ELEMENTS OF URBAN DESIGN IMAGE OF THE

CITY AND RESPONSIVE ARCHITECTURE.

ELEMENTS OF URBAN
DESIGN IMAGE OF THE
CITY
•Elements Of Urban Design
• Urban Design involves the design and
coordination of all that makes up cities and towns
•BUILDINGS:
• Buildings are the most pronounced elements of
urban design - they shape and articulate space by
forming the street walls of the city.
• Well designed buildings and groups of buildings
work together to create a sense of place.
• PUBLIC SPACES:
• Great public spaces are the living room of the
city - the place where people come together to enjoy
the city and each other.
 STREETS AND
TRANSPORT
• • STREETS:
• Streets are the connections between spaces and
places, as well as being spaces themselves.
• They are defined by their physical dimension
and character as well as the size, scale, and character
of the buildings that line them.
• Streets range from grand avenues such as the
Champs-Elysees in Paris to small, intimate pedestrian
streets.
• The pattern of the street network is part of
what defines a city and what makes each city unique.
LANDSCAPE:
• The landscape is the green part of
the city that weaves throughout - in the
form of urban parks, street trees, plants,
flowers, and water in many forms.
• The landscape helps define the
character and beauty of a city and creates
soft, contrasting spaces and elements.
• Green spaces in cities range from
grand parks such as Central Park in New
York City and the Washington DC Mall, to
small intimate pocket parks.
• Urban Design weaves together
these elements into a coherent, organized
design structure.
• IMAGE OF THE CITY -By Kevin lynch
• • The Image of the Environment
• • He says “Every citizen has had long
associations with some part of the says, city,
and his image is soaked in memories and
meanings.”
• • He also concerned with how we locate
ourselves within the city, how we find our
way around.
• • To know where we are within the city,
therefore, we have to build up a workable
image of each part.
IMAGIBILITY

•• The quality of a physical object which gives

an observer a strong vivid image.
•• A highly image able city would be well
formed, would contain very distinct parts, and
would be instantly recognizable to the common
inhabitant.
•• The contents of the city images so far
studied, which are referable to physical forms,
can conveniently be classified into five types of
elements:
• – paths, – edges, – districts, – nodes, and –
landmarks ...
Public Image
•Each individual holds a unique image of his or
her city, a visual representation that guides
through daily life and maps out meaning.
• Researching a sample of these images can help
planners discern a “public image” of their city.
• A person's perception of the world is known as
a mental map.
• A mental map is an individual's own map of
their known world.
• Mental maps of individuals can be
investigated .
• This can be evaluated in terms of identity, what
makes this particular image unique among cities
structure, how the image is spatially formed and
meaning, what values are attached to the image
through which one can locate himself.
Paths
• Familiar routes followed- “Are the channels along
which the observer customarily, occasionally, or
potentially moves.” E.g.-streets, walkways, transit
lines, canals, railroads • The continuity depends on:

– Width
– Gradient
– activity

Edges
• dividing lines between districts- "are the linear
elements not used or considered as paths by the
observer. They are boundaries between two phases
Districts
•• areas with perceived internal homogeneity-
"are medium-to-large sections of the city,
conceived of as having two-dimensional
extent, which the observer mentally enters
‘inside of,’ and which are recognizable as
having some common identifying character"

•E.g.- center, midtown, its in-town residential

areas, organized industrial areas, train yards,
suburbs, college campuses etc.
Nodes
• Center of attraction that you can enter-
“Are points, the strategic spots in a city
into which an observer can enter.
• The nodes may be simply
concentrations, which gain their
importance from being the condensation
of some use or physical character, as a
street- corner hangout or an enclosed
square .”

E.g.-primary junctions, places of a break

in transportation, a crossing or
convergence of paths, moments of shift
from one structure to another
Landmarks
• point of reference- “Are another type of point-
reference, but in this case the observer does not
enter within them, they are Taj mahal Golconda
fortBuddha statexternal. They are usually a rather
simply defined physical object which makes one
orient oneself.

E.g.-building, sign, store, or mountain Charminar

Taj mahal Golconda fortBuddha statue
IMAGEABILITY OF MYSORE

• Mysore is designed studiously as a princely city,

has an established urban form to include urban
design elements, imageability of the city and built
structures that contributed to the aesthetics and
architecture.
• The city is characterized by the towering presence
of Amba Vilas Palace, which is the landmark and
focal point of the city.
• It has both architectural and urban design
elements namely vistas, focal points, landmarks,
avenues, and plazas made it undoubtedly the
prominent heritage city.
• Mysore is characterized by heritage buildings,
gardens, boulevards, and planned markets all these
are the contributions of Maharajas, Dewans, and
their talented workmanship.
IMAGEABILITY OF MYSORE
The combination of different styles applied in
statues, clock towers and fountains are so well
executed in terms of purity of style and located in
right places with the right proportion of open spaces
incorporated in it.
• The townscape of the city viewed from Chamundi
hills present a skyline of clock tower, statues,
palaces, mansions, etc., which exists with its beauty.
• The maintenance of beautiful gardens in the
premises enhanced the appearance of the city.
• The imageablity of city’s aesthetics of urban design
elements are expressed through the following
elements:

– Landmarks
– Focal Point
– Public Square
– Vistas
Landmarks
• “The position of a prominent or well-known object
in a particular landscape is called the landmark,
which attracts attention”.
• There are two important landmarks in the City of
Mysore and they are Ambavilas Palace and
Chamaraja Circle
. • Ambavilas Palace is a prominent landmark, a
three storied structure having the tallest tower with
the gilded dome rising to a level of 145 ft from the
ground.
• The palace exhibits the following characters
namely

a. reveal the strength and power of the place,

b. b. most visited tourist place and derives income

from tourist
Focal point
• ‘Focal point is a critical point of a distance
function.
• Focal point focuses specifically a point of
interest which makes a place unique in
streets, market places of town.
• Focal point will be column, cross, clock
tower which crystallises the situation and
confirms this in the spot’.
• Seventy Five (75’0) feet square tower
topped with Indo Saracenic style and
vertical symbol of congregation.
• It is located in the centre of the city and
acts as a main focal point, located on the
old procession street.
Public Square
• Public Square is a space used by the
public.
• A public square can acts as the focal
point, land mark and enclosure’.
• The circle is geometrically designed with
six gateways facing each other.
• Vasavi circle in front of the Devaraja
market including the Chikka Ghadighara
form a public square.
• In an intersection wherein the JLB road
and Irwin road meets near railway station,
the Statue of Dr.Babu Jagajeevanram is
installed in this intersection by replacing the
beautiful water fountain circle with
landscaped traffic rotaries which with
Vista
• Foreground linked by background through
different elements like landscape, water
bodies or pathways etc., closed by a mass
of building and it produces a sense of
power and omnipresence’.
• The stretch of buildings on either side of
the road creates a vista, with the
foreground circle.
• Albert Victor Road leading from Harding
circle to DC office via Chamaraja circle and
Krishnaraja circle forms a vista.
• The pathway leading from Ashoka circle
is a very good example of vista.
Nodes and Edges
• One of the interesting characters of Mysore
• Nodes are strategic points in a city which the
city is that the building responds to the road
observer can enter.
edges in K.R.Circle, Ashoka circle and other
• Primary junctions, transport transit, terminals and
prominent places.
convergence of path.
• At all these points, the buildings respond to
• The circles and junctions forms the nodes. • There
geometry of curvilinear pattern by converging
are many nodes and the buildings or open spaces
towards the focal point which can either be a
around them form the edges’.
fountain, statue, and island. Even though, the
• Krishna Rajendra Circle is a node, and four roads
buildings differ in their functions, the building
converge at this junction.
styles follow the pattern of uniqueness.
• The buildings at the edges respond to the node.
Path
• Paths are the channels along which the
observer customarily moves.
• Paths are nothing but pedestrian
networks, which links the town together in a
viable pattern.
• Continuity and access are always
maintained’.
• All main roads in city core have pathways
and are well regulated for the movement of
traffic and pedestrians with signal
synchronization in the central area.
• Paths were provided with street furniture
like lamp post, railings, ornamented sign
boards etc.
TRANSPORT:
• Transport systems connect the parts of cities and help shape them,
and enable movement throughout the city.
• They include road, rail, bicycle, and pedestrian networks, and
together form the total movement system of a city.
• The balance of these various transport systems is what helps define
the quality and character of cities, and makes them either friendly or
hostile to pedestrians. • Historically, movements within cities tended to
be restricted to walking, which made medium and long distance urban
linkages rather inefficient and time- consuming.
• Thus, activity nodes tended to be agglomerated and urban forms
compact. Many modern cities have inherited an urban form created
under such
The dense urban cores of many European, Japanese and Chinese cities, for
example, enable residents to make between one third and two thirds of all trips by
walking and cycling.

The amount of urban land allocated to transportation is often correlated with the
level of mobility. In the pre-automobile era, about 10% of the urban land was
devoted to transportation which was simply roads for a dominantly pedestrian traffic.

State, regional, and local transportation and land-use policies and guidelines
directly affect how land is developed, designed, and accessed

The role of transit in shaping urban form is as important as its role in meeting
transportation needs. The type and nature of development around a transit station
will greatly influence that station’s effectiveness. Transportation Oriented
Development (TOD) plans provide focus for regulatory and infrastructure
improvements that allow the full realization of the benefits of transit investment.
Urban transportation is organized in three broad categories of collective, individual and
freight transportation.
§ Collective Transportation (public transit):It includes modes such as tramways, buses,
trains, subways and ferryboats.
§ Individual Transportation: Includes any mode where mobility is the outcome of a personal
choice and means such as the automobile, walking, cycling and the motorcycle. Includes
any mode where mobility is the outcome of a personal choice and means such as the
automobile, walking, cycling and the motorcycle.
§ Freight Transportation: As cities are dominant centers of production and Challenges
Facing Urban Transportation
• Traffic congestion and parking difficulties
• Longer commuting
• Public transport inadequacy.
• Difficulties for non-motorized transport
• Loss of public space
• Environmental impacts and energy consumption
• Accidents and safety • Land consumption
• Freight distribution. Examples : Metro rail Foot over bridge (delhi) Sky walks (mumbai)
 UN Studio’s Galleria Department Store façade in Seoul

Responsive
Architecture
•Responsive architecture is most simply defined
as a space that responds to its environment but
has no agency
•• It absorbs information from its general
environment and responds to it in some way but
people cannot actively affect or change its
behavior
•• sound and light sculptures absorbed data from
their environment and translated it into kinetic
performances.
• LED lighting manufacturer Xilver delivered 5000
color changing LED lights
• The Galleria is completely covered by a series of 80
cm-diameter frosted glass discs which are backlit by
LED lights
• The LEDs change the color of each of the discs and
thus enable the creation of a vivid play of colors and
graphics to be displayed on the exterior of the store
• Xilver developed a controller that can control up to 4
individual RGB LED lights called RainDrops.These
RainDrops are individually addressable and thus
controllable through any DMX-512 device (a standard
for digital communication networks that are commonly
used to control stage lighting and effects).
• special software to automatically adjust the intensity
and wavelength of each fixture related to the LEDs
used from a particular binning
LED Lights
• Software provides DMX signals to the lights. • In normal cases,
hardware could handle 16 DMX lines, while in this case we had to
control 32 lines. In total something like 15,000 DMX channels are
controlled by E:Cue's Programmer software and 8 E-Link Ethernet
nodes.
• Each lighting fixture of Xilver acts as a pixel of a video screen.
• The E:Cue programmer software intelligently combines lighting
control with the display of videos and bitmaps through the Xilver
color changing LED lighting fixtures
• All kind of effects can be added easily to these images (special
occasions, and can be changed over time according to seasons,
fashion events and artistic inspirations)
During the day the atmospheric and
weather changes influence the
degree of reflection and absorption of
light and color on the glass circles,
so that from different viewing points
the appearance of each disc and the
total surface changes constantly
according to those external
conditions that are beyond human
control.