It
was suggested in the first chapter that the dwellings might be arranged
to form spaces which are as significant as the buildings themselves,
and in which both the spectator standing in the space and those living
in the surrounding dwellings are given the sense of being in a place
with its own individual character.
In
an arrangement of houses to form a street picture the two chief elements
are the horizontal plane, formed by the carriageway and pavement,
and the vertical planes formed by the house façades. It is
an obvious and simple principle that these two planes are likely to
be more completely united the closer they are together. Failure to
observe this principle strikes at the root of the unsatisfactory appearance
of many pre-war housing estates. For instance, the two planes are
scarcely united at all when the house stands back from the road and
is separated from it by the visual barriers of hedge and front garden
(Fig. 35). When the view of the façade is only obstructed by
a low wall (Fig. 36) the planes are much better united; and if all
the front walls and fences are swept away and the space between the
pavement and the house is designed as a communal front lawn, the composition
will be even more complete. Innumerable objections are still made
to the communal front garden, but its problems have been solved in
America and Canada, and in this country, besides the shining example
of Welwyn Garden City, it has been used in several post-war housing
schemes. No one can doubt that its appearance is immensely superior
to that of the enclosed front garden and it is to be hoped that more
authorities will adopt this form of development.
The
communal front lawn can be developed into a landscaped area in which
the houses and the road are related to one another through the landscape
design - for example, in many low-density housing areas, the dissimilar
forms of the buildings are held together by a carefully designed planting
scheme (Fig. 37). But although there is a place for such layouts,
it is suggested that, for both economic and aesthetic reasons, the
general trend in design should be towards high-density housing groups
contrasted with broad areas of landscape. This means that the house-to-road
relationship must be closer rather than wider.
Diminution
of the space between the house and the road tends to preclude the
planting of full-size forest trees and large shrubs, and puts heavy
wear on the grass surfaces. In consequence, extensive landscape gardening
cannot be used to form urban street pictures. There is no reason why
it should be so used, for (and this is an important proposition) the
fusion between the dwelling and the road will be greater if the horizontal
surfaces against the walls of the dwelling are hard and natural things
are suppressed (Fig. 38). Similarities in the texture and pattern
of the two planes appear to give them greater affinity than if the
floor plane was grass. But this does not imply that all growing things
must be excluded from the urban scene. We need trees and grass both
for their own sakes and to give contrast to the forms of architecture,
but they should not be so ubiquitous as to destroy that feeling of
urbanity which can be obtained through the close juxtaposition of
the wall and floor planes (Fig. 39).
