Worldwide Urbanization
Los Angeles is the stereotypical example, but unprecedented growth is by no means limited to one city or even to the United States. It is a worldwide phenomenon. The U.S. Census Bureau projects a global population by 2050 of over 9 billion people.5 This increase is a major force driving the growth of cities. In 1950, only 8 countries in the world, half of them in Europe, contained at least one city of 5 million or more. By 2015, 34 countries are projected to do so, on every major continent...
A Model for Solar Access
The model for the solar envelope is found in the ancient settlements of North America. Here, a thousand years ago, settlements were laid out for solar access. Acoma Pueblo, located on a plateau about 50 miles 80 km west of modern Albuquerque, New Mex- Acoma Pueblo Terraced houses are well designed to absorb the low winter sun and protect from the higher summer sun. Perspective drawing by Gary S. Shigemura in Energy and Form by Knowles 1974,27. Acoma Pueblo Terraced houses are well designed to...
Rituals of Day and Season
Rituals expand the pulse of our life in a place. Taking morning coffee on Vienna's Graben, friends may meet every morning during warmer months, something they are accustomed to doing along Stairways and Doors Wandl Hotel,Vienna Ritual door, Suquamish,Washington. Stairways and Doors Wandl Hotel,Vienna Ritual door, Suquamish,Washington. with many others who eventually fill the empty chairs and tables. Feeding pigeons in the Stadtpark brings daily attention and meaning to an otherwise solitary...
Notes
1. Gregory Bateson, Mind and Nature A Necessary Unity New York E. P. Dutton, 1979 , 29, 68. 2. It is ironic that Thomas Edison, developer of the first electrical distribution system, unsuccessfully advocated local grids and local power plants rather than huge, far-flung systems. 3. Ralph Knowles, For Those Who Spend Time in a Place, PLACES 8 2 1992 11-14. 1. Ralph L. Knowles, Energy and Form An Ecological Approach to Urban Growth Cambridge MIT Press, 1974 , 1off. 2. W. A. Chalfant, The Story of...
Looking to the Future
The benefits of solar-access zoning can be realized around the world. The results of the Los Angeles studies, done at 34 n, can apply directly to any city at approximately the same latitude either north or south of the equator. Some of these are Baghdad, Tehran, Kabul, Lahore, Osaka, Tokyo, Buenos Aires, and Santiago. For cities at other latitudes, the size and shape of the solar envelope will vary, but the basic principles hold. Investigations of the solar envelope have also been done in...
Courtyards and the Interstitium
Courtyard buildings, because they are so common throughout the world, deserve special attention for the advantages they offer as an urban type. In making a strong supporting argument for the courtyard, architect John Reynolds has described its many traditional uses. Courtyards serve buildings of nearly every imaginable function. Residences are often . . . designed around courtyards, because courtyards offer both privacy and access to nature. Commercial activities also benefit. For example,...
The Indian House
The rhythms of life in southern India are set by the monsoon. While northwestern India is extremely dry, southern regions have a predominantly coastal climate with the Arabian Sea to the west, the Indian Ocean to the south, and the Bay of Bengal to the east. Most of the year is hot and humid with a cooler monsoon season starting toward the end of May and continuing until early September.8 Celebrating the monsoon's arrival evokes a series of distinctly Indian customs ranging from small, private...