AND SPACE LECTURE 6 2ND SEM. M.ARCH., CHANDIGARH COLLEGE OF ARCHITECTURE 18 APRIL 2019
 Formal Elements of Urban Space -- The Wall / Surrounding Buildings / Enclosure

ATTRIBUTES:
1. Height
2. Contour
3. Facade Design – material,
detailing, main doors / other
openings, ornament, etc.

ROLE OF ATTRIBUTES:

Height & Contour define sense

of enclosure and visibility

Openings lead to spatial

structuring

Facade Designs animate &

personalize urban space.

CONCEPTS OF URBAN FORM AND SPACE LECTURE 6 2ND SEM. M.ARCH., CHANDIGARH COLLEGE OF ARCHITECTURE 18 APRIL 2019
 Formal Elements of Urban Space -- The Wall / Surrounding Buildings / Enclosure

CONCEPTS OF URBAN FORM AND SPACE LECTURE 6 2ND SEM. M.ARCH., CHANDIGARH COLLEGE OF ARCHITECTURE 18 APRIL 2019
 Formal Elements of Urban Space -- The Wall / Surrounding Buildings / Enclosure

CONCEPTS OF URBAN FORM AND SPACE LECTURE 6 2ND SEM. M.ARCH., CHANDIGARH COLLEGE OF ARCHITECTURE 18 APRIL 2019
 Formal Elements of Urban Space -- The Wall / Surrounding Buildings / Enclosure

CONCEPTS OF URBAN FORM AND SPACE LECTURE 6 2ND SEM. M.ARCH., CHANDIGARH COLLEGE OF ARCHITECTURE 18 APRIL 2019
 Formal Elements of Urban Space -- The Wall / Surrounding Buildings / Enclosure

CONCEPTS OF URBAN FORM AND SPACE LECTURE 6 2ND SEM. M.ARCH., CHANDIGARH COLLEGE OF ARCHITECTURE 18 APRIL 2019
 NEXT LECTURE

OTHER ELEMENTS OF URBAN SPACE

URBAN SPACE DESIGN PRINCIPLES

Urban Scale
Urban Enclosure
ASSIGNMENT 2: STUDIES IN HISTORIC URBAN SPACE

INTENT: To acquaint students with the nature of historic urban spaces and
emphasize various aspects of their design and use.

WORKING METHODOLOGY: Each group of students would present case

studies of any one examples of urban spaces from their previous study of
historic cities .

CONTENT: The study will be based on an analysis of the characteristics of

the selected space, its historic, social and urban context; its present status
and use pattern; as well as contemporary management issues.

MAKING THE CHOICE: Ensure the availability of all base data – maps,
plans, text on historical background & other contextual factors, images, etc –
while making selection