I am a landscape designer and urban designer. I do not have any architecture background. But you know that landscape architecture and architecture most of the time are walking hand in hand. For some large scale urban planning project, we have to propose some architecture types (like commercial buildings, office buildings, mixed use building etc. ) on the site, but due to the lack of architecture knowledge, I always hesitate to build up building models, because I do not know basic ideas about like: spacial connection, spacial components, building proportion etc.
Are there any good resources or study materials that could help me go through all these fundamentals? I feel as a landscape designer, we do not have know those complicated issues with specialty like HVAC, inside circulation etc, only those knowledge about function, access, spacial...
Maybe I am not correct, but any suggestions would be much appreciated!
Thank you so much!
Plus: I like architecture too :)
Tan
Larchinect
Feb 1, 19 10:15 pm
Hi Tan--
I am a landscape architect who works on quite a a lot of larger urban design and planning projects.
I would suggest thinking more about street grid, block scale, circulation and open space patterns and how it relates to natural resources, topography, drainage, and connections off site.
There are some good fundamental rules of thumb in the New Urbanism category--lots of information on walking thresholds, human scale and proportion, and building function as relates to and addresses the street and public space, ie vehicle loading, fenestration, massing, and use.
To answer your question more specifically, we typically beging a large master plan by letting the urban form dictate the buidling envelopes. Typical commercial/retail and mixed use envelopes land in the 60-70' depth range while attached single family can be in the 24-60' depth range and larger office and light industrial upwards of 100'. Of course there are 'big box' and specialty uses that exceed the 100' envelope.
Again, I usually start with circulation, block scale and pattern, then think about use, then start plugging in envelopes. Height is often dictated by zoning and/or parking and density thresholds.
Over time, you'll find clients asking for certain densities or 'yields' and immediately think of certain envelopes and building forms, how they could load and be accessed, how they address the street and public space and how they funtion in the overall neighborhood or district.
I am a big advocate of landscape architects driving, or at least being key contributors to development of any new development be it an indivdual site to large scale master plans. We tend to think about the public realm and natural systems without getting too hung up on specific architecture.
Does that help?
tianyijiang
Feb 4, 19 1:06 pm
Thank you so much for sharing the information and resources with me. it is really helpful! I wish I could have more opportunities to work on the large-scale urban design projects. I feel to explore different relationships of functions, space and connection is very intriguing.
In terms of specific rules, I really appreciate your tips. Do you have any recommendations of books or articles or any types of resources that you think would be helpful with the design process and better understanding those urban design rules?
Thanks!
Tan
Larchinect
Feb 1, 19 10:19 pm
I might add that when we do showing 3D massing for a certain project we usually try to keep the architecture generic enough to express number of storeys, height, overall bulk and mass and general typology, ie row house vs, apartment building vs. mixed use.
We are careful to respect the building architects input and other disciplines recognizing that there will be other factors contributing to the end product.
Hello, amazing architects!
I am a landscape designer and urban designer. I do not have any architecture background. But you know that landscape architecture and architecture most of the time are walking hand in hand. For some large scale urban planning project, we have to propose some architecture types (like commercial buildings, office buildings, mixed use building etc. ) on the site, but due to the lack of architecture knowledge, I always hesitate to build up building models, because I do not know basic ideas about like: spacial connection, spacial components, building proportion etc.
Are there any good resources or study materials that could help me go through all these fundamentals? I feel as a landscape designer, we do not have know those complicated issues with specialty like HVAC, inside circulation etc, only those knowledge about function, access, spacial...
Maybe I am not correct, but any suggestions would be much appreciated!
Thank you so much!
Plus: I like architecture too :)
Tan
Hi Tan--
I am a landscape architect who works on quite a a lot of larger urban design and planning projects.
I would suggest thinking more about street grid, block scale, circulation and open space patterns and how it relates to natural resources, topography, drainage, and connections off site.
There are some good fundamental rules of thumb in the New Urbanism category--lots of information on walking thresholds, human scale and proportion, and building function as relates to and addresses the street and public space, ie vehicle loading, fenestration, massing, and use.
To answer your question more specifically, we typically beging a large master plan by letting the urban form dictate the buidling envelopes. Typical commercial/retail and mixed use envelopes land in the 60-70' depth range while attached single family can be in the 24-60' depth range and larger office and light industrial upwards of 100'. Of course there are 'big box' and specialty uses that exceed the 100' envelope.
Again, I usually start with circulation, block scale and pattern, then think about use, then start plugging in envelopes. Height is often dictated by zoning and/or parking and density thresholds.
Over time, you'll find clients asking for certain densities or 'yields' and immediately think of certain envelopes and building forms, how they could load and be accessed, how they address the street and public space and how they funtion in the overall neighborhood or district.
I am a big advocate of landscape architects driving, or at least being key contributors to development of any new development be it an indivdual site to large scale master plans. We tend to think about the public realm and natural systems without getting too hung up on specific architecture.
Does that help?
Thank you so much for sharing the information and resources with me. it is really helpful! I wish I could have more opportunities to work on the large-scale urban design projects. I feel to explore different relationships of functions, space and connection is very intriguing.
In terms of specific rules, I really appreciate your tips. Do you have any recommendations of books or articles or any types of resources that you think would be helpful with the design process and better understanding those urban design rules?
Thanks!
Tan
I might add that when we do showing 3D massing for a certain project we usually try to keep the architecture generic enough to express number of storeys, height, overall bulk and mass and general typology, ie row house vs, apartment building vs. mixed use.
We are careful to respect the building architects input and other disciplines recognizing that there will be other factors contributing to the end product.