Deconstruction and Rebuilding

The building industry today is heavy on high-energy products and methods. From plastic window shims to tar-paper building wraps and roof membranes, nearly every part of a building today rellies in some part of petroleum products. Heating and conditioning a building today uses most of our energy resources, including imported oil.

Tearing buildings down and hauling away the debris continues the heavy use of energy and materials. The many truckloads of debris material uses fuel, fills our dumps, and contributes to the environmental degradation of surrounding neighborhoods. Much of this refuse is actually in perfect working order and could have been used in a new structure, perhaps even on the same site.

The Rebuilding Center in Portland, OR helps home owners and craftsmen both remove and rennovate existing buildings. They carefully break down a building, remove nails, and save pumbing and lighting hardware. They can divert 85% of a building's major components and have saved around 4.5 million pounds of waste from our landfils.

Although some building products from the past have turned out to be hazardous nightmare... aspestos and lead paint among them... most traditionally milled windows, doors, and wall claddings were superior to modern materials.

Cedar wall and roof shakes contain a natural pesticide that protects wood buildings. Double-hung wood sash windows are less of a thermal bridge that the alluminum storms we all installed in the 80's and allow for controlled cross ventilation. Stone countertops are less prone to embedded contagins than many laminate or wood topped counters, while stone pavers are more porous and less prone to cracking than concrete walkways.

Most traditional building materials are low in energy to produce and transport, non-toxic, and renewable. These materials can also be reused in a project on an existing site or cycled through a building materials center. They also utilize and maintain building techniques worked out through long-term use in the local climate and conditions. Returning to these systems can improve our environment and add local relevance, culture, and history to architectural projects.

New Urbanism

New Urbanism has developed primarily as a response to Post-War suburban sprawl and the damage to many small towns by mega-scale commercial developments. Wal-Mart and the Cul-de-sac are blamed for killing walkable downtowns in favor of malls surrounded by seas of parking and highspeed arterial roadways. The alienation common to these non-places has been linked to racism, vandalism, and even highschool shootings.

Mega retail leverages economies of scale, outsourced product development, and the automobile system to siphon business from traditional civic centers. New shopping centers develop along highways between cities and shopper/residents often move to be even closer to these malls. The scale of these new places often reach urban levels in structures, if not in population.

The old downtowns, now devoid of shops and shoppers - and their eyes, become the secluded haunts of criminals. Shabiness and danger pushes more residents to flee to the suburbs. This reduces central city tax roles and limits possible responses to such social and economic problems.

Suburban clusters of ranch houses oriented towards family-room TVs and fenced backyards limit community interaction and involvement. The new "edge cities" that develop around the shopping centers are not truly public places. Private landlords limit operating hours and can ban certain classes, types, and even individual users by name.

New Urbanist favor a return to the typology of pre-automobile America and Europe. These advocates claim that the built environment shapes human activities and if we wish more traditional civic behaviors then we need more traditional civic designs.

The basic rules for such development have been codified by the Congress For New Urbanism (CNU) and pushed by architects and planners such as Duany Platter-Zyberk. These rules can be reduced to a focus on pedestrians and increased density. They can also be exaggerated into detailed design rules that shape buildings into reproductions of historic styles.

Most architects resist any rules that appear to dictate form. However, it has largely been other rules, those of housing authorities, transit agencies, and banks that have created the suburban norms that the New Urbanists are themselves rebelling against.

Meanwhile global environmental concerns are pushing an end to the auto lifestyle and its attendant strip malls and tract homes. Many consumers and residents are searching for a new direction in urban architecture and cities across America are indeed looking back, to past civic forms, for inspiration.

Pattern Language

Pattern Language - an architectural term most often associated with the architect Christopher Alexander. His students and colleagues at UC Berkeley helped him survey built environments around the world. The study revealed a series of common architectural and urban planning "problems" in various contexts and simple explanations of the most common "solutions".

Over 250 of these patterns were collected and published in the book A Pattern Language in the 1970's. Later books have enlarged this study to help architects and urban dwellers discuss good architecture in objective, rather than subjective and relative, terms. This series is called the Nature of Order and is in ongoing publication - book four is the latest in the series.

The method to apply Patterns in architecture requires frequent interaction between the architect and the client, the landscape, and the actual construction. It would be best if the architect could live with the clients and observe their daily life. This way the architect can identify problems and develop solutions. Often the project is altered during the building stage as the architect or client fine tunes their wishes or drastically change their minds.

This style of building can produce wonderful results. It is quite similar to traditional building methods in Europe's past and in developing countries today. The materials are often "organic" and specific to the region. The aesthetic form of these materials, and the ornamentation (yes, ornamentation) is often derived from local cultural memories. The buildings and spaces thus produced are often beloved by the users and are undeniably "good architecture".

Some critics of Pattern Language worry that the hundreds of quite specific Patterns (the 6 foot deck, which prescribes the exact size of a patio or porch) will necessarily constrict the creativity of the designer. The also note that many of the built examples share form and ornament with traditional buildings and call them "nostalgic" in a demeaning way.

However, Pattern Language is actually quite abstract and broad, this is one of the things that gives it its power, along with objective judgments about aesthetics - another controversial point). Pattern Language's methods of problem identification and solution development have been picked up by many fields and professions. Today these methods are used by industrial designers, software programmers, and even creative writing.

In architecture, the languages that are develop from these local and personal patterns seem to universally displace the car and corporate needs, focusing instead on the human users (who usually developed them). These ideas have also led a few architects and planners to develop a more specific language for use throughout the US and Europe in "fixing" the language of modern planning that has led to auto-dominated sprawl.

This group has pushed for acceptance within the construction and development world. They use modern marketing and promotion techniques, such as conventions and press articles (both are long held Modernist favorites of self-promotion) to inform the consumers of architecture that there are alternatives to sprawl. Their conventions are referred to as the Congress for New Urbanism and the promoters as New Urbanists.

Backers of more pure Pattern Language practice claim, rightly, that their methods are much more likely to produce quality architecture. They point to the often cartoonist and nostalgic forms of New Urbanists products as much more commercial and "fake". On the other hand the New Urbanists took their ideas in large part from Pattern Language advocates and have themselves succeeded in building many more projects based on these ideas.

Mark Greiner, Senior Vice-President and leader of Steelcase's WorkSpace Futures team, used Pattern Language to design his own home, which he loves, he has also found it useful in his profession as an industrial designer... read his blog here.

The Laws of the Indies

The Laws of the Indies were 148 rules for establishing and expanding Spanish colonial cities in the new world. There were first signed in 1573, with various revisions, and were finally published as a complete document in 1681.

These rules were greatly influenced by the writings of Vitruvius, a Roman Empire engineer, and Alberti, a Renaissance era Italian architect. Eventually the Laws would later influence the US Land Ordinance of 1785 that introduced grids and zoning.

Surprisingly the Laws included rules to limit abuse of the natives and the environment. These restrictions caused much complaint from injudicious settlers. However, they were perhaps designed as much to assist in successful conversion and assimilation of the natives and their lands into the Catholic Church and the Spanish Crown.

The Laws directed settlers to find land not already in use by natives, but near enough to recycle building materials and assist in the labor of build the new settlement.

The laws directed the developers of a new town to create a written and drawn plan for the site. It should be divided into public squares, streets, and building lots (solares).

Thirty large farmsteads were planned for the surrounding countryside, along with one large estate for the official in charge. Small urban lots (peonia) were 46 by 92 feet deep. A major urban lot (caballeria) was 92 by 184 feet deep.

The center of town was given to a large square with wide roads leading to the city gates. The main square was to be located inland from any port. It should be a square or rectangle of at least one and a half its width in length. The square should be large enough for future growth, not less than 200 by 300 feet, and to accommodate horses in civic events a square of 600 by 400 feet was preferred.

The main streets that run out from the plaza should be offset to the cardinal directions and thus not exposed to the four principle winds. These streets should be wide in cold climates (to accept solar heat) and narrow in hot places (to provide shade).

Smaller plazas should be given to public buildings and churches and distributed throughout the rest of the city. The principle church should be located on one of these squares, preferably on a rise, where its tower can be seen from sea or the country side.

Hospitals were to be established contiguous to a church and cloister, hospitals for the contagious were to be built in an elevated place where breezed would not carry illness into the rest of the town.

The plots around the main square were to be reserved for merchants. The remaining plots were to be either distributed to the colonists or reserved for future settlers. A large public pasture/park was to be maintained within the city, large enough for a growing population, and dedicated for both grazing animals and the recreation of humans.

Private houses were to be arraigned such that north and south winds would run through them. These homes should also be arraigned to form a defensive barrier to invaders. Additionally the buildings should form an enclosure for the quartering of horses and other work animals.

The Laws also direct the city to maintain a similar material and form throughout the town in order to maximize its beauty and to increase the awing effect upon visiting natives. A council of architects and civic officials was suggested to regulate these efforts.

The laws also directed the city to be built on non-swampy land, defendable, with adequate farmland, timber, and water. Additionally it was to have access to the "cool north wind". Noxious uses, such as slaughterhouses, were to be placed downhill by the sea.

Curiously the ocean was not to lie to the south or the west - which would have ruled out nearly any city on the Californian coast, including Santa Barbara.

Islamic Town Planning

Islam has been described as an urban religion. It grew to dominance of Arabia by controlling two key cities, Mecca and Medina. It went on to establish itself in such capitols as Baghdad, Damascus, Cairo, Istanbul, Cordoba, and Jerusalem.

When Muslim raiders succeeded in establishing bases in Europe they left behind examples of their ideals for town planning. Winding, narrow streets with tall buildings hiding pleasant interior courtyards can be found in major Spanish cities and in some districts of Italian villages.

The goal of Islamic planning was both defensive and decorous. The twisting alleys that often ended in a cul-de-sac or dead end made invasion difficult and costly. Meanwhile the buildings' interior focus served the needs of modesty and separated home life from the business of the city.

Narrow alleys and tall blocks also served the mostly hot and arid climates of Muslim landholdings. This layout minimized solar penetration of the interior of the blocks and buildings while funneling cool evening breezes down the lanes. The minimum width for such streets was set a the practical room necessary to pass two loaded camels side by side.

Some architectural features were also demanded by the combination of Islam and urban life. The screened window boxes and bridges found in cities such as Tunis and Beirut were developed to enable women to pass from building to building of a family compound or to view the bustle of the street with out exposing themselves to the view of non-family males. Today these elements are some of the most intricate, artistic, and endearing of Islamic cities.

El Camino Real

By 1761 the Spanish became concerned over the exploration of the Pacific Coast by Russian trappers and English sailors (both had reached San Francisco). They wanted to establish permanent settlements in California, but lacked the colonists or cash.

The Crown attempted to use the Church to resolve the settlement issue. They began to establish a string of forts and churches that began at San Diego in 1769 and stretched all the way to San Francisco by the 19th century. They were headquartered in Monterrey, but the missions along the Santa Barbara Channel were considered the most important "lynch pin" in the system.

The tribes that lived along the route were loosely affiliated and avoided joining in any organized tasks, such as warfare. Their technology was limited to stone tools, wooden and woven implements, and surprisingly sea-worthy boats. They ate shellfish, birds, small game, acorns, deer, and the occasional beached whale.

The natives numbered perhaps 100,000 in 1776 and by 1830 30,000 had been converted to Spanish mission life. In the first baptism at the Santa Barbara Mission, out of 4,771 natives, only 30 were noted to be unhealthy in anyway. At least three natural remedies from the natives were adopted by Spanish doctors.

The missions were small cities in their own right with a complex of buildings for administration, manufacturing, agriculture, education, and religious functions. The physical layout was governed rules that determined what was built and how it was geographically situated in relation to cardinal directions, hills, and water sources.

Because Spanish settlers were in short supply the missions attempted to convert and educate natives to help settle the land for the Crown. Strict rules against abuse of the non-converted natives attempted to maintain good relations and provide future converts. These caused some friction with lonely soldiers and acquisitive colonists.

Command of the Spanish Empire was centralized and relied upon slow written communication. This caused the settlers to work out elaborate plans for nearly every emergency or contingency. The Crown would later back these rules as The Laws of the Indies.

Natives workers were trained to make adobe bricks, clay roof tiles, build walls, and till fields. Women wove cloth, ground grain, or carded wool. After 10 years of civilizing effort the Crown expected the native communities to carry forward on their own (in California, this effort would last more than 60 years).

Native labor and simple, local, natural materials were all the Spanish had to build with. Dirt, stone, seashell mortar were made into adobe walls. Trees, reeds, and rawhide bindings formed the roofs, floors, and interior walls.

These buildings were solid and offered good shade and natural cooling. Their sheer size, quality craftsmanship, and the best ornament the Crown and the Church could afford, conveyed a sense of permanence and shelter that awed the natives and still impress visitors today.

The secular powers were quite jealous of the economic success of the missions. In 1833 the Mexican government ordered the missions closed or "secularized". Their vast land holdings, stock animals, and native laborers were taken over by neighboring ranchers and farmers.

The supply path that connected these churches became US Hwy 101 and still carries the name El Camino Real or The Royal Road. Today it is marked today by a series of bells hung from shepherd's crooks that dot the highway. While many of the mission buildings are long gone, most of the main chapels still remain and are used today.