Urban Collage_Aix-en-Provence, France
This project speculates how to mend (or collage) an ‘urban gap’ using the rules of various planning philosophies from four different eras: Greek, Roman, Medieval, and Renaissance. A portion of the historical city fabric of Aix, France is removed for this project. The project is an exercise in understanding the process in which cities naturally grow - overtime and under the influence of different ideologies
A distinctive aspect of Grecian planning is the use of oblique views during the approach of a building. The intention in this scheme was to produce three
dimensional views of key buildings with in the design.
dimensional views of key buildings with in the design.
Renaissance planning sought to make order out of ‘chaos’. This was done by nesting platonic and rationalized shapes into the urban fabric. These two schemes establish a gridiron street layout that responds to existing roads and converges at a rectangular plaza that rationally organizes the area into a recognizable spatial form.
Roman examples of planning can be summarized as being all about axes. Entrances to temples, shrines, basilicas and other public buildings were more often than not designed to be approached on a perpendicular axis. The collective result was usually a collection of many axes, all relating to their own specific temple or forum. This intervention plays with that philosophy by implementing a grid and then locating several public buildings around a square.
Medieval planning is not planning without reason, but planning done out of necessity. The spaces and streets were typical formed in un-geometrical fashions. To replicate this, the scheme was composed by first defining a main serpentine road that establishes an east-west connection and then converging that road with several secondary and tertiary roads,
