Fredrick Law Olmstead ansley park, 1904. development plan
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suggested redevelopment of a subdivision plan in the booklet planning profitable neighborhoods, technical bullitin no. 7 (fha, 1938)
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u contemporary suburbia - results of the federal housing administration guidelines of the 1930’s
to meander where there are relatively weaker obstacles to overcome. It would also be possible to argue the curve is the result of internal weakness or sluggishness. A relative comparison of force vs obstacle once again results in an argument about function. In San Francisco, for example, a grid is stubbornly applied to the variable terrain. This grid is irrespective of peak, valley, or ridge. It denies acknowledgement of external forces and results in extremely steep streets. Some areas of the city are so steep; a curve is required to navigate the impossibilities inherent in the grid application. Each of these curve moments in San Francisco exhibits a specific response in contrast to the universality of the grid. These curves are solutions to tangible problems. While many examples are solutions to tangible problems, there are other examples of designers responding to social and cultural forces. In 1904, Fredrick Law Olmstead designed Ansley Park, a subdivision of Atlanta, with curving roads in order to give a sense of leisure and tranquility as one rode their carriage down the street. This speculative project birthed a guideline by the Federal Housing Administration in the 1930’s that “promoted the curvilinear layout of new suburban communities”. This time the force as play to promote the curve was not experiential, but rather as a way of “mitigating the uniformity of the mass-produced houses that made single-home 9