URBAN IDEALS AND DEFORMATIONS

BY THOMAS L. SCHUMACHER

CONTEXTUALISM:

Group 7 Chan Ka Yin, Grace Chow Chiu Yin Lau Wing Shan, Sarah Tan Ka Wai, Amy

Thomas L. Schumacher
+ 1941- 2009: Post- Modern period + American architectural theorist, professor + Student of Colin Rowe + expert on urbanism + contextualism---significant insights in post- modern urban design Publication: CONTEXTUALISM: URBAN IDEALS AND DEFORMATIONS 1971 (Theorizing a new Agenda for Architecture)

Thomas L. Schumacher
+ 1941- 2009: Post- Modern period + American architectural theorist, professor

Definition: Contextualism
The twentieth century town is physically a combination of two simple concepts: the traditional city of corridor streets, grids, squares, etc., and the city in the park

Traditional city
+ Void in solid: subtractive process + Emphasizes the spaces and de-emphasizes the building volumes > Figure void + Humanistic--- human scale, usage + Density, complexity + Old urban fabric (collection of blocks)

custom and historical approach of development

Traditional city
City of Rome
+ Scattered irregular block> fit in site + Blur division between different land-use +no zoning + Piazza Navona> Figure void > gathering, shopping > X mono-functional space

Traditional city
City of Rome
+ Narrow street, low- rise blocks with shops at ground floor + Pedestrian experince + Hybrid urban experience

City in the park

modernist approach of city planning + Solid in void: additional procedure + emphasizes the building volumes and not the space which the buildings define or imply > Figure solid + Functionalistic--- scale of automobile, efficiency & convenience + Characteristic: order, segregation + Object- like architecture (individual)

City in the park

Villa Radieuse, 1935
by Le Corbusier
+ grid regardless of site> uniform layout> pattern + Object- like high-rise >Solid on ground + segerated zones connected by transport route
Transport Commercial

Housing

Recreational

Factory

City in the park

Villa Radieuse, 1935
by Le Corbusier
+ Mismatch between building & human scale + Standardisation> mono- style + Machine- like city

Towards a New Architecture

A building is like a soap bubble. This bubble is perfect and harmonious if the breath has been evenly distributed from the inside. The exterior is the result of the interior.
> internal force to design> Form Follow Function

Definition: Contextualism
Because the twentieth century town is an unhappy combination of the traditional city and various misconceptions of the Ville Radieuse

So what is Urban Ideal? How to achieve it? > CONTEXTUALIAM

B G A D EF C
Traditional City

1 2 3 4 5 6
City in the Park

+ URBAN IDEAL: Similar to modernist vision + Enhance efficiency in city + Large infrastructure to link up different zones + Improve quality of life

Robert Moses
(1888-1981)

City Renewal

A D

B G E F C

1 2 3 4 5 6
City in the Park

Traditional City

Robert Moses
(1888-1981)
+ Mass transfer: Blocking human accessibility + Tearing old urban fabric apart

City Renewal

A D

B G E F C

1 2 3 4 5 6
City in the Park

Traditional City

Jane Jacobs
(1916-2006)

Nostalgia

+ URBAN IDEAL: More towards traditional city + Humanistic village city + Retaining old urban fabric + Multi-use districts: creating the full city experience

A D

B G E F C

1 2 3 4 5 6
City in the Park

Traditional City

Nostalgia
(1916-2006)

Jane Jacobs
+ Essence of the city: chaos, density and complexity + Give texture & character to a city

A D

B G E F C

1 2 3 4 5 6
City in the Park

Traditional City

Collin Rowe
(1920-1999)

Collage city

+ URBAN IDEAL: elements from both traditional city & city in the park + Contexturalism: consideration of old urban fabric in new development + Utopia as metaphor, Collage city as a prescription + Mixture of functional & historical condition

A D

B G E F C

1 2 3 4 5 6
City in the Park

Traditional City

Collage city
(1920-1999)

Collin Rowe
+ Building as both space occupier & definer + Come to the middle: integrated whole

A D

B G E F C

1 2 3 4 5 6
City in the Park

Traditional City

Thomas Schumacher

Contextualism: middle ground

Urban Ideal To retreat to a hopelessly artificial past is unrealistic, but to allow brutalizing system to dominate and destroy traditional urbanism is irresponsible. Obviously some middle ground is needed
B G E F C

A D

1 2 3 4 5 6
City in the Park

Traditional City

Contexturalist Techniques It is precisely the ways in ways idealized forms can be adjusted (deform) to a context or used as college that contexturalism seeks to explain

A D

B G E F C

1 2 3 4 5 6
City in the Park

Traditional City

Technique of achiving Contextualism: Collage and Deformation

Deformation
+ Basic parti (Idealized building culminates as a geometric abstraction) + Respond to constricted environment + Adjustment made to fit- in the existing context

+
Ideal form Deforming pressure

=
Specific Deformation

St.Agnese in Roma, 1652

+ Sitting of a cultural important buildings + Basic parti: Centralized cross surmounted by a dome + Site environment: Existing flat facade of the Piazza Navona

Piazza Navona, Roma

Plan of St. Peters Basilica in Vatican, 1626

Plan of St.Agnese in Roma, 1652

Technique of achiving Contextualism: Collage and Deformation

Collage
+ Fragmentation of basic parti + Reorganisation base od laws/ principles + Respond to constricted environment + Unified whole

+
Ideal form Fragmentation Empirical environment

=
Unified whole

Housing for National Pensions Institute, 1952

+ Basic parti: Idealization of programatric requirements + Fragmentation of Soap bubble + Resulting parti ties with the context

Housing for National Pensions Institute by Alvar Aalto, 1952(planning)

Land Values and the economic necessities of grouping people in high concentrations have greatly limited the flexibility of the capitalist city. ..endlessly repetitious and based on profit rather than need The results are urban configurations which relate neither to the human being nor to the neighborhoods which they interrupt.

Similar to Hong Kongs Situation

Hong Kongs Situation

The twentieth century town is physically a combination of the two simple concepts: the traditional city and the city-in-the-park..is an unhappy combination. + Union Square (city-in-the-park) VS Yau Ma Tei Fabric (traditional city) + Union Square is an island, isolated itself from the existing context + Destroy the harmony of the community

Hong Kongs Situation

+ Limited the flexibility of the capitalist city

Mei Foo Sun Cheun VS Lai Chi Kowk

Wah Fu Estate 1967 - Pok Fu Lam

Slab blocks

+ A public housing estate + Collage: extract the good elements from the ideal housing forms + Deformation: reformulate the arrangement of buildings in the site
L shaped

Twin towers

Wah Fu Estate 1967

+ The ideal forms in the housing

Wah Fu Estate 1967

+ Extract the good elements from the ideal forms

+
Given Site

Wah Fu Estate 1967

+ Form a new type based on the need of the human beings

+
Given Site

Wah Fu Estate 1967

+ Twin Tower: better natural ventilation and security

= +
Given Site

Wah Fu Estate 1967

+ meeting the demand of sufficient housing provision

Densely packed in Mei Foo Sun Cheun

Wah Fu Estate 1967

+ Deform in related to the social meaning

Densely packed in Mei Foo Sun Cheun

VS

Wah Fu Estate 1967 - Pok Fu Lam

Slab blocks

+ A public housing estate + Collage: extract the good elements from the ideal housing forms + Deformation: reformulate the arrangement of buildings in the site
L shaped

Twin towers

Wah Fu Estate 1967

+ Twin tower estate is repeated + Attempt a middle ground seem can success in Hong Kong

Wah Fu Estate

Shatin - Wo Che Estate

Kwai Fong - Lai Yiu Estate

It is a safe way to deal with the urban problems

Development of Hong Kong from 1967 to 1900s

+ Arrived a stage of commercial dominating the development of urban planning + Population suddenly raised from 3.8 millions to 5.7 millions

+ Developers drive the main stream of land development

1960s

1990s

Street in the Sky 1990s - Tseung Kwan O

+ Collage: Extract the traditional streets and shops + Deformation: Elevate and turn the traditional street to 90 degree Experience of shopping from horizontal to vertical + Intention: Solve the land shortage, provide a perfect public space to the community

Street in the Sky 1990s

+ Segragate the city from the ground + Routine of life is restricted

Middle Ground: It is not a MUST to solve the problems. It is too THEORETICAL.

How to go on the next stage? .......

Langham Place 2004 - MongKok

+ A business and commercial complex + Focus on the arrangement within the building + no respond to the site context? (City-in-the-park?)

Langham Place 2004

+ Not attempt middle ground + Its high economic value influences the neighborhood, reduces social problems + Kick out red light district

Portland Street 1980s

Portland Street after 2004

instead of influencing by the site pressure, the building influences

END