Hey all,

I was wanting to know if you could come up with any public plaza/square you know really work. I can find lot of large ones (st Marks square, etc) but I'm looking for something that is around about 50m x 50m (165' x 165') that is just buzzing with excitement. Usually spaces that big just aren't big enough to be famous.

Cheers

Scotty v

Look at Pioneer Courthouse Square in Portland Oregon, done in the 80s and very Pomo but also wildly successful. It has a stramp!! IIRC the Portland blocks are small - 200' x 200' - which is close to what you're looking for.

Fountain Square in downtown Cincinnati has seen a dramatic renaissance since it was reconfigured and renovated a few years ago. From the 70's through the 90's it was sort of a barren, windswept plaza that didn't attract very many people, but since the renovation it has seen a sharp upsurge in activity. It's nothing particularly groundbreaking architecturally, but it works much better as an urban space than it did before. The new configuration added many more trees and seating areas, and just as importantly, the city made a concerted effort to bring in new restaurants and bars that face the square, and schedule a wide range of special events, concerts, and other activities for the space. Fountain Square occupies approximately one-quarter of a 400'x400' city block, so it's roughly in the same ballpark as the size you're looking for.

Here in NYC, the ice rink and plaza at Rockefeller Center is a classic urban public square (although it's technically private property). The overall size probably isn't much different than Fountain Square or Pioneer Courthouse Square.

Boston has two perfect examples of the best and worst of these types of spaces.

For the worst, check out City Hall Plaza. For the best, walk across the street to Christopher Columbus Park.

your example is pretty small...

the first thing that came to mind for me was jackson square in new orleans: best public square ever, imo. there's the park in the middle, surrounded by fence with the gates at the center of each side, and then there is the wide street/walk at the perimeter where people (and artists and buskers and vendors) hang out. fed by sidewalks from each corner, faced by cathedral, commercial, museum, and the riverwalk.

another possibly more tightly scaled but similar example would be the artist market at montmartre. i dont' know maybe it's bigger than i recall but feels smaller because of its density of activity.

Ill volunteer Temple Bar in Dublin: a place full of life both night and day. The Public Plaza outside the Pomidou Centre in Paris (Rogers/Piano) is equally busy.

Would would be more helpful if you could provide an intended use for the square. May help narrow the suggestions if you know what activities are to be included.

May I suggest Federation Square in Melbourne, Australia.

The Plaza (as the external space is not 'square') is a sloping, undulating cobblestoned surface, tilting back to a stage and large video screen.

the space is surrounded on 3 sides by restaurants, cafes, multimedia and art galleries, and other public facilities.

it was designed to hold 15,000 people, but regularly holds large gatherings of 20,000 or 30,000 people. used for sporting celebrations, political rallies and general arts events. with the rest of Federation Square (which has the art gallery, cinemas, performance venue and multimedia exhibition space, plus the restaurants and cafes), there are over 8 million visitors a year. it is the new heart of the City.

How about Independence Square in Port of Spain (hawhaw).

But seriously: How about one of the many neighborhood Squares in Savannah?

Pretty much any of the smaller neighborhood squares in Paris would fit your size requirement and your success requirement. There are plenty that simply exist for local use and are less "programmed" than the Montmarte art market (although I wouldn't disagree that that is a fantastic public square). If you're looking for more of a neighborhood feel, something as small and intimate as

Square Trousseau works very well; like most french parks, it has a mixture of hardscaping & softscaping, and a variety of taller vegetation mixed in with small, meticulously upkept floral arrangments. The french don't generally seem to specifically program their parks, but rather usually design them with some kind of anchoring central element (a pavilion, a paved area) and make sure the landscaping allows for a variety of scales of use. Disclaimer: I haven't made a study of french urban spaces -- this is off-the-top-of-my-head observation.

Another great example of a slightly larger-scale, more open public square would be that at La Fontaine des Innocents, near Les Halles; it's proximity to les Halles probably accounts for some of its use, but the peripheral programming and inviting feeling of the square itself probably accounts for more. Ahh, that's another thing the french love to do : program the periphery of the park rather than the park itself.

I think just about any of the smaller squares (campos, I believe, but not sure) in Venice would match the size requirement you're looking for.

Just couple of suggestions that I think are absolutely amazing and are about the size you are looking for. Are you looking for public spaces in the U.S. only?

Piazza Santa Maria in Trastevere - Roma
Piazza Camo de Fiori - Roma
Pizza della Rotonda - Roma
Piazza di San Lorenzo in Lucina - Roma
Placa de la villa del Madrid - Barcelona
Placa de Sant Josep Oriol - Barcelona
Placa Reial - Barcelona
Beim Tiergartentor - Nurnberg
Hauptmarkt - Nurnberg
Piazza del Popolo - Ascoli Piceno
Piazza Aringo - Ascoli Piceno
Piazza San Lorenzo - Genoa
Piazza II Campo - Sienna

Cheers!

Hey thanks for all the help everyone. I've looked up most (not all) of the suggestions, some have some points which are worth considering. Still need to have a look at FrankLloydMikes and poops.

Just so you know what I am talking about here are some images of my site. It's not a design project; I believe it's supposed to be a set of ideas and studies that respond to a report produced by Jan Gehl about how Perth (Only major city on the Western coast of Australia) should develop over the next 20 years or so.

My request for information on successful small public spaces that you know is so that I can hopefully find a few examples and do a few studies on them and talk about how they could be influential on the design of my chosen city block.

We were asked to chose a city block to respond to gehl's report, the site I have chosen is currently not all that happening and not really at the happening end of town. However there will be a major development to this end of the city in the near future which will create pedestrian traffic past the site (red arrows).



This is a 3d Model of Perth City; my site is on the lower left side






This is my site 22 000 sqm (2.2Ha)





There are several buildings within the block that I would suggest are a good idea to keep given.





Pedestrian movement past the site will be fairly high, so there is also opportunity to cut through the site.



ORANGE - Entertainment / F&B
BLUE - UNIVERSITY
PURPLE - STUDENT HOUSING
GREEN - UNIVERSITY
RED - PEDESTRIAN FLOW THROUGH SITE
GREY - EXISTING

I've placed student housing in the centre of the site to keep the flow of people into the centre of the site constant. The plaza serves the all the surrounding buildings and passersby. I would also propose Singapore hawker style eateries around the square to serve the university, existing residence, offices, students and this end of the city. The tall university building is places to the southern side (remember southern hemisphere) of the site so that it doesn’t' block out the sun



This should give a better idea of the size and scale of square that I am looking at.

Basicly all I need is examples that might relate to this scale of urban plaza, I have lots and lotes for the alley ways. And the towers... well they are towers, for the purposes of this it only matters what happenes on the ground plane.

This proposal is Due Wednesday, but whatever help you guys can provide in the next 24 hrs would be very much appreciated. Then I'm only 3 subjects away from being a 'master' of architecture.

I found this, it's City Square Melbourne, probably the perfect example, if only I had a shot that showed what happened at the edges as well. I know there is on funky bar by 6 degrees Architects.

Has anyone been here? I've not been to Melbourne yet.

A friend recommended that I read the book or watch the video 'The Social Life of the Small Urban Spaces' by William H. Whyte



This was the first time I had heard of Whyte and to tell you the truth the video was sort of funny. eg his description of sleazy slobs perving on women as they walk by as 'girl watchers'

He focused on public squares and how they work best from his observational point of view. I'm sure many of you on here would have read his book or seen his movie before, but this was a first for me.

It confirmed some assumption based on my own observations and also taught me some things I didn't know. Totally worth a watch or a ready (which ever you prefer I guess) if you are doing a public space project.

Hoxton Square, the focus of late '90s London Art