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Public Contribution in
High-Rise Building Design
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@ New York City
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| Result: Criteria for Public space design of High-Rise Building | ||
| The followings are the major issues. | ||
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| 1. Activities | ||
| It is difficult to define the meaning of 'activities' in public space. But basically, people who come to a particular public space must have some 'actions' with it. If the designer do not aware of this "actions", it will end up like the Seagram Plaza where Mies Van De Rohe did not want people to use that space. He might be success in that point regardless of other justifications. So it is the duty of the designer (1) to find out what the people like to do in the public space and give them the solution, make the space more convenient for them, filled in the empty space whatever they cannot in other places. One good example is such the space in the Citicorp Building, and (2) to create new activities with innovative features for urban space such as the ice skating rink within Rockefeller Plaza. | ||
| Activities can be defined as the "interaction between people and Environment" or 'interaction between people themselves'. Regarding the first definition, it is the full responsibility of the designer to ensure that everything is proper and practical for both users or visitors. For examples, if there is a need for benches or seats, they should be comfortable probably under the trees or shades located in the quieter corner. If there is also a need for signage to indicate places and directions, they should be placed at the most obvious spots where people can easily see or reach for information. And many more for architect to realize. Most importantly, the space filled with activities is the space filled with life. | ||
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| 2. Landscape | ||
| Urban people usually lack their interaction with the nature. Urban landscape is full of buildings, constructions and artificial environment. Human beings need to be with the nature at some points in life. Nature is hardly found in the mega city like New York. Central Park is the most valuable and the highest quality natural space for New Yorkers. People can still live happily in Manhattan because they can have the interaction with the nature in the Central Park. | ||
| In New York City, visitors can see 'pocket park' as a part of the dense high-rise environment. This pocket park is a small size park as it name indicates. These parks successfully bring the nature back to the people for the better quality of life. Many building designers try to introduce green scape into their building plaza instead of sobering gray concrete or modern finishing elements. Natural green trees or shrubs, psychologically, give people the freshness. Not only the natural trees but also the water features such as fountains, falls, and ponds. They also have the ability to create the freshness and relaxation for the people. Sound of the water, according to the scientific research, can reduce the human's stress. | ||
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| 3. Daylight | ||
| The 1961 - building set back law of New York City was implemented because of a major concern about the lack of daylight in the public space. Today it does not seem to be the problem any more. But there is a need for daylight in a different objective. Fresh sunlight is not only to give the warmness in winter but also the sense of naturalness amongst the artificial atmosphere. This is a precious opportunity that urbanites strongly need to interact with the nature. Today, working people in the urban office hardly know whether it is midday or midnight, summer or winter outside their offices. Probably the only chance they can learn is to go to the building's public space to experience the nature. Although the outdoor public space today is confined with glass walls and roofs but the people can still sense the outdoor feeling and to experience the natural and the seasonal changes. Architect should be very careful to address this issue in order to make his public space design a success. | ||