I 14 HIERARCHY OF OPEN SPACE*
557
. . . the main outdoor spaces are given their character by site REPAIR (104), SOUTH FACING OUTDOORS (1O5) and POSITIVE
outdoor space (106). But you can refine them, and complete their character by making certain that every space always has a view out into some other larger one, and that all the spaces work together to form hierarchies.
♦<% ♦?*
Outdoors, people always try to find a spot where they can have their backs protected, looking out toward some larger opening, beyond the space immediately in front of them.
In short, people do not sit facing brick walls—they place themselves toward the view or toward whatever there is in the distance that comes nearest to a view.
Simple as this observation is, there is almost no more basic statement to make about the way people place themselves in space. And this observation has enormous implications for the spaces in which people can feel comfortable. Essentially, it means that any place where people can feel comfortable has
1. A back.
2. A view into a larger space.
In order to understand the implications of this pattern, let us look at the three major cases where it applies.
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| Seat and garden. |
In the very smallest of outdoor spaces, in private gardens, this pattern tells you to make a corner of the space as a “back” with a seat, looking out on the garden. If it is rightly made, this corner will be snug, but not at all claustrophobic.
I 14 HIERARCHY OF OPEN SPACE
Slightly larger in scale, there is the connection between a terrace or an outdoor room of some kind and a larger open space, the street or a square. The most common form of the pattern at this scale is the front stoop, which forms a definite enclosure and a back, off the public street.
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| T err ace and street or square. |
At the largest scale, this pattern tells you to open up public squares and greens, at one end, to great vistas. At this scale, the square itself acts as a kind of back which a person can occupy, and from which he can look out upon an even larger expanse.
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| Square and vista. |
Therefore:
Whatever space you are shaping—whether it is a garden, terrace, street, park, public outdoor room, or courtyard, make sure of two things. First, make at least one smaller space, which looks into it and forms a natural back for it. Second, place it, and its openings, so that it looks into at least one larger space.
When you have done this, every outdoor space will have
559
buildings
a natural “back”; and every person who takes up the natural position, with his back to this “back,” will be looking out toward some larger distant view.
I
| / view to a |
|---|
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For example: garden seats open to gardens—garden seat (176), half-hidden garden (106); activity pockets open to public squares—activity pockets (124), small public square (61); gardens open to local roads—private terrace on the street (140), looped local road (49)) roads open to fields—green streets (51), accessible greens (60) ; fields open to the countryside, on a great vista—common land (67)) the countryside (7). Make certain that each piece of the hierarchy is arranged so that people can be comfortably settled within it, oriented out toward the next larger space. . . .
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I I 5 COURTYARDS WHICH LIVE**
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| 561 |
. . . within the general scheme of outdoor spaces, made positive according to the patterns positive outdoor space (106) and hierarchy of open space (114), it is necessary to pay special attention to those smallest ones, less than 30 or 40 feet across— the courtyards—because it is especially easy to make them in such a way that they do not live.
The courtyards built in modern buildings are very often dead* They are intended to be private open spaces for people to use—but they end up unused, full of gravel and abstract sculptures.
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| Dead courtyard. |
There seem to be three distinct ways in which these courtyards fail.
1. There is too little ambiguity betiveen indoors and outdoors. If the walls, sliding doors, doors which lead from the indoors to the outdoors, are too abrupt, then there is no opportunity for a person to find himself half way between the two—and then, on the impulse of a second, to drift toward the outside. People need an ambiguous in-between realm—a porch, or a veranda, which they naturally pass onto often, as part of their ordinary life within the house, so that they can drift naturally to the outside.
2. There are not enough doors into the courtyard. If there is just one door, then the courtyard never lies between two activities inside the house; and so people are never passing through it, and enlivening it, while they go about their daily business. To overcome this, the courtyard should have doors on at least two op-
I 15 COURTYARDS WHICH LIVE
posite sides, so that it becomes a meeting point for different activities, provides access to them, provides overflow from them, and provides the cross-circulation between them.
j. They are too enclosed. Courtyards which are pleasant to be in always seem to have “loopholes” which allow you to see beyond them into some larger, further space. The courtyard should never be perfectly enclosed by the rooms which surround it, but should give at least a glimpse of some other space beyond.
Here are several examples of courtyards, large and small, from various parts of the world, which are alive.
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| Courtyards which live. |
Each one is partly open to the activity of the building that surrounds it and yet still private. A person passing through the courtyard and children running by can all be glimpsed and felt, but they are not disruptive. Again, notice that all these courtyards have strong connections to other spaces. The photographs do not tell the whole story; but still, you can see that the courtyards look out, along paths, through the buildings, to larger spaces. And most spectacular, notice the many different positions that one can take up in each courtyard, depending on mood and climate. There are covered places, places in the sun, places
spotted with filtered light, places to lie on the ground, places where a person can sleep. The edge and the corners of the courtyards are ambiguous and richly textured; in some places the walls of the buildings open, and connect the courtyard with the inside of the building, directly.