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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 | ||
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| 4. Scale | ||
| This is a very subjective issue which conducive to lengthy argument. The primary objective is to find the most appropriate size of the urban public space of a high-rise building. The answer may vary. But people always have the similar sense of human scale. Rockefeller Promenade and Sunken Plaza are the good examples. If these urban public spaces were too large or too small in comparison to the existing ones, they might have not been a successful public space until today. | ||
| Therefore, 'scale' does not simply mean the "size" of the public space or its largeness in comparison to the size of the building. Scale in its true sense should mean that the public space should be designed based upon the human scale or in relation to human scale. An empty public space gives a lack of confidence to a person who happens to walk in because he feels that he is being spotted. On the contrary, a crowded space may give a sense on unwelcome to the visitors. Moreover, if the space is being divided into smaller areas to achieve a better sense of human scale, these areas may be the places where indecent activities happen and hard for the management to operate. | ||
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| 5. Temperature | ||
| Temperature Fluctuation in New York City is well known by the people around the world, burning hot summer and bitterly cold winter. At a particular time of the year, many public spaces are empty. There are examples of problem solving around the city. Rockefeller Plaza has been creating the winter activities and decorating the plaza annually with Christmas tree to celebrate and to create the sense of seasonal change for the public. But this may not be the real problem solving in terms of architecture and urban design. Sony Building and 590 Madison Ave.(Former IBM) Building provide other ways of problem solving with architecture and urban design. Their out door public spaces with glass enclosure are the key element to let the people to experience the seasonal atmosphere and the sense of out door space while maintaining the comfort-zone temperature by the air-conditioned control system. | ||
| It is hard to compare both problem solving in relation to the over or under comfortable temperature. In the future, architects may invent some new ways to encounter this problem. But the temperature of the comfort zone is absolutely the issue that the urban space designers have to consider if they want their public space to be properly used all year round. | ||
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| 6. Space Identity | ||
| People who visit Rockefeller Building are ale to recognize that it is Rockefeller Center as well as the people who visit Citicorp Building People can recognize a building not because of its so many stories high of GE Tower. The people sense the existence of Rockefeller around them because of its special elements such as Prometheus, Fountain, Sunken Plaza and Promenade. The people can also sense the existence of Citicorp Center around them because of the appearance of St.Peter's Church and the unique steps that lead them to the plaza and to enter the subway station. | ||
| On ground level, people are not able to observe the heights and forms of high-rise building anymore. They recognize it by the displaying of the icons and other context of ground floor activities. Therefore, to make people have a good memory of the urban space and comeback again, the designer has to conceive special features of the space that no other place has. This can definitely include special shops or restaurants that can be replaced for the newest of the space. Designer should use the architecture and space design, which is more comprehensive in order to successfully create the space identity that helps the people to recognize the building and want to revisit. | ||