I have a passing interest in how urban design impacts and reflects urban life. I think the ways our communities are designed often gets ignored, especially in urban areas. Sometimes the implications of bad design can fuel complex problems within communities. Other times, our designs can offer some pretty interesting insights into the values of our society...
Take for instance, an interesting tidbit from the famous book Suburban Nation, written by Andres Duany, Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk, and Jeff Speck. In the example, the authors point out two distinct designs for housing.
The first design is of a house created to fit into a more expansive suburban environment. The authors note how roof lines in houses like this one are created to mimic the skyline of an entire village. The multiple jagged peaks and height variations give appeal to the eyes because the house gives the impression of multiple houses side-by-side at various depths. But the reality is that it's just one big house.
The second house design is that of a more traditional layout, typically found in an older neighborhood. This design has one complete peak, and a basic distinguishable shape. There are relatively few variations in the skyline of this house and from the design, it's quite obvious that this is one house in the midst of many other houses.
For some reason, I find this pretty interesting. While it's probably more of a subconscious observation for most of us, the authors in Suburban Nation note that the simple design of the second house is intended to stand in the presence of a larger community. The variety comes, not from the one house alone, but instead from its place amongst the rest of the neighborhood.
The house with multiple peaks and roof lines, on the other hand, is designed to stand alone - mimicking the appearance of an entire community, all wrapped up into one house. The authors suggest that houses like this give off the impression that they don't have the need for integration into the life of the community.
It's an interesting thought. In a culture that has become so individualized and independent, I do wonder occasionally if some of those values don't get translated into the ways that we design our buildings. Or I guess it could it be the other way around? Maybe our buildings influence the values that we live out within our communities? It's probably a little bit of both.
I'm curious as to what we can draw from this, if anything. Is this a valid observation? Maybe it's too much of a stretch?
The effect and relation of a piece to the street, the public realm, the whole, is a key idea of urbanism.
Not a stretch at all.