B.SC. (HONS) ARCHITECTURE THEORIES OF ARCHITECTURE & URBANISM [ARC2224]
PROJECT THEORIZING ARCHITECTURE (CAMILLIO SITTE – DOWNTOWN COVE, SINGAPORE)
CHARLENE CHAN HUISHAN 0308518
Introduction The purpose of this study is to convey an understanding of the architect’s architectural theory through a direct observation and to theorize architecture based on analysis of the architect and architecture, also to research analysis on “what is one doing when one is doing architecture?” On The Architect
The late portrait painting of Camilio Sitte, born in 1843 and died in 1903 in Vienna. [Source: www.ostrava2015.cz]
The studied architect, Camillio Sitte is an Austrian Architect, Academician, painter and city planning theoretician with an impactful influence and authority of the development of urban city planning and regulation in Europe. He was born on 1843 in Vienna, explaining much on his theories that are greatly related to the city planning in Europe and Austria. His background as an Architect and Academic informed his thoughts and theories on how city planning should occur. During his days, he travelled Europe in search for the aspects that made a city welcoming and soon compiled his theories and thoughts into the book that got the attention of many, ‘City Planning According to Artistic Principles’. From his travels, he saw the work of the Renaissance and Baroque periods as exemplar in their use and manipulation of public space and as such he wanted to achieve a unity between modern methods and the artistic techniques of the past. He frequently brings to focus of the text to antiquity and looks at how the ancient civilization manage their public spaces, complimenting on the way they merge art with function, which is something relatively lost in modern city planning. His studies the relationship between the buildings and public spaces, whereby his focus is on the nature of spaces, rather than the standalone building itself.
On the Site Placement The chosen site for this project is Downtown Core Area, Singapore. The extended district of Marina Bay is built upon reclaimed land and built to last. Marina Bay is considered one of the busiest places in Singapore and has evolved to become an icon of symbolization for Singapore. The southern side of Marina Bay is an extended Central Business District (CBD) from Raffles Place, whereas the eastern side of Marina Bay is a more tourist and recreational area for visitors and families. A big water plaza has become the central focus of the area, where all the buildings are forming beside it. The skyline of Marina Bay is highly dense with skyscrapers, to maximize the land use. The specific chosen adjacent buildings to be studied upon is St. Andrews Cathedral, the War Memorial Park, the Esplanade Park, and The Esplanade.
The overview of the site – Downtown Core, with shaded area for micro chosen site. [Source: Self-drawn overlay google maps]
The nearest public access of the rail is the City Hall station as well as the Esplanade Station. Padang, a field of empty land was reserved for public purposes when Singapore was first formed in 1822. This land was to be of governmental use and for public usage. Padang is being used today as a ground to celebrate Singapore’s National Day Parade and also for the sports clubs of Singapore. St. Andrews Cathedral was the first building to be completed in the chosen site (1856) and has stood 150 years strong until today. It was used as an emergency hospital during the Japanese Invasion, today it stands as the biggest Anglican Cathedral in Singapore. Esplanade Park is now one of the oldest parks since 1943, was built when the Esplanade Area started to develop. It has one of the few most scenic views of Singapore and has become a hotspot for families and pedestrians today. The War Memorial Park was next to be erected in 1967, to commemorate and remember the bodies that was sacrificed in the World War 2.
The Esplanade – Theatre on the bays is the latest and most recently erected building of the chosen site. The iconic building was completed in 2002 and has become a world renowned performing arts centre since then.
The sequence of erection of the buildings and spaces in the chosen site in accordance to the year. [Source: Self-drawn]
This site will be studied and analysed through the Architect’s point of view, with 3 main contributing factors of: The Relationship between Buildings, Monuments and their Plazas, Enclosed Nature of Public Spaces, and lastly Scale and proportions. This chosen site holds the two extreme ends of the modern and heritage spectrum, where buildings of the 150 years old Cathedral and the 13 years old modern iconic Esplanade catches the eye Singapore are adjacent to each other.
The Relationship between Buildings, Monuments and their Plazas In his book, Sitte emphasizes time and time again on the importance of public plaza spaces. As with the position of buildings, he believes that the centre of plazas should be kept free, allowing essential lines of communication and vision to be maintained. This is to ensure that there are no obstruction of views, where buildings would form the backdrop and interest for the public plazas instead. He laments that public spaces or plazas are often blocked by the monuments or buildings on the central axis. A more suitable approach is to place the monument, statues or building nearer to the edge of the plaza, which allows for more decoration and complimenting the public spaces well. An example of this theory is performed during his time when Michelangelo placed his statue of David at the edge of the plaza in the Palazzo della Signoria in Florence, instead of the centre of the plaza. (Academia, 2014) Its position here contrasted the surroundings and gave emphasis on the scale of work.
The statue of David being placed at the edge of the plaza instead of the centre of axis of the plaza, giving emphasize on the plaza itself. [Source: runawayjuno.com]
Sitte believes that synagogue in a square should not sit in isolation, rather on the contrary it should be located along the perimeter. Placing the church in the geometric centre of the plot would in a way disfigure the views and there would be no adequate space to admire the beauty of the faรงade of the tall cathedrals very well. Simply, he called this as representing a lack of judgement. By referencing Rome, where only 6 out of 255 chapels were sitting in isolation, the rest were attached to its neighbouring building. (Sitte, 1889) To Sitte, this was the way to maintain the harmonious relationship between the buildings, monuments and the public plazas.
(A) A very typical layout of traditional churches that is placed at the centre of the plaza, of which Sitte’s theory disapproves. (B) Churches that are built into the edges and walls of the plaza, keeping the central axis of the plaza free, proposed theory by Camilio Sitte. [Source: Self-drawn]
Sitte proposes the centre of the plaza to be kept free, with no buildings or monuments to obstruct the views through the plaza, creating a harmonious relationship. [Source: Self-Drawn]
In applying this theory to the site, the very positioning of St. Andrews Cathedral within its boundary square is contradictory to the proposed theory. The cathedral is placed in the centre of the square, where it is a norm of which most olden cathedrals are placed. Adjacent to the cathedral is a War memorial park, where the highlighted monument is placed in the centre of the square.
Both the cathedral and the war memorial park are placed at the central axis of the plaza, contradictory to Sitte’s theory. [Source: Self-Drawn]
However, it is crucial to understand the background of the architect and the era he comes from. Sitte was born in the year 1843, where cathedrals form landmarks for Vienna and Europe continents. His argument that a cathedral (which was presumably the tallest building then) would block the views of a plaza if it were to be placed in the centre would be deemed valid. However this theory would be deemed obsolete in Singapore to date as Singapore has develop to be of the most fastpaced growing cities with skyscrapers. What is the height of a Cathedral compared to the high rise of the Central Business district which could reach 70, 80 floors in height? A cathedral would no longer be the building that blocks the view when there are skyscrapers are its neighbouring context.
(A) The church in the 1800’s stands out and overpowers the skyline of the rest of the buildings, obstructing the views through the plaza, as mentioned by Sitte. (B) The church no longer stands out and overpowers the view as there are many higher skyscrapers overpowering the view, making the height of the church seem insignificant. [Source: Self-made]
Perhaps this theory would have been applicable to Singapore 200 years ago when modern high rise buildings were not introduced yet, but it is obsolete in today’s context. This theory would be inapplicable in this site in a sense that placing a comparatively tiny monument or cathedral in the centre of an empty square is no longer the object that blocks the view, in contrast to the huge and tall skyscrapers. Therefore, placing the church in the middle of at the edge of the plaza does not matter anymore such that it does not block the views through the plaza.
Enclosed Nature of Public Spaces In his published book, Sitte reiterate one of the key characteristic of a successful public plaza is their enclosed nature, limiting views out of the space and restricting endless perspective. Aligned with this idea is that of buildings being built around the walls of the plaza, the reason is to give a sense of enclosure within the public realm. He states that homes or residential should be built around plazas/courtyard, making the squares feel comfortable. This creates an open yet enclose space within the public square, thus amplifying the ‘aesthetic’ motion of the city.
Illustrating the Sitte’s theory of homes being built around a square, creating an open yet enclosed feeling. [Source: Self-Drawn]
Sitte also criticized the modern public gardens, where it is surrounded by open streets. The public space is exposed to wind and weather and is coated with street dust. He illustrated the example of private gardens that belonged to palaces and were secluded from traffic. Such gardens fulfilled the hygienic purpose despite their small scale. The failure system of all these open public spaces in their hygienic purpose is the fundamental block failure in modern city planning, according to Sitte. His statement is further supported by the Raymond Unwin, a fellow town planner in the 1900’s, where he reinforces the importance of ‘green belt’ landscape planning around a plaza. (Unwin, 1971) In relation to the chosen site, both Padang and Esplanade Park are antithetical to the theory proposed by Sitte, in terms of its neighbouring context and also the circulatory openness around both parks. Padang is surrounded by the city hall, the parliament house, the war memorial park and also a recreational cricket club building. It is far from what is named homes or residential houses. Even though Padang and the Esplanade Park is adjacent to each other, it is separated by an open street, Connaught drive.
The position of the surrounding buildings along Padang and Esplanade Park, where it is not surrounded by homes but of open streets and governmental buildings. [Source: Self-drawn diagram with an overlay of google maps]
With regards to Sitte’s theories, we have to consider his point of view in relation to the context he was brought up or experienced, where he gathered most of his theories from the homes in the countryside arrangement of Austria and Vienna in the 1800’s. His theory is applicable to the chosen site, but only in the 1800’s when Raffles headed the city planning for Singapore. Padang was intended to be kept as a public space, with a total of 4 homes built around and facing it in the year 1823, in which 2 were homes of Edward Boustead, which is now the Supreme Court Building. Another 2 homes belonged to the resident councillor then, Thomas Church and William Montgomerie, which is now the Cricket Clubhouse. The houses were then converted into grand hotels and demolished due to financial constrains within the year 1845 – 1940. The buildings around Padang has gone through drastic changes, from residential to grand hotels to the public building of the Supreme Court today.
(A) 1823 – The first few homes of the resident councils are built facing the Padang, belonging to homes of Edward, Thomas and William.
(B) 1900 - Gaston then moved in the 1845 and started the first hotel In Singapore, Hotel London. Then can Hotel Europe and then Hotel de l'Esperance. (C) The hotels were demolished in 1935 due to financial constraints and is now the empty field for cricket players with the Supreme Court facing it. [Source: Self-drawn]
The drastic changes over the period is inevitable as a country becomes more develop, where public spaces made way for governmental or commercial use, due to the lack of space in city planning. In a small island like Singapore, empty plots of land are more valuable as it becomes a centralised space for the public, and in this case, amplifying the position of the Supreme Court.
The figure-ground diagram of built up areas and open spaces within the vicinity of the chosen site, Downtown Cove, where the ratio of the open spaces are limited. [Source: Self-Drawn according to google maps 2015]
Sitte’s theory is proved valid and has been put in practice in the initial city planning stage of Singapore, when homes and simple functional buildings were over the city. However over the years of development of high-rise and commercial, it is considered space-consuming in Singapore to build homes over every single open space there is. This theory has proved to be inefficient and obsolete in highly-developed countries such as Singapore.
Scale and Proportions In his writings, Sitte is particularly emphasizing on the scale of monuments and buildings. With his recapitulated reinforcing of the pedestrian or user experience as the true factor of success of a building and a plaza, he stresses how the designs of streets in successful precedents always prioritize around the experience of the pedestrian. Empty spaces (streets and plazas) had an entity and impact, where the plazas would be priority when laying out planning of the buildings. The appropriate design follows certain key formulas, such that he believes all entrance views into the plaza should not infringe on each other, where the pedestrians would be able to have a clear and concise out look of the monument or the building. He also questions the artistic value of an open plaza consumed with frondescence, justifying the basic principles of designing the landscape of the plaza is that it should not be an obstruction to the line of sight. Sitte also proposes that the entrance of a building and also the plaza should be placed at an obscure angle, without disrupting the main views and quality of the plaza. (Khoshnaw, 2010)
A simplified diagram showing the basis of Sitte’s theory, where he proposes all views towards the plaza and building should not interfere with each other, and that the entrance of the plaza should be an obscure angle. [Source: Self-Drawn]
Other such rules relate to the dimension and proportion of the space. Plazas should define an area of suitable proportions that people could comprehend and understand the extend of the space. For example, the plaza width must be greater than that of the focal buildings height, but not more than twice its size to create a welcoming feeling in the space.
The formula that Sitte proposes for the width of the plaza to the height of the building to create a welcoming feeling in the plaza square. [Source: Self-drawn diagram]
By applying Sitte’s theories on the Esplanade building in the chosen site, the entrance views of the building do not contravene each other as the building has quite a welcoming entrance of a 180⁰ view. However, the entrance to the Esplanade is not coming from a very obscure angle but contradictory to it of a very wide and huge entrance way.
The entrance views do not infringe on each other, just as the theory Sitte proposed. The entrance however is not obscure but forms a wide entrance pathway, contradicting Sitte’s theory. [Source: Self-Drawn]
By looking at a bigger picture of taking the Esplanade Park as the plaza and the Esplanade as the building, the proportion and dimension of height and plaza width according to Sitte’s theory is inapplicable. The width of the park is more than twice the amount of the height of the esplanade. The plaza, according to Sitte no longer creates a welcoming feeling to the pedestrians, instead it is too large of a scale, which he calls it ‘agoraphobia’. (CANNIFFE, 2012)
The width and length of both the esplanade and the esplanade park, where to ratio and proportion according to Sitte’s theory is not applicable. The esplanade park is said to be too large of a proportion compared to the esplanade. [Source: Self-Drawn]
The relationship of the built up and the open spaces becomes the reverse of Sitte’s theory, where plazas are formed from the leftovers irregular wedges of plot in the planning process. The lack of land in Singapore is also a factor of the lack of public plazas, where to plaza became the leftover plot. In comparison to the New York Central Park, where the size and scale of the park was preplanned as the high-rise buildings slowly take their places around the park. Most commercial buildings today, with esplanade as an example, are not planned with open spaces as priority, but rather as gross built-up area in mind. Perhaps this is the most distinct difference between city planning in the 1800’s and now in the 21st century, where profit, function and development has reign this century.
Conclusion In relation to the chosen site, the theories proposed by the architect, The Relationship between Buildings, Monuments and their Plazas, Enclosed Nature of Public Spaces, and Scale and proportions, most of the theories are inapplicable in today’s Singapore context. Sitte proposes a plaza with unobstructed views, with the church at the walls of the plaza. However the church today is comparatively small when compared to the skyscrapers. He also proposes public spaces to be enclosed, and built around homes. Despite that, it is hard to achieve such theory today as highways and infrastructure takes its play in city planning and with limited plots of land, an empty plot of land would be planned to serve much more than a single community. Lastly, Sitte proposes plazas or open spaces to be placed at priority when it comes to city planning. However, Singapore has exceed the initial planning stage and has moved on to a more profit-driven developing stage to build up its nation. Perhaps Sitte’s theory would have been applicable to Singapore back in the 1800 when it first started its city planning, where the theory of the homes being built around the plaza was true in the year 1823. Sitte’s theory is not invalid or ridiculous, coming from the countryside of Austria and Vienna, where most of his theories would be raising the quality and the living standards of the people. However it would not just be the best city planning method in developed countries today, with the lack of space and profit-driven buildings in mind, it would be obsolete in the developed country of Singapore today.
References Academia, Gallery. 'Michelangelo's David -'. Accademia.org. 2014. http://www.accademia.org/explore-museum/artworks/michelangelos-david/ Last Accessed 18 June 2015. Baker, John. 'ARCHITECTURE + URBANISM: Camillo Sitte: City Building According To Artistic Principles (1889)'. www.architectureandurbanism.blogspot.com 2011. Web. Last Accessed 18 June 2015. CANNIFFE, EAMONN. 'ARCHITECTURE + URBANISM: Camillo Sitte: City Planning According To Artistic Principles (1889)'. www.architectureandurbanism.blogspot.com 2012. Web. Last Accessed 18 June 2015. Collins, George Roseborough, and Christiane Crasemann Collins. Camillo Sitte and the Birth of Modern City Planning. New York: Random House, 1965. Khoshnaw, Rabaz. 'ARCHITECTURE + URBANISM: Camillo Sitte (1843-1903): City Building According To Artistic Principles'. www.architectureandurbanism.blogspot.com 2010. Web. Last Accessed 19 June 2015. Miller, Christopher C. 'City Design' According To Its Fundamental Artistic Principles. 1st ed. civismandcities, 2013. https://civismandcities.files.wordpress.com/2013/11/sitte-from-2011tueindhoven-7w580_19th_century_theory.pdf. 16 June 2015. Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. 'Singapore Esplanade Theatre | Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd.'. www.Mhi-global.com 2015. Web. Last Accessed 18 June 2015. Porfyriou, Heleni. 'Artistic Urban Design and Cultural Myths: The Garden City Idea in Nordic Countries, 1900–1925'. Planning Perspectives 7.3 (1992): 263-302. Web Journal. Singleton, Reece. 'ARCHITECTURE + URBANISM: Camillo Sitte: City Planning According To Artistic Principles 1889'. www.architectureandurbanism.blogspot.com 2013. Web. Last Accessed 19 June 2015. Sitte, Camillo. City Planning According To Artistic Principles. New York: Random House, 1965. Print. Reps, John W. 'SITTE, LIMITATIONS OF MODERN CITY PLANNING'. MODERN SYSTEMS. ARTISTIC LIMITATION OF MODERN CITY PLANNING, www.urbanplanning.library.cornell.edu/DOCS/sitte.html 2015. Last Accessed 18 June 2015. Unwin, Raymond. Town Planning In Practice. New York: B. Blom, 1971.
Summary of Progress Buildings chosen: St. Andrews Cathedral, Padang, Esplanade Park, Esplanade, Esplanade Bridge
Theories: 1. -
Central of Plaza should be kept free (Public Spaces) To ensure no obstruction of views, buildings as backdrop Understand Sitte’s background of reference as comparison to modern buildings today Example: Michelangelo statue of David, Singapore’s War memorial park Example: St. Andrew’s Cathedral
2. -
Enclosed Nature of public spaces, limiting views, surrounding by buildings Creates sense of enclosure, buildings being built into the walls of the plaza Homes being built around courtyard/plaza, making squares feel comfortable. Comparison parks in Singapore, why they are not able to build around houses – lack of land area and spaces, creating a general park for all housing areas in the vicinity. Criticize green parks surrounded by open streets – hygiene issue Apply theory into Padang/Esplanade Park – contrast
3. -
Scale of Plaza Esplanade: height and plaza width (esplanade park) Entrance supposed to be obscure (X), views should not infringe on each other (/) The relationship of built up and open spaces becomes reverse, plazas are formed from left overs irregular wedges of plot in the planning process. Esplanade is not planned based on open spaces but on the built up area. Comparison between building function in the olden and modern days. Based on the age of the town. – New York central park
4. Streets & Visual Succession - Contrast of modern bridge and highways, Esplanade Bridge, long stretch of boulevard - Example from Sitte’s experience: Rue des Pierres in Bruges leading from the Grand Place to the cathedral of Saint-Sauveur. There is nothing of the uniformity of modern streets and all the façades pass in succession before the eye. Another example is Breite Strasse at Lubeck where a steeple dominates the entire street. For the pedestrians walking along the street the steeple is brought out at one moment. Afterwards it disappears again and the structure of the church never dominates the view because of the curving street path.
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Straight streets cannot offer such scenery. Straight streets are effective, but lost sense of artistic value according to Sitte, where he refers to countryside roads as picturesque. Can be applied in countryside roads, where the axis of the roads are displaced. But in the context of Singapore’s Central Business District, it can be considered obsolete.