Notes on “A Better Way to Zone”.
For thesis, I’ve picked up Donald Elliott’s ‘A Better Way to Zone’. This has served as a useful counterpart to many of the overly saccharine articles I find praising form based codes. Elliot’s point is that many types of zoning codes (and there is a huge variety out there) are broken in very similar ways. … Read more
Programming a vertical city.
From “Re-inventing the Skyscraper”, diagrams on vertical theory: Starting to think about the skyscraper in terms of ‘variable linkages’ instead of shelving is helping tremendously. Using Kevin Lynch’s traditional paths, edges, nodes, landmarks, and districts in terms of vertical inhabitation will be useful for the massing stage we’re now in. What works is the idea … Read more
koolhaas’ version of Dubai
. . . includes a perfectly square grid, surrounded by a moat (from the NY Times article). Need I say more? In its isolation, this ‘urban block’ (ha) will only attract the global elite. But maybe this is Dubai’s fuction. It hasn’t yet been defined, but even so, those that work in services still … Read more
Soja a deux.
In the mornings, while I eat my hot cinnamon oatmeal with sliced almonds and pears (way yum), I’ve been re-reading the Winter ’07 Harvard Design magazine. I bought it last fall, and devoured it almost instantly, but am now going back at a less frenetic pace in an attempt to actually absorb some of the … Read more
