Understanding Architecture Through Drawing

(lily) #1

Chapter 14


Gateways, entrances and doorways


The sense of arrival at places is important, and in
recognition of this many cities and the buildings within
them have elaborate gateways or doorways. Entry points
are usually celebrated in this way except in the most
utilitarian structures. At the other end of the scale, entry
may consist only of a roundabout on a ring road or a
collection of petrol stations marking an approach into a
modern town. Historic towns, on the other hand, are
normally well defined in terms of entry points, often
because of the need for fortification in the past.
Entry points given celebration through architectural
display are a common feature of urban design in Europe
and beyond. The grand gateways of Paris, Rome or Kyoto
serve to define arrival at the city centre or the entry point
into a special neighbourhood. Gateways into the city, into
districts of the city and then into public buildings establish
a legible hierarchy. In similar fashion entrance doorways
into private houses often lead to lesser doorways within
the interior. A sense of hierarchy between outside and
hallway, then between hallway and living rooms, and
living rooms and kitchens is part of the everyday language
of domestic design. The same should apply to the city.
Modern gateways are rare, though the need for crime
prevention through territorial definition and surveillance of
entrances has led to their revival of late. Such gateways


into private housing estates or industrial parks serve both
functional and decorative needs. They define entrances
into distinctive domains in much the same way that
gateways in historic towns give expression to the privacy
or security needs of different groups or classes of people.
Gateways and doorways are rewarding subjects to
draw. As they define routes into and out of places, they
provide a visual tension, which derives from a well-
engineered constriction at a certain point. Often a
narrowing of the route is supplemented by a change of
direction or level. The materials of the road surface might
also change at critical points, and there may be windows or
arrow slots overlooking the space. Such gateways do not
only occur at the edges of towns but at the entrance to
distinctive neighbourhoods within them. In Oxford, for
instance, the gateways to many of the colleges are so
treated, as are the palace grounds in princely cities such as
St Petersburg or Prague. A modern trend is to define
neighbourhoods of the city by such means, for example the
Chinese gateway in London’s Soho. Here the urban
designer has the challenge of selecting an appropriate
entrance, and giving it definition through symbolic
structures at the edge (as in Piazza Del Popolo in Rome)
or in the centre of the space (as in the former Euston
Arch in London).

114 Understanding architecture through drawing

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