Greek and Roman Squares

Versatility of Urban open spaces

Through out History Urban open spaces have been versatile:

Greek agora and Roman forum – integrate political, economic and

cultural activities –such as market place, a place of assembly, public
announcements and setting in which festival, religious ceremonies and
spectacles were performed.

In the middle ages – Italian rennaisance cities – had two or three

squares : Cathedral square, secular square, market square – with distinct set
of activities.
Spatial closure was created by the blend of civic, religious, commercial
buildings and architectural landscape elements ,eg. Colonnades, screens,
terraces, plantation etc.
 Under the thrust of technological change,
increase in population, vehicular traffic
they have lost their significance and are no
longer the main nodes of the social
networks.
 Principles of space organization
 Two systems of development of the ancient Greek settlements have
existed.
 First of all, there are the older cities created through natural
growth. The most typical example for this is Athens that developed
around a hill: the Acropolis which became the heart of the city. To this it
has been added, at the foot of the acropolis, the agora. The most
important streets of the city lead to these centers
 The second system consists of the development of the cities
according to a pre-established plan. There are the Hippodameian
cities. The system appeared, in general, in colony cities and had as
features parallel streets and the use of a grid in planning.
 Although different, the two systems also had common features: both of
them
 emphasized the natural landscape and created spaces at a
human scale (Doxiadis 2006, 193-194).
 The shape of the city was simple, easy to perceive from
every point of the city because the organization of the Greek
cities was made according to the human capability of perceiving
the city: auditory or visual perception.
 Greek Agora of Athens
 The Ancient Agora of Classical
Athens is the best-known example of an
ancient Greek agora, located to the
northwest of the Acropolis and bounded
on the south by the hill of
the Areopagus and on the west by the hill
known as the Agoraios Kolonos, also
called Market Hill.[1]
 The Acropolis of
Athens (Ancient Greek: Ἀκρόπολις;[1] Mod
ern Greek: Ακρόπολη Αθηνών Akrópoli
Athinón) is an ancient citadel located on a
high rocky outcrop above the city
of Athens and contains the remains of
several ancient buildings of great
architectural and historic significance, the
most famous being the Parthenon
View of Acropolis from Agora
 Greek Agora
 The Agora - An  What was originally an area
Ancient inhabited by various
Marketplace families in small houses,
 The agora in will in the course of the 5th
Athens had private century, be progressively
housing, until it built up, articulated with
was reorganized by grand public buildings
Peisistratus in the around its perimeter, in
6th century BC. order to frame and give a
point of reference to the life
of the democratic polis, or
city-state.
 Buildings and
structures of the
classical agora



Peristyle court
Mint
Enneakrounos
``
 South Stoa I and
South Stoa II (Civic
and market center)
 Heliaia STOA

 Strategeion
 Colonos Agoraios
 Tholos
 Agora Stone Agora Gate

 Monument of the
Eponymous Heroes
 Metroon (Old
Bouleuterion) (Boule
means council)
 New Bouleuterion
 Temple of
Hephaestus
(Hephaestion)
 Temple of Apollo
Perstylar court
Patroos
 Stoa Agora
In the of Zeus at Athens the main approach, the Panathenaic Way, being
 Altar of the Twelve
obliquely
Gods traced among the façades of the temples, the perspective of the
 Stoa Basileios (Royal
buildings
stoa) at two vanishing points occurs, which is very dynamic. The
 Temple of Aphrodite
Panathenaea was an annual procession which crossed the Ancient Agora on the
Urania
Panathenaic Way. In this motion, the Acropolis has become the main focal point of
 Stoa of Hermes
perspective.
 Stoa Poikile
 The earliest laws of Athens were actually carved on
stone and displayed, first up on the acropolis, but later
transferred to this part of the agora. and were erected
on the western side of the agora in a building known as
the Royal Stoa.

 Early in the 5th century, shortly after democracy had

been established, the boundaries of the agora were fixed
with boundary stones, some of which have been
uncovered.
 The location of the objects of
architecture was made depending on “It is not always easy to remember that
the mechanisms of the visual these complexes were built by the
perception, taking into account the Ancient Greeks not as isolated
perspective images seen from the objects, as we see them today, but as
main points of view.
parts of a dynamic urban environment”
In Ancient Greece the perspective was a (Doxiadis 1972, 4).
way of optically correcting the object
of architecture but also the main way
of controlling the spatial composition.
An important feature of Ancient Greece’s
ensembles is the adaptation to
nature, to the relief.
With regard to the general composition,
during the classical period, the
edifice was thought of as an
isolated object but also as part of
an ensemble .
There was concern for the best
perception. The architectural
object was rather a sculpture in
space than a functional space
 Vitruvius is remembered today for his
foundational work of Western architecture and
urban design, De Architectura better known
as Ten Books on Architecture. In his vast treatise,
he laid out a system of anthropometric
proportions which would be utilized in Classical
and Renaissance sculpture, architecture, and
sculpture and memorialized by DaVinci’s Vitruvian
Man.
 The Vitruvian-sized city is designed around the
human end-user.
 Vitruvius’ worldview breaks architecture into
three general elements: Ordering (“taxis”),
Design (“diathesis”), and Shapeliness
(“oikonomia”).
 There are further two properties of ordering in
the Vitruvian scheme: Symmetry and Eurythmy.
Eurythmy is defined as proportionality within an
element of construction and symmetry is
defined as proportionality between or amongst
elements of construction.
 There are three other important metrics by
which to evaluate a building or plan:
 soundness (the quality of the foundations and
building materials),
 utility (ease of use and practicality of the
design),
 and attractiveness (pleasantness and elegance
to the eye). Vitruvius goes on at length to
explain his methodology for selecting an ideal
site for a city.
 According to him, the place should be elevated,
not cloudy, not liable to frost, facing away from
areas prone to intemperance (climate), and away
from swamps.
 Much of his thinking was, of course, influenced
by the defense concerns of the day and the
Greek belief in medical Humorism (the four
humors being yellow bile, black bile, phlegm, and
blood). Vitruvius also held that the wind patterns
of a site should be studied prior to construction
so that the streets could be laid out at angles
oblique to the wind currents
 Acropolis - The perspective at two
vanishing points
 A main characteristic of the Greek ensembles, as it
results from the study of the Ancient Greek Cities,
is the perspective at two vanishing points
(two point perspective)

 Dynamic, surprising and with a great expressive

force, the perspective at two vanishing points of
the architectural object was achieved by the
oblique access of the roads among the
monuments, by disposing the main objects of
architecture inside the main sight axis or by
the emplacement of the entrances in the corners
of the squares, as main points of view.
The Acropolis at Athens. The first
image towards Parthenon
 The perspective with an open axial view
The Acropolis at Athens. The perspective at the entrance through Propylaea.
The perspective at the exit through Propylaea

In the main sight

axis the Greeks
have placed, as
main focal
point of
perspective, an
element of
nature (the sky,
the sea, the hill)
or the altar (a
horizontal
platform of small
height, next to
the temple).
 Comparing Greek and Egypt
 By comparison with Ancient Greece, Ancient Egypt follows the
other way.
 The Egyptians didn’t look for depth in plastic
representation; they preferred the frontal
representation (Fleming 1983, 20).
 They preferred the mass and the bi-dimensionality
for their symbolic value
 As for the spatial depth, Egypt follows the other way
around from Ancient Greece. This may be observed in
the evolution of the pyramid’s shape, comparative to the
Greek temple: from the complex pyramid in steps, to the
rhomboidal pyramid and finally to the pyramid-pure
form.
 The typical Egyptian temple, with its axed
composition and its frontal perspectives, is a
gradual passing from the exterior to the interior,
from light to dark, from void to mass
 The Egyptian perspective is a frontal
one. The frontality is also sustained by
symmetry. The accesses, the
temples are symmetrical and the
plastic representations of the
human body are represented as
symmetrical as possible, on behalf of
frontality.
 The main sight line is horizontal, at
a constant rate and the axis of
motion is straight, strong. In order
avoid the monotony, the ending point is
very strong (the Pharaohs’ statues) and
the intermediate field is rhythmic by the
The Grid Planning
lateral colonnades. The Egyptians and the ziggurets
introduced the axis as a compositional
principle, this type of composition being
favorable to the large horizontal
surfaces.
 Roman
 The Roman perspective has
some similarity to the Egyptian
one: it is frontal (the access
obliges to a main sight axis),
symmetrical and monumental.
The monuments are placed in
a geometrical centre or in axis.

 The Roman forums look more

like the Egyptian temples
through their closing,
symmetry, frontality and axed
composition.

 The symmetry of the interior

space doesn’t continue in the
exterior
The Temple of Ramsess III (c. 1175 B.C);
Traian’s Forum (113-117 A.D.).
 Although Greek art has been the source of inspiration for the art of
Ancient Rome, the principles of composition in space of
Ancient Greece have never been used by the Romans. The
Romans didn’t take over the subtleties of the Ancient Greeks
in the organization of the space and in the modeling of forms

 Ancient Rome brought, as a novelty, the container-space unlike

Ancient Greece, which conceived the space as a simple presence of
the shapes in space (Fleming 1983, 143).

 The Athenian Agora is rather an adaptation to the field; it has an

organic development, with preoccupations for the perception of the
architecture as an object in itself. The Roman ensembles were
thought through entirely, according to geometric principles.

 Theatres are again an example in the sense of the closed, defined
space. The Greeks placed the steps on a sloping ground, they
adapted them to the relief; the Romans built them on earth
and enclosed them. The Greeks looked for depth and revealed it,
whereas the Romans built it.
 In the organization of the
ensembles, the Romans
have inspired from the
Hippodameian system, a
geometric way of
organization with axis
and right angles. This
system was closer to the
possibility of development
of the territories
conquered according to a
pre-established plan.
 The disposal of the buildings according to the distance from the
viewer, the introduction within the general silhouette of the
elements of the landscape, the perspective at two vanishing
points, the opening to the landscape, the perspective with open
view in axis, all have not been assumed by the Romans.
 The main features include,
 the right angle,
 the parallel directions between the sides of the
ensemble,
 the one-point perspective;
 they closed the sight towards the landscape and
they completely removed, from the composition, the
altar as terminal, symbolic element.
 Medieval squares
 Piazza del Campo is the principal public space of the historic center
of Siena, Tuscany, Italy and is regarded as one of Europe's greatest
medieval squares.
 The open site was a marketplace established before the thirteenth
century on a sloping site near the meeting point of the three
hillside communities that coalesced to form Siena: the Castellare, the
San Martino and the Camollia
 The historic centre developed along the Y-shaped segments defined by
the three main arteries that meet at the Croce del Travaglio,
represented by the Piazza del Campo, and on to which the network of
minor roads are grafted.
 Houses and palaces follow one another in rows along the main streets,
creating a characteristic urban space with certain notable elements.
 The Piazza del Campo, sited at the junction of three hills, is one of the
most remarkable urban open spaces in all Italy. Its formation coincides with
the growth of the medieval city and the assertion of communal power
Piazza del Campo, Sienna
 At the end of the 12th
century, the communal
government decided to
unite the two sectors to
create a unique
semicircular open
space, and promulgated a
series of ordinances which
regulated only
commercial activities
but also the services
and dimensions of the
houses (their style twin-
arched or triple-arched
windows), in order to
make the facades around
the piazza uniform.
Piazza del Campo, Sienna
 Piazza del Campo, Sienna

A closed square
The Fonte Gaia ("Fountain of Joy") was built in 1419 as an endpoint of the
system of conduits bringing water to the city's centre
 It was paved in 1349 in fishbone-patterned red brick with ten lines of Dominated square
travertine, which divide the piazza into nine sections, radiating from the mouth
of the gavinone (the central water drain) in front of the Palazzo Pubblico. Irregular shape
 The tower of Mangia was built to be exactly the same height as the and
Siena Cathedral as a sign that the church and the state had equal amounts of power
Non flat
 Piazza del Campo
 - A multi use square
 Horse race called
the Palio is a popular event.

2.9 acres of pedestrian area

 Side walk café’s delight
public
 Pigeons enthral tourists
Renaissance Squares
 Renaissance squares
 Dramatic spatial compositions,
Perspectives and vista formed the design
principles of squares – as in classical times
–
 Piazza del Campidoglio, Rome
 The Capitoline hill between the Forum and the Campus Martius, is one of the seven hills of
Rome. By the 16th century, Capitolinus had become Campidoglio in Italian.

 The existing design of the Piazza del Campidoglio and the surrounding palazzi was created
by Renaissance artist and architect Michelangelo Buonarroti in 1536–1546.

 Beyond the temporary décor lay a muddy hill and two crumbling medieval buildings
occupying the site of the fortress of ancient rome.
 Piazza del Campidoglio, Rome

 Michelangelo was given a opportunity to build a monumental civic

plaza for a major city as well as to reestablish the grandeur of
Rome.
 Michelangelo's first designs for the piazza and remodeling of the
surrounding palazzi date from 1536. His plan was formidably
extensive. He accentuated the reversal of the classical orientation of
the Capitoline, in a symbolic gesture turning Rome’s civic center to
face away from the Roman Forum and instead in the direction of
Papal Rome and the Christian church in the form of St. Peter’s
Basilica. This full half circle turn can also be seen as Michelangelo’s
desire to address the new, developing section of the city rather than
the ancient ruins of the past.
 The Palazzo del Senatore (B)was to
be restored with a double outer
stairway, and the campanile moved
to the center axis of the palace.
The Palazzo dei Conservatori
(D)was also to be restored, and a
new building, the so-called Palazzo
Nuovo (C), built at the same angle
on the north side of the piazza to
offset the Conservatori, creating a
trapezoidal piazza. It disconnected
S. Maria church from view. (G)
 A wall and balustrade were to be
built at the front of the square,
giving it a firm delineation on the
side facing the city. Finally, a flight
of steps was to lead up to the
enclosed piazza from below, further
accentuating the central axis (F)
 The buildings defined the space, and it
is this space as much as the
buildings, that is the impressive
achievement of the Capitoline
complex. It is a giant outdoor room, a
plaza enclosed and protected but open to
the sky and accessible through five
symmetrical openings.[9]Axiality and
symmetry govern all parts of the
Campidoglio
 • Michaelango’s plan
1
modified and completed
by Giocomo della Porta
and Girolamo Rainaldi in
1640,manipulated the
topography and existing
buildings to create a
wholly work of art ,a stage
for ceremony.

• By following lines of
existing building he
created a trapezoid piazza.
 Next to the older and much steeper stairs leading to the Aracoeli,
Michelangelo devised a monumental wide-ramped stair (the cordonata),
gradually ascending the hill to reach the high piazza, so that the
Campidoglio resolutely turned its back on the Roman Forum that it had
once commanded. It was built to be wide enough for horse riders to ascend
the hill without dismounting.
 View of St. Peters from Campidoglio
  He provided new fronts to the two official buildings of Rome's
civic government, the Palazzo dei Conservatori, the Senatorio,(1)
and finally the Nuovo.
 The senate was reconstructed with a tower,steps and a
fountain,Palazzo Nuovo was built to screen the church of
Araceoli.

 First he installed as a pivot for the whole

composition, the equestrian bronze of Marcus
Aurelius,one of the greatest statues of antiquity.

Piazza del
Campidogli
o, on the
top of
Capitoline The Capitoline Hill cordonata
Hill, with leading from Via del Teatro di
the façade Marcello to Piazza del Campidoglio.
of Palazzo
Senatorio.
 Two constastind staircases lead up from the street below .
 The Cordonta,Michaels stair to piazza is broad and shallow.
 The steps and tower lead the eye on and up and terminate the vista.

 Within the trapezoid is an oval pavement inlaid with a twelve pointed star of black and
white marble.

 The travertine steps are sharply cut away to each side of the senate. Everything seems to be
in motion.
• Michelangelo devised a monumental wide ramped stair (the cordonata), gradually
ascending the hill to reach the high piazza.

• It was built to be wide enough for horse riders to ascend the hill without dismounting.
The railings are topped by the statues of two Egyptian lions in black basalt at their
base and the marble renditions of Castor and Pollux at their top.
 Piazza di san piatro
 St. Peter's Basilica, (1506- 1626)is a Late Renaissance church located within the
Vatican City.

 The open space which lies before the basilica was redesigned by Gian Lorenzo
Bernini from 1656 to 1667, under the direction of Pope Alexander VII.

 Asked him to transform the irregular space before the basalica into an
appropriate setting "so that the greatest number of people could see the Pope
give his blessing, from the middle of the façade of the church.

 Bernini had been working on the interior of St. Peter's for decades;
now he gave order to the space with his renowned colonnades, using
the Tuscan form of Doric, the simplest order in the classical vocabulary
 View of Rome
from the Dome
of St. Peter's
Basilica

 To complete the enclosure he planned a columned ,semicircular vestibule that would

have screened the piazza from the approach road.

 Two round slabs mark the centers of the two interlocking circles of the piazza,from
these points the quatruple ranks of columns in the loggias are perfectly aligned.

 These is a moment of arrest,on the cross axis of obelisk and fountains where you can
appreciate the amplitude of space,588feet wide and 436feet deep.
  The two distinct areas are framed by a colonnade formed by
doubled pairs of columns supporting an entabulature of the
simple Tuscan Order.

 The four ranks of column that

surround the piazza are scaled to
the façade of st.peters, the
grandeur of this colomnade has
been much imitated but never
matched

 The obelisk, known as "The Witness", including base and the

cross on top, of 40 metres (130 ft), is the second largest
standing obelisk, and the only one to remain standing since
its removal from Egypt .

 The obelisk and Maderno's fountain mark the widest axis of the ellipse.

 Bernini made the whole complex "expansively relate to its environment".

 Trafalgar Square - An amorphous square

It is a square in central London, England. In 1812, the idea of the square was first
proposed
by John Nash, as part of much wider plans for the improvement of London. From
1830 the space became known as Trafalgar Square.

With its position in the heart of London, it is a tourist attraction, and one of the
most famous squares in the United Kingdom and the world.

At its centre is Nelson's Column, which is guarded by four lion statues at its
base.

William Railton designed the column to honour Admiral Nelson who lost his life
in the battle of Trafalgar in 1805, aged 47.

A 360-degree view of Trafalgar Square just over a century later, in 20

Trafalgar square
 Trafalgar Square is a unique place. It is both a landmark, and a stage for
cultural, educational,artistic and sporting events, ceremonies and
festivals. It is also a prime location for photographers and filmmakers.

 Since it was first created, the Square has been used for rallies,public
gatherings and demonstrations, and that role continues today.

 The square consists of a large central area surrounded by roadways

on three sides, and stairs leading to the National Gallery on the
other.
At the corners of the square are four plinths; the two northern ones were
intended for equestrian statues, and thus are wider than the two
southern.
Christmas ceremony

There has been a Christmas ceremony at Trafalgar

Square every year since 1947.

Political demonstrations

Trafalgar Square has been a venue for political demonstrations, though the
authorities have often attempted to ban them.

The square was also the location of the successful "World's Largest Coconut
Orchestra" world record attempt on 23 April 2007.

In July 2007, the square held a parade and concert for the 60th
independence of Pakistan from Great Britain. It was recorded to be the
biggest gathering of expat Pakistanis in the whole of Europe.
 Red Square
 Red Square is a city square in Moscow. The square separates the
Kremlin, the former royal citadel and currently the official residence of
the President of Russia.

 As major streets of Moscow radiate from here in all directions, being

promoted to major highways outside the city, Red Square is often considered
the central square of Moscow and all of Russia

 The rich history of Red Square is reflected in many artworks. The square
was meant to serve as Moscow's main marketplace.

 It was also used for various public ceremonies and proclamations.

360° Panorama of the Red Square

 The square has been gradually built up since that point and has been used for
official ceremonies by all Russian governments since it was established.

 Two of the most significant military parades on Red Square were the one in
1941, when the city was besieged by Germans and troops were leaving Red
Square.
 The square itself is around 330
meters (1100 ft) long and 70
meters (230 ft) wide

 Red Square maintained its significance, becoming a focal point for the
new state. Besides being the official address of the Soviet government,
it was renowned as a showcase for military parades
 Red Square has served as a venue for high-profile For the New Year 2006,
2007 and 2008 celebrations, a skating rink was set up on Red Square.

 In January 2008, Russia announced that they would resume parading

military vehicles through Red Square.
Reinventing
the
square……
 Rockfeller plaza

 New york would seem incomplete without Rockfeller Center. The

sunken plaza is a symbolic heart of New york. One can experience the spatial
drama of the complex.

 As the project evolved, the

public square that was house
became a sunken plaza that
focussed attention on the
slender, sheer-sided RCA
tower,risind 800feet from
the street.

 Its shape changed from

round to oval rectangular as
it assumed new role, as
entrance to a subterranean
shopping concourse.

Lower Plaza of Rockefeller Center in

March 2006
 A year round program drew
the crowds:carols around
the christmas tree,an
Easter fashion
parade,concerts and floral
displays,boxing matches
and civic rallies were
among the early attractions.

 The plaza seem oppressive,

so extreme is the plot-
height ratio.

 Setbacks and the smaller buildings to the east admit a flood of sunlight at
noon and breezes to set the flags snapping.

 The plaza makes the pent-up energy of the center and the city
accessible The fountain could be dismissed as an oversized tree
ornament.

 Rockfeller Center is theatre,not art and living theater of an excellence

this century has yet to match. It was a new kind of Urban space, and it
 Piazza d’Italia
 New orleans Piazza d’Italia attempts to be a useful artwork and to define
a neighborhood.

 The city commissioned the project in 1975 as monument/gathering

place for the city’s Italian community.

 As the city’s economy slumped, the commercial development that was

intended to pay for its upkeep and generate activity failed to materialize.
For ten years the Piazza deteriorated, was vandalized.
 It was designed by Charles Moore,with Ron Filson and local architectural
firm as a playful ensemble of pavilions,colonnades and gateways
surrounding a cobbled circle , and a fountain that spills out.

 Materials and motifs

are scrambled with
reckless abandon:
neon highlights
stainless-steel
capitals, marble is
applied to stucco.

 He was too optimistic

in supposing that a
brittle art work
would wear well as
a public plaza.