Reading Response: Ferriss, Lukez

I found Kenmore Square: A Case Study, by Paul Lukez particularly interesting because I used a similar idea of views in a project last semester (see above images). I analyzed several viewpoints from our site in Detroit, but these viewpoints provided a limited understanding of the site. In the drawings for Kenmore Square, movement along a path was taken into consideration as well which creates a more accurate representation of the viewer's perception of space. Yet Lukez explains that these drawings are abstractions because they are very different from the actual view of a person on the street. He argues that drawings should "take into account the many dimensions of a person's experience of space and time." Perhaps tracking the sun would be a way to give the inhabitants in a building a sense of time and orientation.

We also studied The Metropolis of Tomorrow by Hugh Ferriss. His evocative drawings show great contrast between light and dark in the city. He writes about the "discrepancy in scale" between the human being and the city, which is evident in a few of the illustrations that include scale figures. Other drawings in this book show the city at night, where the streets are brightly lit and the buildings are very dark. Perhaps this is an attempt to focus on the human level of the city, yet only cars are depicted on the streets, not pedestrians. The figures are shown outside of the city looking in. Ferriss considers how building codes shape cities, causing buildings to be very tall and stepped back in order to allow light to enter the streets.