HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Scale of Great PlacesThe Scale of Great Places:
Two Cities on the Water:
Savannah and Miami
Philip Laurien, AICP
Executive Director,
East Central Florida
Regional Planning Council
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1733- Savannah, GA
General James Ogelthorpe’s Georgian Town plan, (approved by King’s Grant) was a
traditional grid street design with 24, one-acre park squares.
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Historic and Traditional Neighborhood Details: Streets. Wide enough for on street parking, at least on one side. R.O.W. typically 60’ with curb and gutter (Savannah, Georgia).
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The 24 squares all contain statuary or fountains: Forsyth Park, Savannah
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Early structures were simple and narrow to fit the small lots
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Early Savannah streets were paved with British cobblestones used as ship’s ballast.
The streets exist today, two hundred and seventy years later
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The Cotton Exchange was an early industrial warehouse, commercial center and office building- five stories
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The Cotton Exchange is still a mixed use commercial center today.
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Being located on the Savannah River, development rose up from the water to the downtown
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As the city grew, so did the scale of buildings. This is Savannah City Hall- eight stories to its bell tower
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But even as taller buildings rose above the more typical 3-4 stories, their architecture, landscaping and detail remained human in scale. Does this look appropriate? It is six stories
surrounded by three stories.
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Large buildings with superb architecture, designed floor by floor to the human scale can add to the landscape
Savannah, GA
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Great places encourage the eye to explore, and linger on details. What details do you see here? This is the Forest Gump Bench.
Savannah, GA
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Great places are inviting; the view changes every fifty feet, the architecture beckons, the sidwalks are shaded from the hot sun.
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Great places have public spaces for all; the 24 squares of Savannah belong to all, as do the wide boulevards.
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Traditional town centers were centers of daytime commerce, night-time entertainment and quiet residential neighborhoods
All of these mixed uses lie
within the historic district of
Savannah
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Equal heights- which one fits and which does not?
The Savannah College of Art
and Design building- six stories
Plain office building to the rear,
seven stories
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Quiet residential neighborhoods with courtyards, not wide lawns, handsome doorways rather than yawning garages. Cars, like horses before them, enter their barns from the back allies.
Architectural themes- wrought iron, Savannah
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Architectural themes- wrought iron
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Height- how tall is too tall?
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Buildings can have tall profiles. If they taper as they rise, it reduces the impact.
Chippewa Square,
Savannah
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Paths are important. They should not be too narrow, nor too wide.
Good paths have street trees for shade,
Lighting for night time, fencing of
Courtyards to separate public
from private space
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Does this path invite you to walk?
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When is a large building out of scale? Does this building have good scale? Why? Does it fit Savannah?
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Scale- what do you think of this building?
Savannah Mariott blocks the view of the old city to the water.
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Savannah- succeeds where it is true to its heritage, retaining mixed uses in its historic district, preserving its waterfront, making detail a pedestrian’s delight.
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South Beach, Miami, Florida:
Spanish and art deco themes, and scale
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What do you want your community to look like?
Height- How tall is too tall?
Miami Beach, on the ocean
Miami Beach, Collins Ave., one block west
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Height- How tall is too tall for the location?
Miami Beach: Do the different heights seem OK? Why?
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Height- how does, location, scale, color and architecture affect our like or dislike of the structure?
Miami Beach , 1/2 block from the ocean. This is 14 stories- too tall? Why?
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Variations in Height- does this soften height? Does landscaping? Does color?
Miami Beach- Are these buildings too tall ? Why?
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Do these buildings look right next to one another? Why?
Miami Beach ½ block from the ocean
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Do these buildings look right next to one another? Why?
Miami Beach, 3 blocks from the ocean.
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Does an architectural theme retain long term interest?
Collins Avenue, Miami Beach.
1000 streamlined “art deco”
Buildings built between 1920
and 1950. Declined in the 1960s,
Reborn to its history, now in
full bloom, with new renovations.
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South Beach “streamlining”. Two blocks from the beach.
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Collins Avenue is glitz, glamour, and neon.
Would this architecture look right
in old Tavares?
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Collins Avenue across the street from 14 story hotels.
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How about this architecture- would this set a Portugeese tone in old Tavares?
South Beach- two blocks from the beach.
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Spanish style features, South Beach
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Spanish features, South Beach
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Spanish style, two blocks from South Beach
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Spanish themed hotel, opposite.
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What will be Tavares theme?
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