there is a nice city center. I am sorry but I can't keep my hands off it. this peace of urban structure just attracts me.
we'll even if it wouldn't there is no way on e can escape. last week we went to the swimming pool and I discovered a whole new world. its what I call here "plymouth after life".
it is some kind of secondary structure that serves the main streets in the city center. I discovered the space earlier on the map as I draw the sketch with all the parking facilities, but this time I experienced it, not only by going into, rather by navigating trough a really complex structure of connections.
it is mainly about parking spaces. the blocks in the city center are used as parking spaces. very often the courts are filled with a multi story parking. these parkings then are usally connected to a larger retail unit via a elevated walkway. there are secondary connections where visitors can sneak into other areas of the city center.
it can be looked at as a backdoor of the city center. as described earlier the center of plymouth acts as a main attractor as all the shops are located here. lots of people travel here from all over the wider area. mainly they travel by car so they have to park somewhere. and this is not anywhere, this is actually in the heart of the heart, in the center of the block. this means that the visitors/shoppers experience this piece of urban structure from the inside out.
there is from this sied no point in having this large scale axis thing in the master plan as non of those visitors experience it.
I tried to find a path trough those spaces and actually found more or less a route trough from east to west. cheque the map... some impressions will follow.
the amazing thing is, that from those top floors of the multi story parkings one has a beautiful view on plymouth.
2 comments:
I really think that the observations that you make about Plymouth are really great and they make me imagine the place as it should be. You talk about a very important thing and is the experience in the city you said that the space can become, or is an extension of the brain and I could not agree more. I try to put myself in your shoes and I realize that your point of view is very different from what I would see and think if I was there; if we put it in general terms you are a Swiss architect with a young family in a new city, the first thing that comes to my mind is Switzerland, known as one of the most developed countries of the world with some of the "best" cities of the world, everything is perfectly planned and works like a swiss watch... Some people say that the cities are so neat and organized that people get bored (this is a popular saying) now you are in plymouth which you describe as dirty and disorganized but enchanting, so you are compltely right the city is part environment part experience and maybe in our animal instict and as complex our brain is we feel good in a place were there is a bit of chaos. Some studies say that latin American countries are the happiest of all, do u think that it is because of this room for chaos?
J, makes a remarkable observation saying that in a way it seems that you do not feel home sick, but I think that this is because you have your young family with you, your life is you family and home is wethever the family is, this is why you have a great advantage over anybody trying to organize itself in a new city; and is that you can observe the city with less nostalgia. The point is that experience in a city is very
important and we as urban designers should think more about this. It makes me wonder again on how to control people reaction to a certain space or situation and how to let it flow.
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