Chapter 3. Context Theory
3.1 Should this reservoir have been surrounded with native species and made to resemble a natural lake?
3.2 Should the building on the left have been designed to resemble its neighbours?
3.3 Should the new hotel, with a turret in the centre of the picture, have been designed in a contemporary style?
3.4 Should the new building, in the lower picture of Lewisham High Street, have been designed in the latest style?
3.5 Should the building above, which is a water treatment works, have been designed to resemble a farm building? Is the building below, which is a nuclear power station, suited to a seaside location? The author's answers are 'No' and 'Yes'.
3.6 Should this road embankment have been contoured and managed to resemble the adjoining fields?
3.7 Environmental assessment should, in theory, extend to every influence of every project on every aspect of its context [Venea2].
3.8 An interaction matrix prompts the land user to consider the impact of each aspect of a project on each aspect of the environment. [Note to typesetter: this needs to go on the same page as the above diagram, Venea2]
3.9 Most of the buildings erected in Bristol between 1940 and 1990 stand out like stained teeth in the mouth of an old horse (Courtesy of John Punter).
3.10 The Bristol Townscape and environment study was founded on a survey and analysis of the existing situation
3.11 The relationship between a development and its context can be one of Identity, Similarity or Difference. [Context]
3.12 Picturesque theorists recommended a transition from the works of man to the works of nature (above). Applied to regional planning, picturesque theory suggests a transition from urban to rural to wild (below).
3.13 Le Corbusier dreamed of urban Alps, totally unrelated to their context.
3.14 Urban landscapes can carry meanings. The Admiralty and St James's Park, in Central London, speak of romance, adventure and power.
3.15 L�vi Strauss used a geological analogy to explain the relationship between surface structure and deep structure. [levi1]
3.16 An imposing gateway says 'main entrance to an important place' - note the side entrance for peasants (King's Hintock Park).
3.17 Three alternatives to filling a gap in a row of Georgian houses: Similarity, Identity and Difference .
3.18 The Parisian shaft of space shown in ...[2.27]... has guided urban development for three centuries [].
3.19 Retention of the water bodies in London Docklands has given some coherence to the architecture .
3.20 Geographical Information Systems use layered models. They can represent the natural environment (left) and the social environment (right) and are good at providing answers to What?, Where?, and What if? questions. [modgis1] & [modgis2]
