Unwinesque spatial design: town planning by artistic principles

When commenting on several suburban housing estates, I've mentioned their Unwinesque spatial features. This term is a reference to Raymond Unwin and the design principles he set out in his 1900 book Town Planning in Practice. The spatial arrangements of houses he features in this book quickly became the staple of Garden City Movement designs. This was in part due to his excellent drawings, but also due to the exemplary project of Hampstead Garden Suburb. The master plan for this housing trust estate was drawn by Raymond Unwin with his business partner Barry Parker. This was truly a case of leading by example!

In Germany Unwinesque spatial design as a separate term is little used, as most refer to this typical placement of houses along roads and communal spaces as Gartenstadt-Bebauung or in a few cases as Cottage-Siedlung when there is a clear English inspiration. In Germany this Garden City Urbanisation is -rightly so- seen as an example of Sitte-esque design principles. In his book Unwin relies heavily on German examples. Much of his references are from Germany and plans and solutions are taken from the German publication Der Städtebau. Because much of the narrative on the Garden City Movement is Anglo-Saxon many authors have limited themselves (consciously) to British and American sources. The best way to define Unwinesque spatial design is as: Sitte-eque spatial planning by artistic principles with special attention paid to the placement of building on or along public space (with the aim to define this public space).

In his book Unwin states that town planning is akin to garden design by the successful implementation of purposeful [spatial and functional] interventions. Both functionally and spatially Raymond Unwin copied standard practice in Germany. The way he emphasises the city survey and the existence of a regulated planning regime should also be seen in this light. Although Unwin and Sitte both favour vernacular architecture, Unwin stresses that artistic expression may take varying form. 

Spread over several chapters of his 1909 book on town planning, the Unwineque design principles are explained. The Chapter on Plots and placing buildings, together with the chapters on Site planning and residential roads and on Buildings forms the basis of Unwinesque design. Unwin elaborates on the number of dwellings per acre (12 is deemed perfectly suitable) and the most economical way of providing access to housing by way of streets. Also, the use of greens and closes to cluster houses around is advocated. Unwin consciously speaks of cottages and not of houses. He even goes so far as to typify row housing as "linked cottages". The ideal of a (semi)rural single dwelling is after all deeply rooted in England -as Muthesius also noted. The plans mainly show detached and semidetached houses. To create a sense of place it is stressed that the housing shouldn't merely be built along curved streets, but rather be spread irregularly with groupings of buildings giving some sense of enclosure along streets and other public space.

At the core of Sitte-esque urban design is the creation of a series of spatial units or places. Unwin elaborates on this. Instead of merely bending the street this curve can become the focus of a place. This can be done by creating a wide oblong space (A) with the space defined by linked terraced housing of 5 dwellings (1) or 4 dwellings (2) with a winged extension on either side. These winged extensions can be simple (3) or angled (4). The delineation of the place can be more informally achieved by careful arrangement of terraced housing, blocks pushed forward (5) to form a kind of gate and angled blocks (6).

Garden City Design is characterised by a strong unity of design. This is also strongly recommended by Unwin in his chapter on Buildings. As an Arts and Crafts adept he favours taking inspiration from the past in designing up-to-date buildings. He laments the loss of local -built- identity and pleads for unity resulting in a harmony of materials and colours binding buildings together. Harmony doesn't require monotony, but a proper relation between materials, colours and parts of the building. Unwin strongly advocates the use of colour by the architect as the external appearance is more important to the public than to the occupant or owner. To generate this desired harmonious unity in appearance some form of supervision on the design is deemed justified [and is indeed still very necessary]. The character of the estate should be determined in the site plan. That plan should be a spatial design that not merely focuses on the layout of streets and other public spaces, the building line and the plots, but should also suggest materials, colours, building height, type of roofs, height of eaves and colour schemes.

The prime consideration in planning on artistic principles is the overall effect. This means variation in buildings (shape, height, materials , etcetera), variation in corner treatment (open versus built-up corners), variation in the streets (form , length and width), variation in building line and variation in planting (green verges, trees, orchards, hedges, greens and stretches of lawn). An artistic overall effect is also achieved by employing row houses with variable building line and roofs, by combining large and small blocks, by adding pronounced wing features to the ends of side blocks and by using architectural features (arched gateways, protruding sections and bays, roof shape, turrets and materials).

Road junctions are carefully designed. The standard solution (A) has open corners with little definition. The gardens of one street meet de side of the housing in the adjoining street. The Unwinesque solution -on Sitte-esque principles- is to only use T-junctions. Junctions with open corners can be designed on artistic principles by pushing the block opposite the street back from the building line (B and C), or by adding protruding sections at either end to this block (D) making it a feature. The corner is left more open to create a small place that was mostly designed as a small expanse of grass with trees or a public garden.

The street layout of urban areas designed along Sitte-esque artistic principles mirror the sweeping curves of late 19th century gardens and parks. Unwin rejects this fixation on curved lines and instead sees merit in both formal and irregular lines. This is incidentally in line with garden design of his day that inserted formal gardens and elements (pergolas, avenues and ponds) within a curvilinear or naturalist overall scheme.

At the heart of most garden suburb and garden village designs -and yes even of the two actual garden cities- is a functional centre. This is mostly located near or directly connected to a train station or other mode of transport, such as a tram halt. Often this central area is emphasises spatially by an axial composition often underlined by a differentiation in building height, building style or materials used. There are several examples of garden suburbs and garden villages with a clear central area.

Two examples of built-up corners with a clear place as a beginning of a side street (A) versus a staggering of the building line indicating the side street (B). A built-up corner can be continuous, as we've seen in Austrian en German examples, but Unwin favours the scattered, more vernacular, approach. Corners are most often designed as a 45 degree section between the two rows of houses. Such a built-up corner can take a typical "butterfly" shape (1) or be given a concave front (2). The terrace opposite the can be treated as a focal point with a central feature (3) or simply as two combined semidetached houses with a central arched gateway to the back gardens (4).

The emphasis on T-junctions is classically Sitte-esque. In Unwinesque design this is the preferred way of joining streets. This means an emphasis on the corner. This can be done by recessing the corner to create more space, by cutting off the corner at an angle or by opening up the corner (also often with a single block set back). A T-junction leading to a cul-de-sac is used to make use of deep plots between streets to maximise land development for housing. These closes are an integral part of nay garden city type development.

Succession of space can take many forms. A classic and angular translation of Sitte-esque design is the sequence of places along a bend in the street shown by A. Two rectangular places delineated by the terraced housing create a sense of space along the bend. The same treatment can be used on a T-junction (B) with a classic set-back (1) in three linked terraces facing the adjoining street. Protruding sections are used to define the place by defining the space. The corner can be an angled block of housing (2) or a sharp corner with a corner shop (3). A close (C) -a type of cul-de-sac- is basically a place at the end of a street. To emphasise the close a gate feature (4) can be added.

In line with German examples Unwin relies on differentiating public space -along streets and places (squares). In his book he includes several examples of a succession of places that are basic Sitte-esque. This differentiation creates places at T-junctions, in the middle of the street but also along a street. Often there is a sequence of widening and contracting space as one moves along the streets. Only in rare cases are the places so spacious that they become proper (market)squares  or small parks. In most cases the widened space is taken up by greenery, mostly grass.

Unwin pays much attention to the streetscape in contrast to Sitte who mainly focuses on squares and other public places. Much attention is paid to a varied street layout with shorter and longer streets. To break the perceived length of long streets variation in building line and buildings are employed. Some of the houses are given protruding sections at the corners or are pushed forward to create a narrowing of the space between the buildings along the street. Another way of creating visual interest and variation is to push blocks behind the building line or create small greens surrounded by buildings on three sides just off the street.

It is also important to give the streets a clear beginning and end. This can be done at the junction with another street by creating a place; especially closed places work well for this. Another possibility is to create a gate-like feature by adding protruding sections to the terraced housing, narrowing the width and thus emphasising an entrance. Also the housing can be set back with an actual gate as an entrance feature. A third option is to use winged or angled blocks. Especially if these winged or angled blocks create a place this method is very effective.

Two examples of street designed with a clear beginning and with variation along the length in mind. Simply joining two streets at a slight angle (A) can limit the perceived length. If a gate feature (1) is added the street as a unit is emphasised. Here the blocks on either side of  the gate have been set back and angled to further enhance the sense of a clear beginning. Likewise a gate feature can be designed using two blocks brought forward (7). A clear beginning of a street can be suggested by a block set back from the building line opposite a side street (3) of by creating a place by using angled winged blocks around a junction (4). In the same way gate features work to segment a street, the street width can be widened by setting back blocks or terraces behind the building line. By doing this on both sides of the street (2) the perceived length of the street is shortened as there is now a wider section inserted. Other options are to wrap a terrace around a green off the street (5) or to set back a single block (6).