Re:
> First, it should be remembered that planning provides *standards* as much
>as it provides *constraints*.
>
> Second point is that it should always be remembered that older
>neighborhoods have the advantage of time. Time to age. They can age well or
>badly, but when comparing a neighborhood first built 50 or 2000 years ago
>with one built now it is more productive to ask, "How will the new one age?"
>than "How is the new one like the older one."
Good points. Y'all may be interested in the concepts presented by the
founder of the Whole Earth Catalog in his current role as author/critic:
How Buildings Learn : What Happens After They're Built
by Stewart Brand
List Price: $24.00
Paperback Reprint edition (October 1995)
Penguin USA (Paper); ISBN: 0140139966
He has a refreshing take on excessive planning, of questionable value, by
professional planners and architects, and the sometimes better design work
done by untrained people, responding to building needs over time.
Community design, like all design, is an iterative process. The choice is:
How many sketches on paper, and how many frustrating public hearings is the
builder/community willing to go through, before moving on to drawing, at
much greater expense & time per iteration, in bricks and mortar?
Brand points to examples of both good and bad outcomes from both
intentional "high design" and unplanned development. Some neighborhoods
take generations to recover from the poor choices of unimaginative and
uncaring builders. Others benefit from good, well-evolved, common-sense,
"design" from the very beginning.
By the way, I thought this list was about MUNI...
Jim Buker, A.I.A.
San Francisco
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Content-Type: text/enriched; charset="us-ascii"
Re:
> First, it should be remembered that planning provides *standards* as
much
>as it provides *constraints*.
>
> Second point is that it should always be remembered that older
>neighborhoods have the advantage of time. Time to age. They can age
well or
>badly, but when comparing a neighborhood first built 50 or 2000 years
ago
>with one built now it is more productive to ask, "How will the new one
age?"
>than "How is the new one like the older one."
Good points. Y'all may be interested in the concepts presented by the
founder of the Whole Earth Catalog in his current role as
author/critic: <bold><fontfamily><param>Geneva</param>How Buildings
Learn : What Happens After They're Built
by <color><param>0000,3333,9999</param>Stewart Brand
</color>List Price: $24.00
Paperback Reprint edition (October 1995)
Penguin USA (Paper); ISBN: 0140139966
</fontfamily></bold>He has a refreshing take on excessive planning, of
questionable value, by professional planners and architects, and the
sometimes better design work done by untrained people, responding to
building needs over time.
Community design, like all design, is an iterative process. The choice
is: How many sketches on paper, and how many frustrating public
hearings is the builder/community willing to go through, before moving
on to drawing, at much greater expense & time per iteration, in bricks
and mortar?
Brand points to examples of both good and bad outcomes from both
intentional "high design" and unplanned development. Some neighborhoods
take generations to recover from the poor choices of unimaginative and
uncaring builders. Others benefit from good, well-evolved,
common-sense, "design" from the very beginning.
By the way, I thought this list was about MUNI...
Jim Buker, A.I.A.
San Francisco
--============_-1292191088==_ma============--