Street Sections

One of the pure joys of architecture school (besides the model building and celebrations that followed such milestones) was the creation of simple sections to exhibit proportions of spaces so as to examine how the space would 'feel' when occupied. I remember doing tons of sketches, coloring in solid building and structure while trying to make the space in between have whatever feeling I was attempting for it.

Now, with my move to Cleveland I have noticed that there are quite a bit of 'streetscape' plans being bandied about, some with the requisite street section however these sections are typically pastel and colored and concentrate too much on strict representation to be useful study tools. In fact one could begin to doubt that any study went into it more then the following of a simple 'building-sidewalk-tree lawn-parking lane-road lane-planted median-road lane-parking lane-tree lawn-sidewalk-building' formulation that pays no mind to within what context the street scape is attempting to fit.

Enter Street Sections, a 'charrettecenter web tool' designed to collect and exhibit photos and cross sections of street scapes that work in an attempt to study and explain why some streets just 'feel right'. Currently they are a little short of their gallery goal which is where you can come in. You can register and become a contributor and share your examples of working streets with the world. If anything it could become a very powerful tool for when explaining to people (clients) why some familiar streets feel so comfortable and are so successful.

It is also surprisingly easy to create a streetscape. First you upload a photo from ground level, then there is an editor that allows you to recreate the street in section with a variety of pieces so that each section has a standardized look and layout for easy comparison.

I think it actually quite fantastic and will no doubt put plenty of time aside to play with it.