48-747 Shape Grammars

THEBUNGALOWSOFBUFFALO

byDowningandFlemming

bungalow

originally, small vacation house or country retreat

at the turn of the 20th century, it also referred to permanently occupied suburban houses that share features with the original

this led to conventions and principles that regulated their exterior appearance and internal organization, i.e.,pattern books

paper concentrates on one aspect, viz., spatial organizationas seen in theirfirst floor plans or rather

different geometric realizations from the same set of conventions

thesources

1915

1914

1918

19151919

-twostreetsandsevenbungalows

-Street1andfivebungalows

thesources

19241926

-secondstreetandtwobungalows

bungalowgrammar

This paper represents the first application to buildings in the popular tradition

language→style←shapegrammar

analytic shape grammars are intended for a particular style

clarify commonality of structure and appearance manifest in buildings in a corpus; here,�

7 measured drawings of houses �from 1914 to 1926

supply conventions and criteria to determine whether any other building outwith the original

corpus is an instance of the style; and

provide a compositional machinery to describe other buildings in the style

thecorpus

thesources

1915

1914

1918

19151919

–twostreetsandsevenbungalows

Street1andfivebungalows

thesources

19241926

Street2andtwobungalows

thebungalows

thebungalows

Bungalow B

Bungalow C

Bungalow D

Bungalow E

Bungalow F

Bungalow G

thebungalows

Each bungalow contains on its first floor:

a living room, a dining room, a kitchen, and a staircase leading both

to the basement and to the upper floor.

Houses B to G contain also two bedrooms and a full bathroom on their first floors (in house located in the second floor)

To these rooms are added in each plan ancillary spaces, such as storage areas or halls, in various combinations.

Spaces are identified by the grammar through simple letter symbols; the meaning of the symbols used is given in table (see next)

conventionsfortheshapegrammar

primary spaces: living, dining, kitchen, bedrooms

secondary spaces: all other rooms

requirements: functional | contextual | formal

spaces are identified by symbols

symbol meaning symbol meaning

b bedroom m additionalliving

c closet n,o,p openporches

d dining q enclosedporch

h hall s staircase

K kitchen t bathroom

l living v vestibule

(0,0):K,1

Initialshape

requirements

Functionalrequirementsdeterminethenatureandsizeofthespacesinaplanaswellascertainconnectivityrelationsbetweenpairsofspacesoraspaceandtheoutside

Contextrequirementsareimposedontheplansbythelongandnarrowshapeofthelots,whichfacethestreetalongtheirsmallerside.Thestreet,inturn,orientsthebuildings:itgivesthema'front'anda'rear',andallplansrespondtothisorientationaccordingtowell-definedconventions.

Formalrequirementsoraestheticconventionsreflectstrongnotionsof'goodshape'

thegrammar

stagesinshapegrammar

allocationofspaces

startingpattern

primaryspaces

+staircase,bathroom&hall

extensionofspaces

+built-inclosets

mergingofspaces

+porch

generationofconnections

frontentrance

secondentrance

internaldoors&openings

windows

termination

allocationofspaces

exemplar

startingpattern

Allknownshapegrammarsthatdealwiththegenerationofarchitecturalplanscreate,inafirststage,ageometricpatternwhichdeterminescertainglobalcharacteristicsoftheplansandguides,possibly,alsothedevelopmentofsomeoftheirlocalproperties.

•  ThegenerationofaPalladianplanstartswiththeproductionofatartangridwhichdeterminesthepossiblelocationsofinternalorexternalwalls(StinyandMitchell,1978).

•  ThedesignofafacadeinthestyleofTerragni'sCasaGiulianiFrigerioisgovernedthroughoutbytherhythmestablishedthroughfourrowsofcolumnsgeneratedatthestartoftheprocess(Flemming,1981a).

fromthepatternbook–arectangularboxwithalargepitchedroof

“IntheEast,eventhecheapesthouse,exceptwhenitisoccupiedonlyforacoupleofmonthsinthesummertime,requiresacellarandacomparativelysubstantialfoundationandasthisfoundationisthechiefsourcesofexpensethetendencyistomakeitcoverassmallanareaaspossibleandtobuildoveritacomparativelyhighsquareboxofahouse.ThenecessityofprovidingaroofwithaslopesharpenoughtoshedthesnowreadilytendstomakeourcheaperEasternandMiddleWesternhouseastiff,angularlittlebuilding,whichisratherpercheduponthesitethanhighlyfittedtightlytoit”

Hodgson,1912

creatingastartingpattern

Schema1definestheexternalwallsthatformtheenclosureforthistypeofstructure;thelineswithendpointsfandrmark,respectively,itsfrontandrear(withrespecttothestreet).Theschemaalsogeneratesaninternal,load-bearingwallwhichdividestheenclosedareaintotwoparallelzones.

(common)measureddimensions

Bungalow Length Width Clearwidthuz

Clearwidthlz

A 39’6” 24”9” 12’0” 11’0”

B 44’0” 24’6” 12’0” 11’0”

C 44’0” 26’0” 13’6” 11’4”

D 44’6” 26’3” 13’6” 10’6”

E 47’0” 27’0” 12’6” 12’3”

F 45’0” 23’3” 10’0” 10’6”

G 44’0” 22’6” 11’0” 9’10”

allocatingprimaryspaces

Inallplans,livingroom,diningroom,andkitchenformaclusterofpublicspaces,andthebedroomsform,togetherwithsomesecondaryspaces,anadditionalclusterofmoreprivatespacessothatthespacesineachclusterarerelatedtoeachotherortotheoutsideinawell-definedway.

allocatingstaircase,bathroomandhall

8,10

Allbathroomsandstaircasesinoursampleborderanexternalwall,butareneverallowedtofacethefrontoftheplanortooccupyoneofitscorners.Thebathrooms,furthermore,areaccessibleonlyfromaninternalhall,whichisalsoconnectedtothebedroomsandoneotherprimaryspace;thehallthusactsasabufferbetweenthepublicandprivatespaces..

rulesasatreeof

possibility

extendingthespaces

11Amostnoticeablefeatureofthebungalowsarebaysorprojectingroomswhichinterrupttherectangularenclosureofthesehouses.Mostbaysarenecessarilynotrequiredforfunctionalreasonsastheydonotincreasetheusableareatoanysignificantdegree.

addingabuilt-inclosets

16Allbedroomsinthecorpushavedirectaccesstoabuilt-incloset.Theplacementoftheseclosetsassuresthattheboundaryofthebedroomsretainsitsregular(mostlyrectangular)form.

mergingoridentifyinglivingspaces

21

m

l'

Togeneratemostoftheplansinthecorpus,adjacenthallsorlivingroomsthatweregeneratedinpreviousstagesmustbemergedintolarger,continuousareas.

mergingoridentifyinghallspaces

26Hallscanonlybecombinediftheshapeofoneofthesurroundingspacesisalsochanged.

addingafrontporch

28Allbungalowsinoursamplecontainaporchfacingthestreet.Itcanbeopenorenclosed,butisalwayscenteredaboutthelongitudinalaxisoftheplan.

generationofconnections

exercise

NormallyIwouldtellmystudentstoreadthesecondhalfofthepaperandfollowtherulesandseeiftheycanproducethefinalconfiguration

However…

recap–stagesinshapegrammar

allocationofspaces

startingpattern

primaryspaces

+staircase,bathroom&hall

extensionofspaces

+built-inclosets

mergingofspaces

+porch

generationofconnections

frontentrance

secondentrance

internaldoors&openings

windows

termination

addingafrontentrance

Frontentrancesalwaysmakethelivingroomaccessiblefromthestreeteitherdirectlyorthroughavestibulewhichservesasanairlockbetweentheinsideofthebuildingandtheoutside.

andfrontstairs

31,38Schemata38and39resplyplacestairsinfrontofaporchandavestibule.Schema40addsstairsfromthesideofaporch(plansBorE).Schema41allocatesstairsinsideavestibule(planG).

andfrontstairs

44Eachbungalowcontains,inadditiontoafrontentrance,asecondentranceatthesideorrear.Kitchenandbasementstairsarealwaysaccessiblefromthatentrance.

generationofinternaldoorsandopenings

Internaldoorsareusedtoconnect:

•  Bedroom↔hall,bathroom↔hall,

•  Closet↔eitherbedroomorsomeotheradjacentspace.

Additionaldoorsconnectthefollowing:

•  diningroom↔kitchen,hall↔livingroomorhall↔diningroom.

Largeopeningsareusedtoconnectthefollowingpairsofspaces:

•  livingroom↔diningroom,twoadjacentlivingspaces,

•  enclosedporch↔livingroomorenclosedporch↔diningroom.

screenwalls

Screenorwindowwallsareusedtoenclosepartsoftheopenings.

Mostconspicuousarethescreenwallsplacedintheopeningsbetweenlivingroomsanddiningrooms.Theseopeningsarelargeenoughtogeneratecontinuousareaswhichcanextendoverseveralspaces(especiallyinplansFandG),butareneverallowedtodissolvecompletelythewallsinwhichtheyareplaced;theformalintegrityoftheconnectedspacesthusremainsintact.

generateinternalconnections

46,47,49

generatingwindowsandfireplaces

Inthebungalows,allprimaryspacesandsomesecondaryspacesareconnectedtotheoutsidethroughwindows.

Thebuildingsalsocontainfireplaceswhicharemostlypurelydecorativefeatures,thatis,notconnectedtoaflue.

Thelocationsofwindowsandfireplacesarecloselyrelated;ourgrammarthereforegeneratestheseelementssimultaneously.

Schematatogeneratewindows

schematatogeneratewindowsandfireplaces

51,53,57,66

termination

69,72,73