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Eldon Square | Urban Design

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T A G A RCHI V E S : E L DO N S Q UA RE

Urban Regeneration

BY: Nasim Nejabat

Why is urban regeneration important?
How does it improve our environment?
How can we keep up with a place?
These are the questions I ask myself almost every day. In simple terms, we could say that urban regeneration is recreating what has been lost or
redeveloping/rebuilding an area to improve it. What is interesting in urban regeneration is how sometimes a simple change could change local economical
and the social aspects of our lives.
When it comes to designing the environment, I believe that it is important to observe people and to get communities involved. This could help us to
understand what is desired from that place and to understand what is working and what is not working.
In my eyes the old Eldon square on Blackett street (also known as the Hippy Green) is an example of a successful urban regeneration. Eldon Square
was built as part of the 182540 reconstruction of Newcastle city centre with a war memorial statue. Before the development, the square was a place for
youth gatherings after school and weekends. There was nothing there to attract anyone else to use the place as it only had one active facade. Eldon
Square (Newcastles shopping centre) started to redevelop that area and introduce restaurants and cafes facing into the old Eldon square.

(The square before the development, newcastlephotos.blogspot.com/ )

Phase 1 of the redevelopment instead of having one large grass area, the area was divided into 4 sections, adding a cross pathway into the middle of the
square. As well as the new entrance in the new section, the old Eldon Square entrance was replaced with a new entrance adjacent to the path. This
improved the connectivity and access in the square.

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(The square after the first development newcastlephotos.blogspot.com/ )

Phase 2 After the redevelopment, it became obvious that the section around the statue needed to be bigger, therefore the grass edges was changed
using peoples desire lines. Benches have also been introduced around the grass which have been very successful as they are used most of the time.

ILuvNUFC . (2009). Eldon Square. Available: http://newcastlephotos.blogspot.co.uk/2009/02/eldon-square.html0. Last accessed 6th Dec 2013.

Posted in Blog , Generic Post | Tagged Eldon Square , Newcastle , regeneration | 1 Reply

Urban Atrium

Urban Atrium Anh Nguyen

Introduction
I passed through some shopping malls in Newcastle Centre like intu Eldon Square, Central Arcade. I realized there are some enclosed public spaces
which are often busy and hustle and perhaps are more crowded than public squares. These places are charming, frenetic, lively and warm. In a book Time
saver for Urban design I read, this places can be called atrium. Atrium refers a place where buildings built around a central courtyard. This spatial pattern
not only occurs in residential areas but also in commercial areas. In modern architecture, the atrium is a symbol of attractive and creative commercial
places.

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Eldon Square | Urban Design

Function and history

The inner courtyards which are public or semi-public spaces are enclosed from exterior climate. They provide light and temperate climate inside the
buildings. It is useful when the weather is unpleasant, people can find these places to shelter. Atriums tend to be decorated by trees and landscape or for
some purposes which are used for exhibition, dining, retail, and performance. For me, the Eldon Union Square has another special function it is an ideal
shortcut that lead me to Grainger market or to Northumberland Street.
Atriums used to be built in the Ancient Roma houses, which is called atria (plural is atriums), providing sunlight, green space and ventilation to the interior.
Modern atriums, built from 19-20th century has glass windows and steel frames. The earliest European examples are the Burlington Arcade (1819) in
London and the Galerie Vivienne and Galerie Colbert (182526) in Paris. Atriums arcade was taken place in Brussels (184647).Following Crystal Palace
(1851), huge glazed atrium structures built through Europe. In Italy, The Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II in Milan (186577) is perhaps the well-known example.
(Michael J.Bedna,1986)
1a

Figure 1: Atrium and peristyle, House of the Silver Wedding, Pompeii, early 1st century A.D.
Commercial use
More than any other purpose, atrium spaces are now used in a majority of shopping malls, devoted to commercial use. The connections between public
squares and atriums play an important role in designing commercial realms. This provides public amenities for pedestrians, encouraging business
development. In some cities, atrium spaces are connected through systems of pedestrian bridges and tunnels, open arcades and covered plazas. During
the development of some atrium spaces, these spaces take shape the city.

Figure 2: intu Eldon Square s area and its atrium space

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Finally, I would like to add some guidelines for designing atrium spaces. According to Time saver for Urban design, there are some following criteria for
designing successful atrium spaces:
The spaces should be readily accessible from existing exterior places. This can be accomplished through direct physical linkage and/or visual
transparency. Entrances and exits are the critical points whether located at street level or above, or whether related to a sidewalk or urban square.
Successful atrium spaces should be legible and easily understood for purposes of way-finding circulation and orientation. Coherent spatial for m and
simple geometry will aid in achieving comprehensible circulation patterns. A strong spatial concept executed with consistent structural and architectural
expression will aid in orientation.
Atrium spaces should serve a public pedestrian purpose. They should contain pedestrian amenities and provide opportunities for socializing and public
occasion.
Technical requirements such as heating, ventilating, and air conditioning, smoke exhaust, fire suppression, and electric lighting should be integrated into
a coherent architectonic expression that does not overwhelm the public space.

Figure 3: Westfield London Main Atrium

References
Bednar, Michael J., Urban atriums in Watson D., Plattus A., Shibley R.(eds.), Time-Saver Standards For Urban Design, McGraw-Hill, New York: (2003):
6.1(1-10)
Wikipedia, Available from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atrium_(architecture) [Accessed 6 Nov 2013]

November 6, 2013 by Anh Nguyen

Posted in Blog , Generic Post Tagged Eldon Square , Newcastle , Placemaking , Urban Design , urban design newcastle

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Urban design is the process of arranging the

physical setting for life in cities, towns and villages,
in particular the shaping and uses of urban public
space. It involves the design of buildings, groups of

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buildings, spaces and landscapes, and establishing
the processes that make successful development
possible. It has traditionally been regarded as a
disciplinary subset of urban planning, landscape
architecture, or architecture and in more recent
times has been linked to emergent disciplines such
as landscape urbanism.

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