YPUBLIC SPACE

AIDINGDESIGN

d e s i g n t re a t m e n t s f o r c o m m e rc i a l re l a t e d p u b l i c s p a c e

SQRS.Sybren Stroo

2010

SQRS. shows the sum of my products made within the Public Space Design Masters. It contains a research essay, a square-analy-ses, an eleboration on the ‘hot vs. cool’ theory and an integrated design testcase. The main goal is to create new perspectives on the way how public spaces are currently dealt with.

SQRS. leads off towards new discussions about the role of facades in the public space design tenets.

SQRS. starts of with an eleborated research essay con-necting theory with current pub-lic space design standards.

SQRS. will then show how a public space design 2.0 will look.

researchessay

The contextOur age is referred to as the age of the third industrial revolution, of globalization, of hyper-capitalism, of deregulation, virtualization and individualization, or the age of the post modern. These labels for our times are associated with the development of advanced telecommunication and information technolo-gies. We are experiencing fundamental changes within every aspect of our lives: in individual and public domains, within political and economic arenas, as well as within both cultural and environmental spheres. Space, in all its aspects (landscapes, cities, places and bodies) is undergoing dramatic changes, too. This goes along with the increasing abstraction and virtualization of space as well with its production and consumption on a hitherto unknown scale. However, while we feel as if we are surrendering to the forces that cause these new conditions of space, the relevance of space as an area of compre-hension, investigation and action, seems widely underestimated, undervalued and disregarded. Space becomes marginalized as the other, which is con-quested, commodified and utilized, but not conceptualized by the mainstream of contemporary investigation.

This essay is an attempt to reconsider the current public space design tenets that lead to the underestimated conditions of space. Its goal is to open up and introduce new perspectives on the way public space’s context - or the physical borders of the public space – is related to the public life on, especially, public squares in dense commercial city centers. This elaboration seeks to contribute to a new understanding of commercial city layers in the public realms. It strives to re-contextualize and re-conceptualize this layer of the city in order to raise a critical conscience about the relation between public life and its borders and in order to develop a set of implications for spatial disciplines. This essay is composed with an underlying - but very crucial - plane of media theory.

I will deploy a framework of the theory supported and substantiated by Marshall McLuhan. This essay will chiefly be immersed in the relation between the (‘hot vs. cool’) media theory (McLuhan) and the physical public space. This thread is also supported by the critical notions on spatial planning from Jane Jacobs, and will evolve as the most important area of investigation. The last theorist will not influence the purpose of this essay, but Jane Jacobs made me reconsider the function of the performance of cities. This was the take-off to deepen my thoughts onto this subject. Because Jane Jacobs wrote that cities are economic entities. And that the very nature of economic activity governs the shape of the city – the size of the buildings and houses, their numbers, the materials with which they are constructed. It also affects the quality, quantity and maintenance of the “spaces in between” – the roads, parks, and public places that punctuate the urban landscape. When you walk around your city, try to identify the various ways in which the physical structure of the city re-flects economic influences and decision-making – the allocation (or lack thereof) of resources to construction projects, the presence (or absence) of public amenities, the scale and ornamentation of civic structures, the health of local commercial districts. Jane Jacobs called my attention to many of these issues, and helped me think about what the economy has to do with the creation or lack of vibrant cities.

The combination of the two theories and lines of thought are crucial in finding a new concept for the public space of the commercial city layer.In order to set out a framework I will first present the ‘spatialities’ of the public realm and its homogenization, polarization and fragmentation. Because these developments transform public space in dramatic proportions and at a far faster rate than our bodies and minds can handle, thereupon we develop a crisis of orientation. My investigation should clarify the way of how we perceive the public realm through our five senses and as we re-act according to the cognitive images we develop.

The situationThe medium large cities – in the Western world – are the very manifestation of the output of the commercial and service based economy. City centers are, sequentially, intriguing strongholds of the public’s circulation as well as the varied functions these centers are housing, according to the attributes of this economy. They are also a victim of this industrial ‘quality’ which occurs in each other developed country. By victims I mean the eroded structures that have lost part of their identity to the commercial sepsis. This notion of sepsis is an interpretation or metaphor that Richard Sennett (1994) previously had singled out as the significant parallel between the medical discovery of blood circulation in the 17th century and the emergence a new urban model. The image of the fluidity of blood pumped around the human body by the heart, as described by the English physician William Harvey (1578–1657), is at the root of the type of social organism that inaugurated the discipline of sociology and public. Each structure – assailed by commerce - in the city centre is no longer the outpost – or organ if you will - for their own function and identity. Physically speaking I mean that by commercial acquisition of a building in a city center, the first floor and the façade are passed on to the new identity designs of the (temporal) function it will house. One can say it is getting a second skin. By repeating this process along a strip of individual buildings you will get an incoherent combination and polarization of facades. This diversity derives from the intention of the shop owners. This idea of the continuous line of different approaches of commercializing the facades is also homogenizing the city’s landscape. The facades become a tool of marketing and identity transfer onto the public realm. This process has significant consequences for the public realm, because this marketing has to attract the roaming public in the public space. Therefore each shop is exposing their identity as clear as possible onto the place where the public will see it the best. Overall, this way of dealing with facades is creating a commercial city layer, which is strongly negotiating with the ‘innocent’ public. In the end it will evolve in a crisis of orientation. The way public is acting in public space within this commercial city layer as its frame, is not often – rather well never – associated with a media theory such as Marshall McLuhan is constituting in his work.

Facades are the medium of the public spaceUNDERSTANDING FACADES

The conceptMcLuhan developed his notion of “The Medium is the Message” through his consideration of the effects of technology and different forms of media on hu-man communication and behavior. It was a way for him to explore the impact of technologies and media independent of their content and represented a new way of understanding the effects of media and technology that differed from the content analysis approach that dominated the pre-Innis/McLuhan study of communications and technology. Like most good aphorisms, McLuhan’s famous dictum has more than one meaning. One meaning is the notion that, independent of its content or messages, a medium has its own intrinsic effects on our psyches, our associations and our actions, which are its unique mes-sage. The message of any medium or technology is the change of scale or pace or pattern that it introduces into human affairs. The medium is the message because it is the medium that shapes and controls the scale and form of human association and action. The effects of a medium impose a new environment and set of sensibilities upon its users. This notion permeates into several other theories developments such as ‘remediation’ and ‘hot vs. cool’. The last one is the crucial concept from which I will depart my investigation. McLuhan is using this concept as descriptive notions as well as strategic notions.In order to make a clear window of reasoning for this investigation towards a relation between public life and the commercial city layer, I will elaborate on this concept of hot vs. cool in advance.

Hot vs. coolThis concept is based on the idea of sending and receiving/perceiving a certain sensible message or intimation. A medium is the information carrier that travels between the sender and the receiver. This is, for in my case, the basic outline that Marshall McLuhan created his theoretical framework around. Herbert Marshall McLuhan, (July 21, 1911 – December 31, 1980) was a Canadian educator, philosopher, and scholar—a professor of English literature, a literary critic, a rhetorician, and a communication theorist. McLuhan’s work is viewed as one of the cornerstones of the study of media theory. McLuhan is known for the expressions “the medium is the message” and “global village”. McLuhan was a fixture in media discourse from the late 1960’s to his death and he continues to be an influential and controversial figure. More than ten years after his death he was named the “patron saint” of Wired magazine. McLuhan’s most widely known work, Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man (1964), is a pioneering study in media theory. In it McLuhan proposed that media themselves, not the content they carry, should be the focus of study—popularly quoted as ‘the medium is the message’. McLuhan’s insight was that a medium affects the society in which it plays a role not by the content delivered over the medium, but by the characteristics of the medium itself. In the second chapter of his book he leads off with hot and cool (or cold) media. He makes a distinction between the two and informs us how to recognize one from the other. The fundamental maxim…

“There is a basic principle that distinguishes a hot medium like radio from a cool one like the telephone, or a hot medium like the movie from a cool one like TV. A hot medium is one that extends one single sense in ‘high definition’. High definition is the state of being well filled with data. A photograph is, visually, ‘high definition’. A cartoon is ‘low definition’, simply because very little visual information is provided. Telephone is a cool medium. Or of low definition, because the ear is give a meager amount of information. And speech is a cool medium of low definition, because so little is given and so much has to be filled in by the listener. On the other hand, hot media do not leave so much to be filled in or completed by the audience. Hot media are, therefore, low in participation, and cool media are high in participation or completion by the audience. Naturally, therefore, a hot medium like radio has very different effects on the user from a cool medium like the telephone.” (Marshall McLuhan, Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man, 1964)

In terms of the theme of media hot and cool, backward countries are cool, and we are hot. The ‘city slicker ’ is hot, and the rustic is cool. More and more we turn from the content of messages to study total effects. Kenneth Boulding put this matter in ‘The Image’ by saying: “The meaning of a message is the change which ‘I’, produces the image.” Concern with effect, rather than meaning is a basic change of our (electric) time, for effect involves the total situation, and not a single level information movement. Next to the above stated distinction, there is a more nuanced layer to these rather straightforward types of explanation. Because it makes all the difference whether a hot medium is used in a hot or a cool culture. McLuhan describes that, for example, a hot radio medium that is used in cool or non-literate cultures has a violent effect, quite unlike its effect, in England or America (hot cultures), where radio is felt as entertainment. On the other hand a cool culture will have problems coping with the hot media, and will not accept media like movies or radio as entertainment.

In short, hot media mobilizes desires, cool media seduce and overheated media fascinate. With hot media the public directly understands the meaning, purpose and the reaction it provokes. On the other hand the power of cool media stands by the enigmatic property, the visual will make sense after the (personal) deployment of imagination. There it surpasses the hot media, because they are fairly meaningless. But that can also be its power, because – like Arjen Mulder says in ‘Over mediatheorie’ (NL) – ‘the nonsensical is irresistible in every way’. Overheated media are like hot media, but overheated media subsequently tend to increase the hypnotic effect on the receiver. This derives from the fact that hot or overheated media address chiefly one sense.

Portrait of Marshall McLuhan

Shopping public

In a way this concept is a method of thinking through the visual, a notion coined by Sarat Maharaj. With it Sarat Maharaj is referring to the mode of knowing that is not based on the systematic rigor of science. In my case and perception, where I connect the visual and sensible notion of media to the physical public space, thinking through the visual should be transformed in ‘acting through the sensible/visual’. Here it is no longer a mode of knowing but a mode of the public using the public space according to what they perceive while being present in that type of space. Therefore ‘acting’ is the procedure of us-ing the public space that comes from the effect of the ‘visual’ surrounding. One must not read the word ‘acting’ as a conscious proceeding of the public in the city. Environments are not experienced as conscious as watching a dance performance on stage for example. Hence the subtle approach towards the environment of the public space is a stipulation when it comes to transmogrify the facades. Instead a unconsciously neglect arises and is supported by the notion of ‘dérive’, coined by Guy Debord, describes this unconsciously neglect to the utmost extent. In a dérive one or more persons during a certain period drop their relations, their work and leisure activities, and all their other usual motives for movement and action, and let themselves be drawn by the attractions of the terrain and the encounters they find there. Chance is a less important factor in this activity than one might think: from a dérive point of view cities have psycho-geographical contours, with constant currents, fixed points and vortexes that strongly discourage entry into or exit from certain zones.But the dérive includes both this letting-go and its necessary contradiction: the domination of psycho-geographical variations by the knowledge and calculation of their possibilities. In this latter regard, ecological science, despite the narrow social space to which it limits itself, provides psycho-geography with abundant data.

The main purpose for me to introduce the ‘media’ concept into my essay is this relation between the visual and the act. The theory and concept in itself is describing perfectly what media can do to movement and behavior. But until now (in my essay) this concept was in a descriptive mode, but the notions of hot and cool are also strategic notions. These strategies of media are used in many ways, an interesting example is written by media theorist and essayist Arjen Mulder. He describes the distinction between the uses of ‘temperature’ of the media in the religious domains. The reformation, where the Protestant church separated itself from the Catholic, was a dramatically information reduction for the Protestants. From that moment the vicar preaches: there is noth-ing (attractive) to see. This is actually starting up the imagination of the followers, because less information means more imagination. Hence the Protestant church is cool. The Catholic church has the device: long for redemption but don’t imagine anything. There is also a discrepancy between their visuals, on the one hand you have ‘the word’ (Protestant) and on the other hand you have the image (Catholic). This example of the strategically embedded hot or cool concepts is one of many other grand changes peoples’ lives. It is therefore reasonable to say that information reduction is the key to all great cultural revolutions.

Although there are many examples and layers to the hot and cool media, which McLuhan and Mulder are referring to in their books, there are no examples that are specifically linked with the physical public space and the way it is used. It’s not only because the writers didn’t declaim and mention them, but because there is no submitted link between the disciplines of the media theory and urban design yet.

In the next chapters I will push both ends of disciplines towards each other in order to achieve my previously stated goal.

The application“A facade or façade is generally one side of the exterior of a building, especially the front, but also sometimes the sides and rear. The word comes from the French language, literally meaning “frontage” or “face”.In architecture, the facade of a building is often the most important from a design standpoint, as it sets the tone for the rest of the building. Many facades are historic, and local zoning regulations or other laws greatly restrict or even forbid their alteration.” (Wikipedia)

After reading this essay you will agree it is not only architecture by itself where facades are important, because facades are also playing a major role in the public space.The key to successfully reconsider and redirect the public space design tenets is to acknowledge the issue at hand and understand the transformed prin-ciples from the media theory. And to stay in close accordance with the hot and cool theory I introduce image manipulating tools that can be implemented as design principles in the spatial discipline of public space design. Currently there is a tendency to design urban fabrics according to volumes (related to economically separated zones). These building blocks are the primary concern in urbanism and public space is second. Receiving less attention, the public spaces become gaps in the urban fabric and voids in the cities. An underlying motive for this essay and my design project is to (re)connect the public space with these volumes, by making them interdependent.

Underneath hot and cool media are layers of different types of images and ‘perceivables’. There is the traditional image, the photographic image and the post-photographic one. Each has different characteristics and adherents, the traditional image - for example - is the image which one has to learn to ‘read’. You need to contemplate rather intensively before one can convert the image into a meaningful significance. This could be either a cool or a hot image (painting), it depends on the (physical) context of the image and the intention of the image. The photographic is a more obvious and outspoken type of image. It basically is a literal registration and is principally meaningless. An image can also be manipulated with the intention to let the public/audience actively perceive the image; here I’m talking about a characteristic of post-photographic images.In relation to the issue at hand, post-photographic images are the most relevant when it comes to the influential value of adjusting the facades around the public space. By adjusting an image the creator of that image can steer the interpretation of its audience. He decides whether a certain amount of information is shown or not. This selection might also be interactive with the audience.

Electronic artist Rafael Lozano-Hemmer eminently shows the connection between those two options of steering the interpretation and perception. He de-velops large-scale interactive installations in public space, and is usually deploying new technologies and custom-made physical interfaces. He aims for temporary antimonuments for alien agency. In his project of ‘1000 Platitudes’ (picture 1) he intervenes in the public space by beaming the whole alphabet on the facades of a variety of buildings. All the images of these letters on facades are configured into a photomontage and a video with 1000 words or expressions. These words are commonly used to promote globalised cities to potential investors, such as ‘open’, ‘modern’, ‘clean’, multicultural’, for example. These products are by all means very interesting, but less relevant than his technique and method. Via his projector he covers an entire stretch of a facade and links the sight of the viewer to a different perception on the building. In terms of the hot and

cool concepts, this is a technique with cool images, that you see best from a distance, on a more hot surface. This cools the facade down.

Lozano-Hemmer’s ‘Body Movies’ is more interactively based than ‘1000 Platitudes’. That’s because ‘Body Movies’ transforms public space with interactive projections measuring between 400 and 1,800 square metres. Thousands of photographic portraits, previously taken on the streets of the host city, are shown using robotically controlled projectors. However the portraits only appear inside the projected shadows of the passers-by, whose silhouettes can measure between two and twenty-five metres depending on how close or far away they are from the power-ful light sources positioned on the ground. A video surveillance tracking system triggers new portraits when all the existing ones have been revealed, inviting the public to occupy new narratives of representation. This interactive projection is based on Samuel van Hoogstraten’s work ‘The Shadow Dance’ from 1660.

Another example of using the facades as a means to communicate with the audience in the public space is the de-sign of the in New York settled architect Simone Giostra. With his (permanent)

design for a media facade (picture 2) in Bejing on the Xicui Entertainment Center, he provided the city of Beijing with its first venue dedicated to digital media art, while offering the most radical example of sustainable technology applied to an entire building’s envelope to date. Xicui’s opaque box-like commercial building gains the ability of communicating with its urban environment through a new kind of digital transparency. Its ‘intelligent skin’ interacts with the building interiors and the outer public spaces using embedded, custom-designed software, transforming the building facade into a responsive environment for entertainment and public engagement. This is a way of overheating the facade, and again, this public engagement finds itself not close to the facade, but further away from it.

And yet another example of the ‘distant perception’ is the work of JR. He exhibits freely in the streets of the world, catching the attention of people who are not the museum visitors. His work mixes Art and Act, talks about commitment, freedom, identity and limit. That’s why JR owns the biggest art gallery in the world. After he found a camera in the Paris subway, he did a tour of European Street Art, tracking the people who communicate messages via the walls. Then, he started to work on the vertical limits, watching the peo-ple and the passage of life from the forbidden undergrounds and roofs of the capital. JR creates “Pervasive Art” that spreads uninvited on the buildings of the slums around Paris, on the walls in the Middle-East, on the broken bridges in Africa or the favelas in Brazil. People who often live with the bare minimum discover something absolutely unnecessary. And they don’t just see it, they make it. Some elderly women become models for a day; some kids turn artists for a week. In that Art scene, there is no stage to separate the actors from the spectators.In 2008, he embarked for a long international trip for “Women”, a project in which he underlines the dignity of women who are often the targets of conflicts. Of course, it didn’t

change the world, but sometimes a single intervention in an unexpected place makes you dream that it could.

Because - like stated in the chapters before – facades are like a canvas on which one can distribute anything on the public space. Since these canvasses have never been blank it is apparent that manipulation is the most relevant action at our disposal. The three examples above are all based on the ratio in which overheating means public engagement on public space instead of right in front of the plinth of the buildings.

It is a herculean task to literally apply image manipulating techniques permanently onto facade designs, but the intention and the outcome of a converted architectural technique perform similar effects. One could say it is a matter of choosing which purpose to procure, or like I wrote above, the creator of the (post-photographic) image indicates what his audience is supposed to see. This resembles to a certain amount of censorship. Generally censorship is the suppression of speech or deletion of communicative material which may be considered objectionable, harmful, sensitive, or inconvenient to the government or media organizations as determined by a censor. In a way this is reducing every experience, whether it is intense or dull, to a very cool state before the content or expression can be learned or assimilated. McLuhan writes about the censor as a filter to reduce, and sometimes minimize, reactions that are equivalent to the occurrence prior to this reaction.“The censor protects our central system of values, as it does our physical nervous system by simply cooling off the onset of experience a great deal. This cooling system brings on a lifelong state of psychic rigor mortis, or of somnambulism, particularly observable in periods of new technology.”In the end the goal of image – or facade - manipulating should be disrupting the impact of a certain experience. In my ‘urban’ case, this experience is initiated by the message the commercial city layer’s canvas is distributing. The manipulative predicate or quality of post-photographic images is also seen in other disciplines. That’s because it is experience based information emission. Resemblances are as varied as there are different forms of art, only the associated media are different. There is – for example – the DJ that ‘plays’ with sound to let the audience arrive at a certain state ecstasy or mood. Here I could’ve presented a vast series of disciplines that are chiefly involved in (image) manipulation, such as Simone Giostra and Rafael Lozano-Hemmer and the other mentioned artists. But that would increase the diffusion of my investigation; instead I want to introduce a more topic specific paragraph. Therefore my design research project is positioned here as an attempt to open up the practical side of designing according to the media theory.

Titled as a public space aiding design trajectory, the project is heading towards a generation of design-treatments. These treatments or tools emerge from an analysis on globally located public spaces, that each has their own site-specific properties. It’s a series of public spaces that highlight different values of the context the space is in. There is, for example, Times Square in New York with its grand scale media filled billboards, Plaza Mayor in Madrid as a square with a continuous arcaded plinth and the old town square of Poznan in Poland. The last one mentioned is enclosed with peculiar colorful facades.

Piece of the “Women” project in Paris, by artist JR.

Bejing’s Mediafacade designed by Simone Goistra

Lozano-Hemmer’s

1000 Plati-tudes

The analysis aims for an understanding of the influence of the different facade designs on the public spaces. The conclusions deriving from this analysis are confirming a certain pattern in how public spaces are addressed by the public. But the superscript question, in both theory as in practice, remains; which design is causing which particular use of the public space. During the analysis of the different squares came a perspicuous revelation. Two design conditions employ the main reasons for why public space users are either intensively using the public space, or are unconsciously neglecting it.

The practiceThis essay ends with this chapter that leaps towards the practical part of hot vs. cool. This essay therefor con-textualizes the design project. It gives insight towards designing with the theory’s tools and the interoperable design ingredients. In contrary to the described artists and designers above I attempt to create permanent de-sign tools and interventions, which will be implemented in and accompanied with the current public space design discipline. Altering facades requires understanding their properties and requirements. The pattern of public use produced by the facades depends on two conditions.One of the two design conditions is the scale of the al-teration of the facade. Whether it will be a second skin in front of the existing structure or an implementation of media technology in the facade, the level of abstrac-tion and physical measurements make all the difference. The other condition is continuity. Continuity provides the degree of tranquility along the borders of public space. Both conditions are referring to either the facades as to the public space floor. Both are interde-pendent and a successful design relies on the synergy of both. In retrospective this means that both planes (facades and public space floor) carry out influence on the behavior of the public, just as media do. But it simply depends on the forward vision of the human that facades are the most influential elements. Continually constructing upon these design conditions, an urban designer should look at two design approaches in order to re-activate the public space and its users. That’s either heating up (or overheating) the facade together with cooling down the public space floor or create a hot floor and a tranquil (cool) facade framework around it. In my design trajectory I created a thermometer with ‘temperature specific’ design tools. These tools are based on the two conditions, but also on criteria such as the functions behind the façade, color use and material use when it comes to the facades. For the public space design criteria dimensions, elevation, connection with the urban fabric and routing are the most important. These criteria initiate a crea-tive process in order to come up with site-specific design tools. The addressed designers are hereby challenged to use these or similar techniques in order to enhance the value of public space.

Concluding wordsThe public’s modus operandi in the public space is generally steered by the route and location of sidewalks. This essential element not only superintended by the authorities as a safe place to walk, but also a visual ‘go’ zone. Within the borders (e.g. curbstones) of this zone the pedestrians are free to roam around in. When it comes to squares, the borders like the sidewalk’s – more or less – disappear, but the confinement of the visual zones are getting more important. The public unconsciously finds its way through the city. This is where the visual ‘power’ or influence of the facades comes in. Because next to the objects placed in the public space (benches, trees, water etc.) facades function similar to magnets. The strength, or the lack of it, depends on the fortitude of the media information that is emitted by the facades. The stronger and hotter the information the more people will gaze at it, and become in a different state of mind. Commercial contexted public spaces are the decors where this is played out the most. To upgrade this type of public space into a more engaging one, one needs to implicate facades too. In order to play with the modes of perception of the public one needs to understand the influence of the media on the behaviour of the public. By considering the façade as being canvasses one can alter the scale, colour and composition in order to connect the public to the façade in the specifically intended way. Next to adjusting the facades there is also a way to convey media via the public space floor. These methods are similar to those of the facades but also include a more functional approach, because the public space’s intention is to be used. To successfully implicate the facades into public space design, a transition - of the theory of Marshall McLuhan about hot vs. cool into practical design tools - is needed. The main purpose of using this theory is to contruct the backbones of creating a vibrant public space and re-activates the public on it. Because where the commercial public spaces currently are all about shopping, they can become independend, interesting and exciting spaces again.

Sybren Stroo, 2010

This image shows pos-sible design tools when it comes to altering the facades.

It’s either heating up the fa-cade or the public space floor.

this next chapter of SQRS. is about the analyses of squares before I made decisions on creating design tools.

the analyses is based on observation, it has the purpose of relating different atributes of the square and its physical context (city décor) to the routing and use of the public.

* the notions used from this chapter on are based on the essay research, therefor it is advised to switch between the design tra-jectory (analyses, design tools and testcase) and the research essay

the subsequent conclusions are based on a comparison be-tween the amount and loca-tion of the public assemblies, the amount of illumination and the relation between the fa-cades and the public space floor. The conclusions will get

SQRS. to the next step of creating design tools

TIMES SQUARE, NEW YORKPIAZZA DEL CAMPO, SIENATHEATERSQUARE, ROTTERDAMPLAZA MAYOR, MADRIDCITY LOUNGE, ST. GALLENOLD TOWN SQUARE, POZNANVREDENBURG, UTRECHT

testcase

analyses

degree of commercialillumination

café/restaurantterrace

public building(town halls)

commerce defining element public assemblies / routing

TIMES SQUARE, NEW YORK

The physical context of the ‘island, on Times Square is based on a showroom of theatre shows from, for instance Broadway theaters, and other commercial advertisements. It is probably the most illuminated public spaces of the world. In the middle of this ubiquitously advertised area there is this ‘island’ (between the streets of Broadway and 7th Avenue). This ‘island’ houses a small building, which is a ticket-booth shaped as a rostrum with steps, where people can sit down and walk around to experience the area as if it was a theatre-décor.The reason why this booth is a well-working element in that specific public space, is because of the synergy between the context and its function and shape (theatre and advertisements illuminations) and the specific type of accessibility of the ‘island’. Because it looks unattainable for pedestrians it will be even more drawn towards this mezzanine. Together this makes the ‘island’ an example of contextual design.

TIMES SQUARE, NEW YORK

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PIAZZA DEL CAMPO, SIENA

This square - surrounded with medieval structures - is an asymmetrical open space radiating from a tower at one side and is the location of the Palio horse races in July and August. It is a sloping site that has its lowest point in front of the town hall (the building with the tower. It is connected to the city fabric by small alleys and streets, when entering the square - descending from some of the stairs or from such a street - you have a nice overview over the square. The medieval buildings around the square have each a different façade, but they originate from the same period. Next to the café and restaurants there is hardly any commercial activity. Several of those cafés and restaurants have terraces on the edge of the square. In the middle of the square is a rectangular fountain (“Fonte Gaia”) with bas-reliefs and attracts many tourists. There is an interesting aspect of this square being opened up by walking towards it through the streets. And in the same time the sloping site activates the users to walk around and to -each time - see the surroundings from a different perspective.

PIAZZA DEL CAMPO, SIENA

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THEATERSQUARE, ROTTERDAM

Surrounding the main movie theatre of Rotterdam the square is like a platform or stage that attempts to house public activities. Because the square is elevated from the ground floor of the public space, it is stressing its separateness from the surroundings, even-though the square is a link between the movie theatre and its environment. The square can be used as a relaxing area by the means of a line of benches, further more there are entrances to the parking garage underneath the square. Remarkable is the lighting on the square, they are lampposts of high stature that, before, could be manually controlled by the public. The shape and arrangement of those lampposts show resemblance with the roughness of the Rotterdam port (cranes). There are some flaws, I think, which makes this square not function the way it should function. The major issue is the big scale of the square and its overall arrangement. The current scale is making the place a vague space, where the public is only using the benches and not the whole square as initially designed.Though the concept of using a platform to distract the public’s attention towards a square is admittedly.

THEATERSQUARE, ROTTERDAM

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PLAZA MAYOR, MADRID

Basically this symmetrical rectangular square is a grand wide-open area with a strict type of historical brink. This brink or periphery, which features a uniform architectural, contains arcades and archways where restaurants, bars and small shops are housed. Because these functions are situated deeper in the structures the ‘collar ’ of the square is quiescent. The combination between its straight historical outline along the whole square and the (very) low density of commerce makes the user of the square really feels as walking on a wide open area. Right in de centre of the square is a statue of King Philips III which highlights the historical value of the place.

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CITY LOUNGE, ST. GALLEN

The CityLounge was built by the artists Pipilotti Rist and Carlos Martinez within the framework of the building activities of the Swiss Association of the Raiffeisenbanken. It invites the user to linger and pass the time and offers space for meetings in the relaxation lounge, business lounge and others. A red carpet spreads out between the buildings, above which hanging lamps give off a warm light. The area is a borderless space where the red carpet is the floor of the living room and where the buildings look like unimportant elements in the public space. There is no specific function emitted from the façades, its better to say that the façades are like wallpaper. This makes the pedestrians only pay attention to the public space (looking to the carpet) instead of looking at the built environment.

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OLD TOWN SQUARE, POZNAN

“Stary Rynek”, the old town square, is one of the finest in Europe. This is the centre of old, medieval Poznan, and has been superbly rebuilt after severe destruction in World War 2. Cafés and bars line the square and it is a superb spot for ordering a drink and watching the world go by. When watching the square you’ll see several buildings on it, such as the town hall, the city church, the king’s castle and the Gorka Palace. These buildings are situated around an on the square. This makes the square shaped like a squared circle looping these buildings. The majority of the buildings surrounding the square have different colors on their façades, this makes the square and lively and active. Some of the buildings have arcades on the ground level while others have stairs to their front door or there are terraces place in front. Circeling the square by foot is much like walking on a circuit, but not like in temporary racing means. That’s because of the rectangular loop shape and the ‘obstacles’ on the square floor. With ‘obstacles’ I mean the urban interior such as fountains, sculptures/statues or market-stands. These façades are a good example of reviving the square and makes every visit a new experience.

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VREDENBURG, UTRECHT

Vredenburgsquare is part of the commercial district in Utrecht, the square connects the inner city with the shopping mall (‘Hoog Catharijne’) and the public transport hub (‘Utrecht Centraal). It’s an open void in the urban fabric with a market 3 times a week. The whole area around ‘Utrecht Centraal’, including the central train station, is going to be renewed. A part of this grand scale project is the square of Vredenburg. This means an extension of the current music palace, additional stores, offices and apartments on the north side of the square and a new passage/corridor from and towards the shopping mall annex central train station. There will be hardly any reconfiguration being done on the square itself. Only the façade of the shopping mall, on the west side of the square, is being drawn towards the square. In the end the square will have 4 commercial walls facing the square. This commercial city décor seems to be the guiding element for the pedestrians.

VREDENBURG, UTRECHT

CU 2030

CU 2030

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there is a strong relation between the functions in the city décor of a square and the routing people have along those façades that together make this décor

when there is less commerce around the square, there are more public as-semblies on the square itself

this is also a result of the amount of commercial walls surrounding the square

commerce comes with a certain amount of illumination that serves as ‘pull elements’ for the pedestrians

when the amount of pedestrians - influenced by these ‘pull elements’ - are surpassing the amount of public assemblies on the square, the square is becoming a less vital one

with this commerce in the city décor, there is also a irregular rhythm to be found in the walls surrounding the square

these irregularities in the city décor aren’t an issue until they are not accompanied by commerce

according to these conclusions I will continue my design trajectory with researching the various tools with which I can develop a new way of square de-sign a square with a high commercial density as theme

according to the analyses, one can conclude the follow-ing:

CONCLUSIONS

CONCLUSIONS miroir d’eau, bordeaux

riempark,munich

urban gar-den, nør-resundby

other inspiring public space floors

next up in SQRS. is the development of design tools. These tools compose treatments or guidelines that public space designers can apply for the development of new squares with a commercial context. these tools either aim for the approach of a ‘hot’ facade and ‘cool’ public space floor ór vica versa

the SQRS. design tools are based on a theoretical statement which will be translated into a physical testcase

the theory used in this chapter

of SQRS. derives from the essay research earlier in this booklet. Therefor you need to switch between the two chapters in order to get a clear thought about this subject

designtools

a

?

a

?

how to cope withthe facades andpublic space floor

issue

commercial emission ‘seduces’ public

cool down the facades + heat up public spacefloor

overheat the facades (+scal-ing) + cool downpublic space floor

situation

possibility possibility

the adjustable areas to change use of square

canvases

a

aa

facades

street

square

facades

contain:‘high definition’enhancing single senselow degree of participationdemanding attentionless imagination required

contain:‘low definition’little involvementmore active particitpationdetachmentdemanding les attention

hot media cool media

movie vs. cartoon.comparisons can only be made with similar contexts

examplecheck essay research for a more elaborated explanation

!

main design criteria are continuity, scale program and light

criteria

criteria

criteria

facade criteria

public space floor criteria

COOL HOTlight use minimal variation incoherent and un-united

diversity

detailing on façade (material) minimal detail or pattern diversiform

scale & continuity horizontal continuity - along the (entire) stretch of the façade in planes, lines or levels

different scales with each different façade

function behind facade cafetaria, domestic, non-commercial

retail, stores, warehouses, everything with commercial mar-keting

color use continuous gradient or equally diverse color planes

independent color use per fa-cade

COOL HOTscale, dimensions, elevation level, single geometric shape more than one elevation,

varying borders of public space

program in public space no dominant (commercial) structure

multiple employment of functions and experiences

connection with urban fabric public space floor interwoven with rest of city floor

fairly disconnected from city fabric, independent part of public space

zoning in public space one or few small scalezones in public space

multiple zones with different iden-tity wihtin one public space

routing open plane but striated routes towards, extensive use of public space

assemblies of public (on square), more intensive use of public space

criteria

criteria

facade references

public space floor references

turn booklet for next pages

COOL

COOL

HOT

HOT

covering

screening

fram

ingillum

inating/color

faca

de d

esign tools to trea

t pub

lic space

seperating

tools

tools

elevating

afforesting

illumina

ting/color

public spa

cefloor to trea

t pub

lic space

program

ming

dra

ping

turn booklet backfor next pages

situation sketch of hot public space floor

possibility

situation sketch of hot facades(led-wall as second skin)

increase scale of second skin, best seen from middle of square

possibility

scale

SQRS. is completing this design research trajectory with a testcase design. It is important to implement the facade and/or public space floor approaches - with their design tools - into a complete (multi-layered) public space.

the SQRS. design tools in this case are being used on the Vredenburg square in Utre-cht. Since this project chiefly is about commer-cial surrounded public spaces, this square is an excellent example of the interdepence or cur-rent lack of it between public space, the public and the facades

the designs and plans used in

this chapter of SQRS. are including the new plans and developments of the municipality of Utrecht. the city is redevelop-ing the trainstation’s area totally. for more information about these designs and its masterplan, visit:WWW.CU2030.NL

Utrecht

town

Vredenburg sqr.

trainstation

testcaseV’burg

this panoramic picture shows the current situation; a more or less deserted void in the urban fab-ric of Utrecht. due to the re-developments of the sqr. the surface will be re-duced (CU2030)

panorama

there are four com-mercial walls sur-rounding the square, with ‘hot’ plinths

routing of public, currently along the commercial plinths

analyses

analyses

new situation of exit/entrances and un-derground parkinggarage

new situation of routes (red), again main routes along commercial plinths

analyses

analyses

WWW.CU2030.NL

WWW.CU2030.NL

compilation of de-sign possibilities on Vredenburgsqr.

design

create ‘hot’ facades and a ‘cool’ public space floor to increase activity on the public space. chosen technique is to apply large scale screens on facades with mo-tion pictures of the activities on the public space floor. the public is di-rected towards center of sqr. to see the large screens at best

goal + motive

diagram of sur-rounding and built volumes

area

Vredenburgsqr.

new ‘Muziekpaleis’

shoppingmall ‘Hoog Catharijne’

‘Oudegracht’ running through town

busy public transport road

the ‘Bijenkorf ’

extended girth (‘singel’)

elaborated versions of sketched design possibilities

design extend sqr. floor through buildings

low green to enhance view on facadesand trees to improve acommodation

four important walls around center of sqr.

create routes towards center of sqr. in or-der to perceive facades at best

add podium as sitting accommodation + mist-planes to block view on comm. plinths

‘random’ placement of retractable bench-es, directed towards facade/screens

different use of material in sqr. floor and on designated routes

extend public space floor through buildingblocks to invite nearby public

floor

the sqr. floor is of a material with with a bigger scale, simi-lar to stelconplate-sizes. This gives the public a sense of being in another place and makes them feel smaller

floor

create designated routing towards center of sqr. + end-ing with screens

routes

screen

screen

screen

screen

screen

the large scale motion pic-ture screens function as sec-ond skins on parts of the fa-cades, they are at the end of the routing. these routes are made of white glossy material

facadesscreens are moving in-dependently to create a sense of a living and reactive sqr.

screens

a glossy material is used here to reflect surrounding on sqr. floor

insert mist-planes between the routing, refering to new girth in the west

mist

the mistplanes refer to the new girth in the west, they em-phasize the ‘cool’ element of the public space floor, and block the view of the public on the ‘hot’ comm. plinths

mistwhen mist-planes are ‘turned off ’ these planes relfect surroundings

add podium in center and inclined plane as a sitting accommodation

podium

the podium and inclined plane are able to sink in the floor. the podium is of a glossy material and both of them are sitting accomoda-tions

podium

a glossy material is used here to reflect surrounding on the podium

implement green ‘belt’. trees for shad-ow and low-green for view-blockade

greenery

this green axis creates seper-ate but interdependent area on the sqr. plus trees create shadows. the lower greenery blocks the view on the ‘hot’ comm. plinths.

greenerythe tree on the podium invites public to sit under it to watch screens

parking garage entrance close to center of sqr. + room for terraces

parking

the parking garage entrance is a translucent glass box, with a shape that ‘denies’ the other geometrical shapes. it also brings public from ga-rage directly on sqr.

parking

light grid accord-ing to market-stall placement and op-timal light coverage

lighting

in the middle of the sqr. is a swing designed. this swing offers 6 people to use it in order to experience the sur-rounding in a playful way

lightingthe lightfixture on the inclined plane is embed in its surface

benches placed on routes faced to-wards screens

benches

these special designed benches are able to unfold underneath the sqr. floor. that way they do not stand in the way of markets and events

benches

this is the final plan after adding every layer.

overview

in the end this design is a ex-ample of how a complete sqr. could be transformed when using the ‘hot’ and ‘cool’ de-sign trajectory

overview

placement of market is possible due to lowering of podium and benches

market

next to the market there are possibilities to use the screens and podium for a variety of events, like festivals and funfairs

events

benches placed on routes faced to-wards screens

night

in the night, the ‘hot’ facades become cool and the ‘cool’ sqr. becomes hot. this hap-pens by illuminating the po-dium and making the routes reactive with the public

night

in the night screens are turned off

when walking on the routes the floor lights up like red water wrinkles

darknessdarkness

three triangles indi-cate the viewpoints for the artist impres-sions on next pages

viewpiont

these views clarify the con-cepts of the objects placed on the sqr. because like previously de-scribed each element or lay-er has a specific purpose

viewpoint

1

3/4

2

on this artist impression you can see how the mist-planes are blocking the view towards the commercial plinths surrounding the square. they are playful features for the public (kids) too. the routes in the floor are reflecting the screen with its motion pictures. these images on the screen are ‘blurred’ reproductions of the things that happen on the sqr. the public will auto-matically be followed by a set of discretely placed cameras each for every screen. All of these screens are best seen from the center of the sqr. and podium

1

the trees are aligned in a strip of greenery. from north to south this creates a inclining line to-wards the higher buildingblock of ‘Hoog Catharijne’. there the trees are blocking the commer-cial facades of this shoppingmall. since Vredenburgsqr. is the hub between the exit/entrance of the city (trainstation, busstations and the tramsstation) and the older innercity, these trees refer to the older inner-city.

2

initially the tree on the podium looks like it is blocking the view on the screen behind it, but instead it invites the public to use the podium as a sitting accommodation. the tree is also serves as a provider of shadow, which increases the comfort under it

3

this artist impression shows the night time situation. at this time the podium is the glowing heart of the sqr. and is intended to attract people. the routes in the floor become reactive planes. they show red wrinkling cirkels whenever a person is stepping on this plane. in this situation the mist planes are turned off, but the mist-planes are creating reflections of the surrounding. The ability of the square to adapt to the situations and events emphasizes the ‘hot’ and ‘cool’ basis of this design.

4

SQRS. is a tribute to the public space’s will to form and manifest in its vast number of steering regimes. the booklet con-tains a new design research trajectory, design tools and a testcase for an engagement towards a new interrelation be-tween the facades and the public space’s floor. because we read the public spaces by their surroundings and context! there are a few important threads that lead to the design in the testcase. most important is making clear towards which ap-proach a design is heading to.This could either be ‘heating up’ the facade and ‘cool down’ the public space floor or vica versa. this depends on the basis of the tools that are appropriate for that specific design case. In fact, regarding design, design tools as rules offers a valu-able (urban) design attitude - departing from an approach that wants to control everything on the public space, and moving towards a non-single use form of control between free-dom and coercion

SQRS.Sybren Stroo, 2010

terms and definitionscomm. = commercialwall = facadesqr. = square

maHKUUtrecht Graduate School of Visual Art and Design

Utrecht School of the ArtsFaculty of visual arts and Design

The

Ope

nU

nive

rsity

YPUBLIC SPACE

AIDINGDESIGN

d e s i g n t re a t m e n t s f o r c o m m e rc i a l re l a t e d p u b l i c s p a c e

Sybren Stroo2010

SQRS.