Documentos de Académico
Documentos de Profesional
Documentos de Cultura
ROB KRIER
- v.
IAN. 2003
"'/.o..
o'l
lJi I
. . I
. .. "'
' f
, ;.1 (1 ! /"
CONTENTS
..
FOREWORD
by Colin Rowe
CHAPTER 1
TYPOLOGICAL AND
MORPHOLOGICAL ELEMENTS OF
THE CONCEPT OF URBAN SPACE13
1 INTRODUCTIO N . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
2 DEFINITION OF T HE CONCEPT
'URBAN SPACE' . ... . .
- the square .. ... . . . .. . . . .. . ... .
- the street .. . . .. . .......... .
3 TYPICAL FUNCTION S OF
URBAN SPACES
- the square .. . . ... . . . . . ... . . ..
- the street . . . . .
. .. . .. . . . .
4 TYPOLOGY OF URBAN SPACE ..
5 MODULATION OF A GIVEN
SPATIAL TYPE ...... . . .. .
6 HOW BUILDING SECTION S
15
42
46
derivatives
..... . . .... . . . .
- large-sca le composite plans .. . .
- la rge-scale compos1te forms
50
51
......
15
17
10 EPILOGUE TO TH E C HAPTER
17
17
19
:!0
22
23
2:1
28
28
30
w 1th vafliJllons
-orth ogonal plans for squ ares
- orthogo na l plans for squares w1th
32
33
central build1ngs . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
-open squares with bu1ldmgs
36
Introduced . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
- examples of spaces wh1ch are
angled. d1v1ded. added to o r
superimposed ... ..... . . .
- c1rcuses
37
..
43
59
60
61
62
CHAPTER 2
THE EROSION OF URBAN SPACE
IN 20TH CENTURY TOWN
PLANNING .. .. .. .. . .. .
63
1 HISTORICAL SUMMARY
2 CRITIQUE OF PRESENT-DAY
PATTERNS OF URBAN
DEVELOPMENT
3 WHAT MODELS FOR
41
102
105
108
1 12
122
123
13 1
142
153
155
157
CHAPTER 4
83
RECONSTRUCTING DEVASTATED
URBAN SPACE WITH EXAMP LES
FROM THE CITY CENTRE O F
STUTTGART . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
87
INTRODUCTION
- motivation and obJeCtives w h1ch
gave nse to th1s study .. . ... .. . .
4 PR OPOSALS FO R THE
RECONSTRUCTION OF
83
CHAPTER 3
40
91
91
64
89
APPEND IX
1 59
161
166
167
173
174
FOREWORD
by Colin Rowe
,.,
tecture - a primary message of Walter
Gropius. Sigfried Giedion. Le Corbusier
and Ni kolaus Pevsner. Only believe in
this : and if y ou w ill but do so. the
world will become re-integrated. the
joys of craftsmanship res tored and the
wounds of society healed. But if.
contributing to th e litany of this myth.
th ere have been many of the would-be
self-consciously cri tical names of recent Western civi lisation. it must still
remain a particu larly savage irony that
modern architecture's most favored
polemic has now been enlisted aga inst
modern architecture itse lf. For the locus
ofth e histo rical riftvall eyis now shifted;
the bad date is now 1923 - or th ere abouts ; the bad gestures/propositio ns
are those of ClAM; and the really evil
guys (the Pted Pipers w ho lead the children in the wrong direction and finally
deposited them in a Carp athia n w ilderness. terribly dangerous and ever so far
from home) are rap id ly coming to be
the bearers of just those names w hich.
only the other day, seemed to be so
firml y respectable and so highly established among the commemorators of
architectural progress.
So. perhaps. we now inhabit a somew hat desperate Transylvanian land scape of the mind. lugubriously
furn ished with the wreckage of reputations and the debris of good intenti ons. Hamelin tow n is f ar away ('in
Brunswick near f amous Hanover
City') ; but. havi ng been brought to
our present destitution by the most
charming of music. the most interesting of leaders. the most curious of
subterranean ro utes. we can only f eel
disquieted. abused. disturbed and.
being unable to f org et the Hansel and
Gretel toy town from out of which we
were seduced. w e can now only
suspect the instrument of ou r temptation -the notion of an impeccable and
'scientifi c' solution throu gh instant
'total' design- was itself no more than
a species of late Biedermayer orn amental gingerbread . For. apparently,
nobody- ever - was real ly very good.
Until recen tly w hen modern archit ec ture. in spite of its longevity. was
still. universally, procla imed as 'new'.
almost any archi tect und er the age of
six ty (with appropriate ach ievements
to his cred it) was likely to be saluted
and advertised as 'young' and th e
question 'But just how old does one
have to be in order to become a young
architect ( ?)' was scarcely ever propounded. For the legend of uncorincorruptibl e
arch itectural
rupted.
youth (youth synonymous with the
only quest worthwhile - the ongoing
quest for the new and the ag ile) persisted as one of th e most fundamental
of f ictio ns: and. indeed. the collusion
between Peter Pan. Jugendstil. the
Boy Sco uts and th e early Fascist
'giovinezza. giovinezza' is likely t o
remain among the more observable
phenomena of early twentieth century
culture - perh aps part of th e inevitable
heritage of the art nouveau.
So it w as an important idea - and a
dangerous one: and. like many important - and dangerous - ideas. it has
become f ossilized and survives as no
more than unexamined and tedious
tradition: let us rather be potentia l
th an productive: let us be dynamic
rath er than introspective; let us prefer
animation to reflection : let us condemn
the unjust sophistications and specia l
moral cod es of establi shed society;
since Rousseau' s noble savage (p ri mordi al energ y uncontaminated by
cu lture) is almost the same as Peter Pa n
{who is alm ost the same as the statue
of Eros in Piccad illy Ci rcus) then. in
order to make tabula rasa. in order to
,,
disclose a pnm!llve house and to
engender a fuwre soci ety - redeemed.
and of renew ed aboriginal purity - let
us proceed to mock. to injure and to
destroy the existing.
Now the fi esta of destru ction (one
imagines broken bottles on a New
Year's Eve in Naples) w hich has con tinued since the Enlightenment surely
deserves t o be applauded . For the most
part it has been ex hilarating; also it has
resulted in previously undreamed of
blessi ngs; and as one attempts to
imagine the cond1ti on of provincial
society. circa 1770. in almost any small
city in the world. then one can only say:
Th ank God for the ventilations w hich.
over the last tw o hundred years. have
been made !
But. at least for the impatient. the
route of w hat might be conceived to be
progress has still taken an extremely
long time; and. of course. one of the
major road blocks to emancipation has
now become the fantasies which the
architect entertains about himself.
fanta sies now littl e more than the
platitudes of criticism. but. still. fanta sies whi ch. in their own day - now a
very good many years ago - were
conceived of as permanent. indeed
dazzli ng. illuminations w hich were for
ever to make v isible the surface of a
glorious autostrada leading to a crystal line social condition of lif!1pid authenticity.
'And I John saw the Holy City, New
J erusalem. coming down from God out
of heaven . ... and the City lieth foursquare. and the length is as large as the
breadth : . . . and the City was pure
gold like unto clear glass ... and the
street of the City was pure gold. as it
were transparent glass . . . and the
City had no need of the sun. neither of
the moon to shine in it : f or the glory of
God did li ghten it. . .. and there shall
in no w ise enter into it anything that
defileth. neither whatsoever worketh
abomination or maketh a lie: but they
.I')
10
11
..
12
..
CHAPTER 1
..,
CHAPTER 1
TYPOLOGICAL AND
MORPHOLOGICAL
ELEMENTS OF THE
CONCEPT OF
URBAN SPACE
INTRODUCTION
The basic premise underlying this
chapter is my conviction that in our
modern cities we have lost sight of the
traditional understanding of urban
space. The cause of this loss is familiar
to all city dwellers who are aware o1
their environment and sensitive enough
to compare the town planning achievements of the present and the past and
who have the strength of character
to pronounce sentence on the way
things have gone. This assertion alone
is of no great service to town planning
research. What has to be clearly
defined is what should be understood
by the term urban space and what
meaning it holds within the urban
structure. so that we can go on to
examine whether the concept of
urban space retains some validity in
contemporary town planning and on
what grounds. 'Space' in this context
is a hotly disputed concept. It is not
my intention here to generate a new
definition but rather to bring its
original meaning back into currency.
15
16
3 House
4 Urban structure
'street'. it retain s no co nnection w it h
t he orig inal signif icance of t he term.
Certai nly the moto rised. transportat ion
of people and go ods is one of th e
primary f unctions of t he town. but it
requi res no scenery in the space
around it. It is different in the case of
t he movement of pedestrians or public
t ransport vehicles w hich move at a
mode rat e speed. like carriages. T oday
we have boulevard situ ations wh ich
apparen tly draw their life from t he
defile of fl ashy cars and pavement
c afes are visited despite the fact that
the ai r is pollut ed by ex haust f umes.
Lookin g at planning .schemes of t he
turn of the centu ry one can appreci ate
that in cosmopoli tan cities su ch as
Paris. Rome or Berlin. th e ai r was
pollu ted in a different way : by horse
manu re. st inking sewage and un collected refuse. A problem of urban
hygie ne. as old as th e town itself. with
th e on ly d ifference t hat people can be
poisoned by carbon mon oxide but
sca rcely. by horse manure.
On medical grounds we can no longer
17
18
THE SQUARE
This spatial model is admirably suited
to residential use. In the private sphere
it corresponds to the inner courtyard or
atrium. The courtyard house is the
oldest type of town house. In spite of
its undisputed advantages. the courtyard house has now become discredited. It is all too easily subject to
ideological misinterpretation, and
people are afraid that this design may
imply enforced conformity to a communal lifestyle or a particular philosophy.
A certain unease about one's neighbours has undoubtedly led to the
suppression of this building type. Yet
in the same way as communa l living
has gained in popularity for a minority
of young people with the disappearance
of the extended family, the concept of
neighbourhood and its accompanying
building types will most certain ly be
readopted in the near future.
In the public sphere. the square has
undergone the same development.
Market places. parade grounds. cere monial squares, squares in front of
churches and townhalls etc. all relics
of the M iddle Ages. have been robbed
of their original functions and their
symboli c content and in many places
are on ly kept up through the activities
of conservationists.
The loss of symbolism in architecture was described and lamented by
Giedion in Space. Time, Architecture.
The literary torch which he carried for
19
r
~~
\I
~.z
(:}\~ ,~~ .1
I~
t't,
l)
~ \.tl
THE STREET
In purely resident ial areas streets are
universally seen as areas for public
c irculation and recreation. The distances at which houses are set back
from the street. as regul ations demand
20
.....
making music. painting. making pic tures. dancing ... ? Everybody would
answer no to this. The role of architecture on the other hand is not
apparently seen as so essential. 'Architecture is something tangible. useful.
practical' as far as most people are
concerned. In any case its role is still
considered as the creation of cosiness
indoors and of status symbols outdoors. Anything else is classed as
icing on the cake. which one can
perfectly well do without. I maintain
that a stage in history when architecture is not granted its full significance
shows a society in cu ltural crisis. the
tragedy of w hich can scarcely be
described in words. Contemporary
music expresses it adequately.
The problems of the residential street
touched on here apply equally to the
commercial street. The separation of
pedestrians and traffic carries w ith it
the danger of the isolation of the
pedestrian zone. Solutions must be
carefully worked out which will keep
the irritation of traffic noise and exhaust
fumes away from the pedestrian. without completely distancing one zone
from the other. Th is means an overlapping of these functions. to be
achieved w ith considerable investment in the techn ologica l sphere, a
price which the motorised society
must be prepared to pay. This problem
wi ll remain much the same even when
the well-known t echnical shortcomings and acknowledged design failings
of the individual car have been ironed
out. The number of cars. and their
speed. remains a source of anxiety.
With the way things are going at the
moment. there seems little hope of
either factor being corrected. On the
contrary, nobody today can predict
what catastrophic dimensions these
problems will assume and what solutions w ill be needed t o overcome
them.
It is completely absurd to labour under
the misapprehensio n that one day the
21
>'I
DOD
W ithout doubt the scale of an urban
space is also related t o its geometrica l
qualiti es. Scale can on ly be mentioned
in passi ng in this ty pology. I wish to
try and deal w ith the signifi cance of
propo rt ions in externa l space mo re
comprehensively in a later chapter.
They do not affect the arrangement of
my ty pology.
22
"'
MODULATION OF A GIVEN
SPATIAL TYPE
The matrix drawn up below (Fig. 8)
shows. reading from top to bottom:
1. The basic element: 2. The modification of the basic element resulting
from the enlargement or reduction of
the angles contained within it. where
the external dimensions remain constant: 3. The angles remain constant
and the length of two sides changes in
the same proportion : 4. Angles and
external dimensions are altered arbitrarily.
UJ
D..
<0:
:r:
""
<..>
c:;;
<0:
CJ
4. The
merge.
basic
elements
overlap
<.!:1
=
2
:::;
=
2:
<0:
I-
UJ
:2
t3
""
a:
D..
>=
<0:
--'
::>
c::J
Ci
<0:
>=
a:
0
I-
c::J
Ci
""
R=REGULAR
UR = IRREGULAR
BASIC
SHAPE
Ia lo ID lolnlniiii!IO 101
or
ALTERATION
OF
INTERNAL
ANGLES
ALTERATION
OF
EXTERNAL
DIMENSIONS
ALTERATION
OF BOTH
INTER NAL
ANGLES AND
EXTERNAL
DIMENSIONS
23
, J'I
13
14
15
16
24
I
r
,J'l
ELEVATIONS
~----------~10~------~--~
~
~.
.. '
\, .....
. .. . . .
-. ,
..
...
Ill
tz/
//
1-
!D ro
l11
II ~
..
'
,I
'.
I
I
l
l
=
JD
q_ tr
I'iif''.l
~~
i
I~
25
13 Lower arcade.
15 Combination
26
of
three
different facades.
18 Effect of materials.
20 Green open space, trees w ith short and tall trun ks.
~
27
23
INTERSECTIONS OF
STREET AND SQUARE
'-'-'
-'
<1:
a::
>-
<..J
a::
>:z
'-'-'
tf
c:::>
-'
<1:
a::
'-'-'
>-
:S
'-'-'
:=:1
c:::J
::::;
co
c:::>
COMBI NATIONS
COMBINATIONS
28
COMBINATIONS
24
SPATIAL TYPES
""
::::;
""
2
<(
2
0
:z
Cl
<(
a:
:2
z
""
c::
""
C3
;::
Ci
c..
5a::
UJ
UJ
>
0
:z
0
;::
a:
0
>-
"'
Ci
,
OPEN
~~~
SCALE
29
.>')
MORPHOLOGICAL SERIES OF
URBAN SPACES
The series of spatial forms which I
have sketched here is laid out simply
according to the geometrical characteristics of the basic shape. It does not
claim to be comp lete. It should indicate
to the planner the wea lth of spatial
forms w hich is our town-planning
heritage. and suggest w hat he can
learn from these examples and apply
to his own projects. In presenting th is
selection of drawings I would like to
try and convince arch itectural theoreticians and historians that in future they
must incorporate spatial considerations
more exactly into their overall view of
architecture and town planning. Such
considerations have in fact been
criminally neglected .
There is a widespread and naive view
prevalent among act historians as well
as the general public that this type of
irregular or 'organic ' arch itecture is
more beautiful than a group of urban
buildings planned synchronically. In
reality. the facts of the matter are these:
30
25
26
>'~
27/1-20
A clear. geometri c urban spatial f orm
call s for arc hitectu re of extreme delicacy and high quality. Any architectural
error is immediately obvious and
damages the overall im pression . In the
case of irregular forms. variety is the
ove rri d ing characte ristic. Defective
architectural detaili ng is not so glarin gly
obvious. but is eff ectively buried .
The great popu larity of med iaeva l
squares is rather more rooted in t he
fa ct that. f irst. they are squares of a
type wh ich no modern t own could
imitate. and second th at they are
surrou nded by f ine arch itecture. Our
age cannot compete with the past in
this area either.
27/13-20
Sketches by W . Wallbrecht.
31
28/1-24
PLANS OF RECTANGU LAR
SQUARES W ITH VAR IATIONS
32
.>'I
29/1-24
ORTHOGONAL PLANS FOR
SQUARES
29/1 Livorno (Italy), Piazza V.
Emanuele. 1605. Arch itect A. Pieron.
29/2 Montpazier (France). 1284.
29/3 San Giovanni Valdarno (Italy,
Tu scany).
29/4 Turi n (Italy), Piazza San Carlo.
18th century. Architect Carlo di Castellamo nte.
29/5 London. Hanover Square. 18th
century.
29/6 London. Golden Square. 18th
century.
29/7 Catania (Italy), Piazza Dante.
1774. Architect Fr. Battaglia.
29/8 Catania (Italy). Pi azza San
Fil ippo.
29/9 Florence (Italy), Piazza Vittorio
Eman uele .
29/ 10 Freudenstadt (Germany). 1599.
Architect Schickardt.
29/11 Freudenstadt. main sq uare with
arcades.
29/12 Bordeaux (France). Place de Ia
Bourse. 1733-1 743. Architect J.
Gabriel.
29/13 Reims (France). Place Royale.
1775. Architects Sufflot & Legendre.
29/14 Mannheim (Germany), Schlossplatz. 17th century. Plan after
architect Coehorn.
29/15 Vienna (Austria). Piaristen platz.
29/17 Stuttgart. Schlossplatz. 1750.
Afte r architect Retti.
29/18 Stuttgart. Hohe Carlsschule.
1740-1748. Arch i tects Leger and
Fischer.
29/19 Copenhagen (Denmark). Amalienborg, 1749. Architect Eig hve id .
29/20 Ludwigsburg (Germany).
Castle. 1795. Architect Frisoni.
29/21 Ludwigsburg (Germany). after
1715. Architects Nette and Frisoni.
29/22 Ludwigsburg (Germany),
Marktplatz.
29/23 Le Corbusier's 'Redents'. 1922.
29/24 Leinfelden (Stuttgart). Marktplatz. 1971 . Author's scheme.
33
>'I
.-~
~------~~~~----... .. ..
..
..
.. ....
...-
...... .. .. ---
.......... . ::.:::-''
..
....
.-
----- -.. - ~::.:::_,. ..-
..
....--
..
30 Lei nfelden
Leon Krier.
'
32 Freiburg im Breisgau (Germany),1971. Author's scheme. 33 Freiburg im Breisgau. 1971 (alternative plan). Author's
scheme.
34
..
...,
35
35/1-24
[;j:%
.
~//U/h,.
u"
.~ .~
t..~Q ~
W7,@.7ff/~ 'I
36
~...
-~ y<_
"~
38/1 - 24
OPEN SQU AR ES W ITH
BU ILDINGS INTR ODUCED
1J
w.-&"177~
37!1 - 10
37/1. 2 and 35/6 Buildi ngs around a
square. and stepped back.
37/3 In addition. the corner is cham fered.
37/3 Arcade added .
Rectangu lar
37/4. 5. 7. 8-35/14
squ are. arcade placed along side w ith
angled corners.
37/6 Oct agona l open space wi th rect angular arca de.
37/9. 10 see Fig. 38/23.
(:)
u
8
14
13
18
rJ
21
22
24
37
39
Streets as an aid to orientation. Squares
at road intersections. Each house in t he
row has one side facing the paved
street and one facing the public
gardens.
38
40
The green area can be spatially articu lated in the same way as architectural
space. For landscaping and landscape
architecture the same design principles
apply as for town planning.
39
..
~
41/1-24
EXAMP LES OF SPACES
WH ICH ARE ANGLED,
DIVIDED. ADDED TO AND
SUPERI MPOSED
40
45/1-24
CIRCUSES
43 Lucca .
44 Siena.
49/ 1-24
CIRCUSES CONTAINING
BUILDINGS AND MODULATIONS
OF THI S SPATIAL TYPE
----~-~---~:->-- -----
46 Leinfelden (Stuttgart) . 1 971
(scheme). Architect Leon Kri er.
48 Author's scheme.
52/ 1-24
COMBINATIONS OF
DIFFER ENT TYPES OF CIRCUS
51 Author's scheme.
Finsbury
43
~
( Englan d) Park Crescent.
5
3 London. t John Nash.
181 2. ArdHtec
..
.J')
45
>'I
55/1 - 24
GEOMETRICALLY COM PLEX
SYSTEMS
55/5. 7. 8 Stuttgart. Osterre ichischer
Platz. Author's scheme.
55/10 Leptis Magna. Roman Empire.
55/1 3 London. Park Crescent. 1810.
Architect John Nash.
55/16 Rome. Piazza del Popu lo. 1816
(proposed scheme). Arch itect G. Valadier.
55/18 Vigevano (Italy), Piazza Ducale. 15th century. Arch itect Bramante.
55/19 Turin (Italy ), Mercato.
55 / 20 Venice (Italy ), Piazza San Marco. 15th- 16th centuries.
55 / 21 Rome. Temple of Trajan. Ro man Empire.
55/22 M ilan (It aly), square in front
of San Carl o al Corso. 1857. Arch itect
Carlo Amati .
] [
~{
54 (above) Hannover. Sprengel Mu seum. 1972 (scheme). Arch itect Leon
Krier.
55 / 23 Vienna. A trium of th e Vo tiv kirche .
55/24 V ienna. H ofbu rg . Architec t
Gottfried Semper.
56/ 1 Rome. Piazza Navona.
56/3 Stuttgart. Ki:in i gstrasse. 1782
(scheme). Arch itect R. F. H. Fischer.
56/ 5 Koblenz (Germany), Schlossplatz.
56 / 6 St uttga r t. Sc h lossp latz. 1782
(scheme) . Archi tect R. F. H . Fisc her.
46
56/1-24
n
J [
GEOMETRICALLY COMPLEX
SYSTEMS
56/7 Ludwigsburg (Germany), on the
ramparts. Architect Frisoni.
56/8 The Hague (Holland). Architect
Berlage.
56/9 Berlin-Charlotte nburg, Konigstrasse.
56/13 Nancy (France). Place Carriere
and Place Stanislas. 1752. Architect
Here de Corny.
56/14 Ludw igsburg, Schlossplatz.
1709 (scheme). Architect J . F. Nette.
56/15 Ludwigs burg . Schlossplatz.
1713 (scheme). Architect Nette.
56/16 Edinburgh (Scotland). 1766.
Architect James Brown.
56/18 Karlsruhe (Germany) . Architect
Weinbrenner.
I l
56/19 Rome. St. Peter's (scheme).
Architect Fontana .
56/20 Rome. Piazza San lgnazi o.
1727. Architect Raguzzini.
56/21 Stuttgart. Osterreichischer
Platz. 181 0. Arch itect Thouret.
56/22 Stuttgart. Neues Schloss. 1750
(scheme). Arch i tect Retti .
56/23 Stuttgart. Schloss Solitwde.
Hotel Ducal. 1775. Arch itect C. V.
Shell.
56/24 Stuttgart. Schloss Solitude.
central area. 1764. Architects Guital.
Weyhing, de Ia Guepiere.
22
23
24
47
7e
-.
'
'
f,~
1-
48
after.
,J'l
..
l I _
._. _ _
._. ._
~ _ _ _.,..
~
...,
'-:"~
.
66 Triangular residential squa re. London 197 4. Sch eme by Leon Krier.
67 (see Fig. 65) Stuttgart. Charlottenplatz. 1973 (author) .
49
68/1-24
, >')
68/1
68/2
68/3
68/4
68/5
68/7
50
>'I
LARGE-SCALE COMPOSITE
PLANS
68/17. 18 Strasbourg (France). Designs by the architect Blonde!. 1767.
68/19 Assos (Greece) . Agora.
68/20 Paris. Louvre.
68/21 After Gurlitt.
68/22 San Gimignano (Italy). 1. Piazza del Duomo; 2. Piazza della Cisterna.
68/24 Turin (Italy).
70
71
BlBb'iOT .ECA
51
,,..
72/1 - 6
LARGE-SCALE COMPOSITE
PLANS
72/1 Paris. Dome des lnvali des. 16791706. Architects J . Hardouin and
Mansart.
::::-:
I'
..
'-
r ~;
.
....:
. - ../<
~
l#
..
,:- ~
..
52
I
I
Ill
...
.,
(:4 ..
. ..
..,
76/1-6
LARG E-SCALE COM POSITE
PLANS
53
77/1-3
LARGE -SCALE COM POS ITE
PLANS
....
~ -. ~ ~~
r,~.~7P-Y.NO<,
~
"
I
II
!1o
I
AOO
UL
nr
~
54
>'I
80/1-3
LARGE-SCALE COMPOSITE
PLANS
Let us take a look at the self-contained
systems of street and square du ring the
Roman period. The forums always lay
adjacent to the streets: but the streets
never actually ran through them. Even
int ersect ions in exposed spots were
marked by the Romans with distinctive
architectural features. as for example in
Gerasa. Perge. Timgad. Lept is Magna
or Palmyra . In the development of
typical Roman urban architecture. an
important part was pl ayed by the
porticoed building borrowed from the
Greeks. Originally. the Greek Agora
was surrounded by one or more
colonnades. In Assos. for example. and
in Athens. there were two straight
colonnades. In Knidos and Priene on
t he other hand. one straight and one
U-shaped colonnade could sometimes
be found opposit e each other.
In his book Grundformen der Europaischen Stadt. Gantner shows th e different
stages of development of the Agoras in
Milet as they progress from the open to
the closed spatial system. The Agora in
the lower town at Pergamon w as an
open space enclosed on all sides. and
framed on three by colonnades. The
Agora at Magnesia on the Maander
was simi l arly an enclosed rectangular
site. but surrounded on all sides by a
double colonnade. These last two
Agoras were used as market places. The
two Gymnasia at Priene were square
open spaces. enclosed all round by a
colonnade. The Romans developed
these spatial types and the architecture
whi ch went with them to a perfect
degree. Out of the colonnade grew t he
arcaded street. in evidence in almost
all important Roman towns . The basilica was t he next phase of develop ment. This spatial type is a section of
arcaded street. covered and enclosed.
55
81/1and2
LARGE-SCALE COMPOS ITE
PLANS
81 / 1 Pompeii. Forum.
81/2 Pompeii. Forum: si m plified
sket ch. bringing out clearly the layout
of urban space. The streets which
emerge on to the square are intercepted
by the colonnades of the f orum. so that
the spatial effect of the enclosure of the
square remains.
56
"'~
83/1-3
LARGE-SCALE COMPOSITE
PLANS
Coming from the old Forum, which
was surrounded by a large variety of
isolated buildings, you first enter
directly the Forum of Caesar adjacent
to t he Curia. This was bordered by a
colonnade. The temple, relatively spacious in relation to the square, occupies
a good quarter of it. Next you enter
the Forum of Augustus. This was
roughly twice as large as the first and
its space was articulated in a fundamentally different way. The temple was
not free-standing in the square, but
was pushed back, w hich meant that it
had no rear elevation. To heighten the
perspective of the square, the single
colonnade was taken almost to the
front of the temple. Where the colonnades ended. semi-circular lateral
niches were inserted, emphasising the
transparency of the square. The rear
j1
)~""~t
~/
_../"\
<-~\
'
~J"...... (I
... J;: =: .1
:: .:;~..f:'?::::~~: :~c: ===:==."=~-:::=
.. .. ======-=-==::::::::.
' [: ~-::.:
)~\_,;
'
./
=\:=.\
It
Ill
.:;... :
..
=.
IIi
H
~~
:: I
........
n
~~
: l t:
:i ~
. ~1
-! "
:===
t..,;
:::
::
_..:
== ::
'
0
It
<~~
[Iii]
....
..lit
f::a
.:
a.l:
. . .__ . ..
;;: '1
"
.t-
....
-rn!r+
~~,8
~~
<;
111
1 ;.,_
t.: ::r-
It Ill
~1
t:.:..t :
J..
..u
,.,
.. ...:_:. ~.................
::
=~ !=
.
. .............
. r. .
..-- ~. ...- ..-..
-J:: ~.
.. ~ ....
:
....
~ ..., .... r-~"1r ......... ~~:\
. M:!
L..-...J
.._'
.1.~ -r~:
1 :; '
Ill
:-:-;
kwHT~
;.L_
.l!r
57
84/1 and 2
wal l was ang led towards the temple .
theatrically exaggerating the depth of
the space.
58
86/1 and 2
LARGE-SCALE COMPOSITE
FORMS
..
~-
ft.,
~ ,
. .
.-:; ~
...~~ -
59
87/1-6
STREET PLANS
This series of street plans ca n be
infi nitely expanded . Every town has a
large number of extremely interesti ng
st reet plans. wh ich are un iquely lin ked
to the place's history. it s topography
and its in habitants.
88 Author's scheme. in w hich particular atten tion is paid t o the interplay of street and squa re.
6
60
91
VAR IATI ONS AND INVENTIONS
For anyone who is creati ve or wishes
to become so. th ese children's drawings can have a meaning w hich points
far beyond the limits of the subject
under discussion.
89
I
89-91 Streets with archway. fence
and flags. Drawings by Caren.
90
6'1
.,~
62
----------------------------------------------------------------------- - - -
CHAPTER 2
THE EROSION OF
URBAN SPACE
IN 20th CENTURY
TOWN PLANNING
....
CHAPTER 2
THE EROSION OF
URBAN SPACE IN
20th CENTURY
TOWN PLANNING
-W
64
Gar-
65
TAll
~.
-~
' I
67
.
~
have a role to play in the urban fra mework. This role must of course be based
on the fun ction of the bui ld ing and its
correspond ing form. It must. so to
speak. tear no holes in the urban fab ri c.
nor must it create any spatial va cuum
around itself.
3 The terms 'reg ular and 'irreg ular.
in the context of urban fabri c and
building form. shou ld not be postu lated on any ideolog ica l grounds. If
th ey were. thei r va lue would be debased. The introduction of the ortho gonal t own-plan in Gree ce is attri buted
to Hippodamus of Milet (5th cent ury
B.C.). This plan was subseq uently
widely imitated. espec ial ly in new
urban sett lements. Du ring the same
period. towns were being built on an
irregular g round plan. History shows
that archi tectural and spatia l masterpieces w ere produced by bo th types.
Th is observat ion is va lid for all cu ltural
periods.
One fu rther rema rk could be added
about the drawings of Fischer von
Erlach: t hat he deliberately placed
side by side isolated bui ldings and
urban spaces of a very different
character. in order to underlin e th e
diversity and ri chness of th e urban
morp holog y which he w ished to
depict.
I have no w ay of proving eith er these
conjectures or th e cl aim that Fischer
von Erlach played a definite role in a
historical develo pment w hich sa w the
breakdown of t raditiona l patterns of
urba n space.
....
many others. are interlocked like
pieces of a jigsaw puzzle, without any
recognisable town plan resulting. Most
of the structures are placed in the land scape independently. See Fi g. 106.
This kind of ideal city then is in
perfect accord wi th the visions of
Fischer von Erlach.
This scheme is especially interesting
for its almost inexhaustible range of
architectural styles.
Of course the layout of the town was
not produced by purely aesthetic
reasons. It is not by chance that the
town centre is a factory, a workplace.
If one takes the tro uble to decipher
Ledoux's plans and read his explanatory notes. it becomes clear that th is is
not a pian for the glorification of
capital and the employer class. and
that the manager's house- whose hall
was to be graced with an altar- is not
designed as a symbol of oppression.
Ledoux, a monarchist and Rousseauist.
planned an ideal city for an ethically
intact society which will never exist.
Although he worked as an artist in
Paris. and was highly respected t here.
he seems in this plan to negate the town
as a spatial concept. in contrast to his
contemporaries.
69
108 Cla ude Nicolas Ledoux (17361806) . Imag inary scheme for the 'Vil le
de Chaux', to day 'Sa li nes de Chaux' in
Arc-et -Senans.
70
o'l
111
110
~-r:=::"-!J!!!.W!E:~
....
j~., .~&!..-
)>r'
- (-.-
112
113
114
115
116
117
~--
: :;':_
::=:_..
::-:..:-
l~ :::-.-=:::.::::::
[,::::.... .. _
=-'- '--"'"-
..
~
a ....4d:ia::
..
71
.r;
"'h."~
t::J'pQoO: ..
""~
Qi'o
n ~ It:>
~ o
J/\f'>.
l:::J
0...@
r::,o
: ~~
r;:,r:> o~o
I~Dt>
1 ': 0
'q
..""'d'
~oc'\~
""'<) ~ .;
~-
,,.. Ll""
--:. . - ..
..
. II .. ..,
.... .---=;;
. ' -'
1:W1l,if~:~:~~Jl~:::~~;
1
...,.
0 . ~~~).)j[((f
1-.
~ [ (((),)).~
_.
.. ,_.1_..... - -
~-
72
"b
n
Y, rP1..
r-
C'li.,.P
\}1::1 D "~
-u
f=:::::t.
llD
li
~~
oq~~~ ~
. ~:
nD
"'CJU'a lie
123 Muni cipal hosp1ta lm the Johann stadt. Dresden. arch itect Brater.
..,
I
I
125
127
126
________J
128
L.
Jar,
~
i:O [
l..
_!
r.--- -= ~ (
~ ..
---
J L~ -,
,- - -- - -,
r- - -
... . --
- ~ [ '
_ -~
J
- , ,---
... .. . ,
.,..ea~
bed~
IOCIC!41~tnU
73
>'l
factors do not allow t his type of comparison. since the elements are too
disparate. I have included Figs. 126128 here to show how biased the
arguments are which have been used
as propaganda for the construction of
terraced building and the detached
'machine for living'. 'The town was
covered with a cancerous growth ...
and so had to be opened up by
separating out its functions. introducing more open space into the
town etc.
'The need for expansion demanded
vast built up areas. and so the town
had to be concentrated, built upwards
etc.' Fig. 124 shows an unplanned.
small settlement: a type which has
always existed and which can be
seen all over the world. So this type
of unstructured development is in no
way a novelty in town planning. All
that was new was that planners
began, towards the end of the 19th
century. to design such a type of
unstructured development on the
drawing board. The colossal pressure
for expansion of cities led to overrapid decision making. Solutions were
necessarily simplified. house-plans reduced to a minimum. building technology was stifled for economic reasons. Functional. constructional and
capital concerns were the order of the
day. Architecture was a low priority.
Further stages of development which
precipitated the erosion of urban space
in the town planning of the 20th
century:
1919'
129 and 130 Ludwig H ilberseimer:
proposal for a city. H ilberseimer was
one of the first to take his designs for
urban development back to f irst principles: the house or row of houses and
their services. In his later studies he
uses a less rigid approach and yet the
problem of urban space remains tot all y
neglected.
1921
131
Kibbutz in Nagalal (Israel). Arch itect
Richard Kauffmann. Looked at from
the point of view of the superficial
plan. this is a real isation of Led oux's
ideal city. The recognisable qualit ies
of urban space are absent. A kibbutz
is the very place where one wou ld
expect particular emphasis to be given
to building types which promote community life.
T
,-
+' + .~~
+ f"'+ ~ ~G;.:~ ~-- ;:)m>~-~
~-,. .~ :_Y ' ~<~'t~ -~-U:I::
__. .
~ ~r'-J2tBQE
m
Ul ;~_L..fF ~ - ~
~~~~: 0. _ut
~~~om~-~~.FJQ~
p, ~~ tJ IJ lJ ~-~-~ ~ ~-~
129
74
132
1922
132 Le Corbusier: scheme f or a contemporary city of th ree million inhabitants . The quality of life projected
here by Le Corbusier certa in ly con forms w ith Howard's ideas. but th is
does not apply to the proportions of
the whole. What is interesting are t he
spatia l concepts which underlie this
plan . They are repeated in all Le Corbusier's proposed t own plans. rig ht
into the sixties: the grid system.
'redents' terracing and the isolated
tower block. The streets and squares
produced by the grid system have been
among the most bas ic elements of
town planning since its beginnings.
The urban spaces in Le Corbusier' s
scheme are desig ned as multi-storey
circulation for vehicles and pedestrians
in the t rad itional sense. They have
proved unworkable in their f orm. alth ough the green courtyards barred to
traffic have not. The ' redents' terracing
has evolved from th e grid-system. The
forms of the open spaces are numerous.
embracin g whole sections of residen t ial streets and courtyards.
The schematic repetition of the g ridsystem and 'redents' terracing is equally
questi onable. In both cases orientation
on t he pedestria n level is made extraordinarily difficult. From this stage of
development it is only a short step to
isolated tower blocks w ith spaces in
between desig ned on ly for tra ffic. The
building as a perfect fu nctiona l unit (as
in t he 'cite radieuse') is cut off f rom the
spatia l play and log i c of th e town plan.
So naturally the ind ivid ual requ irements of this unit are easier to meet.
Co mmerce was very quick to grasp
this and is respons ible f or the question able success of the i dea.
It is hard to say what type of space we
are dealing w ith in the case of isolated
bu ildi ngs of such a sca le. It is not con sidered by Sitte. f o r whom only the
closed system of urban space is a
rea lity. Corb speaks of the 'Poesie de
l'espace ind icible' in relation to the
1924-25
133 J. J. P. Oud completed the
Kiefhoek workers' hous ing in Rotterdam. surely one of the greatest
achievements in the fields of architecture and town planning of the twenties.
Although Oud is largely working with
1926
1 36 Ernst May, Romerstad t development. Frankfurt am Main. From 1925
to 30. Ernst May was ch ief pla nner for
the c ity of Frankfu rt. Within the f ramework of the development plan which
75
>'I
138 Rundling estate in Leipzig, architect Hubert Ritter. Although one can
detect the use of noteworthy spatial
markers here, the overall concept is
not without its limitatio ns. The same
criticism may be levelled as against
the exclusive use of terraces: the reduplication of identical elements destroys all sense of direction and acts as
an obstacle to the inhabitant's abi lity
to identify with his environment. These
factors are all the more worrying in the
case of a concentric plan t han with an
orthogonal structure.
1927
140 and 1 41 We i ss en hofs i edl un g,
Stutt gart. pro duced in collaboration by
the f ollowing architects : Mi es van der
Rohe. Le Corbusier. J. J . P. Oud.
Gropius. Peter Behrens, J osef Frank.
Mart Stam. Richard Doecker. Ludw ig
H ilbe rse i mer , Hans Poelzig, Hans
Scharoun. Adolf Schneck. Bruno and
Max Taut. Victor Bourgeois.
..
o'
__...,_...,-
......... ....,
'
'"'
'
'
...
'
'
...
-..... ."":
.._._--
.....
..::.._-...
"'
~ZiXc-d
:
.
9~ {\
~
'
,~
0
. ~~.A\ll,'(k,=~,.,
'J ...dl t llll
I J J P , OuJ
I
M t1 ~1 1m
'
1 '= luGroeMH
I u.d IH I""""utr
' L...tIMn &t>dort. t>tw
tV IIL,tf'orllll
"AdooiiJI -.1 ....
IJ I(ONS.hootiW'O
I I Ad.liiS."-1
U
Bf\II'IOTINI
II Jolufo"l
tl
Vouot Buutp..ot
1925- 26
137 Bruno Taut. Britz development.
Berlin. The interest ing feature of this is
the horseshoe-shaped square which.
although visibly intended as the focal
point of the estate. is in a different
spatial register from the streets which
lead to it. The architecture and space
76
1927
139 Kostino estate. Moscow. A rchitect Nikolay Landowski. A very aesthetic layout ... As a piece of graphic
temberg Werkbund. which felt excluded from the enterprise. built its
own estate at the same time. adjacent
to the exhibition site. They wished to
show that Stuttgart was a match for
the International Movement in architecture. The result was respectable
German architecture striking a heroic
posture. Conceptually. it was planned
on the grid system. At the time this
enterprise was laughed out of court by
the 'modernists', who in turn were
subject to the type of insults which
became the order of the day in Nazi
Germany. Today we can judge this
professional infighting w ith a certain
detachment. The so-called 'reactionary'
development of the Wurttemberg
Werkbund had planning qualities
which were lacking in the Weissenhofsiedlung: in architectural terms the
reverse was true.
1928-30
143 Jarrestadt. Hamburg . Between
1923 and 1933 Fritz Schumacher was
chief city planner of Hamburg. Under
his directorship residential districts
were built with exceptional spat ial
features. comparable with the famous
courtyard housing of Vienna.
1927-28
142 Dammerstock development.
Karlsruhe. The development plan was
conceived by Walter Gropius and the
architects Haesler. Riphan. Roeckle
and others were involved. An important
terrace complex which i.s undoubtedly
well thought out. Spatial criticism: t he
city is reduced to a mathematical
problem. Throughout the estate. the
area between the terraced rows can be
seen as a kind of street. with no distinction between space to the front and
space to the rear. These spaces are redupl icated and break off sharply at the
boundaries of the site. Such an
abstract structure is incapable of being
extended beyond its demarcations. No
answer is given to inherited problems.
144 Kari-Kreis-Hof and Karl-MarxHot. Vienna. c. 1930. Schumacher conceived the overall plan of the Jarrestadt. He used an architectura l competition to find the best Hamburg
architects. who then carried out the
deta iled planning. Karl Schneider executed the central courtyard. A good
example of the way in which different
planners can collaborate successfully.
1929
145 'Mundaneum' project by Le Corbusier and Pierre Jeanneret. This project is not meant as a residential city,
77
I)
"'
..
150
' -~ in\!. ;
~ ;~~~:
1932
148 Broadacre City by Frank Lloyd
Wrigh t. Wright's conception of the
ideal. decentralised f orm of settlement.
meant as a protest ag ainst the in human
overc rowding in Am erica's major c ities.
Here man's contact with natu re is
restored. but at the cost of sacrificing
the spatial system of the town.
~~ :~~
~
.. ~~'
.. \, c. "'
, _ _J
~'~ :~~?~~,.;?~
~; ~.. ;:;::.o::=-~~~
bi'(~~~~
..~~ ~
. ~
~=:;'~~~
, . ~ ...... ;- . j::":.:r.. .o ~
#t~~-':f;!..-~
:,.... ~ ....,.,.'?''l"/~,'l;.
';~:~:~:~~~~~
::;; '~~~.::;:~::.~~n
r '
1933
149 and 1 50 Plan for expansion of
Antwerp by Le Corbusier and Pierre
Jeanneret. The main concept behind
this project is that of the 'redents'
terrace. already evident in th e ideal
city plan of 1922. The pers pective
sketch shows how im aginatively the
space can be used w ithin such a
stru cture. However. if this spatial type
is repeated on a large scale. each
individual space loses its sig nificance
and the inhabit ant finds orient ation
difficult.
it
. . .
. . .-
. '. . -.,~
.~nr?,.l?r.r.~p-/rrt'"
~=~
~l7r?,..r,;'(~-...~
1933
151 Plan for an idea l city by Le
Corbusier. This plan is a revised version
of the 1922 city for three million in habitants. The pol itical and administra tive centre is pushed to th e head of the
city . Th is motif w ill be repeated twenty
years later in the planning of Chandigarh. Cultural and commercia l activity
takes place in the heart of the complex. fla nked by residential areas. with
the ind ustrial zone at the foot. The
'a nat omy' of the ci ty is broken down
into its functiona l components in this
"~
1934
152 Nemours (North Africa). Project
by Le Corbusie r and Pierre J eanneret.
As in the Mundaneum project. the
free-st andi ng 'Unite d'habitation' is
positioned here as a living unit of
appropriate size. 'Unite de grandeur
conforme'. Urban space in the traditional sense is absent from this project.
1937
154 and 155 Sketches by Le Corbusier for the reworking of h is 1925
project for the centre of Paris. In this
scheme, the cruciform tower- blocks
have been repla ced by Y -shaped and
simple slab blocks. I only include these
sketches to illust rate how superficial
was Le Corbusier's concern w ith urban
space.
1942
1 56 Sketch
by
Le
Corbusier from
1946
157 New centre for St. Die (France).
project by Le Corbusier. From the
purely arc hit ect ural point of v iew.
th is composition gives a f oretast e
of t he perfection of the Capitol at
Chandigarh. built lat er. parti cu larl y in
the cent ral posit ioning of t he arts
buildings. The visual fascinat ion of
these projects derives f rom the buildings as isolated units and their aesthetic
completeness. and not f rom a spat ia l
composition w ith geometrically def inable space expressed in streets and
squares.
79
>'l
1952
1 58 Development plan of Chandigarh,
Le Corbusier. Compare the plans for
ideal cities. Figs 132 and 1 51.
1953
159 Lijnbaan. Rotterdam. Architects
van den Broek and Bakema. This
shopping street in Rotterdam connects the station area with the town
centre. For the first time in post-war
planning. an attempt is made to
formulate unified street-space. It is
unfortunate that this development
f unctions exclusively as a shopping
street with no integration of housing.
This is located behind the Lijnbaan and
consists of isolated high-rise slabs.
They were designed by a different
architect. The idea of the pedestrian
80
1955
160 Gratiot development. Det roit.
Architect Mies van der Rohe and
Hilberseimer.
1957
161 Brasilia. Architects Lucio Costa
(planning) and Oskar Niemeyer (architecture).
(r"'llJ~
~~
/
~~(~.t'<C~
- ~-.;~.
~-- __ j~(;.111ft~~
:_~
- --- l~~~~ ~~~ 11 I! \..,.
;; "
. ;/~-,..~~
.~
-~-~~fi~;~
~ ~~m~~~ ~q[~~~\!l!li~--'
.~t
,(J-:
:,\[~: c~~:7/'&,-~
1
~'~-- ~~~~~ur
~~E~J5113 _
_:;
f~[)
'~
I~V~,
.
l~~11~ L.~~J
itt
.
1
. .
1::
/'
c;
- y
:-1
\ - .
\J
"'-
-:
II
The erosion of urban space is an ongoing process which has been w ith us
for the last fift y years in the guise of
technological progress serving a democratic society. Every measure which
. ..
1964
1 65 Ideal town plan by C. Reinhardt
(Vienna). There is something Incongruous about this plan as a
product of the sixties. coming in the
middle of the urban experiments of
81
.
~
82
CRITIQUE OF PRESENT-DAY
PATTERN S OF
URBAN DEVELOPM ENT
By 'urban development' I understand
the outward expansion of a town. and
the internal renewal and adaptation of
its fabric. My observations re late primarily to large cities. w here developme nt problems are particularly pressing.
The growth of such cities is constantly
controlled by land-use plans. If one
looks at these plans over a period of
10-15 years. it is noticeable that at
eac h new stage the area given over to
building development increases under
the pressure of expansion. until the
administrative boundaries of th e town
transportation is subordinate to th e
needs of the human community. The
effectiveness of any utopian city must
be measured aga inst the technolog ica l
potential of existing modes of trans port. The technol ogy of house bui ldi ng
is of secondary importance. The most
prim itive bu ilding methods still produce
the best results in housin g today. This
is not true of the stagecoach. So we
must develop urba n models wh ich
among other thi ngs wi ll be able to
accommodate the pr ivate veh i cle.
whichever form t his may take. At t he
moment. we cannot work on the
assumption that this mode of transport
will be dispensed w ith . We can on ly
hope tha t the state will bring pressure
to ensure t hat the car conforms as
soon as possible to the requirements of
public health. Today's urban sprawl
must be prompt ly stopped and all new
t owns must be planned as part of an
int egrated super -reg ionar development
plan .
It is the aim of this study to provide
this utopia. whose demands are so
modest. w ith a realistic and workable
set of tools, which have noth ing in
common with the spectacu lar pla nning
fantasies which I have used as examples in t he preceding text. Not
least. th is work is intended as a
corrective to the Athens Charter and
its consequences.
WHAT MODE LS FOR
DEVE LO PMENT W I LL MEET
TH E FUTURE DEMANDS OF
URBAN GROWTH?
Any prediction must be reasona bly
rea listic and te chnically and admini stratively feasible by today's standards.
It w ill have to avoid visualisi ng the
t own according t o narrow ideolog ical
preju dice. w hether th is is of a sociopolitica l or technical natu re. Socia l
utopi as of the last 200 years have
shown the limitations of such visions.
as have the technological utopias of
recent years. No precise planning
83
>'I
84
grown or imported from abroad . Imported fash ions were in the majority
and like all imitative acts they falsifi ed
and coarsened the originals.
As I see it. one of the vital tasks of this
study is to follow my criticial com ments on the current situation and my
analysis of urban space with a concrete concluding statement. This conclusion should synthesise w hat we
have learned in the preceding pages
and attempt a prediction of the type of
urban structure which I feel has some
future potential. I have maintained that
the town is a reg ional problem.
Similarly, the grow th of several towns
of different size in the same reg ion has
become a problem of national concern.
As numerous examp les from previous
chapters have shown. Soria y Mata.
Le Corbusier. Hilberseimer and others
considered the planning of urban
growth as a facet of larger scale
regional planning.
Before I become more specific about
my own proposals. I be lieve it worthwh ile to outli ne the methods and
administrative structure which would
facilitate regional planning. A centralised informati on bank must assemble
all the facts pertaining to urban and
commun ity development: industrial
growth. introd uction of new industries.
popu lation growth and movement.
commuting patte rns. nature reserves.
farm land. traffic routes etc. In every
region of Germany this data is already
being collated on a conti nuous basis
and could therefore be evaluated
immediately by such an organisation.
Since the job of th is body would be to
coordinate the growt h of c ities in the
reg ions. the imp lica tions of the data
wou ld have to be tested against
planning requirements.
The development models which I
consider appropriate for the future are
the linear or cha in systems as conceived by Soria y Ma ta towards the
end of the 19th cent ury. The stunn ing
85
....
..
CHAPTER 3
RECONSTRUCTING
DEVASTATED URBAN SPACE
.l
CHAPTER 3
RECONSTRUCTING
DEVASTATED
URBAN SPACE
WITH EXAMPLES
FROM THE CITY
CENTRE OF
STUTTGART
INTRODUCTION
MOTIVATION AND OBJECTIVES
WHICH GAVE RISE
TO THIS STUDY
As a result of the devastation of the
Second World War. the constraints
imposed during the recons truction
period and the subsequent 'car- orientated' programme of costly civil engineering projects in the centre of
Stuttgart. the former coherent urban
structure which had been res ponsive
to local conditions was destroyed to a
catastrophic extent. The heart of the
old city. a bare thousand metres across.
was broken up into a large number of
sma ll isla nds battered by waves of
heavy traffic.
The raison d'ime of these studies was
to fill the gaps separating these isolated
fragments of town as effectively as
possible. This problem must involve
anyone concerned with the fate of the
89
>'I
173 1350.
174 1393-1450.
90
175 1465.
'-
. c
cr-
- .,_
;.
3..
- {..
~ ~
t..
~ :!..
!..
t.'(..t.
C. t..
. v..
f..-
t.
~ :~:::::':':tt:;\ii~~:. '~
::..-,. . :' :_L~;:-:; ~ ;(:!\;..~?.:~ . t.. t..'1.. t..
-~
.::1!..
t. t_
t..C..~e;.
'to. ""'
t.
'(.. :1)
~
~~ C
~~~~f~\:>
.,ot
____ ... __ .
'--- . . .r
J;I J
-__--.. -- ..-
_,
-- ----.. -..--...
._
- ---14- - - -
1 B2
183 Bird's -eye vi ew loo k1n g up the valley . Stadtarc hiv St uttg art.
H.. 4w.:_.
.,.,
.-
.
~
Ale Stuttgart.
185 0 ve r a II pI an 1 9 1 3. S c a I e 1 : 35 000.
>'I
Nachbarn.
r.::'F i
'...:!!
Franckhsche
"~
.]
. ".
- .,
t:{;:
0 .. .........
96
97
98
....
196-20 1 Plinths and ent rances .
I.
99
..
~
202-207 Entrances.
100
208 Wilhelma.
209 l<onigsbau.
211-213 Balconies.
-~
...
101
.'
'
~
/
(.
'I
21 5 Shaded
planned .
102
areas
have
been
re-
r/}
'-
co
0..
216
103
STATION AREA
-,.;.~
t>..~..
~J:.? ~
.J
J\
p'
''
..
II
105
.
~
...
f
...
106
>'I
tl
, ,~
I~
:.
108
()
/236
bringin g complete quiet to the hospital. This dual purpose addit io n above
street level would serve as an extension
both to the hospital and the university.
The approach to the refect ory today
does not even have the elementary
saf ety measures of traff ic li ghts or
pedestrian crossings. Anyone who
sees the way in wh ich hund reds of
students ris k th eir lives every lu nch
time to cross the four-lane st reet
between the university area and the
refectory wi ll be shocked by this
scandalous state of affairs. I never
cease t o be amazed at how little fuss
people make, how li ttle they take issue
with such blatant and irresponsible
negligence on the part of city planning
departments. I would fu rther suggest
that the Liederha lle and the Linden
museum be connected with the 'campus in t he same way as th e refect ory.
The curved rear elevation of the
Liederhal le gave me the i"oea of creating
a circu s at t he junction of the Breitscheidstrasse and the H olzgartenstrasse.
This is th e meet ing point of t he routes
of pedestrian access from the Herdweg
109
L_________nJ
243
_.,,.. .
~.:
;,: .'
,.
"""
~-
248
245-248 Sketches of pedestrian
areas.
II \ .. 1;.
u '
. ~
:
.. \
,:,
L\
'~
"'
.'(
. : :..
1n
'
111
THE ROTEBUHLPLATZ
The old U-shaped Rotebi..ihl barracks
were built in the years 1827 to 1843.
Today it stands In danger of demolition.
Architecturally it is modest and discreet. It cannot be said that it is
immediately attractive to the conservationist. Moreover. after its partial wartime destruction. the building suffered
considerable alteration during rebuilding. For example. the open arcade
running round the courtyard was
walled up. The central section of the
main wiilg has been replaced by a
tasteless modern concrete facing. On
the other hand. the height of the central
wing was increased by three floors. and
the architectural results here were
pleasing. The clarity of the overall form
of the building still remains impressive.
and w ith its locat ion on the boundary
between the old part of the city and
'Stuttgarter Westen' it has an important articulating funct ion .
The scheme:
I suggest the retention of the original
structu re of the Rotebi..ih I barracks. the
reopening of the original arcade around
the courtyard and the enclosure of the
courtyard (now built around on th ree
sides) by an architectural device which
will serve a double purpose. On the far
end of the Rotebi..ihlstrasse a glazed
gallery should be built lead ing to an
elongated square contai ning the entrances to the tube and rai Iway stations.
The complexity of this scheme derives
from the fa ilings of past architecture.
which never found a positive way of
carrying on the tradition embodied in
the development plans of the 15th
century. It seemed to me a matter of
priority to design a structure for this
site w hich might reconstitute its lost
spatial coherence.
At this juncture one must certainly
raise the question of why the space
here was laid out in such an enclosed
way. The answer. I believe. is that
since the overall street plan of Stuttgart
is 'open', any urban spaces which have
a particular functional or architectural
112
257
258
256-259 Details of the former Rotebi..ihl barracks (now the city finance
office) after rebuilding.
113
267 As it is today.
11 5
>'I
116
, J'l
117
275 Fritz-Eisas-Strasse.
. I
118
Ro tebuh l-
,t ,,I
~J
Street showin g t he
comparison between old
and new. On th e lef t is
the Rotebuh l bu ild ing; on
the right new bui ldings.
I
284 Ro of plan.
120
.. H LPLATZ
STUDY OF TH
E ROTEB U
,,.,
UCHEME
BY PUTZ AN D WEB ER
287
~~/A~~~__ ,
V
.
of redevel opment
Isometric View
plans.
121
291 1972.
JOHANNESSTRASSE- FEUERSEE
Platz and
v
297 Spatial reality of the pedest rian .
124
300 1913.
301 1972.
125
..,
311 Site plan. showing redevelopment of t he bsterreichische Platz. scale
1 : 1.8 50 approx.
126
>'~
312
M .o d e1 of redevel
..
Osterretchische PI
opment of t he
atz, scale 1 : 1 ,850
approx.
127
128
>'I -
3.14 Small
.
squarePIg1vin
Oster
reiChlsche
g access to th
pastel.
atz: original size
e
129
,J'I
.--
STUDY OF THE
OSTERREICHISCHE PLATZ
H.ll!~ T \'t'WIIta./IU~
M~HUII
SCHEME BY
RENATE HUMMERICH
lA 0
IB
El
II
[;iii
a
WO+<'tGltH T
130
tOml".
..El
'lll
. ;)
THE WILHELMSPLATZ
THE LEONHARDSPLATZ
The key themes of this project are:
1 To enclose the Wilhelmsplatz.
2 To build arou nd the Leonhardskirche a square form ing a un it of
appropria te scale.
3 To restore the traditional profile of
the Eberhardstrasse. along which the
old 13th cent ury citadel walls ran.
4 To assimi late existing road junctions
into t he street plan by means of new
buildings. It is vitally importa nt to
establish this complex site as an
eff ective point of visual orien tati on.
5 Since Stuttgart's nightl ife takes place
in the quarter around the Leonhardskirche. any new plans would have to
offer amenities of a not entirely
monastic character. These amenities
should neither isolate nor drive out t he
nightl ife.
6 It is obvious that all these new development pla ns should provide for a
certain percentage of rented and
privately owned accommoda tion. and
the local authorit ies are duty bou nd to
ens ure that such accommodation can
be rented at reasonab le prices.
321 1855.
322 1972.
132
133
134
STUDY OF THE
WILHELMSPLATZ LEONHARDSPLATZ HAUPTSTATIERSTRASSE AREA
SCHEME BY STEFAN BOHM
The main concern of this scheme is to
reintegrate two parts of the town which
are now completely cu t off from each
other by the broad slash of the
Hauptstat terstrasse. and in so doing
to create a meaningful configuration
of urban space for the pedestrian.
This means robbing t raffic of its
absolute pre-eminence and establishing an impo rtant centre in th is part of
the town by building new residential
accommodation. shops. offices. res taurants and cultural and social amenities. Impo rtant features of the scheme
are a glazed covered arcade. an open air theatre and t he replanning of the
Leonhardsplatz.
135
STUDY OF THE
WILHELMSPLATZ LEONHARDSPLATZ HAUPTSTATTERSTRASSE AREA
,J'I
RE SUll
IV
4 MAIN
LONGITUDINAL
AXFS
IV
4 MAIN
LONGITUDINAL
136
Dc=J o
3 ~ 3h/ 1 -6
I
W 1 e 1 msplatz
area.
137
138
fl tttjQjl
i~
ii 'l,ll
..._
31
~
-1
I
1--T-~,
I I
r.
II
,1'
139
I . . ....
..::::~.
-
C1~ MID ... ,_.....
~
140
pro posals.
141
CHARLOTTENP LATZ
SCHLOSS PLATZ
In view of the developmen t of th is
area today. it is hardly appropri ate to
go on us ing th e term 'square'. I will
t ry to describe the fundamental elements wh ich wou ld turn t he site bac k
into a mean ingful square f or the
pedestrian. I propose to restore t he
Holle Carlsschule to its orig inal st ate
as bu ilt by Leger and Fischer between
17 40 and 1748 . This buildi ng. w hich
had been on ly parti ally des troyed in
the war. was completely demoli shed
in the 50s to make way for tw o
additiona l t raff ic lanes. Its archi tectural
qu ali ties were an essential comp lement
to th ose of the Neue Schloss. whose
re ar elevation has lost its spati al
meaning since t he demolition of its
cou nterpart. In response to the tw o
principal w ings of t he ca rlsa kademie'.
wh ich w ere only connected to the
central courtyard by bridges. Retti. the
planner of th e Neue Sch loss. hit on the
idea of a pair of recessed sections at
this poi nt in the facade. Since the
prinicpal wings are no longer standing.
this 'arc hitec tural di alogue' has become
meaning less.
At this po int I wou ld like t o recall t hat
in 1927 Paul Schmitthenner to a large
extent rebuil t the fo rmer Orphanage of
1705. directly opposit e the Holle
Carlsschu le. accord in g to its original
plan. At the ti me. th is work was
violently cri ticised by th e 'modern
archit ects' as a reactionary piece of
conservationism. But if Sch mitthe nner
had no t dealt so revere ntly w ith the
bu il din g. th e t own wou ld have felt the
l o~s of an outs tanding building type.
""
the castle in t he backg round. wou ld
make an admirable spot for an open air theatre. The steps where spectators
would be seated happily forms a qui te
natural transition between t he higher
plane of the street and the level of the
square. The primary function of new
buildings on th is square and on the
Charlottenplatz shou ld be a cultural
one.
367 Th e Charlottenplatz. with the Orphanage (1705) restored by Schmitthenner on the left and the Neue
Schloss on the right.
39.
.........-......
..................
-...... _.
- ~
, _
- ~l~,.
- '\ \.\W\\:a~'-""
~
369 Facade of the Neue Schloss
facing the Hohe Carlsschule.
144
..,
371
372
373
374
375
376
377
378
371 1855.
372 1972.
373 Traffic plan.
374 Aerial photo 1969.
375 Model of new
planning proposals.
376, 377, 378 The area
as it is today, showing new
plans and their superimposition on existing
layout.
145
.
~
146
>'l
147
>'~
......._
381
382
383
386
387
384
385
148
388
390
389
392
393
149
150
,.,
396 Design for the seat of t he Stutt gart court as execut ed c. 18 30.
Pen and wash drawing b y Th ouret.
from the Stadtarchiv collecti on (from
Paul Faerber: Fr. von Thouret. ein
Baumeister des Klassizismus. Kohl hammer-Verlag Stuttgart 1949) .
,.
BH' tv
! ._ ._A
151
1'0"'0'0
--
0 .~
......"~
o.~
400 Isometric.
c:t-J
I
II
152
THE STAATSGALERIE
In my new plans for this section I have
t ried to integrate the existing arts
buildings on the Konrad-AdenauerStrasse into a coherent spatial pattern
and to plot an axis w hich will link them
overall. The former Neckarstrasse was
conceived by Thouret as a kind of
'cult ural street' on the model of the
Unter den Linden in Berlin. Since the
site remains as prestigious as ever located as it is parallel to the Kon igstrasse and the Schlossgarten - there
is every reason for it to be further
improved. Among other things the
famous old natural history collection
could be restored to its original
location. instead of being uprooted
and given a new home outside the city
area. as is currently planned. The
elegantly proportioned Staatsgalerie
building. designed by Gottlob Barth
between 1838 and 1842. is now
effectively cut off from its immed iate
surroundings by a new underpass
w hich has been built on its doorstep.
401
402
403
404
405
153
408 1972.
154
....
THE SCHLOSSGARTEN
The park. as originally laid out according to Thouret's plans in 1812. was
deformed to a frightening degree in
preparation for the 1961 National
Horticultural Show. A so-called 'updating' took place. It was a deficient
understanding of how to deal with an
existing historic site which led to this
absurd act of wanton deforestation. I
am sure no-one ever dreamt up the
idea of forest clearances on this scale
in the park at Versailles or Schwetzingen.
There was another comparable act of
destruction in the incomprehensible
deforestation of Ludwigsb urg castle
near Stuttgart in 1968.
There are plans for the next National
Horticultural Show to be held in the
lower grounds of the Schlossgarten in
1976. I trust that history will not repeat
itself then.
1 ' ~ 1
IHJNOt5CAE:!T t.i' C Ji,~t.U
41 8 My proposals for
the Schlossgarten.
redevelopmen t.
155
156
..,
EPILOGUE TO THE CHAPTER
RECONSTRUCTING DEVASTATED
URBAN SPACE
In the course of our stroll through
various parts of St uttgart for which I
have suggested possible approaches
to reconstruction, I have deliberately
skirted around the development of the
town in the post-war years of rebuildi ng, and have restricted myself to
documenting its present state w ith
plans. aerial shots and photos. I hope
that this material. together with my
new planning proposals, has spelt out
my views unequivocally, and that I
can omit any critical comment on the
gradual process of destruction which
Stuttgart has undergone. People w ill
rep roach me fo r having energeticallyalmost desperately - attempted to
create patterns of urban space re quiring such enormous investment
that no loca l authority will risk bankruptcy by putting them into practice.
Without a doubt. contemporary t ownplanning. with its total disregard for
spatial problems. is a more attractive
proposition in the current sociopo litical climate . It is no co incidence
that priority is given to traffic and the
other trappings of techno logy, rather
than to people's need for a tolerable
urban environm ent. Of course. not
everyone in a town will assign the
same importa nce to the poetic or
musical elements of urban space.
Experience also indicates that the
inhabitants of old towns whose original
state has been preserved do not take
the same interest in the ir quality as
outsiders. It is quite superfluous that
they should. since the spectacle forms
the backdrop to their daily lives. They
are entirely at one with their environme nt and the history which is so intimately bound up wi th it. The source of
this feeling of identification is t he
architecture of the town and its complex sce nario. As in other German
cities. Stuttgart's inhabitants and physical environment were thrown into
,J'l
158
CHAPTER 4
APPENDIX
>'I
CHAPTER 4
APPENDIX
STUTTGART A ND THE A XE S
OF ITS DEVELOPM ENT
After my exhausti ve description of t he
plann ing problems of Stu ttgart's t own
centre. I wou ld like to add a chapter
dea ling with possible ways in which
outlying areas of Stuttgart might be
developed. This research. like the rest.
has not been sponsored by the city
authorities. It was undertaken of my
own accord and so - like the preced ing
chapter - should be regarded as an
idealistic set of solutions . The basic
assumption underlying a plan of this
kind is of course that circ umstances
w ill di ctate fu rthe r urban growth .
Since the turn of the century. the
popul ation of Stuttga rt has grown
fro m 175.000 to its present size of
more than 700.000, and t hat of the
central Neckar va lley area (the Greater
Stuttgart reg ion) from 1.5 million in
1950 to 2.2 mi ll ion inhabitants in 1966.
This growth resu lted mainly from the
migration of population caused by the
industrial expansion of the reg ion. If
this industrial growth stagnates as it
has in the last two years. the effect is
to put an immediate brake on the
population explosion. I am not com petent to offer a f orecast abo ut this.
but I do feel inc lined to believe that
there will be a lot more changes in
Europe before the next two huhdred
years are out. A nd why should we not
envisage 'realistic' plans fo r th e future
on this kind of time -sca le? For I live in
hope that the human race w ill not have
been altogether wiped out by t hen.
So let us consider the development
plans for Stuttgart as a blueprint f or a
more or less distant future.
Key
OewciOJJmenl Areas - tno slmded aeJs are 111e
~uuucsted
C rouds
A B&
c IOoJc.J~
Key
(~
fiJ
Fhght P >U:o
426
It was also important to simulate a
democratic planning process. Areas of
425 Photomontage showing section
of development to the west of Stuttgart
city centre.
162
high building density are closel y def ined within a fixed framework. On
the other hand. the buildings them -
>'I
_,
163
165
166
427
>'~
>'I
168
,>')
169
170
,J'I
All my dire warnings inspire considerable gloom. and one fears that it will
prove impossible to do justice to the
demands I have outlined.
171
.I
172
>'l
BIBLIOGRAPHY
CHAPTER 1
1. Egli. Ernst Geschichte des Stadtebaus, volumes I, II, Ill, Eugen Rentsch
21. Pa w lowski. Christophe, Tony Garnier, Cen t re de recherch e d'u rba nisme,
Paris. 1967.
2. Laved an, Pierre, Histoire de /'urbanisme, volumes I. II, Ill, Henri Laurens
ed ition, Paris 1952. 1959, 1960.
3. Marini.
CHAPTER 2
1961.
4. Boullee, Ledoux, Lequeu. Revolutionsarchitektur. Staatl iche Kunsthalle
Baden-Baden, 1970.
197 4.
18. Le Corbusier, Vers une architecture. Editions Vincent Freal & Cie,
Paris, 1958. English translat ion To wards a new architecture, Architectural Press, 1946.
Stadtebau und Landerplanung, Landesgruppe Hamburg und SchleswigHolstein. Verlag Hans Christians, Hamburg, 1969.
1945.
5. Brinckmann, A. E.. Stadtbaukunst,
Berlin. 1920.
70.
32. Wagner Otto, Die Grosstadt. Eine
Studie uber diese, W ien, 1911.
33. Zevi . Bruno, Spazi dell architettura
moderna . Giulio Einaudi Editore. Turin,
1973. Engl ish t ra ns lation Architecture
173
1961.
12. Widmann. Oskar. Reinhard Ferdinand Heinrich Fischer (7746-7872).
Ein Beitrag zur Geschichte des Louis
XVI. in Wurttemberg. W. Kohlhammer
Verlag. Stuttgart. 1928.
CHAPTER 3
4. Faerber.
Paul, Nikolaus-Friedrich
von Thouret. ein Baumeister des
Klassizismus. W. Koh lhammer Verlag.
Stuttgart. 1949.
10. Wais. Gustav. Stuttgart im neunzehnten Jahrhundert. Deutsche Ver l agsanstalt. Stuttg art. 1955.
174
LIST OF
ILLUSTRATIONS
125.
Oeuvre complete 7910-7 960. p. 289
extract. p. 293 extract. p. 300 photo of
model. p. 305. p. 306. p. 307 extract.
p. 320 extract.
29.
GIE DION. SIGFR IED Space. Time.
Architecture (English edition 1952).
p. 578 fig. 283. p. 579 fi g. 285. p. 592
f ig . 295.
HI LBERSE IMER. LUDWI G Entfaltung
einer Planungsidee. p. 17 fig. 6. p. 23
fig. 9, p. 135 fig. 121.
63. 64.
HOWARD. EBENEZER Garden Ci ties
of Tomorrow. p. 36 fig. 21.
JOEDICKE. JURGEN Geschichte der
Architeccur. p. 108 fig . 178,
p. i 79 fig . 318.
-~ernen
.. -
BIUb10TECA
2. Borst. Otto, Stuttgart. die Geschichte der Stadt, K. Theiss Verlag. Stuttgart
und Aalen, 1973.
3. Brugger, Albrecht. Stuttgart und
seine Nachbarn. Franckhische Verlagshand lung, Stuttgart. 1965.
1592.