Posted by Paul Malo on February 28, 2002 at 08:11:46:In Reply to: A Housing Vision posted by Kevin Matthews on February 27, 2002 at 00:09:15:
Peter Barber, the architect, describes his project as "ultra high density, low rise." Is this an oxymoron? What we seem to get is a British sort of "New Urbanism," which amounts to compacted suburbia. The nostalgic image here is for the "detached villa," in British realtor's parlance. But these are meaner than the ubiquitous suburbs, largely of "semi-detached villas," that peculiar British model. They at least have cottage gardens, where one can tend one's roses.
This reminds me more of Tokyo than Greater London. What's the benefit? How much sun would penetrate the slots between these blocks? What would grow in the open spaces--or are they all to be hard surfaced?
From an energy point of view, the form resembles a giant radiator, designed purposefully to lose as much heat as possible by all those fins exposed on all sides to the weather.
From a cost point of view, the complex broken form develops excessive perimeter. The interior space within a large enclousure is fairly cheap to build--it's the skin that's costly.
So what have we gained? There's a certain sort of intimate charm to the drawings, which however are INACCURATE. Don't jurors notice these slight errors (or tricks?) If you go into the linked article, with linked additional drawings, you'll find "03 View along street." Look at the size of people placed in the space, then realize that these are really three-story buildings. Something's wildly wrong here.
I recall an academic project in one of our design studios some years ago. The studio critic had directed the students to try to integrate disappearing buildings into a rural landscape, but the program was really an upper-middle-class subdivision. We saw lots of "organic" form, with "natural materials" and vernacular tradition. Fairly successful, given the intention. But one maverick student refused to play the game. He gave us a Corb Habitat, a white slab disengaged from the landscape. When we saw the consequence of well-intended dispersal of houses all over the site, the alternative of one simple architectural form, leaving the rest of the acreage unchange, seemed preferable. (And I'm not a dedicated Corb fan).
If one is to go in the direction that Peter Barber has taken, however, there are other ways that be more successful, such as courtyard houses design by Pei. This, of course, is the traditional atrium model of the Romans. Why do modernists (and postmodernists) try to reinvent the wheel?
What ever happened to "typology" as an architectural approach?
What happened was journalism, that continually seeks something novel (this journal excepted, of course).
|
ArchitectureWeek
Search
Buildings
Architects
Types
Places
Pix
Free 3D Models
Store
Library
|