Christopher alexander - A pattern language

100 PEDESTRIAN STREET**
•»'«

488

. . . the earlier patterns—promenade (31), shopping street (32) and network of paths and cars (52), all call for dense pedestrian streets; row houses (38), housing hill (39), university as A MARKETPLACE (43), MARKET OF MANY SHOPS (46), all do the same; and within the building complex (95), circulation realms (98) calls for the same. As you build a pedestrian street, make sure you place it so that it helps to generate a network of paths and cars (52), raised walks (55), and circulation realms (98) in the town around it.

*J* *$•

In today’s society this situation, and therefore this glue, is largely missing. It is missing in large part because so much of the actual process of movement is now taking place in indoor corridors and lobbies, instead of outdoors. This happens partly because the cars have taken over streets, and made them uninhabitable, and partly because the corridors, which have been built in response, encourage the same process. But it is doubly damaging in its effect.

It is damaging because it robs the streets of people. Most of the moving about which people do is indoors—hence lost to the street; the street becomes abandoned and dangerous.

And it is damaging because the indoor lobbies and corridors are most often dead. This happens partly because indoor space is not as public as outdoor space; and partly because, in a multi-story building each corridor carries a lower density of traffic than a public outdoor street. It is therefore unpleasant, even unnerving, to move through them; people in them are in no state to generate, or benefit from, social intercourse.

To recreate the social intercourse of public movement, as far as possible, the movement between rooms, offices, departments, buildings, must actually be outdoors, on sheltered walks, arcades, paths,

streets, which are truly public and separate from cars. Individual wings, small buildings, departments must as often as possible have their own entrances—so that the number of entrances onto the street increases and life comes back to the street.

In short, the solution to these two problems we have mentioned —the streets infected by cars and the bland corridors—is the pedestrian street. Pedestrian streets are both places to walk along (from car, bus, or train to one’s destination) and places to pass through (between apartments, shops, offices, services, classes).

To function properly, pedestrian streets need two special properties. First, of course, no cars; but frequent crossings by streets with traffic, see network of paths and cars (52): deliveries and other activities which make it essential to bring cars and trucks onto the pedestrian street must be arranged at the early hours of the morning, when the streets are deserted. Second, the buildings along pedestrian streets must be planned in a way which as nearly as possible eliminates indoor staircases, corridors, and lobbies, and leaves most circulation outdoors. This creates a street lined with stairs, which lead from all upstairs offices and rooms directly to the street, and many many entrances, which help to increase the life of the street.

Finally it should be noted that the pedestrian streets which seem most comfortable are the ones where the width of the street does not exceed the height of the surrounding buildings. (See “Vehicle free zones in city centers,” International Brief U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Office of International Affairs, June 1972).

About square ... or even narrower.

Therefore:

Arrange buildings so that they form pedestrian streets with many entrances and open stairs directly from the upper storys to the street, so that even movement between rooms is outdoors, not just movement between buildings.

100 PEDESTRIAN STREET

no cars

The street absolutely will not work unless its total area is small enough to be well filled by the pedestrians in it—pedestrian density (123). Make frequent entrances and open stairs along the street, instead of building indoor corridors, to bring the people out; and give these entrances a family resemblance so one sees them as a system—family of entrances (102), open stairs (158) ; give people indoor and outdoor spaces which look on the street—private terrace on the street (140), street windows (164), OPENING to THE STREET (165), GALLERY SURROUND (166), six-foot balcony (167); and shape the street to make a space of it—arcade (119), path shape (121). . . .

491

IOI BUILDING THOROUGHFARE

492

. . . if the building complex is built at high density, then at least part of the circulation cannot be made of outdoor pedestrian streets (loo) because the buildings cover too much of the land; in this case, the main spines of the circulation realms (98) must take the form of building thoroughfares similar to pedestrian streets, but partly or wholly inside the buildings. Building thoroughfares replace the terrible corridors which destroy so much of modern building, and help to generate the indoor layout of a BUILDING COMPLEX (95 ) .

f » «

* V V

When a public building complex cannot be completely served by outdoor pedestrian streets, a new form of indoor street, quite different from the conventional corridor, is needed.

An indoor street.

The problem arises under two conditions.

1. Cold weather. In very cold climates to have all circulation outdoors inhibits social communication instead of helping it. Of course, a street can be roofed, particularly with a glass roof. But as soon as it becomes enclosed, it has a different social ecology and begins to function differently.

2. High density. When a building complex is so tightly packed

on the site that there is no reasonable space for outdoor streets because the entire building complex is a continuous two, three, or four story building, it becomes necessary to think of major thoroughfares in different terms.

To solve the problems posed by these conditions, streets must be replaced by indoor thoroughfares or corridors. But the moment we put them indoors and under cover, they begin to suffer from entirely new problems, which are caused by the fact that they get sterilized by their isolation. First, they become removed from the public realm, and are often deserted. People hardly ever feel free to linger in public corridors when they are off the street. And second, the corridors become so unfriendly that nothing ever happens there. They are designed for scuttling people through, but not for staying in.