TO THE READER: I have been revising the text in my book,
“The Equations of Urban Design”. It was originally written to replace “The
Science of Urban Design” and I found myself rewriting the entire first chapter.
I may never finish the revisions, and the extent of revisions may not qualify
as a second edition, so I thought I’d publish this chapter. It expresses the
intuition I have had for many years. The table and figure are at the end of
this text.
Architectural
Period and Style Misdirection
Shelter Capacity Evaluation is a scientific language that
can lead to a sustainable relationship between the land we consume for shelter,
movement, open space, and life support and the land we must protect as our
source of life. It depends on “design category classification” to structure
the evaluation on a systematic, mathematical basis. It is needed to address
arbitrary demand that is presently consuming our source of life as it attempts
to meet our shelter requirements without considering the consequences of sprawl
and excessive intensity.
We have not been given the symbiotic, autonomic shelter
anatomy needed. We are expected to derive the leadership language required to guide
global design efforts toward the systematic examination, prediction, discussion,
and regulation required to define the sustainable limits of land consumption, shelter
capacity, intensity, and growth that apply to a Built Domain growing within a
Natural Domain that does not compromise with excessive growth and consumption.
We have been given the intelligence needed to pursue the discipline required, but
we must choose to listen to instinct and anticipation that will depend on a
leadership language for measurement, evaluation, decision, and direction.
Linnaeus began classifying the Natural Domain in pursuit of
scientific knowledge long ago, but he was addressing a self-sustaining organism.
The parasitic Built Domain will not be self-sustaining until we make it so. Classification,
measurement, and evaluation of land consumption for growth and shelter capacity
is only the beginning of a journey to the knowledge required.
CLASSIFICATION
I’d like to propose that shelter classification begins with a
Built Domain composed of Urban and Rural Phyla. Each phylum contains a Shelter
Division served by arterial divisions of Movement, Open Space, and Life Support.
Unfortunately, arterial open space is more of a dream than reality at the
present time. Inadequate provisions have simply increased the intensity we
experience within an urban anatomy that suffers from its absence.
Building Design Categories
Seven building design categories based on the parking system
present or planned encompass the spectrum of shelter design options involved
when the objective is to predict the gross building area capacity of land per
buildable acre consumed.
A building design category choice combined with optional
values entered in the design specification template of its forecast model makes
the calculation of gross building area per buildable acre, or shelter capacity,
feasible. I’ve written about this often and request patience from previous
readers as I recite this building classification system but would like to pause
to make a point.
A building may be occupied by any activity complying with
federal, state, and local regulations. The gross building area introduced to
shelter activity consumes land. The gross building area option chosen per
buildable acre consumed has a shelter capacity, intensity, intrusion and
context implications that I’ll explain later.
The building design category forecast models that predict the
shelter capacity of any land area include:
1)
G1 models that address buildings
with adjacent surface parking on the same premise
2)
G2 models that address buildings elevated over
surface parking
3)
S1 models that address buildings with an adjacent
parking garage on the same premise
4)
S2 models that address buildings with an
underground parking garage on the same premise
5)
S3 models that address buildings elevated over a
parking garage on the same premise
6)
NP models that address buildings with no parking
required
7)
PG models that address parking garages are a
unique category that can be used for shelter during emergencies
A building design category is occupied by one or more
specific activities within an activity group. The forecast models that predict
shelter capacity for the Residential Activity Group are listed below.
1)
G1.R1 models address buildings for single-family
residential occupancy
2)
G1.R1.S models address single-family residential
buildings in a subdivision context
3)
G2.R1 models address single-family residential
buildings elevated over surface parking on the same premises
4)
SUB1 models address universal subdivision
calculation
5)
G1.R2 models address townhouse buildings with
adjacent surface parking
6)
G2.R2 models address townhouse buildings
elevated over surface parking
7)
G1.R3 models address apartments with surface
parking and/or garages at grade on the same premises
8)
S1.R3 models address apartments with an adjacent
parking structure on the same premises
9)
S2.R3 models address apartments with underground
parking garage on the same premises
10) S3.R3
models address apartments above a surface parking garage
Building classification is only a means to an end. The
objective is to identify the specification topics and values that determine the
amount of gross building area that can be produced by optional building design category
forecast models and design specification decisions for a given land area; or
the buildable land area options that can accommodate a given gross building
area objective based on a given building design category. The specification decisions
within a building design category forecast model determine the shelter capacity
of land per buildable acre consumed, and they have physical intensity,
intrusion, and context implications. The objective is to demonstrate how the
capacity of land to accommodate shelter can be accurately predicted under the
conditions specified for a given building design category.
There are few things more fundamental than the capacity of
land to provide food and shelter. A farmer can predict the crop yield from an
acre of land and evaluate the results to build knowledge. It is time we learned
to accurately measure, predict, evaluate, and limit our use of land for shelter
capacity, since every acre we consume reduces the planet’s ability to support
life.
FORECAST MODELS
Shelter capacity is a function of the forecast model chosen
and the values entered in the shaded cells of its design specification
template. Table 1.1 is an example of the forecast model for the G1 building
design category when gross land area (GLA) is given. The values entered in the
shaded cells of its Land Module identify land areas that must be subtracted
from the gross land area given (GLA) to find the impervious land area remaining
(IMPS) in cells F19 and G19.
The values entered in the shaded cells of the Core Module
identify land areas that must be subtracted from the impervious area remaining (IMPS)
to find the core land area (CORE) available for building cover and parking
cover in cells F33 and G33.
The parking cover area per space planned or present (s) is
indicated by the value entered in cell A35 of the Core Module. The building
square feet permitted per parking space provided (a) is indicated in cell A36.
The relationship between the floor quantity options (f) entered
in cells A44-A53 and the values (a) and (s) entered in cells A35 and A36 determines
the gross building area options (GBA) that can be constructed in the core area
remaining (CORE). These (GBA) options are shown in cells B44-B53. The master equation
defining this relationship is shown in cell B39.
PLANNING FORECAST PANEL PREDICTIONS
Floor plan, or building footprint area (BCA), parking area
(GPA), and parking space quantity options (NPS) are calculated in Columns B, C,
D, and E of the Planning Forecast Panel based on the design specification
values entered and the gross building area options (GBA) calculated in cells
A44-A53. These are the design implications of the specification values
entered into the forecast model, and they change whenever one or more shaded
values are changed, but these quantities do not indicate their context implications.
We have had to rely on opinion for evaluation and this has produced such
arbitrary terms as “sprawl”, “excessive intensity”, “overbearing”, “balanced”,
and “award winning”. This is not a vocabulary capable of measurement and
leadership that can consistently guide the design decisions for many projects toward
repeated success.
CONTEXT IMPLICATIONS
When land area is given, design specification values are
entered within building category forecast models and mathematically correlated to
produce gross building area predictions. These predictions have measurable
shelter capacity, intensity, intrusion and context implications. They are calculated
in the Implications Module of Table 1.1 using the equations at the top of each
column. These implication measurements are related to the gross building area
options (GBA) calculated in cells B44-B53. Implication calculations are like our
first blood pressure readings. Their meaning will await a thorough evaluation
of the conditions and quality of life of the context measured or produced.
Project context is only the beginning, however. Think of a
project as a shelter cell in an urban design plan for shelter, movement, open
space, and life support that combines to form a complete city. Urban design
definition with the quantitative language of shelter capacity evaluation can
lead hundreds of thousands of shelter decisions toward a Built Domain that does
not depend on unlimited growth and consumption for survival.
SITE PLAN IMPLICATIONS
An architectural site plan is an illustration of building
cover, parking cover, pavement, and unpaved open space quantities arranged within
a shelter project/property area. Building height and mass must be imagined from
the footprint shown in the plan. Site plan graphic presentation/appearance,
however, has distracted from the fact that a consistent, unique list of
specification topics applies to every building category site plan, even though
a topic may have an assigned value of zero in some plans. All site plans first differ
by the topic quantities assigned and then by the arrangement and appearance of
the context rendered. When these quantities are mathematically correlated,
shelter capacity evaluation and the science of urban design decisions becomes
feasible.
Figure 1.1 is an illustration of the topics and quantities that
are listed in the Design Specification Template of Table 1.1, but the
illustration alone prevents mathematical documentation and evaluation of the
context illustrated. Evaluation of the plan and the finished project will be
based on opinion. It has always been an unstable foundation for the
accumulation and transfer of knowledge.
Leadership has learned that decision is opinion based on a
foundation of knowledge. Urban design, city design, and city planning represent
leadership seeking knowledge to defend opinion and determine direction. Figure
1.1 is an illustrated site plan that represents decisions without
documentation. This lack of measurement invites argument and opinion without a
leadership language that can document direction for evaluation.
Table 1.1 is not based on Figure 1.1 but is an example of
the design specification topics and mathematical relationships involved with
the G1 building design category shown in Figure 1.1. Gross land area is given
in in cell F33. Subtraction was used to distill the impervious cover remaining
for use in the core area of the project for building and parking cover in cells
F33 and G33. Gross building area options for the core area were defined using
the master equation in cell B39.
The master equation defines the gross building area
potential (GBA) of a distilled core land area (CORE) when occupied by the G1
Building Design Category. This potential is a function of the parking value (s)
in cell A36; building footprint value (a) in cell A35; floor quantity value (f)
in cells A44-A53; and core land area available (CORE) in cell F33. Ten options
were shown in cells B44-B53 of Table 1 based on Equation G1.L1 in less time
than it would take to sketch one.
Tailoring land area to its gross building area potential has
not been that important. Land has been plentiful, and its shelter capacity has only
been a concern when it appeared inadequate; but the intuitive are beginning to
question our pursuit of growth and consumption on a planet with limited
resources.
In the case of shelter, there has been no mathematical
ability to equate demand with the shelter capacity and economic potential of any
land area. This is an acute problem for Encircled Cities with no annexation
opportunities and inadequate revenue potential. Unrestrained Cities will
continue to consume agriculture and the Natural Domain with annexation, sprawl,
and excessive intensity until we can accurately calculate the shelter capacity
of land and correlate capacity and context with its economic potential.
The following chapters have been written for those who wish
to consistently provide shelter capacity for growing populations within a
geographically limited Built Domain that can protect both their quality and
source of life. These chapters discuss the building design categories,
specification topics, value options, context implications, and leadership decisions
that have always preceded physical form, function, and appearance.
Context quantity decisions have been an overlooked function of talent. Table 1.1 and Figure 1.1 were introduced to make the point. Exterior context decisions have been overshadowed by the appearance produced, but they have a mathematical foundation that can be derived to build knowledge and lead the provision of shelter capacity within limited land areas. The following chapters discuss the building design categories, specification topics, master equations, and design decisions that define the physical context of shelter for social and economic activity in the Built Domain.
