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Pueblo View with Plaza
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GOAL
Your students will work as a class and in small groups to identify the needs of the ideal Southwest City. They will address the unique challenges of
arid land development, as well as the cooperative integration of Pueblo, Navajo, Anglo, and Hispanic spatial organizations. The class will then
define the requirements of this future city; design and draw a plan of it; and finally build a model of the city. CLIENT
Leaders from the Native American Cooperative Association, the Anglo Development board, and the Hispanic Culture Association have embarked
on an exciting experiment. They will demonstrate the possibility of an environmentally sensitive and multi-cultural community. They want to
build an architectural utopia in the Southwest desert. As students of Southwest Architecture and city planning, your class has been hired to prepare a model of the ideal Southwest City.
back to top CONCEPTS
- city planning
- community
- compromise
- conservation
- consumption
- grid city plan
- group dynamics
- multi-cultural
- peace
- plaza
- random city
- utopia
MATERIALS
- drawing paper
- felt tip pens
- tape
- tracing paper
- markers
- glue
- poster board
- items for model building
back to topHISTORY
Latiku, "mother of all Indians," taught her people how to build a home. She said, "this is the kind of house you are going to build to live in," and
her people began to build houses after her model. Latiku laid out the plans for a town, she laid out the plaza and her people made a town.
The Pueblo people build their houses and experience their town as a living, breathing entity. The east-west alignment of the buildings ensures
that the northerly walls protect against cold and winter winds, while the south-facing terraces and doorways trap the sun's heat, which is stored in the heavy
massing of adobe walls. The use of natural building materials and environmental orientation reflect the unique efficiency of the Pueblo city
plan. Because the buildings themselves are an organic and vital architecture, they are allowed to "die" when their lives are done. The
building materials are then recycled or transformed to become a new wall, an oven or another building.
The Navajo people also build their homes from natural materials for optimum integration with the environment. Though
scattered in the landscape, rather than clustered like the pueblos, the Navajo hogan attests to a high level of conservation. The built-up roof and minimal openings maintain
comfortable interior temperatures in both winter and summer.The pioneering Spanish settlers who entered the Southwest in the 16th
century brought with them strict ordinances for town planning. The "Laws of the Indies" demanded that the plaza be laid out first and then the
streets, gates and principal roads, always leaving a certain proportion of open space. Around the plaza, the cathedral, offices of the royal council
and public lands were mandated. The colonists, however, adapted the European edicts to the New World frontier. Residences were often
scattered away from the plaza, and the prescribed, regularly laid out streets became meandering cow paths. The coming of the railroad in the late 1880's brought building materials,
technologies and city planning ideas from the eastern United States to the Southwest. Though they often reflected the current "style" of
architecture popular in the East, they failed to address the Southwest climate and ready availability of materials.
back to topBACKGROUND
Cities are living systems whose parts are related and organically connected. Contemporary, caring city planners are returning to the
simplicity of natural building materials, solar orientation, and environmental integration. They follow the "Five Principles of the Southwest City Planning (C.A.R.E.S.)":
- Conservation
- Adaptability
- Recycling
- Efficiency
- Simplicity
Remember these principles as you design your own solutions to Southwest housing, transportation, open space, social and cultural services, and business. SEED-JAR DESIGN
The design on Hopi seed-jar symbolizes the Hopi world-view. In the center is the opening or Sipapu, from which the original
Hopi People emerged into this world. It symbolizes a sacred time and space. Open fingers embrace this center space and all life, past and future, which is born from the earth. Hovering
above the Sipapu in the body of an eagle is the eye or the Great Spirit, set in the middle of a four-cornered world. The repetition of fours (four wing tips, four corners of the diamond
shape, four triangular shapes around the diamond, four rows of triangles) expresses the Hopi view of the spatial world (four directions) and the temporal world (four worlds).
back to topPROGRAM
The site for the Southwest City is far from other cities. It lies between a major river on the west and rugged mountain range on the east. Water in
the Southwest is scarce and, because life depends on it, it is one of the most important resources. The average annual rainfall at the site is 13
inches, and an underground aquifer stores water that has been accumulating for centuries. The city plan must address the multi-cultural needs of a community of
20,000 people. It will include solutions to:
- Housing--single family, extended family, multiple family (apartments and condominiums), co-housing, and cluster neighborhoods.
- Transportation--mass transit, automobiles, pedestrian, bicycles, and parking.
- Open Space -- parks, playgrounds, jogging and bicycle paths, sports fields, and undeveloped natural areas.
- Social and Cultural Services--hospitals, day care for adults and children, museums, performing arts centers, botanical and zoological gardens, libraries, and schools.
- Business--offices, shopping areas, supermarkets, banks, restaurants, movie theaters, and government facilities.
Brainstorm: First, have your students brainstorm by themselves or with friends to determine what the new city needs (the Program). (Refer to the list
above and the Background section for ideas.) Allow plenty of time for this and remind the students that at this stage all ideas are acceptable.
Repeat this activity to list what the new city does not need, i.e. traffic congestion, pollution, vandalism, slums, and homeless. This may also help
to add to the list of positive needs. After both lists are completed, review and compare them to combine similar needs, eliminate inappropriate items,
reverse negatives into positive needs, and modify where necessary. Bubble Diagram: Divide the class into six groups which correspond to the five design areas
for the city (Housing, Transportation, Open Space, Social and Cultural Services, Business, and Landscaping). Each group will be responsible for
designing its solution throughout the city. For instance, students in Transportation may decide how they will provide efficient mass transit, a
means of adapting open space areas to pedestrian and bicycle traffic, and parking areas that conserve space. Specific details will be determined in
concert with all groups together because the city is an organic system. One representative of each group will serve on a Bubble Diagram
Committee. This committee will prepare the bubble diagram of the Southwest City, which addresses the needs of each of the five headings and follows the five C.A.R.E.S. principles.
back to top
Plan View: Divide the city into four quadrants and assemble a design team from each of the five groups to
prepare the plan view of each quadrant of the city. One area of the city may opt for a fully integrated plan where residential, business, social, and
cultural services are concentrated in a cluster zone surrounded by open space. You may choose to locate open space in the center of a co-housing
neighborhood and place businesses and cultural services within walking distance. A uniform scale should be adopted by the class to be used for all drawings. Suggested scales are 1" = 20'; 1" = 40'; or 1" =50' (optional).Model of the Ideal Southwest City
: Each of the student design teams will be responsible for building models of their portion of the city. The models will conform to the plans that have
been drawn in a uniform scale. The models need not be elaborate. Poster board, construction paper, pipe cleaners, and clay may be used. Models
may be mounted on 1/4" sheets of plywood on which the streets and the open spaces have been painted. PRESENTATION AND EVALUATION
Your class could present their solutions for the Ideal Southwest City to the school at an assembly program. The city model should be displayed
for the entire school to see. Arrangements can be made to have the model displayed in a more prominent place for public viewing, i.e. a shopping mall, museum, or public library.
All of the students' will participate in the presentations, and they should be prepared to answer the following questions:
- Is there a single center, or are there multiple centers of the city? Why or why not?
- How does the city get its water? From where? How does it conserve water? How does it recycle water? Does the city use water aesthetically?
- Where do people work, live, play, attend school, and shop? How efficiently are the sites for these activities located? Can you eliminate travel between these activities?
- What transportation systems are used? How are they financed? How efficiently do they run?
- Where is the open space? How is it used? How does it conserve resources? Does it use native plants to conserve water (xeriscaping)?
- Does the city have a directional orientation? Does it sprawl? Is it contained or clustered?
BIBLIOGRAPHY
- Christensen, Linda M. "Historic Influences on New Mexico Settlements," MASS, Journal of the School of Architecture and Planning, University of New Mexico, 1983.
- * Clark, Ann Nolan. In My Mother's House. Viking Press: New York, 1941.
- Crouch, Dora P., et al. Spanish City Planning in North America. MIT Press: Cambridge, MA, 1982.
- Jackson, J.B. Spatial Organization in Prehistoric Indian Pueblos of the Southwest," UNM Essays. University of New Mexico School of Architecture: Albuquerque, NM, 1972.
- Ortiz, Alfonso. The Tewa World: Space, Time, Being and Becoming in a Pueblo Society. University of Chicago Press: Chicago, IL, 1969.
* Suitable for Children back to top
For additional evaluation of your students' projects, see the EVALUATION FORM AND RATING SCALE
.
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