THE TOPOLOGICAL RELATIONS OF CORNER BUILDINGS AT STREET JUNCTIONS

Richard Herriott

doi:10.3846/20297955.2016.1246988

Abstract

As in furniture and product design, the handling of features such as junctions of street facades is a matter worthy of consideration. The article considers the role of the corner and corner buildings in the architectural relations of the street. It examines the role of corners in the urban structure and the reasons why they are no longer much used. A typology of corner building arrangements is proposed. Referring to affordance, legibility and Weber᾽s (1995) psychological approach to perceived architectural space, the paper discusses the value of clearly articulated corner constructions using selected examples. The dominant modes of building in the post-WWII period tend towards two extremes: high rise/high density and low rise/low density, both often characterised by disconnected building masses. Both modes reject the well-developed formats generally used up to the 1920s. These relied on moderate density, moderate height and conjoined buildings to create clearly defined, legible streets characteristic of an integrated urban fabric. This paper argues that certain morphologies make for better corner designs leading to more understandable street layouts. It also argues that quantitative recommendations in planning guidance are insufficient to ensure desirable outcomes in street design.

Highlights

In the song “New Killer Star” (Bowie 2003) there is a cryptic line: “all the corners of the buildings, who but we remember these, the sidewalks and trees?”
The lyric draws attention to an ambiguity concerning something both forgotten and important – for why else refer to it? The aim of this article is to examine the topology and geometry of street corner design and the corner’s role in the urban fabric, and redress the neglect of street-to-street edges. It will be argued 1) that the corner provides the joint where facades meet at junctions and 2) that corners ensure an advantageous arrangement of facades and so conceal the potentially unattractive elements such as gables and rear walls
The methodology used is to review a selection of literature on urban typologies; to present examples of corners and street designs from Northern Europe, the United Kingdom and Ireland; to discuss the role of the street in the urban fabric and examine its relation to

Summary

Introduction

In the song “New Killer Star” (Bowie 2003) there is a cryptic line: “all the corners of the buildings, who but we remember these, the sidewalks and trees?”. The aim of this article is to examine the topology and geometry of street corner design and the corner’s role in the urban fabric, and redress the neglect of street-to-street edges. It will be argued 1) that the corner provides the joint where facades meet at junctions and 2) that corners ensure an advantageous arrangement of facades and so conceal the potentially unattractive elements such as gables and rear walls (see Fig. 1, centre and right images). The methodology used is to review a selection of literature on urban typologies; to present examples of corners and street designs from Northern Europe, the United Kingdom and Ireland; to discuss the role of the street in the urban fabric and examine its relation to.

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Discussion

Conclusion