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SR EN ISO 9001 : 2008

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SR EN ISO 14001 : 2004
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SR OHSAS 18001 : 2007
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Ornament and decoration, when used to heal the city has three interrelated functions. They are> to go
beyond the decoration of individual buildings and to enrich the decorative themes of a locality< to
enhance the physical, social and spiritual qualities of location, that is, to strengthen the genius loci and
thirdly to develop the legibility~ and imageability~ of the city. Prior to the twentieth centurym the
conscious effort to decorate was an intrinsic part of large scale development. ECONOMIC INTEREST
ABOVE ALL.
It may be that we have to look back to the past to rediscover the rationale for decoration. Without such
a rationale, decoration and ornament in the city may be seen as fussy, precious and florid, a veneer to
cover cheap and shoddy development. (p.1)
PLEASING AND MEMORABLE PATTERN.
DECORATION = FRAGMENTED CITY TO A WHOLE
LANDMARK, distinctive perceptual structure
DECORATION for visual pleasure
Visual order of unity, proportion, scale, contrast, balance, rhythm. Ornaments to unleash feelings,
trigger reactions, feed the memory, stimulate the imagination. (p.3)

FUNCTION OF ORNAMENT AND DECORATION (p. 16)

Decoration and ornaments in harmony with their function.
Whole. `A thing is whole only when it is itself entire and also joined to its outside to
form a larder entity. But this can only happen when the boundary between the two is
so thick, so ambiguous, that the two are not sharply separated. Thus decoration and
ornament in urban design can knit together buildings, streets, squares and
neighbourhoods so that each, while remaining an entity, functions as part of a greater
whole.
Vitruvius in the first century AD described the street
scenes used at that time as theatrical backdrops
(Vitruvius, 1960). The general formal qualities of
the scenes still retain a powerful image for the
European urbanist. The three scenes according to
Vitruvius are tragic, comic and satyric. Each street
scene has a quite distinctive decorative effect. In
the tragic scene, the street is delineated with
columns, pediments and statues. It is a formal classical (p.31)
SKYLINE AND ROOFSCAPE (65)
The city skyline is a prime location for decoration.
The skyline and its roofscape can be appreciated
from many viewpoints. When viewed from afar the
city appears in profile as a distant silhouette. The
city profile is often most clearly seen from the
arrival points, that is from the great city gateways or
portals. Alternatively it may appear dramatically in
view from highpoints in the surrounding landscape
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SR EN ISO 9001 : 2008
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SR EN ISO 14001 : 2004
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SR OHSAS 18001 : 2007
Calea Mntur nr. 89, bl. E10, ap.6, 400658 ClujNapoca, aut. nr J12 / 4907 / 1992, CF: RO2894535

while from elevated positions within the city,

panoramic views of roofscape are not unusual. From
pavement level within the city, the skyline is appreciated
in quite a different way. As the viewer moves
about within the city, the roofline which encloses
and encircles the streets and squares presents an
ever-changing dark silhouette against the paler sky.
Landmarks which may be remote from the viewer,
the dome of a cathedral or the delicate spire of the
local church, stand out from, and impose
themselves on, the surrounding skyline. Such
landmarks perform the main decorative role in the
city skyline: they are the jewels in the crown, often
emblematic of the city.

For the purpose of skyline analysis two contrasting

landscape conditions will be studied: the flat site
and the hilly or undulating site. Clearly there are
many sites which do not fall neatly into the
extreme conditions. It is however these extreme
conditions which will form the basis of the discussion
to follow. There are also other landscape
conditions, such as the extent of tree cover or the
position, size, form and quality of waterways which
are as important as topography for the consideration
of city form and its decoration. While each
unique and individual site will have its effect upon
the skyline, the relationship of skyline and topography
is nevertheless both direct and easily recognizable.
The relationship of skyline and ground form is
most easily established when studying the settlements
built on flat or steeply sloping sites.
Analysing these two contrasting conditions enables
a discussion of skylines in settlements in areas of
less well-defined landscape forms.
As a general rule formal or regular layouts are
usually associated with a level site and informal or
irregular layouts are a feature of a sloping site. The
natural way to group rectangular buildings is
usually at right angles to each other unless there is
some overriding reason for doing otherwise. The
result of this rational process is a regular layout on
the level site. On a steeply sloping site groupings of
buildings tend to become informal particularly if the
contours are respected. In traditional hilltop settlements
the effect of contours on built form is often
very apparent: the roads and the accompanying
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experiment proiect
SR EN ISO 9001 : 2008
/
SR EN ISO 14001 : 2004
/
SR OHSAS 18001 : 2007
Calea Mntur nr. 89, bl. E10, ap.6, 400658 ClujNapoca, aut. nr J12 / 4907 / 1992, CF: RO2894535

building frontages curve following the contours

assiduously, the whole town plan often spreading
out with layers of development swelling outwards
and downwards from the hilltop core like ripples
on a pond. These general principles for normal or
usual development on flat or sloping sites, however,
require some qualification. Many towns or parts of
towns that have developed on flat sites often
exhibit irregularities in layout due to organic road
design, ancient land ownership patterns and respect
for existing features in the landscape. Conversely
even in the most informal and irregular of hill top
towns there often appears a regular structure underlying
the patterns which have evolved. In the case
of Priene, dating from the fourth century BC, a
complete grid pattern has been implanted on the
contours.
The most critical problem with sloping sites,
particularly the isolated or visually independent
hilltop, is the treatment of the summit and profile. A
flat site, of itself, has no significance as a natural
form, any visual interest depends upon the objects
placed upon it. The hillside, in contrast, has a
curved shape silhouetted against the sky: this curve
of the hill, because of its form, is interesting.
Contrast the pleasures of the drumlin country of
County Down or the rolling landscape of the
Derbyshire Dales with the uninterrupted boredom of
some parts of Lincolnshire. An object placed on the
ridge of the hill stands out in silhouette adjusting
the natural profile of the landscape. Placing objects
on the crown or ridge of the hill may turn an otherwise
lovely shape into a jagged or serrated skyline.
There seem to be two main ways in which
hillside development can be successfully treated.
The development can be placed at the base of the
CONCLUSION
The skyline, roofscape and roofline are prime
locations for decoration. The skyline, which is
appreciated from a distance, is dependent upon
large scale buildings and towers dominating an
otherwise generally lower and visually monolithic
roofline. The main decorative effect of such buildings
is the form of their profile. The buildings
which thrust themselves through the general building
mass should have interesting silhouettes. In the
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experiment proiect
SR EN ISO 9001 : 2008
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SR EN ISO 14001 : 2004
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SR OHSAS 18001 : 2007
Calea Mntur nr. 89, bl. E10, ap.6, 400658 ClujNapoca, aut. nr J12 / 4907 / 1992, CF: RO2894535

past, buildings with domes, minarets and towers

have been the main decorative features of the traditional
city skyline. Grouped towers in New York
also have a romantic and attractive skyline reminiscent
of the medieval town such as the multitowered
San Gimignano.
The roofscape is the sea of roofs that can be
seen from high buildings or from other vantage
points in the city. Such roofscapes present an
opportunity for decorative treatment as landscape
features in their own right. The detailed roofline is
that outline of buildings seen from the pavements
in the city. The roofline presents a changing profile
of the city as the citizen moves around below. As
such, they should be highly decorative and bring
interest into the street scene. It is at this point
between building and sky that ornament and
decoration can be most effective.
clock is an object with a propensity for
registering a strong impression on the eye and the
mind of the passer-by. The clock, if carefully sited
and with sensitively designed setting, is a potential
landmark with a strong visual image. One of the
great landmarks of London is Big Ben, its chime
being as important as its appearance for the
function of landmark: its chime is as decorative as
the tower in which the clock is housed. Clocks,
however, do not need to be on the scale of Big Ben
to register as important decorative city elements.
For example, clocks and accompanying bells in
Prague, Munich and St Marks in Venice, though
small, bring great charm to the urban scene (Figure
6.19). Public clocks are not only useful but are also
attractive items of street furniture.
There are four types of decorative clock used to
furnish the city: (i) the tower clock; (ii) the bracket
clock; (iii) the monumental clock, and (iv) the postmounted
clock. As a replacement for the sundial,
clocks were at first fixed on church towers. Later,
towers erected for the specific purpose of receiving
a clock were considered necessary for all public
buildings. Traditionally they have been provided as
a demonstration of prestige being placed on town
halls, inns, hospitals, bus and railway stations in
addition to church towers. The bracket clock
cantilevered from the street faade is a highly
ornamental piece of street furniture. Where the
faade is flat and unmodelled it gives a point of
interest for those walking on the pavement bringing
life and vitality to the street scene. To achieve
maximum impact the bracket clock should not be
lost in a profusion of other hanging or cantilevered
signs and advertisements. The clock monument is a
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experiment proiect
SR EN ISO 9001 : 2008
/
SR EN ISO 14001 : 2004
/
SR OHSAS 18001 : 2007
Calea Mntur nr. 89, bl. E10, ap.6, 400658 ClujNapoca, aut. nr J12 / 4907 / 1992, CF: RO2894535

development of the tower clock but it is an isolated

feature standing freely in public space rather like
the monumental column (Figure 6.20). Unlike the
arch, obelisk and column, the clock monument has
no hereditary form.
Adshead (1912a) writing at the beginning of this
century, is scathing in his criticism of clock
monuments of his period. However, clock
monuments similar to those dismissed at the start of
this century by Adshead if located in any city would
now be protected as treasured possessions. It is,
however, difficult to imagine similar monuments
being constructed now. A simple structure suc
CITY LIGHT
Regent Street, London, where a four million pound
programme of public works by the Crown
Commissioners, . . . has given us the worlds first
Regency traffic lights. He regrets that the standard
blackness of street fittings associated with London
was not used (Figure 6.32). If only the signs, lights
etc were painted black the traditional colour of
London lampposts, railings and traffic lights then
at least the clutter of urban accessories would be
subdued. The vile blue paintwork, however, clashes
violently with the red of Regent Streets pillar boxes
and buses, . . . the black of its taxis and the muted
grey of its buildings and pavements.
Most utilitarian street furniture is recent in origin
with little if any historic precedent for design
purposes. The eighteenth-century street would have
been free from obstructions such as street furniture.
The only exceptions would have been the
occasional inn sign and local horse trough. Those
utilitarian items, such as lampposts or bollards and
chains, used occasionally to furnish the major civic
spaces were few in number and well placed. The
ironwork screen used for the protection of privacy
or as an enclosure was carefully sited, as for
example, at the corners of Place Stanislas in Nancy.
In contrast to this orderly well placed street furniture,
modern streets appear to be filled with a
clutter of signs, kiosks, lampposts of various size
and shape, overhead wires and advertisement hoardings.
They are invariably placed with little consideration
for their grouping and the effect they have on
the street scene. Bringing order out of this chaos is
a task of the urban designer. This is an aspect of
city design which is beginning to receive the attention
it deserves. The prophetic remarks of Adshead
(1913d) are beginning to take effect: We are only
commencing to realise that the placing of town
furnishings both ornamental and useful can be made
a potent factor in adding dignity, formality, and
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experiment proiect
SR EN ISO 9001 : 2008
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SR EN ISO 14001 : 2004
/
SR OHSAS 18001 : 2007
Calea Mntur nr. 89, bl. E10, ap.6, 400658 ClujNapoca, aut. nr J12 / 4907 / 1992, CF: RO2894535

beauty to the public thoroughfare and place.

Adshead (1914a) later suggests that the Roman
Candelabra is a precursor of the lamp standard or
lamppost. This is probably true of the early lamp
standards of Adsheads period which were associated
initially with gas lighting. It is by no means
true, however, of some of the simpler modern
examples of tapering steel post surmounted by a
globe. Such modern lampposts have more in
common with the three elegant poles in front of the
Basilica in the Piazza San Marco, Venice; close by in
the Piazzetta are some beautifully sculptural light (pp. 128-129)
standards which give a soft glow at night but lovely
silhouette by day (Figure 6.33). Gas lighting in the
streets of the Park Estate, Nottingham, recreates a
dim Victorian gloom on long foggy winter evenings.
It is fortunate to find here, in this conservation area,
the original Victorian cast iron gas light standard
still functioning as designed and still contributing to
the overall unity in the Park (Figure 6.35). In other
areas of historic interest, the Victorian lamppost has
been adapted to or copied for use with electric
street lighting with some success.
A city can often be judged by its benches, their
location, number and comfort. The bench or group
of benches is often the location of activity for different
age groups. The bench is a civilizing influence
in a city and most appropriately sited in its streets,
squares and parks, particularly when the definition
of civilization is taken to mean the culture of living
in cities. The bench is a place for the old to sit in
the sun to pass the time of day, for students to
study, for the office worker to have lunch, for the
young to embrace and for shoppers to rest their
weary feet.
There are two basic types of park bench. One is
the flat cubic mass without back, a sculptural
shape, which is useful for some architectural
compositions. However, it is cold, uncomfortable
and should be used, if at all, in locations where
people require only a moments respite. The more
comfortable bench follows the pattern of the
Victorian park bench which supports the body
properly, distributing weight evenly over the surface
of the seat. The back of the sitter is supported well
and the feet are able to rest on the ground comfortably.
The bench when anthropometrically designed
and properly proportioned for the human body
encourages the sitter to stay, rest awhile, and
admire the street or square. The location of the
bench is important. It should be placed at a natural
resting point on a path or in a square, but located,
with its back protected, in a sheltered position from
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experiment proiect
SR EN ISO 9001 : 2008
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SR EN ISO 14001 : 2004
/
SR OHSAS 18001 : 2007
Calea Mntur nr. 89, bl. E10, ap.6, 400658 ClujNapoca, aut. nr J12 / 4907 / 1992, CF: RO2894535

which it is possible to see interesting views and

observe the activities of others while still feeling
secure. It is also worth noting that steps are often
used as ad hoc seating.
This chapter would not be complete without a
note on the kiosk, a word derived from kk,
which in Turkish means pavilion. The Parisian kiosk
used for advertisements and newstands is a most
handsome method of dealing with important and
useful notices which, if plastered over walls, takes
on the appearance of graffiti. There are many types
and uses of kiosks, the telephone box, for example,
has already been mentioned. Probably the most
interesting and potentially the most decorative kiosk
is the bandstand. They are to be found in many
European cities, often taking the form of a light
circular or octagonal structure with raised platform
BREITBART, M. (2012). Participatory Research Methods. In Clifford N.,
French S., Valentine G. (eds.), Key Methods in Geography, 2nd
edition (pp. 141-156). London: Sage.

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