16AR406 URBAN DESIGN AND RENEWAL

UNIT - 2

2.3 URBAN DESIGN THEORIES

OF

GORDON CULLEN

The Concise Townscape

 2.3 GORDON CULLEN – THE CONCISE TOWNSCAPE

INTRODUCTION

Context

In the postmodern period, the way cities were perceived and understood underwent a drastic
transformation. The modernist perception of the city as ‘4 functions’ was not relatable anymore
and there was a growing realization that the urban environment has a social and psychological
impact on the people. Varied ideas, concepts and theories were put forth during this time by
theorists, activists, architects and planners around this notion. One such work- a very influential
work - is the book ‘Townscape’ by Gordon Cullen.

Gordon Cullen

Thomas Gordon Cullen (9 August 1914 – 11 August 1994) was an influential British architect and
urban designer. He authored the book ‘Townscape’ which was published in 1961. Through this
book he brings to light how one’s visual perception of the townscape has a psychological impact
on the observer. This book pioneered the concept of Townscape. (Later editions
of Townscape were published under the title ‘Concise Townscape’.)

Townscape

‘Townscape’ is the visual composition of structures within a town that determine its distinctive
character. It is the art of giving visual coherence and organization to the jumble of buildings,
streets and space that make up the urban environment.

2.3.1 INTRODUCTION TO THE CONCISE TONWSCAPE

PREMISE

1)A city is more than the sum of its inhabitants

The first idea put forth by Cullen is based on this line - ‘A city is more than the sum of its
inhabitants.’

The whole is more than the sum of its parts. Similarly a building standing in isolation will be
experienced as a work of architecture. But when a bunch of buildings are put together, the very
grouping of the buildings creates something new. This new is more than a mere adding up of
the effect each building has. The way these buildings are placed in relation to each other – in
other words the way these buildings relate to each other – evokes a certain emotional response
in the person who is in this space. ‘There is an art of relationship just as there is an art of
architecture.’ This art of relationship is not confined to just the way the buildings relate to each
other. It encompasses the manner in which the many elements of an urban environment

Ar.Swethini Ramamurthy | Assistant Professor | Department of Architecture | SRM SAID Page 2

 2.3 GORDON CULLEN – THE CONCISE TOWNSCAPE

namely the buildings, trees, nature, water, traffic etc. interact with each other and produce a
certain effect. Irrespective of whether we consciously work on this art of relationship or not,
the way the environment is structured has an effect on us. Hence if we want our urban
environments to evoke a specific response in its people, we must understand how the
structuring of the environment creates this effect. We can then use this understanding to
consciously create the desired urban environment.

2)It is through vision that the environment is apprehended

Vision is not only useful for identifying and way finding, it also evokes our memories and
experiences. While discussing vision, the aspect of cone of vision needs to be taken into
account. The cone of vision brings into one’s field of vision and awareness a lot more than what
is intentionally being seen. Whether one intends to pay attention or not, to all that the cone of
vision brings in, it is seen and processed by the brain. This is to say, ALL that we see produces
an emotional reaction in us. What follows is an unpacking of this premise.

THE 3 TENETS OF VISION

Understanding ‘All that we see’ is approached from three different angles:

1) How do we perceive and thereby relate to our environment when we are moving
through it - Concerning optics
2) How do we perceive and thereby relate to our environment when we are simply being
in it (positioned in it) - Concerning place
3) How do we perceive the characteristics of the elements in an environment (colour,
texture, scale, style, character and so on) and how does this have an impact on us -
Concerning content

2.3.2 CONCERNING OPTICS

SERIAL VISION

This explores the emotional experience of a person, based on what they see, while moving
through an environment. As we walk through a space, we experience different volumes of
space, observe different scales and the view that is in front of us is progressively changing and
making different revelations of the environment that we are in. This progressively changing
view is referred to as the emerging view while the current view is referred to as the existing
view.

These different revelations of the environment that we progressively experience as we walk,

can elicit varied responses in us ranging from surprise to anticipation to curiosity or even

Ar.Swethini Ramamurthy | Assistant Professor | Department of Architecture | SRM SAID Page 3

 2.3 GORDON CULLEN – THE CONCISE TOWNSCAPE

boredom. We experience varying degrees of contrast. This contrast enables us to become more
present to the environment we are in and relate to it in a deeper sense. This means of
experiencing an environment (as we move through it) through a series of varied emerging
views is called Serial Vision. Serial vision is used to denote how our constantly changing view,
while moving through an environment, evokes different emotions in us. This understanding, of
how people moving through an urban space are impacted by their visual experience of the
space, can be used as a tool to mould the city in a coherent manner.

2.3.3 CONCERNING PLACE

This concerns itself with the manner in which we relate to an environment based on our
perception of where we are – the position of the body in the environment. The mind is
constantly making connections. It is an instinctive and continuous habit of the body to relate
itself to the environment. An awareness of where we are in an environment is quite often
established by our viewing of/experience of contrast.

For example: a person facing the compound wall of a private property experiences an
awareness of the private space ‘in there’ in contrast to the public space ‘out here’. The person’s
awareness of where they are in the environment in the now – the here – comes about by a
viewing of a there (defined by the compound wall).

Similarly as a person moves through a city, they would have varied emotional experiences
based on where they are placed in the environment and what they perceive around them.
Experiences of exposure and enclosure, containment and revelation, here and there, above and
below are some examples.

This experience of a space, at a deeper level, influences the way we identify with the space –
developing a sense of identity and sense of place. Understanding how, what we see around us
in relation to the position of our body in the environment, works on our sense of identity within
that environment, allows us to design and shape intimate, identifiable and relatable urban
spaces.

A. Concept of Possession

When we view the world from a primarily functional point of view, we would see that the roads
and pathways are for movement and the buildings are for social and business purposes. But in
reality the way we use our spaces is not so black and white. We don’t use just the space inside
the buildings for our social and business purposes. We do, in varied informal ways, use the
spaces outside and around our buildings too for these purposes. This means of using the out-of-
doors space in the way it suits us is referred to as possession. This is because when we are
using the space, we are in a way colonizing the space and hence the term possession to refer to

Ar.Swethini Ramamurthy | Assistant Professor | Department of Architecture | SRM SAID Page 4

 2.3 GORDON CULLEN – THE CONCISE TOWNSCAPE

this. There are different ways in which possession of space occurs. Some of them are explained
below.

A.i) Occupied territory

We occupy spaces for myriad reasons. Some of the common reasons are for shade, shelter and
convenience.

For example when it starts raining suddenly, we might seek shelter under a sunshade. This
sunshade by way of its projection defines a certain space under it. And we temporarily colonize
this space until the rain stops. This is called static possession. The sunshade is a permanent
structure (it is not in motion) and the sheltered space defined by it is static.

These ‘things’ in an environment which define a certain space about them inviting one to
occupy it are referred to as ‘furniture of possession’. In the above example the sunshade is the
furniture of possession. Some other examples of furniture of possession include floorscape,
posts, canopies, enclaves, focal points and enclosures.

A.ii) Possession in movement

This simply describes our occupying of a space while moving through it.

For example: Walking on a paved pathway. The paved pathway is a well-defined thing having a
well-defined beginning and a well-defined end with a well-defined character. It defines a
certain space by its paving (floorscape). It is the furniture of possession in this scenario. Though
this is static, our occupancy of this space is not. We occupy this space as we walk on it. In other
words, we possess this space in movement.

A.iii) Viscosity

Meaning of viscous (adjective): having a thick, sticky consistency between solid and liquid;

In an urban environment when there is a mixture of static possession (solid) and possession in
movement (liquid), it is termed viscosity.

For example: groups of people hanging about chatting or having tea; slow window shoppers;
people selling flowers, trinkets.

A.iv) Advantage

At times in cities, a sense of space is created by a line.

For example: the railing in front of a water body like a lake or a pond. While this railing
demarcates spaces, it doesn’t define a territory the way a sunshade does. It is merely a line.

Ar.Swethini Ramamurthy | Assistant Professor | Department of Architecture | SRM SAID Page 5

 2.3 GORDON CULLEN – THE CONCISE TOWNSCAPE

People can be seen leaning against this railing, talking to another person or simply gazing at the
water body. This line, the railing, then becomes a line of advantage because of the way people
use it.

Another example: Before Fastag was introduced, a short stretch of road leading to the toll plaza
would have many vendors selling snacks. The different lanes to the toll plaza created lines in
space. These lines were taken advantage of by the vendors to sell their goodies to the vehicles
waiting in queue for their turn. This manner in which we (in this case the vendors) take
advantage of and use the space along a line, is called Advantage.

A.v) Enclave

Meaning of enclave (noun) - a portion of territory surrounded by a larger territory

The characteristics of an enclave – It opens to the exterior. It is not an enclosed space. It has
direct and free access from one space to the other. It’s a space that has ‘stepped out’ from the
main directional stream of traffic. Yet it has the advantage of commanding the scene from a
position of safety and strength.

A.vi) Enclosure

It is a space that is created by being enclosed by the boundaries of the buildings around it. Free
of vehicular movement, it offers a sort of respite from the external ‘busyness’. It is a relatively
calm and relatable space.

A.vii) Focal point

A focal point draws attention and has the sense of drawing people to it. In a way it can be seen
as a vertical symbol of congregation. It arrests one’s vision to a spot taking away the need to
look further.

While in the past the focal points within a city served as places of coming together for the
people, in the current times this function of the focal point is lost for the most part. This is due
to the cities being designed for the car rather than for the pedestrians

B.Concept of Here and There

Within the proposition of concerning place, first the concept of possession was studied – the
different ways in which we relate to a space by the way we occupy/possess it.

Next attention is turned towards a person’s unspoken reaction based on their sense of position
in the environment. There is a subconscious awareness of the body’s position in a space that
might be expressed as ‘I am in it’ or ‘I am above it’ or ‘I am outside it’ and so on. This

Ar.Swethini Ramamurthy | Assistant Professor | Department of Architecture | SRM SAID Page 6

 2.3 GORDON CULLEN – THE CONCISE TOWNSCAPE

subconscious awareness of the body’s position in a space is the way one develops a sense of
identity with that place. This sense of identity one experiences in a place can be described as an
experience of ‘hereness’ – the awareness of ‘I am here’.

The awareness of ‘hereness’ automatically creates a sense of ‘thereness’. And a spatial

relationship exists between these two qualities. What follows is an exploration of this spatial
relationship and the many ways in which it can be manipulated.

The first category of relationships is concerned with the interplay between a known here and a
known there. The second category of relationships will be concerned with the interplay
between a known here and an unknown there.

Known here and a known there

B.i) Pinpointing

It is the means by which feeling a sensation of something being pointed at in our environment
creates a sense of hereness and thereness.

For example: A light beam being pointed at a building gives a sensation of the building being
pointed at. It is like a person pointing their finger at the building; or the long arm of a tower
crane inadvertently pointing at a building in the background.

These give the sensation of something being pointed at. It draws our attention outwards and
prompts a sense of otherness i.e. there is something out there apart from what is here. It is not
the object that is being pointed at but the evocative act of pointing that brings about the
awareness of a here and a there.

B.ii) Change of level

An experience of varying levels provokes diverse emotional reactions in us.

Below level produces intimacy, inferiority, enclosure and claustrophobia. For example: the
experience of driving through a tunnel. The above level gives exhilaration, command,
superiority, exposure and vertigo. For example: Driving up a hill. The act of descending implies
going down into the known and the act of ascending implies going up into the unknown. For
example: the experience of descending or ascending the steps of an amphitheatre.

Spaces at similar levels but separated by a deep gap give a sense of being near yet remote.

And then there is the functional use of levels to either join or separate the activities of various
users.

Ar.Swethini Ramamurthy | Assistant Professor | Department of Architecture | SRM SAID Page 7

 2.3 GORDON CULLEN – THE CONCISE TOWNSCAPE

B.iii) Narrows

Narrows refers to the narrow space created as a result of the crowding together of buildings.
This forms a sort of pressure and can even induce a feeling of being constricted. Narrows makes
it possible to maintain an experience of enclosure in the space, while allowing vehicles and
pedestrians to pass through.

For example: by-lanes of Parry’s corner in Chennai; Most streets in residential areas of old parts
of a town.

B.iv) Grandiose Vista

A vista that gives rise to a sense of grandeur by means of the grand spaces it connects, its scale
and design.

For example: the vista leading to the Lotus Temple in Delhi. The powerful, awe inspiring and
imposing form of the Lotus Temple lends its grandeur to the vista that connects it to the entry.
In return the vista transfers this feeling of power, awe and expansiveness to one walking
through it.

B.v) Screened Vista

This operates like a regular vista. A vista creates an awareness of where the body is positioned
in relation to the distance of the building that the vista leads us to. In the case of a screened
vista in which a screening element is present, there is an increased sense of hereness because
of the way in which the screening element physically and visually divides the space.

For example: The vista leading to the Rashtrapati Bhavan. Initially the upward slope of the ramp
has a screening effect. Then when one has finally arrived, the view is still screened by the metal
gates.

B.vi) Closed Vista

A closed vista is one in which the view at the end of the vista is closed. In the case of the
grandiose or the screened vistas, the view at the end is not closed. The vista might end but the
view doesn’t. There is a sense of openness and space around the building that the vista led to.
One can view around the building and beyond the building in a certain sense. But in the closed
vista, the viewing stops there.

For example: The design proposed by Cullen for the development of the precinct of Liverpool
Cathedral.

Ar.Swethini Ramamurthy | Assistant Professor | Department of Architecture | SRM SAID Page 8

 2.3 GORDON CULLEN – THE CONCISE TOWNSCAPE

B.vii) Deflection

This is a variation on the closed vista. Deflection occurs when the object building deflects away
from the right angle, and as a result arouses the expectation that it is doing so to some
purpose. Buildings are usually aligned based on architectural principles. And the eye is used to
seeing this. So when a change in alignment happens and the building is deflected, it triggers the
thought that there is probably more to the view than what is already known.

B.viii) Closure

In enclosure the eye reacts to the fact of being completely surrounded. Once an enclosure is
entered, the scene remains the same. The reaction is static. Whereas in closure, the vision is
contained by a break in the street without blocking out the sense of progression beyond this.

B.ix) Silhouette

Earlier days buildings had interesting profiles that created interesting silhouettes. Our
contemporary buildings are mostly rectangular blocks of varying scale and size. The roofline of a
building in an undevised manner splits the view into the earth and the sky. As our line of sight
travels along the silhouette of a building or street, we realize it has the effect of reaching out to
the sky and bringing it down. It gives the impression of bringing the sky closer to us. This is the
significance of the silhouette.

B.x) Truncation

To truncate means to shorten the extent of.

In truncation, the foreground cuts off a part of the background. The foreground in a way
forcefully imposes itself creating a sudden visual break. This visual break is created because the
intervening floor is cut out. The result – the foreground and the distant background are brought
into a dramatic juxtaposition.

The space between the foreground and the background, defined by the intervening floor,
serves the purpose of aiding the eye to gradually transition from viewing what is here to what is
in the distance. When this is truncated, the gradual transition is lost. And the views of the near
and the distant end up being placed immediately next to each other creating a dramatic effect.

This explains the concept of truncation.

For example: the upward slope of a ramp leading to a building. The upward slope would
truncate the view of the building in the distance by cutting off the intervening floor space. The
dramatic effect of juxtaposition is experienced. Example of the approach to Rashtrapati Bhavan.

Ar.Swethini Ramamurthy | Assistant Professor | Department of Architecture | SRM SAID Page 9

 2.3 GORDON CULLEN – THE CONCISE TOWNSCAPE

B.xi) Netting

This term has been derived from the way we use a net to capture something. For example,
consider a fisherman who goes out to sea to get fish. He casts his net to get what’s out there
(the fish) and hauls his net to bring it in. Similarly in the context of urban spaces, when a distant
view is framed by a building or some other urban element it has the effect of capturing what’s
out there and drawing it in closer. This effect of framing is called netting. It serves to link the
near with the remote.

Known here and an unknown there

B.xii)Anticipation

A scenario where the arrangement of buildings is such that one can only see one view until they
reach the end of that path. While the view is static in a way, it also hints at something more to
be revealed once that point is reached. This hinting of something more, piques one’s curiosity
and is called Anticipation.

B.xiii) The maw

Meaning of maw (noun): the jaws or throat of a voracious animal.

In the urban setting, it refers to spaces that are black and have an air of being motionless and silent.
This blackness is by perception and not by colour per se. While it might not attract one’s attention, it
has a certain pervasive quality that can be felt. This blackness creates the unknown.

Concerning Content

This examines the fabric of towns – colour, texture, scale, style, character, personality and
uniqueness – and how they can be ‘manipulated’ to create specific outcomes. Manipulating the
nuances of scale and style, of texture and colour and of character and individuality and
juxtaposing them can create collective benefits. It creates an interplay of ‘this and that’.

Along with this, ideas of conformity and differentiation come into discussion. The popular
conception of the purpose of town planning and urban design is to create symmetry, balance,
perfection and conformity. But very rigorous conformity can result in boredom. Ideally
conformity must be so planned, it allows for a degree of differentiation within the recognized
tolerance of behavior.

The purpose of studying these nuances is to make it possible for us to shape/create soulful
urban spaces that are a home for the human being instead of lifeless cities that one feels
choicelessly obligated to occupy.

Ar.Swethini Ramamurthy | Assistant Professor | Department of Architecture | SRM SAID Page 10