Paris #2: Lot Line Construction

Paris presents itself as a solid sheen of wall. Stately, indomitable, and most importantly consistently, these walls define the spatial experience of the street. Each building abuts directly the sidewalk. There are no recesses, no left over 5 feet, no setbacks. Similarly lacking are empty lots. Paris is a city devoid of street level parking lots, weed infested junk piles, or undesired property. The ramifications are multiple.

Stepping from New York, the best city in the States – without question or compare – to Paris one instantly sees the faults of New York. The wonders of a dynamic, non-gridded convergent street design was the matter of our last entry. The variety and sense of destination provided by Parisian streets are supplemented by the simple choice of lot line construction. We are not concerned here with suburban, freestanding buildings. Parisian buildings touch their neighbors, presenting their best face only to the street. Buildings abut to present to the street a continuous wall. Far from being oppressive, this unbroken wall separates street from building, defining both. Even small breaks, such as service entries, driveways, or 10 foot separations between edifices are rare to the point of non-existence. Back in New York now, the blocks appear fragmented, a desultory mix of intentions.

Remarkably, Paris, for all its unbroken massing, provides more street level transparency than New York. Lacking a hard winter, Paris can utilize flow through spaces on ground level. Arched openings provide physical and visual access to generous courtyards, some inside the building envelope, some in U shaped configurations, with the U opening to the street. Thus shaped, these buildings consist of three narrow wings, each getting near obscene amounts of Parisian skylight, glorious in the summer, perhaps necessary in the winter. The open side is walled and gated. These spatial explosions just on the other side of the façade divide are powerful draws, and provide a greater amount of spatial relief than New York. Not to mention a much greater quality of space. No, Paris does not compare to Rio as an open air city, but for its latitude, it makes quite the attempt.

Paradoxically, Paris can take an enveloping factor that at its worst becomes oppressive, and makes it open, and a visual delight, all driven by easily understood design considerations.

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