Architecture: Design Notebook

The ‘rules of thumb’ applying to the design of
squares can also be adapted to the street; a
sense of enclosure depends upon the same
width to height criteria, for example. But
because of the street’s linear form, designers
have invoked various devices, not only to

punctuateitslength,butalsotoprovideasatis-

factory visual termination, thereby signalling

entry and exit from the street as ‘place’.

Beaux Arts planners positioned major build-

ings as visual ‘stops’ to streets or ‘boulevards’

(Figure 6.24), and designers with ‘pictur-

esque’ tendencies favoured ‘setbacks’ to the

fac ̧ade, or variations in elevational treatment

and materials, as punctuations to avoid

monotony (Figure 6.25).

Fac ̧ade

Much of the characterisation of the street can

be attributed to its architecture. Architects such

as Robert Adam in Edinburgh’s New Town,

The spaces around 103

Figure 6.22 ‘Short’ side monument.

Figure 6.23 ‘Long’ side monument.