Growing up in the Bay Area next to San Francisco ha slead me to become fascinated by the complexity of the cities of the world and how they affect so many people. I love the idea that these cities were all planned and thought up of by individuals working together for a larger goal. The planning of cities affects all its inhabitants in ways that they probably do not even realize which makes these plans and the planning process even more compelling. I am also interested in what makes cities unique. Cities are all made up of roughly the same things: blocks, big buildings, parks, cars, and people. Even though the basic elements of cities are the same they all still have there own unique character. I think one of the most distinguishing factors of cities is how they were designed to accommodate certain needs of their inhabitants outside of where they live or work. Cities can easily be overwhelming or a harsh place to live, which is why certain areas need to be set aside to offer some kind of escape. In addition to being a place to withdraw, parks and recreational areas can be a distinguishing characteristic of a city. In San Francisco, the Golden Gate Park, Union square, the Presidio, the wharfs and many other areas set it apart from all of the other cities of the United States and the world. How the planners of San Francisco thought about the areas that the inhabitants needed outside of work and home helps give it its individuality as a major city. Just like how someone must plan all cities, people planned all the parks and recreational areas of cities that have such a widespread effect. By looking at Fredrick Law Olmsted and the Urban Design and Social Context approach he represents, one can learn more about landscape architecture in...
... middle of paper ...
... the urban and social context, looked closely at the surrounding world to help his designs. Olmsted’s plans grew “had as much to do with his energetic involvement in the intellectual, political and social discourse of the day” as they did with his “literary and artistic genius” (Howett, 109). This is a good summation of Olmsted’s approach and the urban design and social context approach as a whole. His work could be considered inspired and artistic but it was also practical. He looked at the problems of his time and sought to fix them through the use of planned landscape architecture. To Olmsted, parks were more than just beautiful scenery or a place to reveal in the wonders of nature. They were also a necessity to the inhabitants of large cities. Parks are beautiful reprieves from city blocks without an emphasis being placed on either of the descriptive epithets.
Off in the center background lies an architectural element. The building looks classical in design, in that the artists incorporated columns that flow upwards into arches, and a pediment rests firmly on top of the structure. If a viewer gazes closely at the pediment, it seems to be decorated with reliefs. This use of a classical structure in a park is similar to the Park at Stourhead in England. However, Watteau cut off the view of this structure with trees that seem to enclose and frame the portrait.
The authors use of images is pertinent to arguing both sides of the article. Debating the point of preservation versus the use of such parks needs
Landscape architecture has been around since the beginning of time, but it was not until Frederick Law Olmsted came along that the idea of integrating design into the landscape with plants, water, and structures that it turned into a thriving profession. To many, Olmsted is considered “a pioneer in the profession of landscape architecture, an urban planner, and a social philosopher, one of the first theoreticians and activists behind the national park and conservation movements” (Kalfus 1). Growing up, he did not ever graduate from formal schooling and just sat in on a few classes while at Yale in New Haven, Connecticut. Instead, he acquired his education from being out in the world through traveling and reading. He had a hard childhood. His mother died when he was just four years old and on his journeys around the world to Europe and China, he became sickly with seasickness, paralysis of the arm, typhoid fever, apoplexy, sumac poisoning, and at times suffered from depression. For many years he went on a journey within himself to find out whom he really was and what he wanted to do with his life, career wise. Frederick had one brother, John Hull, who died in 1857. This left Olmsted feeling empty and at loss of what to do. That was when Calvert Vaux came and filled the space in Olmsted’s life that his brother left. Vaux convinced Olmsted to enter the Central Park Commissioner’s design competition with their design entitled the “Greensward Plan.” With the success in that project, Olmsted figured out what he wanted to do with the rest of his life, which was to become a landscape architect. Olmsted practiced from the years of 1857 up until he retired in 1895. Olmsted’s two boys, adopted son John Charles and biological son Frederick La...
In 1854, Sir Joseph Paxton was commissioned to provide a design for the park. Paxton had gained prominent status as a landscape gardener and architect following his work on the gardens at Chatsworth House in the 1920’s and the Crystal Palace exhibition for the Great Exhibition of 1851. Paxton’s real involvement with the design of the park remains unclear but there are many similarities on the design of Birkenhead Park in Liverpool - with an emphasis of carriage and pedestrian paths winding through clusters of trees - which he was commissioned to do in 1844. The rise of the public urban park in the mid nineteenth century Britain was brought about to improve the physical living environment of the poor, who with deteriorating health, had to endure overcrowding and unsanitary
Olmsted had an amazing ideas of what park should look like in the city. When parks are in the city it can improve people well-being, and self-esteem. Olmsted created parks to benefit people but not helping the ecological of nature. Therefore, we are only one that is benefiting from the parks.
This mid to late-19th century account of an early Victorian (English) public park illustrates the change of function and transformation of the Victorian public park from its original role as an upper-middle class observatory of Nature to its redefinition as this class' s social observatory of the lower classes. Between the years of 1840 and 1860, the public park's role in the eyes of England' s upper crust changed drastically due to the economic and political structure of Victorian England during this time and J.M. Milton's quote reflects this reality.
...of the house as a result towards the unconventional design. Nevertheless, in the landscape point of view, this residence is surrounding by the trees and it creates a complete sense of privacy around the suburban site (Gehry 1979,73).
“Olmstead was very impressed with the park he submitted a piece to Andrew J. Downing’s journal called “Horticulturalist” about the park and Downing published this piece” (“Olmsted-Designed New York City Parks” Par. 3). Downing recruited an English architect named Calvert Vaux to come to the United States and help with his landscaping business in Newburgh, New York. After Olmstead submitted his piece to Downing about the Birkenhead Park, Downing introduced Olmsted to Calvert Vaux. Downing passed away in 1852 and Vaux took over his landscaping business in 1856 after moving to New York City and began the design of Central Park. “Through a series of fortunate events Olmsted became a superintendent for the construction of Central Park in 1857” (“Olmsted-Designed New York City Parks” Par. 4).
He states that, “The universal and ineluctable consequence of this crusade to secure the city is the destruction of accessible public space” (226). Davis’ views the public space as a place that is accessible to everyone and can be enjoyed freely. In “Fortress L.A”, Davis links his perceptions about the public space with city planner of Central Park,Frederick Law Olmstead. He states Olmsted’s vision as “public landscapes and parks as social safety-valves, mixing classes and ethnicities in common (bourgeois) recreations and enjoyment(230). Olmsted vision is no more active because of the design deterrents
New Urbanism, a burgeoning genre of architecture and city planning, is a movement that has come about only in the past decade. This movement is a response to the proliferation of conventional suburban development (CSD), the most popular form of suburban expansion that has taken place since World War II. Wrote Robert Steuteville, "Lacking a town center or pedestrian scale, CSD spreads out to consume large areas of countryside even as population grows relatively slowly. Automobile use per capita has soared, because a motor vehicle is required for nearly all human transportation"1. New Urbanism, therefore, represents the converse of this planning ideology. It stresses traditional planning, including multi-purpose zoning, accessible public space, narrow street grids for easy pedestrian usage and better placement of community buildings. Only a few hundred American communities are utilizing this method of planning, but the impact is quickly growing in an infant field dominated by a few influential architects and engineers.
Frank Lloyd Wright was perhaps the most influential American architect of the 20th century and one of the greatest to ever live. What was well known about Wright was that he was deeply ambivalent about cities and metropolis centers. His key criticism of large cities was that the advancing technologies had rendered the cities, which were created industry and immigration in the late 19th and early 20th Century, completely obsolete. He famously quoted that, “ The present city…has nothing to give the citizen…because centralization have no forces of regeneration”. Instead, Wright envisioned decentralized settlements (otherwise known as suburban neighborhoods) that would take advantage of the mobility offered by the automobile, telephones, and telegraphic communication. Because of the rise of the suburban complexes in the post WW2 era, this is where Wright first got the reputation has being a prophet for the architecture world.
... architectures would led to a more organic organization beneficial to the people that choose to make their lives in this city. Although this model of a sustainable city is not a perfectly closed loop, it lays the foundation for one that is. Over time, with constantly evolving and improving technology and new methods of design from the scale of products to buildings, the gaps in the loop could be closed, and a “true” sustainable city could be fully realized.
Curtis, W J. "12. The Ideal Community: Alternatives to the Industrial City." In Modern architecture since 1900, 159-173. London: Phaidon, 1996.
However, architecture is not just the future, after all, buildings are intended to be viewed, traversed and lived by us, people. Despite this, many architects today rarely think deeply about human nature, disregarding their main subject matter in favour for efficiency and an architecture of spectacle. In this there seems to be a misconception that underlies much of architecture, that is, human’s relationship with the city, the building and nature. In much of today’s architecture, people are treated with as much concern much as we treat cars, purely mechanically. The post-modern search for the ‘new’ and ‘novel’ has come to disregard the profound affect design has on our lives, impacting our senses, shaping our psyche and disposition.
If there are more people, more, density, and a good mixture of uses, it will be a safer city... You cannot find a single city that does not wish to make the city center more vibrant or livelier.” This quote from Jan Gehl, the principal of Gehl Architects, illustrates the importance of having a sustainable city. The Central Park project has showcased to the world on how the landscape we design or occupy, can affect our daily activities and surrounding neighborhood. It sets an example of how design must be appreciated as a crucial factor in sustainability and emphasized on the fact the connection of people and nature should not be ignored. All in all, landscape architects are the ones to determine the physical characteristics of the public realm environment, to decide whether a city is attractive to people and whether people will choose to live in the city in the long