Academic / 2022

City Building Blocks

An inventory of nineteen city block types, from a 7.5 metre detached lot to a high rise on a mid-rise base, each with its floor area, storeys, units and the number of people living and working in it.

Project type: Block typology inventory
Location: Ottawa, Ontario
Status: Academic
Area: Nineteen types, 7.5 m lots to high rise
Role: ARCS 2303

An inventory rather than a design. Nineteen block types are drawn to the same convention and tabulated the same way: single family detached on 7.5 and 10 metre lots, row housing sorted by orientation and garage position, back-to-back, stacked towns, mid-rise blocks with and without commercial at grade, high rise freestanding and high rise sitting on a mid-rise base, corner conditions, and office buildings.

Each entry carries its gross floor area, storeys, units, sidewalk setback, and how many people live and work in it. That last pair is the point: it converts a typology into a density, which is what makes the types comparable when you are deciding what a street should be made of.

Everything in Renewal Square and Market District later leans on this kind of counting. Produced with Amos and Awj for ARCS 2303.

Dimensioned axonometric of a single family detached house on its lot, the setbacks and heights measured off the drawing

Detached house with a rear addition, dimensioned in height and depth against the sidewalk setback — The low end of the range. A detached house on its lot, then the same land divided into rows.

A long single volume on a wide lot, dimensioned across its 30 metre frontage — The low end of the range. A detached house on its lot, then the same land divided into rows.

Row housing stepped along the street with each unit's plot picked out in pale green — The low end of the range. A detached house on its lot, then the same land divided into rows.

Rows set at an angle to the street with the green plots running between them — Row housing, sorted by orientation and by where the garage goes. The garage position is what actually changes the street.

A terrace of five with the front steps and planted strips dimensioned along the pavement — Row housing, sorted by orientation and by where the garage goes. The garage position is what actually changes the street.

A longer terrace with the entrance stairs repeated and the roof pitch carried through — Row housing, sorted by orientation and by where the garage goes. The garage position is what actually changes the street.

A three storey end unit dimensioned in height, depth and setback — The middle of the range, where a row becomes a block.

A tall narrow unit on a 12.5 by 30 metre lot with the dimensions called out — The middle of the range, where a row becomes a block.

Stacked town housing with the party walls and shared entrances drawn along the frontage — The middle of the range, where a row becomes a block.

A stacked block with the section stepped and the internal heights dimensioned — Stacked and back to back, then the point where the type stops being a house at all.

A gabled block dimensioned across a 15 metre frontage with the storey heights marked — Stacked and back to back, then the point where the type stops being a house at all.

A long terrace with dormers, the whole run measured end to end — Stacked and back to back, then the point where the type stops being a house at all.

A mid-rise block dimensioned 43 by 18 metres and 20 metres high, with plant on the roof — Mid-rise and high rise. The last of these is a tower sitting on a mid-rise base, which is the densest type in the set.

The same mid-rise block from the other corner with the glazing grid and the roof plant drawn — Mid-rise and high rise. The last of these is a tower sitting on a mid-rise base, which is the densest type in the set.

A commercial block with its ground floor entrances dimensioned along an 18 metre depth — Mid-rise and high rise. The last of these is a tower sitting on a mid-rise base, which is the densest type in the set.

Bird's eye perspective of the assembled model from the southwest, the block types set out along the street grid with towers at the corners — Exercise 2.4, the street design that followed the inventory. The block types are assembled into a piece of city and then tested.

Top view of the same model showing the courtyards inside each block and the street pattern between them — Exercise 2.4, the street design that followed the inventory. The block types are assembled into a piece of city and then tested.

Key plan locating the four street sections and the two intersections across the block layout — The two intersections, drawn inside a turning radius so the geometry can be checked rather than assumed.

Intersection 1 drawn twice, at a forty metre radius and at a wider radius, with lane markings, crossings and street trees — The two intersections, drawn inside a turning radius so the geometry can be checked rather than assumed.

Intersection 2 drawn as a four way crossing with the lane arrangement, planting and pedestrian crossings marked — The second intersection, and the first of the street sections.

Street section 1 with the buildings hatched either side, the carriageway, footways, planting and street furniture drawn to scale — The second intersection, and the first of the street sections.

Street section 2, a wider carriageway between taller blocks with a planted median and lighting — The remaining street sections. Each one pairs a building height with a street width, which is the whole argument of the exercise.

Street section 3, a narrower street between a low block and a tower with seating along the footway — The remaining street sections. Each one pairs a building height with a street width, which is the whole argument of the exercise.

Street section 4, the widest condition with parking, trees and a generous footway on both sides — The remaining street sections. Each one pairs a building height with a street width, which is the whole argument of the exercise.

Drawings

Row type with the front stairs and setbacks dimensioned, drawn to the same convention as the rest of the set — Row type

A five unit terrace measured across its full frontage — Terrace type

A stepped block with the upper storey set back and the heights dimensioned — Stepped type

High rise on a mid-rise base, the tallest type in the inventory, dimensioned in both parts — High rise on a base