Paris #1

The beauty of Paris lies in the physical make-up of the town. Doesn't this sensibly follow for all beauty? That for beauty there must be a mechanism, some distinguishing feature, some discernable tendency? At times subtle, at times hidden, at times unseen, but ultimately restrained only by our limits of understanding.

We love Paris because the streets do not conform to a grid. This was the first noticeable difference, arriving as it was from New York. The streets in Paris converge like spokes on a wheel, to a hub. Hiding nothing, that word, hub, is exactly as it is, a collector, a focus point, a point different that the spoke. These hubs in Paris, called Plac – obviously the derivation of our evocative word place – create the differentiated space that creates a feeling of being somewhere. Ah, you’ve arrived. A journey of a few blocks is all that is required to arrive at the next place!



http://www.google.com/maphp?hl=en&tab=wl&q=paris



The Arc d’triumph defines one of these places. A more pedestrian place, but no less successful, is the Plac de Clichy.

The unrelenting grid of New York makes all similar. Indeed, this was the stated goal of the now infamous 1810 Plan for the city, which overlaid the non-cardinal direction grid over all Manhattan north of Houston Street. We discovery daily the ineptitude and lower standard of living inflicted upon us in the city by this decision. Instead of places, we have intersections. Have you much enjoyed standing in the middle of 6th and 57th? How fun. The additional cooling load demanded by the non cardinal orientation of all buildings is calculable only to those inured to tears. (this is because the vast majority of solar load is via afternoon exposure, exactly where Manhattan’s grid was aligned for traffic convenience. Note to dead planners: Paris has less traffic than New York. Vastly so.)

Ask 10 people to name their favorite neighborhood of New York, and the winner is Greenwich Village. The rotated sets of grids here collide to create hubs, end vistas down the streets with buildings, and make you feel pleasantly enveloped by their starts and stops, their short but meaningful durations, their sense of distinction (in both senses).

Paris charms without it’s grid. You live in a city, not a set of lines. Café life springs up at every hub. Distances shrink in the beauty and variety of the city. The Arc d’triumph astonishes because a city district revolves around it.

I should not have waited this long to mention that these wonderful radial streets of Paris, as they converge, are necessarily not parallel. Hence the blocks are gentle triangles. And so are the buildings. Each building can now be imbued with a subtlety varied floorplan. The triangular shape allows for a light well, a hollow space, at the center of the building. A hub so to speak. Just like the plan of the city. Synchronicity. God at work.


Next: Lot line construction and the spatial envelope of the city.