0 1 a l b i_i n f o

how to design in antique space?

the plot "place de la pile" means very grandious place which has a lot of monuments near the location around the area - dominanting factor of old town or silhouette for us is huge cathedral and also very clear genius loci inside. we understand area as meeting point which divide the spaces for more small sites and the most problematic line divides site is road - two parts of plot space de la pile. we feel contrast between vertical division of cathedral and horizontal division of city buildings facades. as scale of public space we have choosen the views on area from each street and thought about quality of views - means the question does this perspective need support with join of new forms and shapes into, or not? then we solved perspectives and their adequate strenghs and weaknesses. as our main guide and aim of info summary is solve problem with perceiving spaces. inside of area are situated lot of small furnitures which optically devides the place and by analysis we want to find a system code for determine requirements and to improve district.

"you open the fridge and see the quantity of excellent ingredients. but if you want to create good meal, not to use them all, but only a select few. in simplicity is beauty and perfection. and fridge is like an architecture and the ingredients are its elements."

idv

When collecting the information about the site, we made basic analysis in a medium scale. We analysed the structure of the blocks of buildings, buildings, the river, the greenery, the public space and the roads. As a result we can say the location has a very dense structure of buildings, which are usually enclosed around a small courtyard. Looking at the roads, cars have access to the area only in some parts. If there are roads open for cars they are one way roads. There is a quite large pedestrian zone where no cars are allowed. There is a road for cars directly at the site, which goes through the square next to the cathedral in a L-shape. This connection road is quite important in organisation of the traffic in the area. Greenery analysis shows, there is not much greenery in the area when talking about streets or square directly. The greenery is concentrated mainly around the river coming from the center of greenery in the area - the garden. Public space is mostly made by pedestrian streets leading to the square with the cathedral.

Next we analysed the historical aspect of the site area. When looking at the buildings, one can see different eras. The city has a deep middle age history and it formed and evolved ever since. To get to know different layers of time and history at the location, we made a scheme showing the age of the parts from the oldest (the darkest color) to the newest (the lightest color). Our site is located at a very center of the oldest part of the city.

To really define the atmosphere of the site, we made an analysis of the different layers of the site that we could recognise by all the factors shown in analysis that affect the site. The layers of atmospheres we chose were: touristic layer, local layer, noise layer, secure layer and insecure layer (in this exact order). The touristic layer was composed by the interests of tourist coming the square. Their main interests are the cathedral and the Toulouse-Lautrec museum. The local layer aims at the interests of the local people, showing that the cathedral is one of the local points as well as a touristic point, where the difference is, that for local people the interest is the inside of the cathedral and its function more than the outside of the cathedral. Outside interest point of the cathedral for locals would be only the entrance. Noise layer shows the road with cars is a big distraction enabling the place to be peaceful, on the other hand, another center of noise - local square market, which makes social noise of people negotiating and shopping at the market. This noise is considered as not distracting, in fact helpful for the public and social atmosphere. Then we decided to name a secure and insecure layer. This layers indicate where a person can feel comfortable or not quite comfortable. As a secure we marked the interior of the cathedral, the small greenery with a fountain, the space infront the tower of the cathedral and the narrow street behind the cathedral leading to the museum, where there is also located a small stream with a fountain. These places make people feel comfortable, secure and intimate. On the other hand, the open space infront of the cathedral and market can induce a feeling of respect and insecurity (when looking at the huge scale of the cathedral from such small distance). The road with cars going straight through the square is very interrupting as well. We marked the interior of the cathedral as insecure as well, as it can have the atmosphere of respect made by the scale of the building and lighting etc.

When talking about the site and its atmosphere the cathedral is a huge part. Not only its scale but also its beauty is unbeatable. We tried to understand how its presence affects the square and the area. As the diagram shows, the floor plan of the cathedral takes around 35% of the floorspace of the square.