The Concise Townscape

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Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to University of Westminster with appropriate and specific direction to the original content. Please remember that the submission of any material is governed by our Terms and Conditions and by submitting material you confirm your agreement to these Terms and Conditions. Townscape lehrt die Kunst des Sehens, das Erlebnis von Stadt im Bildausschnitt, die Kostbarkeit der Dinge am Rand, aus der die neue Wertschätzung der vernacular architecture entstand. Infinite serial views: Rather than making decisions based on isolated snapshots that may not accurately reflect the true conditions of an environment, our simulations allow for unlimited virtual journeys through a new precinct or proposal.

Book Review: Concise Townscape by Golden Cullen - RTF

The surrounding buildings could be made to form something in the nature of a square by a new rearrangement of the floor pattern. Collectively they add up to the fabric of a place, with Cullen presenting a methodology for urban visual analysis and design based on the psychology of perception, the human need for visual stimulation, and notions of time and space. There are sufficient cafes round the square to rent space for tables, as is done in France, and gaily coloured velariums suspended between the trees would give protection from birds and rain. At its worst this outlook regards assembly as synonymous with idleness (hanging about at street corners) but often it springs from no more than a distaste to have the steps of the cross worn out by loungers.

Nevertheless, our first job once we got the collection back to the University was to transfer everything from the crates into archival boxes and folders. The actual focus of interest, the steps of the cross around which people congregate, is decisively isolated by concrete posts and flower beds.

Townscape - Architectural Review Townscape - Architectural Review

The cross is still the focal point but gates, railings and flower beds have been plonked down with the ruthlessness of a rubber stamp.

A handsome copy of the 1st US edition of this classic of architectural literature by Gordon Cullen (1914-1994), English architect and founder of the Townscape movement. Getting the balance of enclosure, mystery, concealment, and openness right is difficult – hence why digital simulations that combine all these different factors are so valuable. It is neutral and does not succeed in welding together buildings, cross and street as the sketch tries to do.

Townscape • Architectural Life Townscape • Architectural Life

He studied architecture at the Royal Polytechnic Institution, the present day University of Westminster, and subsequently worked as a draughtsman in various architects' offices including that of Berthold Lubetkin and Tecton, but he never qualified or practised as an architect.Later, his work included planning advice to the city of Glasgow and during the 1980s the London Docklands Development Corporation. The collection provides a series of different documents, such as notes, letters, collages, photos and videos, that have been mainly overlooked.