is going to produce an emotional reaction, with or without our volition, itis up to us to try to understand the three ways in which this happens. enclosureEnclosure sums up the polarity oflegs and wheels. It is the basic unitof the precinctual pattern; outside,the noise and speed of impersonalcommunication which comes and goesbut is not of any place. Inside, thequietness and human scale of thesquare, quad or courtyard. This isthe end product of traffic, this is theplace to which traffic brings you.Without enclosure traffic becomesnonsense. It is sometimes astonishing howfragile can be the means of estab­lishing enclosure or space. A wirestretched from wall to wall like apencil stroke, a square of canvasstretched out overhead. In Chandi­garh I saw a bustee, or collection ofmud and thatch dwellings, arrangedin the shade of three large trees alonein the plain. The space thus enclosedby the three trees became the civicspace of the tiny community. Inthese pictures of the French Rivieraand a restaurant at the Festival ofBritain we see how bamboo is usedto establish enclosure and space andhow it achieves that evocative charmof containing whilst revealing whatis beyond. 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.

URBAN DESIGN AND TOWNSCAPE Gordon Cullen Tribute (PDF) URBAN DESIGN AND TOWNSCAPE Gordon Cullen Tribute

The first category of relationships(pinpointing, change of level, vistas,narrows, closure, etc.) is concernedwith the interplay between a knownhere and a known there. The secondcategory, starting on p. 49, will be con­cerned with a known here and anunknown there. 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 deflectionA variation on the closed vista isdeflection, in which the object build­ing is deflected away from the rightangle, thus arousing the expectationthat it is doing this to some purpose,i.e. that there is a place at the end ofthe street as yet unseen and of whichthis building forms a coherent part.This is invariably not so, but de­flection arouses the thought. precinctsLeft, in this significant picture, canbe seen the whole urban pattern as itwas and to some extent still is. Insideis the tightly built-up pedestrian townwith its enclosures and no doubt areasof viscosity, its focal points and en­claves. Outside are the expresswaysfor car and lorry, train and shipwhich exist to serve and vitalize theprecincts. This is the traditionalp~ttern at its clearest. The smallphotograph below shows some ofthese elements at their most dis­organized, the chaotic mixture ofhouses and traffic in which bothpedestrians and traffic suffer a dimi­nution of their proper character. An important application of our CGI technology is visualising a landscape or environment from a moving viewpoint, such as from within a vehicle. Unlike traditional viewshed analysis, which involves a fixed viewpoint, dynamic viewsheds represent the changing perspective of an observer in motion. [viii]Improved 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. Examine what this means. Our original aim is to manipulate theelements of the town so that an impact on the emotions is achieved.A long straight road has little impact because the initial view is soondigested and becomes monotonous. The human mind reacts to a con­trast, to the difference between things, ann when two pictures (the streetand the courtyard) are in the mind at the same time, a vivid contrast isfelt and the town becomes visible in a deeper sense. It comes alivethrough the drama of juxtaposition. Unless this happens the town willslip past us featureless and inert. The townscape movement emerged after the Second World War as a way of looking at how towns grew organically and how planners should respect the visual richness produced by this organic growth. Although primarily a British movement, it had a wide influence as an alternative to the modernist attitude to looking at towns and redeveloping them.

The concise townscape : Cullen, Gordon, 1914- : Free Download

Town squares, once the preserve of privilege, have since the wartime salvage of railings become public spaces. (97)parks, local authority for its green belts, antiquarians for conservationareas and so on. This is already happening. 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. Shade, shelter, amenity and con­venience are the usual causes ofpossession. The emphasizing of suchplaces by some permanent indicationserves to create an image of thevarious kinds of occupation in thetown, so that instead of a completelystreamlined and fluid out-of-doors amore static and occupied environment This explosion resembles nothing so much as a disturbed ant-hill with brightly enamelled ants moving rapidly in all directions, toot-toot, pip-pip, hooray. (57)

Concise Townscape - 1st Edition - Gordon Cullen - Routledge

Concerning OPTICS. Let us suppose that we are walking through atown: here is a straight road off which is a courtyard, at the far side ofwhich another street leads out and bends slightly before reaching amonument. Not very unusual. We take this path and our first view isthat of the street. Upon turning into the courtyard the new view isrevealed instantaneously at the point of turning, and this view remainswith us whilst we walk across the courtyard. Leaving the courtyard weenter the further street. Again a new view is suddenly revealed althoughwe are travelling at a uniform speed. Finally as the road bends themonument swings into view. The significance of all this is that althoughthe pedestrian walks through the town at a uniform speed, the scenery oftowns is often revealed in a series of jerks or revelations. This we callSERIAL VISION. In addition to introducing the concept of serial vision within his book, Townscape, Cullen discussed several design principles and concepts such as:This is the Environment Game and it is going on all round us. Youwill see that I am not discussing absolute values such as beauty, perfec­tion, art with a big A, or morals. I am trying to describe an environmentthat chats away happily, plain folk talking together. Apart from a handfulof noble exceptions our world is being filled with system-built dumbblondes and a scatter ofIrish confetti. Only when the dialogue commenceswill people stop to listen. Concerning PLACE. This second point is concerned with ourreactions to the position of our body in its environment. This is as simpleas it appears to be. It means, for instance, that when you go into a roomyou utter to yourself the unspoken words 'I am outside IT, I am enteringIT, I am in the middle of IT' . At this level of consciousness we are dealingwith a range of experience stemming from the major impacts of exposureand enclosure (which if taken to their morbid extremes result in the Infinite serial views: Rather than making decisions based on isolated snapshots that may not accurately reflect the true conditions of an environment, our simulations allow for unlimited virtual journeys through a new precinct or proposal. In a town we do not normally have such a dramatic situation to mani­pulate but the principle still holds good. There is, for instance, a typicalemotional reaction to being below the general ground level and there isanother resulting from being above it. There is a reaction to beinghemmed in as in a tunnel and another to the wideness of the square. If,therefore, we design our towns from the point of view of the movingperson (pedestrian or car-borne) it is easy to see how the whole citybecomes a plastic experience, a journey through pressures and vacuums,a sequence of exposures and enclosures, of constraint and relief.

Serial Vision - University of Manchester

Now and Then: Cullen understood that cities are dynamic and change over time, but also need a degree of consistency to provide a sense of coherence. Optics is brilliantly cinematic, trying to capture movement. Wonderful photographic montages show how a pedestrian moves through space, the changing views of the city, the changing feel of space, the momentary mysteries, the vistas, the partial and full closures, the gateways or walls that can frame infinity. The position may indeed have deteriorated over the last ten years forreasons which are set out below. This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sourcesin this section. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. ( February 2014) ( Learn how and when to remove this template message)Simulating views at speed is critical for planning railways, highways, and other transportation systems. It is also useful for ascertaining whether reflective façades and other architectural details cause visual disturbances or interfere with the safety of nearby drivers. Serial vision simulation is also beneficial when assessing a new design proposal’s visual impact on the surrounding landscape. severely restricted the right of free assembly. To congregate, to be able to stop and chat, to feel free out of doors may not seem very important compared to the pressing needs of transport, but it is one of the reasons people live in town and not by themselves -- to enjoy the pleasure of being sociable. Whereas the distinction between in and out doors should be one of degree and kind, it has now become the difference between sanctuary and exposure.