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layout (209). Remember that it is possible to keep the essence of the pattern with windows on one side, if the room is unusually high, if it is shallow compared with the length of the window wall, the windows large, the walls of the room white, and massive deep reveals on the window's to make quite certain that the big window's, bright against the sky, do not create glare.
Place the individual windows to look onto something beautiful-WINDOWS OVERLOOKING LIFE (192), NATURAL DOORS AND
windows (221); and make one of the windows in the room a special one, so that a place gathers itself around it—window PLACE (180). Use DEEP REVEALS (223) and FILTERED LIGHT
(238). • • •
751
| l6o BUILDING EDGE** |
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. . . assume that the position of the building edge is fixed—most recently by light on two sides of every room (159)—and before that by the position of the building wings and their interior spaces and by the courts and gardens and streets between the buildings—wings of light (107), positive outdoor space (106). This pattern now sets the stage for the development of the zone between the indoors and the outdoors. Often this “zone” is thought of as an edge, a line on paper without thickness, a wall. But this is altogether wrong . . .
A building is most often thought of as something which turns inward—toward its rooms. People do not often think of a building as something which must also be oriented toward the outside.
But unless the building is oriented toward the outside, which surrounds it, as carefully and positively as toward its inside, the space around, the building will be useless and blank—with the direct effect, in the long run, that the building will be socially isolated, because you have to cross a no-man’s land to get to it.
Look, for example, at this machine age slab of steel and glass. You cannot approach it anywhere except at its entrance— because the space around it is not made for people.
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| The edge cannot support any life. |
BUILDINGS
And compare it with this older, warmer building, which has a continuous surrounding of benches, galleries, balconies, flowers, corners to sit, places to stop. This building edge is alive. It is connected to the world around it by the simple fact that it is made into a positive place where people can enjoy themselves.
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| An edge that, can be used . . . |
Think of the effect of this small difference. Tire machine-like building is cut off from its surroundings, isolated, an island. The building with a lively building edge, is connected, part of the social fabric, part of the town, part of the lives of all the people who live and move around it.
We get empirical support for this contrast from the following: apparently people prefer being at the edges of open spaces—and when these edges are made human, people cling to them tenaciously. In observing people’s behavior in outdoor spaces, for example, Jan Gehl discovered that “there is a marked tendency for both standing and sitting persons to place themselves near something—a facade, pillar, furniture, etc.” [“Mennesker til Fods (Pedestrians),” Arkitekten, No. 20, 1968.] This tendency for people to stay at the edges of spaces, is also discussed in the pattern activity pockets (124).
If this propensity were taken as seriously outdoors as it is indoors, then the exterior walls of buildings would look very different indeed from the way they look today. They would be
I 60 BUILDING EDGE
more like places—walls would weave in and out, and the roof would extend over them to create little places for benches, posters, and notices for people to look at. For the niches to have the right depth, they would have to be occasionally as much as 6 feet deep—see the arguments for six-foot balcony (167).
When it is properly made, such an edge is a realm between realms: it increases the connection between inside and outside, encourages the formation of groups which cross the boundary, encourages movement which starts on one side and ends on the other, and allows activity to be either on, or in the boundary itself. A very fundamental notion.
Therefore:
Make sure that you treat the edge of the building as a “thing,” a “place,” a zone with volume to it, not a line or interface which has no thickness. Crenelate the edge of buildings with places that invite people to stop. Make places that have depth and a covering, places to sit, lean, and walk, especially at those points along the perimeter which look onto interesting outdoor life.
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crenelation
| 7 THE COUNTRYSIDE* |
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36
❖ v
Do it with arcades, galleries, porches, and terraces—arcades
( I 19), OUTDOOR ROOM ( 16 3), GALLERY SURROUND (l66), SIX-FOOT BALCONY ( 167) , CONNECTION TO THE EARTH (l68);
take special account of the sun—sunny place ( i 61), north face (162); and put in seats and windows which complete the feeling of connection—stair seats (125), street windows (164), SEAT SPOTS (241), FRONT DOOR BENCH (242). . . .
| I 6 I SUNNY PLACE** |
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. . . this pattern helps to embellish and give life to any south facing outdoors (105); and, in a situation where the outdoors is not to the south, but east or west, it can help to modify the building so that the effective part of the outdoors moves towards the south. It also helps to complete building edge (160), and to place outdoor room (163).
The area immediately outside the building, to the south —that angle between its walls and the earth where the sun falls—must be developed and made into a place which lets people bask in it.
We have already made the point that important outdoor areas should be to the south of buildings which they serve, and we presented the empirical evidence for this idea in south facing outdoors (105). But even if the outdoor areas around a building are toward the south, this still won’t guarantee that people actually will use them.
In this pattern, we shall now discuss the subtler fact that a south-facing court or garden will still not work, unless there is a functionally important sunny place within it, intently and specifically placed for sun, at a central juncture between indoors and outdoors and immediately next to the indoor rooms which it serves.
We have some evidence-—presented in south-facing outdoors (105)—that a deep band of shade between a building and a sunny area can act as a barrier and keep the area from being well used. It is this evidence which makes us believe that the most important sunny places occur up against the exterior walls of buildings, where people can see into them from inside and step directly out into the light, leaning in the doorway of the building. Furthermore, we have observed that these places are more inviting if they are placed in the crook of a building or wall, where there is just enough enclosure from a hedge, a low wall, a column, to provide a backdrop, a place to sit up against and take in the sun.
And finally, of course, if the place is really to work, there must be a good reason for going there: something special which draws a person there—a swing, a potting table for plants, a special view, a brick step to sit upon and look into a pool—whatever, so long as it has the power to bring a person there almost without thinking about it.