Overall form and emotional space

Author: None
Publisher: Hong Kong Ke Xun Publishing Co., Ltd.
Publish Date: 2005-06-01
Features: In recent years, urban design practice in China has been booming. Overall, the quality of urban external space environments has significantly improved, and a large number of successful and outstanding works have been produced. However, on the other hand, urban individuality has disappeared, leading to a sameness across cities. Space scales have been infinitely expanded, neglecting the presence of nature and lacking overall coordination. History has been severed, and cities have been completely transformed and comprehensively renewed, all of which can be attributed to indifference and a lack of understanding of the ideal and intrinsic goals of urban design—"overall form and emotional space." Overall form and emotional space are the core of urban design. From ancient "ideal cities" to modern "garden cities," they all reflect the coexistence of urban overall quality and emotional space. Overall form is a dynamic spatial relationship and structural pattern that expresses coordination and harmony among urban spaces. The whole is a process, the continuation of urban space and time; it is a comprehensive and diverse analytical method and concept, gathering the value systems of all social strata. Overall form requires the creation from all aspects, levels, and the entire process of urban design. It necessitates an integrated and comprehensive analysis of all elements in the city and the relationships between them, seeking a combination of elements with clear structures, harmonious and orderly forms, and rich and livable spaces, ultimately forming good urban forms and urban characteristics. The shaping methods of overall form can be summarized into seven unifying principles: 1. Systemic Principle, 2. Centralization Principle, 3. Natural Principle, 4. Texture Principle, 5. Axial Principle, 6. Boundary-Region Principle, 7. Openness-Connectivity Principle. The design of emotional space goes beyond merely considering artistic treatment and aesthetic effects in traditional urban design. The creation of space emphasizes the foundation of human behavior patterns, the core of human needs, and the starting point of human life and existence. It focuses on the context of cities and regions and emphasizes the environmental individuality of spaces, pursuing the perfect way of human life. Emotional space is reflected in the following five key elements: 1. The connotation of historical context, 2. Humanistic themes, 3. Lived qualities, 4. Diverse content, 5. Affectionate atmosphere. Overall form establishes the structure and framework of urban space, shaping the overall form from a macro material level. The pursuit of emotional space becomes the core and soul that connects these structures, fulfilling human needs and dreams from a local level and the perspective of human spiritual demands. Overall form reflects rational thinking, while emotional space expresses. However, in urban design practice that creates external urban spaces, they remain a perfect combination under a unified guiding principle and require different interpretations and solutions when facing design content at different levels.