urban design - ornament and decoration, second edition

[...]... the victory worthwhile’ Contrast in architecture, urban design and ornamentation is applied over an almost limitless field There is contrast, of form and antiform, that is, of building and space, of street and square, soft and hard landscape, or colour and texture In buildings there can be contrast in form, such as the sphere and the cube, the dome and the spire In decorative details there is contrast... distances, directions and overall structure’ (Lynch, 1960) It is argued here that strengthening the image of the city for the citizen and visitor is the overriding purpose of decoration and ornament 1.10 1.11 Figure 1.10 Gothic detailing, Venice Figure 1.11 Georgian detailing, Bath 15 URBAN DESIGN: ORNAMENT AND DECORATION FUNCTION OF ORNAMENT AND DECORATION The disciplined use of ornament and decoration begins... THE SECOND EDITION ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This book is the second volume in the Urban Design series written at the Institute of Planning Studies The demanding task of preparing the manuscript was made much easier by the assistance with typing given by Linda Francis and Sarah Shaw, proof reading by Jenny Chambers and illustrations prepared by Peter Whitehouse and Steven Thornton-Jones All illustrations and. .. political and social agenda of the early twentieth century and its implicit international, socialist and egalitarian viewpoint Thus Modernists had concerns about ornamentation, and particularly about its commissioning, as a political and social expression of society A problem for many in the Modern Movement was the inherent symbolism and legitimacy of monument and of monumentality, and thus of ornament and. .. sets and it is those shared perceptions which the urban designer tries to understand and which are addressed when attempting to decorate the city MEANING AND CONTENT While the aesthetic qualities of decoration are to be respected, for a complete appreciation we must go beyond the visual appearance and examine meanings or content of city decoration and ornament The inherent meaning of decoration can stand... are emphasized THEORY AND PHILOSOPHY OF ORNAMENT AND DECORATION Figure 1.2 Chipping Campden using ornament and decoration It is argued here that visual pleasure is related to this understanding of city structure SCALE Scale depends upon the comparison of one set of dimensions with another set Urban design is concerned with human scale, that is, the relationship of buildings and urban space to the size... a pleasing and memorable pattern The analysis of ornamentation and decoration in the city will be structured around Lynch’s notion of urban legibility (Lynch, 1960) The text will therefore be based upon the five components Lynch suggested as being key to imageability: the path, the node, the edge, the 1 URBAN DESIGN: ORNAMENT AND DECORATION Figure 1.1 Decorative railings, Nancy landmark and the district... chapter ends with a discussion of change of level in floor plane and soft landscaping Chapter 6 entitled ‘Landmarks, Sculpture and Furniture’ discusses the design and location of three dimensional objects within the city The chapter covers major landmarks such as important buildings or civic monuments and local landmarks which may be either ornamental or 23 ... weak standing out from the surroundings rather than merged with their surroundings moving rather than stationary repeated (but not repetitive) rather than one off (Buchanan and Huczynski, 1985) Designers of advertisements, window display and road signs use this knowledge to attract and hold people’s attention They are important criteria for the urban designer in the consideration of decoration and ornament. .. each other Urban design aims therefore to express complete unity in its compositions Theorists such as Lynch, Alexander and Norberg-Schulz have tried to come to terms with the complexity of the concept of unity when applied to the field of urban design (Lynch, 1960; Alexander et al 1987, Norberg-Schulz, 1980) For such writers, the study of human perception is important for the understanding of unity . alt="" i URBAN DESIGN: ORNAMENT AND DECORATION This Page Intentionally Left Blank URBAN DESIGN: ORNAMENT AND DECORATION Second Edition Cliff Moughtin,Taner Oc and Steven Tiesdell OXFORD AUCKLAND BOSTON. principles of urban design, the fundamental aim of this and the other books in this urban design series. A new chapter has been added to this, the second edition of Urban Design: Ornament and Decoration,. authors. ix PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION This book is the second volume in the Urban Design series written at the Institute of Planning Studies. The demanding task of preparing