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Kahn movement pattern analysis, MoMA; bottom image, University of
Pennsylvania Architectural Archives |
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Yale Department of Architecture, LLV studio 1968-69. Published in
Learning from Las Vegas (LLV), 1972 |
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Louis Kahn evolved ideas about movement systems by looking hard at
another Philadelphia pattern, one that has been deeply evocative for us
too--William Penn's grid plan for the city. Kahn converted it to a plaid. |
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We documented every sign on the Las Vegas Strip, trying to understand
its patterns. |
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LLV |
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LLV |
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The footprint of every building on the Strip and on several other commercial
strips in Las Vegas. |
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The Strip as a system of communication; this map suggests how the neon communicates.
It also suggests lively intensity. |
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LLV |
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LLV |
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The pattern of the distribution of churches in Las Vegas looks like
that in any other town. |
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The pattern of food stores too. |
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LLV |
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LLV |
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But the patterns of automobile rentals and wedding chapels are tied
to the Strip. |
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LLV |
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LLV |
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A land-use plan of Las Vegas. It uses standardized land-use planning
categories and colors. Major commercial strips show up clearly in red. |
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We took the same standard land-use categories inside the buildings.
The red is casinos. By subjecting the variety of the casino-hotels to this
discipline we see what they all have in common. When you enter a hotel the
first thing you see is the casino. Hotel rooms encircle the patio. Conference
areas are to one side. We went behind the variety to understand the system.
Learning from this study, when we design as architects, we do land-use planning
and transportation planning, inside buildings. |
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VSBA |
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VSBA |
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While we were studying Las Vegas, we were also working as advocate planners
for a series of low-income communities on South Street in Philadelphia.
This map tries to go beyond the simplistics of conventional land-use maps.
It suggests that in one block--especially in the inner city--you may find
combinations of several uses. And if there is an intervention by government
(vertical hatching), across the street could be a reaction by the private
sector (diagonal hatching). We were looking for a graphic technique to suggest
the kinetics of urban development. |
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Linkage is another basic urban pattern. This map suggests possible linkages
between elements of downtown Memphis. |
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University of Pennsylvania, New City Punjab Urban Planning Studio
Project 1959 |
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Nolli |
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David Crane's notion of the capital web. This plan suggests that government
may define a grid of facilities and streets and the private sector may react,
within it. |
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This led us rather directly to Nolli, who mapped the churches of Rome in
1748. The pochéd plans show some unique buildings, churches, of the
public sector--call them Ducks if you like. The white areas are the public
open space. The private sector is hatched grey. "Nolli" makes the public structure
of Rome apparent. |
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LLV |
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LLV |
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We began making "Nolli" maps of Las Vegas. There is no public
sector on the Strip--actually there is a small one--but we show the
insides of the casinos, the ceremonial spaces, as a proto-public sector.
Again, the public or, you could say, the semi-public, structure stands
out. Again, the public or, you could say, the semi-public, structure
stands out. |
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Kahn Erdman Hall Plan Studies, Penn Architectural Archives |
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VSBA |
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Louis Kahn is looking for a public structure inside his Bryn Mawr dormitory
building--he's searching for form. To make the building and define the interior
public space, he uses urban themes or typologies. The rooms clustered around
the central public spaces look a little like the West Philadelphia row houses
Kahn must have seen every day as he went to work. |
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Our "Nolli" map of the National Gallery on Trafalgar Square. To the left,
the Sainsbury Wing, designed by VSBA in 1991, has a grid of spaces that
is a smaller version of the one in the main building--smaller, less directive
in its arrangements, and more modern. |
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VSBA |
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VSBA |
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Political demonstration in front of the Sainsbury Wing. |
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A "Nolli" map of the ground floor shows our street through the Sainsbury Wing.
It is a sinuous worm that can take the flow of a Sunday crowd of thousands
of people. The walls of the street are faced in rusticated stone, as an
important Renaissance street would be. |
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