Bachelor of Science (Honours) in Architecture
Theories of Architecture and Urbanism [ARC61303]
Project: The Image of City
Part 1: Identifying 5 Elements
This is an individual project. we are required to select a city in KL area, then study it and identify the 5 elements that mentioned in Lynch's most famous work, The Image of the City (1960), is the result of a five-year study on how observers take in information of the city. Using three disparate American cities as examples (Boston, Jersey City and Los Angeles), Lynch reported that users understood their surroundings in consistent and predictable ways, forming mental maps with five elements:
• paths: the streets, sidewalks, trails, and other channels in which people travel
• edges: perceived boundaries such as walls, buildings, and shorelines
• districts: relatively large sections of the city distinguished by some identity or character
• nodes: focal points, intersections or loci
• landmarks: readily identifiable objects which serve as external reference points
Part 2: Cognitive Mapping
For part 2 of the project, we are required to select another city in KL area and produce a 2000 words illustated essay with 3 cognitive mappings from participants and 1 A3 cognitive mapping of our own. This is to understand peoples’ perception and spatial behaviour in cities today. Using the cognitive maps students are required to present a critical understanding of emerging contemporary urbanism in KL city spaces (in relations to Kevin Lynch notions of imageability and how it influences people’s perception of the city. Mapping should contain: human facets (memory, identity etc ), spatial and temporal dynamics (traffic, people’s paths, barriers, etc.), architecture (stairs, benches, trees, etc.), microstructures (texture, material).
Through this projetc, I am able to analyse architecture and urban forms in relation to relevant architectural theories. Also, I am able to analyse and critique the relationship between architecture and its social, cultural and intellectual context. Lastly, I am able to produce, orally and in writing, a critical interpretation of architecture and urbanism in relation to relevant theories within the contemporary discourse of architecture.