An Idea Book for Placemaking

When a building becomes a "Place"

A public building needs to communicate its purpose at several different scales in order to succeed. Historically, buildings accomplished this goal through soaring towers or domes that people could see from a distance. As people approached, elements such as ornate columns, grand staircases, sculptural cornice lines, and elaborately designed entrances helped them “read” the building. The incredible level of detail often extended to the light sconces and doorknobs. The overall effect was telescopic--these buildings were recognizable from the farthest vantage point and engaging at the closest distance.

Today, public buildings seldom engage visitors at various scales, relying only on the view from afar. This is symptomatic of the way creating a sense of place tends to get lost in the shuffle of designing and managing buildings. But a new building can be just as good a “place” as an old one. The challenge is first to understand what separates the good from the bad, and then to make improvements accordingly.

Take, for instance, the treatment of ground floors and building bases. Buildings that succeed as places, whether historic or modern in style, tend to have human-scaled bases that accommodate a range of uses, such as retail storefronts, art exhibits, or information windows and kiosks. Such buildings contribute much more to the social and economic vitality of downtowns than buildings with bigger, taller, wider, and blander bases.

This comparison yields specific ideas for improving the ground floors of existing buildings, so that they more actively engage passersby and positively impact their surroundings. A fine example of this is the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris. This world-renowned and revered structure is surrounded by small parks and gardens, children’s play areas, and pedestrian-scaled streets with generous sidewalks that support daily book and art markets.

Using examples from different types of public buildings throughout the World — new and old, good and bad — this Idea Book presents the core factors that affect a building’s success and offers a series of incremental steps for transforming a formerly below average building into a true place. Whether you are involved in the design of new buildings or the management of existing ones, this book will give you plenty of ideas to bring out the full potential of public buildings to serve as civic places.