Typomorphology

Studying urban form and how these become typical spaces and structures and classify them into
types.

Saverio Muratori – Italian architect

What are the good aspects of urban form?

Gianfraco Caniggia

Identifies built objects are 4 different scales: building, group of buildings, city and region.

Others: Kevin Lynch, Gordon Cullen, Le Corbusier, Camillo Sitte, Giambattista Nolli

Scales of Urban Design

District Level – Main infrastructure, cycling routes, vehicular routes, green structure, water structures,
block, public facilities (design framework for a district/neighbourhood)

Neighbourhood Level - Parcelling, plot size, streets, open spaces

Building typology = direct relationship to the typology of public space created

Examples:

Back to back terrace housing (single dwellings) = private back gardens + street

Courtyard buildings (collective dwellings) = collective space (private, semi-private, semi-public or

public?)

Free standing buildings (collective dwellings) = public space?

PRINCIPLES TO CONSIDER

- Scale
- Private & Public Spaces
- Frontages – backs and fronts
- The Plinth – Active Frontage/Mixed use
- Addressing the Street/Relationship with street
- Activity – eyes on the street
- Privacy
- Corners
- Accessibility & permeability
The Plinth – What’s happening at street level?

Guidance in the street

Guidance in transition in-out

Breaking up the scale

What level of access do we want?

How do we define/create privacy?

What is the scale/permeability of the blocks?

Accessing the Block/building

Functionality

Relationship with street and private/public spaces

Activity – eyes on the street

URBAN CHARACTERISATION
Typology Mapping
Analyse the frontages, types of elements present, similarities etc

Using characterisation in the field

Preliminary desk studies

1. Historiographical analysis of maps & creation of figuregrounds

2. Research into the history of the phases of development of the place

On site studies

1. Familiarisation with the place in person

WORKBOOK
choose 3 areas/case studies (some foreign) which you have experienced

Dublin

Bologna

Venice?

choose part of the neighbourhood and study the scale and size

draw them up and measure the bloc depths, building depths, size of spaces in-between, (try choose
different ones). - an area which shows diversity and compare them

MAKE THEM THE SAME SCALE AND COMPARE - WRITE OBSERVATIOSN FROM THE SCALE, PICTURES
etc (even google street views)

compare the size of the space (whether it works with the height or too dense)

observations with regards to the principles discussed in the lectures.

the way the corners or ground floors are treated, any front garden boundaries etc