Riverfront Planning: Planning of the Grand Seine, Paris

The City of Hangzhou has learned a lot from the riverfront planning of the Seine, Paris. During my research, I found this amazing link to a 360 degree panaroma of the views around the Seine River:
http://www.world-heritage-tour.org/europe/france/paris/map.html
(go into the website and click on the specific images on the map to see lager 360 panaroma)

Great Waterfronts of the World

Resources: Project For Public Spaces (PPS)
The following is an article I found during my research on waterfront planning, which listed several most successful waterfronts in the world.

A truly great urban waterfront is hard to come by. The PPS staff has examined more than 200 urban waterfronts around the world--cities on the sea (Hong Kong, Vancouver, Miami, Athens), rivertowns (London, Paris, Buenos Aires, Detroit), and sturdy lakefront burgs (Milwaukee, Chicago, Cleveland, Zurich). It is exceedingly rare to find a waterfront that succeeds as a whole, although there are promising elements in almost all of them. So when we sat down to share our notes about which waterfronts deserve to be called the world's best, it only made sense to create two categories. The first, "Waterfront Cities," considers the entire waterfront--how well it connects by foot to the rest of the city and sustains a variety of public activities in multiple areas. The second category, "Waterfront Places," looks separately at individual destinations along the water. When you experience these extraordinary public spaces, you realize how much more would be possible with a coordinated strategy to make the whole waterfront a place for people.

Best Waterfront Cities

These six cities offer a taste of what's possible. They vigorously incorporate the waterfront into the broader life of the community, using it to showcase their best assets. By exploring the water’s edge you can get a sense of the whole city

1. Stockholm, Sweden

As a city of islands, the waterfront here really is the heart of town and has quietly adapted over time as Stockholm evolves, providing many new and different ways for people to use it. With few traffic-heavy roads along the water, walking and bicycling become great pleasures, enabling people to discover an array of attractions all along the city’s shoreline. What really sets Stockholm apart are the promenades and esplanades that naturally draw people to public destinations on the water, such as the outstanding City Hall (where the Nobel Prizes are awarded) or the wonderful Kungstradgarden (King's Garden). Then, when you are ready to move away from the water, another pedestrian-oriented path will appear, ready to whisk you off to a destination elsewhere in the city.

2. Venice, Italy

Amsterdam may be called the Venice of the North and San Antonio the Venice of the Western Hemisphere, but the real Venice is one-of-a-kind. The quintessential waterfront city, Venice's famous canals make the streetscape into a seascape -- the whole life of the city revolves around waterways. In most cities, roadways are the most problematic aspect of the urban landscape; in Venice, the 'roadways' are the most beautiful part. Indeed, getting lost on the footpaths of Venice is the best way to experience the city. In such a picturesque setting, where every scene leaves a lasting imprint in your memory, the challenge is to identify which ingredients can be of use to more contemporary urban environments (see How to Turn a Waterfront Around for lessons drawn from Venice and other great waterfronts).

3. Helsinki, Finland

Located on the tip of a peninsula jutting into the Baltic Sea, Helsinki's compact downtown is almost entirely on the waterfront. In addition to its role as a regional transit center for ferries, tourist boats, and ocean liners, the waterfront serves as a popular gathering spot with markets, parks, and an esplanade. A bike ride along its safe and tranquil paths takes you past numerous neighborhoods centered around small public spaces. These intimate community places are complemented by main destinations of a grander scale, also along the water. The best of these is the central waterfront (which tops our list of waterfront destinations, below). In a sense, all "roads" (including waterways) lead to this focal point. People can intuitively follow an intricate network of small streets and promenades to arrive there, or they can simply follow the water.

4. San Sebastian, Spain

Though it lacks the media buzz of its Basque country neighbor, Bilbao, San Sebastián offers, in fact, the superior waterfront. Hugging the rim of the Bay of Biscay, its beautiful promenade follows the arcing coast from one end of the city to the other. Dotted with lively public spaces that connect to an ancient street layout well-suited to pedestrian use, this waterfront feels like the center of the city.

5. Sydney, Australia

One of the most visually stunning bays in the world, Sydney Harbor is also an amazing place to stroll, take a boat ride or just sit a spell. Locations like Circular Quay, The Rocks, and the Botanical Garden fit well with the harbor itself to create a unique waterfront atmosphere. As in Stockholm, Sydney’s waterfront destinations are best accessed by ferry. When people can get around via the water, they are apt to hang around much longer and do more things on the waterfront. The upshot is a constant hum of people having fun at a huge variety of activities, which could easily occupy someone for days on end.

6. Hamburg, Germany

Hamburg is one of Europe's largest ports, home to an industrial waterfront located on an estuary where the Elbe flows into the North Sea. Despite its sometimes gritty character, the waterfront is accessible to people through a scenic promenade linking the shore to the downtown. Hamburg stands as an excellent example of how cities with working waterfronts can still create active public places without interfering with economic activity.

Best Waterfront Places

The following spots are the best of the best of waterfront public spaces. To visit any of them leads to the inevitable question: Why aren't there more places like this? Every city needs places on its waterfront with the qualities and sheer appeal of these destinations.

1. Market Square and Esplanade, Helsinki, Finland

Helsinki's top waterfront draw combines an indoor market hall with a large public plaza which is itself home to an open air market. Easily accessible by foot, tram, or ferry, its location in the center of bay enhances the sense of destination. There are no major roads and hardly any cars to be found, creating an ideal setting for human-scaled buildings and small parks, where anyone can sit down and look out over the scene. The boats coming and going complement the market bustle, making for a public space that approaches perfection.

As PPS likes say about all great squares, this spot reaches out like an octopus, drawing people toward it—both from the city streets and from the waterborne routes of the bay. The most remarkable "tentacle" is the esplanade that leads here from the heart of the city. Walking down to the shore on this path is a finely paced, tantalizing journey--a veritable study in how to take advantage of a waterfront setting by building anticipation and heightening the senses on the route there.

2. Paris Plage, Paris, France

For one month every summer, the Georges Pompidou Expressway along Paris's Right Bank transforms into a pedestrian refuge replete with a sandy beach. A dazzling array of attractions vie for your attention—from activities like dance lessons, climbing walls, games, and swimming (in floating pools, not the Seine), to amenities like beach chairs, cafes, misting fountains, and shady palm trees. Its enormous popularity can be traced to strong management and innovative programming, which keep the place humming well into the night with shows and performances. Though financed in part by corporate sponsors, the acknowledgments are appropriately modest. There are no outrageous logos on display, and the experience never feels overwhelmed by commercialism. Paris Plage is a truly public space of tremendous benefit to everyone.

3. Nyhavn and Kongens Nytorv Square, Copenhagen, Denmark

These two spaces have a symbiotic relationship, with the large, oval-shaped Kongens Nytorv Square serving as the gateway to Nyhavn, Copenhagen's top waterfront district. Nyhavn makes a compelling promenade, packed with restaurants overlooking a small canal that harbors classic old ships, that naturally leads you right into the heart of the city. The square has recently been improved with more active management; and now hosts public events and programs that draw people to the area. Both places also exemplify the octopus effect, with many streets emanating out toward other destinations in the city.

4. Granville Island, Vancouver, British Columbia

Rising from the husks of old factories and workyards, Granville Island offers a cornucopia of markets, play areas, and cultural activities, all tucked into a stunning waterfront setting. It has marvelously succeeded not by adhering to a master plan or pursuing a themepark-like design, but by evolving organically along with local institutions, businesses and public destinations. Today it is a top draw for tourists as well as a beloved community place for the burgeoning population of high-rise dwellers in downtown Vancouver. A lesson in how great places can be created under any conditions with minimal expense.

5. Venice Beach, Los Angeles, California

This wonderful promenade and beach symbolizes the very definition of eccentricity. In what might aptly be termed a human circus, Venice Beach provides a public stage for artists, seniors, sunbathers, basketball players, religious proselytizers, and of course, half-naked muscle-bound exhibitionists. Oh, and don't forget the street markets, which add a whole other dimension of social interaction. It's enough to put an ear-to-ear grin on your face and make you thank the world for such interesting people--and interesting places.

6. Riverwalk, San Antonio, Texas

Yes, Riverwalk is a tourist magnet, but don't let that fool you. San Antonians come here in droves too. Most impressive is that people choose to come to Riverwalk all year round, even in the oppressive heat and mugginess of a Texas summer. For one thing, the water and shade cool things down--an important quality of waterfronts everywhere that we often overlook. And besides, why worry about the heat when you are surrounded by such a beautiful setting and such fascinating crowds?

7. People's Park at Islands Brygge, Copenhagen, Denmark

The charm of People's Park lies in its simple authenticity. It has grown organically as new activities requested by the public, such as boating, a floating pool, and community meeting facilities, have been gradually added to what used to be a very plain site. It is so successful that six more are going to be developed in the near future. Copenhagen should make it a priority to site these new parks next to important civic buildings along the water, such as the Library and the new Opera House, that could showcase themselves to the public to far greater effect if given the opportunity.

8. Main Beach Park, Laguna Beach, California

Laguna Beach offers an inspiring example of how to link a downtown to the water, even when a major road--in this case the Pacific Coast Highway--stands in the way. Its Main Beach Park is easily accessible on foot from downtown because the highway has been traffic calmed with landscaped medians. The park itself draws thousands of people every day, with a boardwalk that seamlessly weaves together basketball and volleyball courts, play structures, a recreation center with lawn bowling, and several open grassy areas for games and picnicking. Together with artist-designed benches and plentiful public art, the park's activity creates a unique fusion of recreation and culture.

9. Ribeira District, Porto, Portugal

Perhaps the best of many great waterfronts destinations of Portuguese origin around the world, the Ribeira District is simple and compact yet supports a wide variety of activity. Set in an historic district, much of the public area has been redesigned with contemporary materials and amenities. The new design features are very attractive, functional, and in no way ostentatious, serving as a sort of flexible platform for activities and supporting a range of gathering options for groups. Children play, tourists drink port in cafes, elderly friends talk and stroll. Automobiles pass through on a narrow channel with a low curb, so that drivers move through the space with less priority than pedestrians.

10. Aker Brygge Harborfront, Oslo, Norway

Formerly a shipbuilding area, Aker Brygge is now a vibrant and densely packed new district. Its public promenade is one of the best-used public spaces anywhere, an area for strolling that has become the focal point of the harbor and the entire city of Oslo. Tourists and locals alike enjoy the cafés, playgrounds, sittable steps, engaging public art, floating restaurants, and small fishing boats that sell their catch at the dock.

11. City Hall, Stockholm, Sweden

Stockholm City Hall is proof that an iconic building doesn't have to detract from the places around it. Located by one of the busiest sections of the city's waterfront, its grassy plaza, courtyards and interior public spaces welcome everyone who set foot there.

12. Coney Island and Brighton Beach, Brooklyn, New York

Brooklyn’s southern shoreline is home to the best stretch of waterfront in New York. Coney Island remains a one-of-a-kind destination. The boardwalk and amusements are jammed with people during the summer months, while on Surf Avenue, beloved attractions like the Cyclone roller coaster and Nathan's Famous Hot Dogs operate cheek-by-jowl with small food vendors and flea markets. Brighton Beach, meanwhile, feels like a different world from the carnival atmosphere of its famous neighbor. Russian cafés serve customers on the boardwalk and locals of all ages engage in animated conversation while enjoying the sea breeze. Both places share a special quality: They are public spaces where spontaneity flourishes. With so much to choose from, it's not necessary to go there with a plan.

Major Architectural Forms of Chinese Residences, pt.I

Start to read Traditional Chinese Residences by Qijun Wang . Wang is an expert in Chinese vernacular architecture, he did a lot of on-site research on various Chinese traditional residence forms. I've read his book A Pictorial Analysis on Chinese Traditional Residences during this past summer.

I'll start to summarize the major architectural forms Wang talked about in his book in this and the following blog entries.

The Courtyard Houses of Beijing
The courtyard Houses of Beijing can be seem as the most representative type of Chinese traditional courtyard houses. It has a special emphasis on the buildings' layout. The layout follows the philosophy of symmetry along a central axis, showing the orderly atmosphere of the family, which embodies the traditional Chinese ethics of respect for elders.

Here's a birdview of the Beijing Courtyard House, from which we could clearly see the layout and arrangements of architectures.

Qixian County Residences, Shanxi Province
Qixian County, like Beijing, is also in the Central Plain of China. In history, people in Qixian County has been traditionally engaged in business, which provided them enough funds to build highly polished architecture. Architecture in Qixian County can be regarded as the best representative of vernacular architectures in Shanxi Province. They usually has the following features: 1) High surronding walls of 4 or 5 stories' high. These walls are usually made of bricks and are windowless, which serves as a strong defense purpose. 2) Main buildings have pent roofs, allowing rainwater to flow towards the courtyeard. 3) The rectangular courtyards are long from north to south while narrow from east to west, and the gate is often positioned in the southeast corner. Shanxi traditional residences are usually more highly decorated compared with the Beijing courtyards. They uses a lot of exquisite carving, which is different from the color painting decorations of Beijing courtyards.

Cave Dwellings, Shaanxi Province
The local nature environment is dry, windy and has a lot of adobe. This natural environment gives rise to the form and color of the vernacular dwellings of Shaanxi Province. There are 3 types of Shaanxi Cave dwellings. The first is constructed by digging horizontally into the loess cliff'; the second is built by digging into the ground to make a large courtyard and then digging caves in the walls around it; the third is an earth-sheltered brick house on the ground in the shape of a cave dwelling.

Southern Anhui Province Residential Buildings
The biggest feature of Southern Anhui residential buildings are white wall, black roof tiles and step gables. Its black and white tone blend harmoniously with the local nature of green mountains and blue ponds. The Southern Anhui residential buildings have a lot of emphasis on the planning of the overall village. They employed a lot of ideas of Fengshui in the village planning and also showed the strong sense of the order in family and society in traditional China.

Residential Buildings in the Southern Region of Rivers and Lakes, Jiangsu Province and Zhejiang Province (Jiangzhe Area)
The form of the residential buildings in Jiangzhe Area is very similar to that in Southern Anhui Province, with black and white colors. The local landscape of lakes and rivers makes residential buildings in that area pay more attention to its relation with water. Water as circulation path, water for daily use, water as natural dividors, etc. The architecture and planning of Jiangzhe Area are sometimes compared to "Oriental Vienice" by Chinese.

Major Architectral forms of Chinese residences pt.II

6. Red-brick Dwellings in Quanzhou
The red-brick dwellings in Quanzhou are built with red bricks and tiles, which are its local materials. The main form of the residences is quadrangle, and retains many characteristics of the residences in the Central Plain. The Quanzhou dwellings uses a lot of stone carvings as decoration.


7. Earthen Buildings in Fujian Province

Earthen Buildings in Fujian Province has a lot of different shapes, such as square, round, swastika-shaped and half-moon-shaped. Among all of these shapes, round earthen building is the most common one. A earthen building is usually a large, enclosed and fortified earth building, rectangular or circular in configuration, with very thick load-bearing rammed earth walls between three and five stories high and housing up to 80 families. Smaller interior buildings are often enclosed by these huge peripheral walls which can contain halls, storehouses, wells and living areas, the whole structure resembling a small fortified city.
This unique building structure is formed due to certain historical and social condition. During 12th Century to 19th Century, armed bandits plagued southern China. Local residents of Fujian built up high-walled buildings for a defense purpose.


8. Fortified Compound in Southern Jiangxi Province
The Fortified Compounds in Southern Jiangxi Province are very similar to the square Earthen Buildings in Fujian, but usually have corner towers. The materials of the Fortified Compound in Jiangxi are also slightly different: it usually has gray or white exterior walls and black tiles, which is close to the outlook of the vernacular residences in Jiangzhe area.


9. The U-shaped Compounds of the Hakka, Guangdong Province

The U-shaped Compounds of the Hakka are rammed earth buildings which contains scores to over a hundred rooms. One feature of the Hakka U-Shaped compounds is that its wall is extremely solid and enduring, which is even hard to hammer a nail into them. The walls are as thick as 30 cm and were built with a mixture of lime, mud, sand and proper quantity of sticky rice and brown sugar. The materials for building the walls are all very common in Guangdong Province. Just like the Fujiang Earthen Buildings, the U-Shaped Compounds of the Hakka is also a product of the needs of living, defense and production of a special historic period.

10. Fortified Buildings in Kaiping, Guangdong Province

The Fortified Buildings in Kaiping is a perfect hybrid of conventional Chinese residences with courtyards and fortified buildings, and western architectural characteristics. During 19th Century, a lot of Chinese in Guangdong Province immigrated to western countries to seek a living. After they made enough money abroad, they usually invest them on building their own family house in their hometown. As a result, they also brings a lot of western art and architectural styles and elements to the local buildings.


11. Flagstone Buildings in Guizhou Province

Guizhou Province is located in the hilly terrain of Yun-Gui Plateau. Flagstone buildings take the materials from the rocky mountains, and are built in a wooden structure wrapped in stone walls and a stone roof. The roofing of the flagstone buildings is especially unique: it is roofed with 2 cm thick stone plates serving as tiles.


12. Residential Buildings of the Koreans
The Korean Nationality in northeast China has a very characteristic residential form that well suits its cold climate. Most residents have a hipped thatch roof and wide ridges. The interior of the building has a very special air circulation path, which ensures the heat of the interior.

Major Architectral forms of Chinese residences pt.III

13. Mongolian Yurts
Mongolian Yurts is a temporary building structure that fits the nomadic lifestyle of Mongolian herdsmen. It covers a circular area with a vault at the top. It usually fronts the east where the sun rises, thus preventing the west wind from blowing into the yurt. Meanwhile, the streamline of the yurt reduces the force of the wind from any direction. It only takes less than half an hour for Mongolian herdsmen to set up a yurt.


14. Uygurs Residential Buildings

Uygur is a nationality in Xinjiang Province, northwestern China, which is same to the Uygur ethnic group in central Asia countries. The residential buildings of the Uygurs has extra thick walls which prenvent the high temperature difference during day and night. The buildings has no side window, but only front windows and skylights as a way to prevent temperature difference. The area has rare rains, so the structure and material of Uygurs residential buildings are wooden frame with adobe walls. The interior of the buildings are splendidly decorated with plasters and plywood relief works.


15. Houses on Stils (Overhanging Houses) in Yunnan Province
The humid, hot climate of Yunnan Province makes the local people lift their houses from the damp ground. They usually use local materials such as bamboo and wood to build the stilts structure. Another purpose of lifting up the building is to protect residents against beasts. Overhanging Houses usually has roof with large eaves to block the strong solar radiation of that area. The interior of the building does not have good lighting, but has very good ventilation.


16. Lijiang Residential Building

Lijiang Residential Buildings are built by the Naxi nationality, and its style is a combination of central plain, Bai nationality and Tibet. The local landscape of Lijiang has streams running across the city. The Naxi people maximize the use of water by unique planning techniques.


17. Houses of Bai Nationality

There are two typical forms of Bai Houses: one is a courtyard with two storied buildings on three sides and a screen wall on the other; the other is a rectangular five-courtyard houses. The arrangement and layout methos of Bai Houses is pretty similar to that of the central plain architectures such as Beijing Courtyards. The major feature that distinguishes Bai Houses from central plain courtyards is its colorful and exquisite exterior decorations. The Houses of Bai are also built in a way that suits the local windy climate anf frequent earthquakes.


18. Tibetan Fortified Manor Houses

The typical style of Tibetan Fortified Manor Houses is a 3 or 4 storied high houses built with thick enclosing walls. The windows of the houses are usually open toward the central courtyard. The windows and doors openning outside are usually very small and narrow. This design served for two purpose: denfense and keeping out the cold wind.
The interior plan of the Tibetan Fortified Manor Houses is also very interesting. The first floor is used for storage, the second floor for living, and the third floor for religious worship and grain storage. This relects the Tibetan people's social and religious pattern.

Reading: Architectural Encounters with Essence and Form in Modern China

This is the book I've been reading for the past two weeks. Architectural Encounters with Essence and Form in Modern China, which is written by
Peter G. Rowe and Seng Kuan.

Peter G.Rowe is the former Dean of the Harvard Graduate School of Design, where he is Raymond Garbe Professor of Architecture and Urban Design.
Seng Kuan is a graduate student at Harvard University and the founding editor of the Harvard Asia Pacific Review.


This book is a really good start for the first part of my research, which is based on the question: how should China weight between traditionalism and modernism in its current architectural design practice. This book provides a comprehensive survey on the social, historical and political factors that influence the development of Chinese modern architecture since the 1840 Opium War.

I like the neural way the book ends: the gap between "essence" and "form" should be filled by specific social context.

More information about the book is on the MIT press website: http://mitpress.mit.edu/catalog/item/default.asp?ttype=2&tid=8768