The Concise Townscape

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I had to stop reading there and have a bit of a moment. Giggling down from the sky. My heart fluttered. Irregularity, pattern, and coherence: Visual perception is based on the difference between what is known and what is new. Comparisons and contrasts between visual elements such as colour, tone, line, shape, size, and texture capture attention, help you to discern form and meaning. Humans are attuned to regularities, patterns and rhythms – seeking spatial coherence and linking elements to make sense of the world. Too much randomness creates visual ‘noise’– disparate elements, with no way to unify or assimilating the parts into a whole. Conversely, too much sameness leads to boredom. A balance of pattern and spontaneity is required to capture visual interest – a tension between coherence and contrast, pattern and variety. Possession: This term implies a sense of ownership or belonging towards a space. Cullen believed that the design of urban environments should be human-centred, aligned with human perception and needs, making them more inviting and comfortable. Possession can be seen as part of Cullen’s broader emphasis on making urban environments more humane and engaging, connecting on a deeper, more personal level.

Townscape - Architectural Review Townscape - Architectural Review

No responsibility is assumed by the publisher for any injury and/or damage to personsor property as a matter of products liability, negligence or otherwise, or from any useor operation of any methods, products, instructions or ideas contained in the materialherein. Because of rapid advances in the medical sciences, in particular, independentverification of diagnoses and drug dosages should be made How to explain? Example: the nearest to hand at the time of writing isSees cathedral near Alen'Y0n,p.I4. The Gothic builders were fascinated bythe problem of weight, how to support the culmination of their structures,the vault, and guide its weight safely down to earth. In this buildingweight has been divided into two parts. The walls are supported bysturdy cylindrical columns: the vault itself, the pride of the endeavour,appears to be supported on fantastically attenuated applied columnswhich act almost as lightning conductors .of gravity between heaven andthe solid earth. The walls are held up by man, the vault is clearly heldup by angels. 'I understand weight, I am strong', 'I have overcomeweight, I am ethereal'. 'We both spring from the same earth together, weneed each other'. Through the centuries they commune together inserenity. Possession: (and here he is talking about possession from a positive standpoint, a Lefebvrian standpoint where people creatively occupy space and make it their own through their daily lives) ... Occupied territory, advantage, enclosure, focal point, indoor landscape, and so on, are all form of possession... (21)suffice to demonstrate the charms ofthis immediacy. A somewhat similareffect is produced in those caseswhere a structure is separated fromthe viewer by a featureless plane,a great empty stretch which has nogrip on the eye, such as the view ofthe Horse Guards from St James'sPark or the view of the SupremeCourt in Chandigarh across thewide lake. Arising out of this sense of identity or sympathy with the environ­ment, this feeling of a person in street or square that he is in I T orentering IT or leaving IT, we discover that no sooner do we postulate aHERE than automatically we must create a THERE, for you cannot haveone without the other. Some of the greatest towns cape effects arecreated by a skilful relationship between the two, and I will name an The book’s title is ‘The Concise Townscape,’ and Gordon Cullen is the author. He was a well-known urban planner and architect from England who played a significant role in the townscape movement. Cullen introduced a novel theory and approach to urban visual analysis and design founded on the psychology of perception, including human perceptions of time and space and the need for visual stimulation. The Concise Townscape is the name given to later versions of Townscape. Through this book, he significantly contributed to the Townscape’s structure. The enclave or interior open to theexterior and having free and directaccess from one to the other is seen From what base do we set out? The only possibly base is to set down the ways in which the human being warms to his surroundings. To set down his affirmations. Not the grandiose views on Art or God or the Computer, but the normal affirmations about our own lives. It may help to observe human response to living itself. (194)

Book Review: The Concise Townscape by Gordon Cullen Book Review: The Concise Townscape by Gordon Cullen

I. Optics -- how we see the environment: I love his description of serial vision -- how the town reveals itself in 'a series of jerks or revelations', always negotiating the existing view and the emerging view. I love how he cinematically pieces the city together as we move through it, he writes: According to Gordon Cullen, the layout of the city’s structures, including its streets, trees, and other natural elements, is known as Townscape. One approach to identifying a city’s physical shape using physical images is through the Townscape. The layout of the buildings and roads, which elicits a range of emotions in the viewer, may also be used to identify a townscape. The townscape idea is a foundation for architects, planners, and anyone concerned with the city’s appearance. The structure’s shape and mass impact and affect the physical form of urban space. The relationship between the physical condition of the urban environment and the body of the building mass is sensed by the spectator on a psychological and physical level. Additionally, the link between urban space’s size, form, and configuration and a city’s quality may be observed aesthetically. Coupled with enclosure (the hOllowobject) as an artifact of possession, isthe focal point, the vertical symbol ofcongregation. In the fertile streetsand market places of town and villageit is the focal point (be it column orcross) which crystallizes the situation,which confirms 'this is the Spot'.'Stop looking, it is here.' This mag­nificent clarity illuminates many acommunity but in many others thechief function of the focal point hasbeen stripped away l:.y the swirl andhazards of traffic so that it becomesmerely an indifferent piece for theantiquarian's notebook. First, streaming the environment. It is difficult to fight for a generalprinciple, easier to protect the particular. By breaking down the environ­ment into its constituent parts the ecologist can fight for his national

In considering vistas or any linearextension it is interesting to note thatthe optical division of such a lineinto here and there should be doneby bisecting the angle of vision intotwo roughly equal parts and not bydividing the line into two equallengths. This is demonstrated in thediagram. Based in Australia, Urban CGI has spent the last 20 years creating realistic and immersive digital simulations for urban development and infrastructure planning projects. Using CGI digital twin technology, we model urban spaces, environments, and precincts – or even an entire city (see our pre-loaded urban BIM city models) – transforming design proposals into virtual 3D replicas that can be explored in real-time by architects, engineers, designers, planners, and other stakeholders, facilitating live serial vision analysis and synthesis. From simple enclosure it is a step tothe spatial variations which springfrom this fertile form. The illustra­tion shows twO courtyards, the onewe are in and the one beyond,divided by a third enclosure, thecloister. Thus there are three separateenclosures combined into one inter­penetrating whole. Like many generations before them the architects of the modern movement had clear ideas of their perfect city. For most it was a city built from scratch, full of modernist towers and planned in zones—an area for work, another for play, another for housing. For most, it was also an ideal in which traffic was separated from pedestrians, a place of urban freeways and soaring overpasses. Reconstruction In 1972 he was elected Honorary Fellow of the RIBA. In 1975 he was awarded with an RDI for illustration and Townscape. The following year he was awarded a medal from The American Institute of Architects. In 1978 he was appointed a CBE for his contribution to architecture from Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom.

The Concise Townscape by Gordon Cullen | Goodreads

There is a further observation to be made concerning Serial Vision.Although from a scientific or commercial point of view the town may bea unity, from our optical viewpoint we have split it into two elements:the existing view and the emerging view. In the normal way this is anaccidental chain of events and whatever significance may arise out of thelinking of views will be fortuitous. Suppose, however, that we take overthis linking as a branch of the art of relationship; then we are finding atool with which human imagination can begin to mould the city into acoherent drama. The process of manipulation has begun to turn theblind facts into a taut emotional situation. Physics-based precision: This enables accurate modelling of sightlines, lighting and weather conditions, vehicle and pedestrian flow, vegetation, and surrounding infrastructure. Getting the balance of enclosure, mystery, concealment, and openness right is difficult – hence why digital simulations that combine all these different factors are so valuable. the outdoor room and enclosureIn this section of the casebook weare concerned with the person's senseof position, his unspoken reaction tothe environment which might beexpressed as 'I am in IT or above ITor below IT, I am outside IT, I amenclosed or I am exposed'. TheseImproved navigation, legibility, and wayfinding: Legibility plays a vital role in urban design, aiding ‘readability’ and ensuring people can make sense of an environment. Legibility is enhanced by well-structured, easily identifiable spaces. Variety and contrast help (it is difficult to orient yourself when everything looks the same), as well as well-positioned wayfinding signage and navigational cues to orient the viewer. Wayfinding design is a critical part of planning infrastructure projects such as train stations, airports, hospitals, and other big campuses and precincts. parks, local authority for its green belts, antiquarians for conservationareas and so on. This is already happening.