PART - 1

URBAN SPACE1.1 VIEWS OF URBAN DESIGNERS ABOUT URBAN SPACE

One building standing alone in the countryside is

experienced as a work of architecture, but bring half a

dozen buildings together and an art other than architecture

is made possible. Several things begin happen in the group

which would be impossible for the isolated building. We may

walk through and past the buildings, and as a corner is

turned an unsuspected building is suddenly revealed. We may

be surprised, even astonished a reaction generated by the

composition of the ground not by the individual building.

Again, suppose that the buildings have been put together in

a group so that one can get inside the group; than the space

created between the buildings is seen to have a life of its

own over and above the buildings which create it and one’s

reaction is to say “I am inside it” or “Law Entering it”.

GORDON CULLEN “TOWNSCAPE”

The object of architecture is to fulfill a specific

social function i.e., to provide an ordered enclosure for

human activities, the fact that one set of enclosures has a

roof (a shelter or edifice), and the other has not (a street

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or garden), is merely a difference of amount of enclosure

and does not alter the nature of the enclosed space.

Bno Golfinger: Urbanism and Spatial Order

The essential things of both room and square is the

quality of enclosed space (Camillo sitte.

It is often said that an external enclosure is most

comfortable when its walls are one-half or one-third

as high as the width of the space enclosed, while if

the ratio falls below one-fourth, the space ceases to

be (feel) enclosed, Lynch, Kevin (Site Planning).

We need desperately to relearn the art of disposing

of buildings to create different kinds of space: the quiet,

enclosed, isolated, shaded space; the hustling, bustling

space pungent with vitality; the paved dignified, vast,

sumptuous, even awe inspiring space; the mysterious space:

the transition space which defines, separates and yet joints

juxtaposed spaces of contrasting character.

We need sequences of space which arouse one’s

curiosity, give a sense of anticipation.

Raul RudolphLand Scape Architecture

Housing Layout Page 48.

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The basic ingredient of architectural design consists

of two elements – mass and space. At the moment too

much notice is taken of mass but not of space.

1.2 CONCEPT OF URBAN SPACE

In our modern cities we have lost sight of the

traditional understanding of urban space. The cause of this

loss is familiar to all city dwellers who are aware of their

environment and sensitive enough to compare the town

planning achievements of the present and the past and who

have the strength of character to pronounce sentence on the

way things have gone1.

1.3 DEFINITION OF “URBAN SPACE”

We are compelled to designate all types of space

between buildings in towns and other localities as urban

space.

“A space is geometrically bounded by a variety of

elevations. It is only the clear legibility of its

geometrical characteristics and aesthetic qualities which

allows as consciously to perceive external space as urban

space”.

Internal space, shielded from weather and environment

is an effective symbol of privacy.

1 Rob Krier; Urban Space. Rizzoli International Publications, Inc. Year1979, page 15.

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External space is seen as open unobstructed space for

movement in the open air, with public semi public and

private zones.

For example: Baroque Town Plans, revolutionary

architecture etc., are both useful and necessary.

The creative person, such as the artist, may use a

completely different method of approach. The decisions he

makes in deploying his aesthetic skills are not always based

on assumptions which can be unequivocally explained. He is

artistic ‘Libido’ is of enormous importance here.

Each period in art history develops gradually out of

the assimilated functional and formal elements which precede

it. The more conscious a society is of its history; it

handles historical elements of style.

The following classification enumerates the basic

forms which constitute urban space. The aesthetic quality of

each element of urban space is characterized by the

structural inter-related of detail. The two basic elements

are the “street” and the “square”. In the category of

“Interior space” we would be talking about the corridor and

the room. The geometrical characteristics of both special

forms are the same. They are differentiated only by the

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dimensions of the walls which bound them and by the patterns

of function and circulation which characterize them2.

The life of cities is of two kinds, one is public and

social, and inter related. It is the life of streets and

squares, the great parks and civic saces and the dense

activity and excitement of shopping areas. This life is

mostly out in the open where crowds gather and people

participate in the existing urban inter-relationship which

they seek as social human beings. Second kind of life in the

city – private and introvented, the personal individual,

self-oriented life which seeks quiet and seclusion and

privacy.

Our urban spaces are the matrix of this two fold

life. It is these public places which give a character and

quality to our life in the city and establish its temp and

patterns. These spaces in a city are not decorative frills.

Adequate open space is a hard biological necessity essential

to life. We do not know yet the exact ratios of open space

which people use biologically for their lives and

personalities to be fulfilled. But we do know of their

importance and of our need for constant contact with the

elements of the natural environment.

2 Rob Krier; Urban Space. Rizzoli International Publications, Inc. Year1979, page 15-16.

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“What begin as undifferentiated space becomes

place as we get to know it better and endow

it with value” (Tuan’s).

The urban space refers to the abstract geographical,

qualities of environment which becomes transformed into

meaningful places, as people use, modify or attribute

symbolic values to specific settings.

Urban space and public place are one and the same

thing – “Space” and place are related terms, with space

becoming “Place” as it gains psychological or symbolic

meaning. In the most simplified and traditional form; urban

spaces start as streets which provide access to buildings,

carry utilities, transportation and become in fact, the very

lungs and artries of the community body.

1.4 TYPES OF URBAN SPACES

Urban spaces are basically of two types streets and

square. On small scale or in the category of interior space

it can be regarded as corridors and rooms. The geometrical

characteristics of both spatial form are the same. They are

different only by the dimension of the walls which bound

them and by the functions and circulations which

characterize them.

1.4.1 Squares

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It’s the first way man discovered of using urban

space. It is produced by the grouping of structures around

on open space. In the private sphere it corresponds to the

inner courtyard or atrium and in public sphere to the market

places, parade grounds, Commercial Square, square in front

of mosques and town hall etc.

In all probability the square was the first we man

discovered of using urban space. It is reduced by the

grouping of houses around an open space. This arrangement

afforded a high degree of control of the inner space, as

well as facilitating a ready defence against external

aggression by minimizing the external surface area liable to

attack. This kind of courtyard frequently came to bear a

symbolic value and was therefore chosen as the model for the

construction of numerous holy places (Agora, forum,

Cloister, mosque courtyard). With the invention of houses

built around a central courtyard or atrium this spatial

pattern became a model for the future. Here rooms were

arranged around a central courtyard like single housing

units around a square3.

This spatial model is admirably suited to residential

use. In the private sphere it corresponds to the inner

courtyard or atrium. The courtyard house is the oldest type

of town house. In spite of its undisputed advantages, the

3 Rob Krier; Urban Space. Rizzoli International Publications, Inc. Year1979, page 17.

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courtyard house has now become discredited and people are

afraid that this design may imply enforced conformity to a

communal life style or a particular philosophy.

Yet in the same way as communal living has gained in

popularity for a minority of young people with the

disappearance of the extended family, the concept of

neighbourhood and its accompanying building types will most

certainly be readopted in the near future.

In the public sphere, the square has undergone the

same development Market places, parade grounds, ceremonial

squares, squares in front of churches and town halls etc.,

all relics of the Middle Ages, have been robbed of their

original functions and their symbolic content and in many

places are only kept up through the activities of

conservationists4.

An example to clarify this argument:

The multistoried courtyard house, from the Middle

Ages upto modern times, was the building type which acted as

the starting point for the castle, the renaissance and

baroque palace etc. The Berlin liniments of the 19th century

are also courtyard houses4.

Functions which Able Appropriate to the Square

4 Rob Krier; Urban Space. Rizzoli International Publications, Inc. Year 1979, page 19.

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Commercial activities, certainly such as the market,

but all activities of a cultural nature, the establishment

of public administrative, offices, community halls, youth

centers, libraries, theatres and concert halls, cafes, bars

etc., where possible in the case of central squares, these

should be functions which generate activity twenty four

hours a day. Residential use should not be excluded in any

of these cases.

1.4.2 The Streets

The street is a product of the spread of a settlement

once houses have been built on all available space around

its central square. It provides a frame work for the

distribution of land and gives access to individual plots.

It has a more pronouncedly functional character than the

square, which by virtue of its size is a more attractive

place to pass the time than the street, in whose confines

one is involuntarily caught up in the bustle of traffic. Its

architectural back drop is only perceived in passing.

The street layouts which we have inherited in our

towns were devised for quite different functional purposes.

They were planned to the scale of the human being, the

horse, and the carriage. The street is unsuitable for the

flow of motorized traffic, whilst remaining appropriate to

human circulation and activity. It rarely operates as an

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autonomous isolated space, as for example in the case of

villages built along a single street.5

In purely residential areas streets are universally

seen as areas for public circulation and recreation. The

distances at which houses are set back from the street. This

street space can only function when it is part of our system

in which pedestrian access leads off the street. This system

can be unsettled by the following planning errors.

1. If some houses and flats can not be approached

directly from the street but only from the rear. The

result is a state of competition between internal and

external urban space.

2. If the garages and parking spaces are arranged in

such a way that the flow of human traffic between car

and house does not impinge upon the street space.

3. If the play spaces are squeezed out into isolated

areas with the sole justification of preserving the

intimacy of the residential zone. The same neurotic

attitude towards neighbours is experienced in flats.

The noise of cars outside the home is accepted, yet

indoors children are revented from playing noisily.

5 Rob Krier; Urban Space. Rizzoli International Publications, Inc. Year 1979, page 17

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4. If no money can be invested in public open spaces, on

such items as avenues of trees, paving and other such

street furniture, given that the first priority is

the visual appeal of space.

5. If the aesthetic quality of adjacent houses is

neglected, if the facing frontages are out of

harmony, if different sections of the street are in

adequately demarcated or if the scale is unbalanced.

These factors fulfill a precise cultural role in the

functional coherence of the street and square. The

need to meet the town’s function of ‘poetry of space’

should be as self-evident as the need to meet any

technical requirements, in a purely objective sense,

it is just a basic.

The problems of the residential street touched on

here apply equally to the commercial street. The separation

of pedestrians and traffic carries with it the danger of the

isolation of the pedestrian zone. Solutions must be

carefully worked out which will keep the irritation of the

traffic noise and exhaust fumes away from the pedestrian,

without completely distancing one zone from the other. This

means an overlapping of these functions, to be achieved with

the considerable investment in the technological sphere, a

price which the motorized society must be repaired to pay6

6 Rob Krier; Urban Space. Rizzoli International Publications, Inc. Year1979, page 20-21.

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1.5 USE AND ACTIVITY OF URBAN SPACE

Urban public space reflect ourselves, our larger

culture, our private beliefs and public values. Public space

is the common ground where civility and our collective sense

of what may be called a public uses are developed and

expressed. Our public environment serves as a reflection or

mirror of individual behaviours social processes and our

often conflicting public values.

Public life is evolving as part of a growing reaction

to the privatization of human life. The isolated living

style impersonal work environments and the increased stress

of modern life all contribute to an increased appetite on

the part of many people for public space. These spaces

become a retreat, a form of refuge from the hectic daily

schedule.

The activities of a town take place in public and

private sphere. The behavioural patterns of people are

similar in both. What concerns us are those activities which

take place in the town in the open air i.e., actions which a

person performs outside the familiar territory of his own

home and for which he utilizes public space, as for example

traveling to work, shopping, selling goods, recreation,

leisure activities, sporting events, deliveries etc.

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Commercial activities, such as the market but above

all are activities of cultural nature. The establishment of

public administrative officers communities halls, path

centers, libraries, theatres and concert halls, cafes, etc.,

are the functions which are appropriate for a civic center.

These are the functions which generate activity twenty four

hours a day.

One of the most predominant forms of current urban

(public) space behaviour can be characterized as

recreational shopping (now a popular family activity).

1.6 TYPICAL FUNCTIONS OF URBAN SPACES

The activities of a town take place in public and

private spheres. The behavioural patterns of people are

similar in both. So, the result is that the way in which

public space has been organized has in all periods exercised

a powerful influence on the design of private houses.

For example, traveling to work, shopping, selling

goods, recreation, leisure activities, sporting events,

deliveries etc. Although the asphalt carpet which serves as

a channel for the movement of cars is still called a

“street” it remains no connection with the original

significance of the term.

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Certainly the motorized transportation of people and

goods is one of the primary functions of the town,

but it requires no scenery in the space around it.

It is different in the case of the movement of

pedestrians or public transport vehicles which move

at a moderate speed, like carriages.

Today we have boulevard situations which apparently

draw their life from the delite of flashy cars and pavement

cafes are visited despite the fact that the air is polluted

by exhaust fumes. Looking at planning schemes of the turn of

the century one can appreciate that in cosmopolitan cities

such as Paris, Rome or Berlin, the air was polluted in a

different way; by horse manure, stailing sewage and

uncollected refuse.

A problem of urban hygiene, as old as the town

itself, with the only difference that people can be poisoned

by carbon monoxide but scarcely by horse manure7

1.7 TYPOLOGY OF URBAN SPACE

In formulating a typology of urban space, spatial

forms and their derivatives may be divided into three main

groups, according to the geometrical pattern of their ground

plan; these groups derive from the square, the circle, or

the triangle.

7 Rob Krier; Urban Design, page 17.

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Without doubt the scale of an urban space is also

related to its geometrical qualities. Scale can only be

mentioned in passing in this typology. I wish to try and

deal with the significance of proportions in external space.

1.8 MODULATION OF A GIVEN SPATIAL TYPE8

1. The basic element.

2. The modification of the basic element resulting from

the enlargement or reduction of the angles contained

within it, where the external dimensions remain

constant.

3. The angles remain constant and the length of two

sides changes in the same proportion.

4. Angles and external dimensions are altered

arbitrarily.

1.8.1 Stages of Modulation

8 Rob Krier; Urban Design, page 23.

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1. Angled Space: This indicates a space which is a

compound of two parts of the basic element with two

parallel sides bent.

2. This shows only a segment of the basic element.

3. The basic element is added to.

4. The basic elements overlap or merge.

5. Under the heading ‘distortion’ are included spatial

forms which are difficult or impossible to define

this category is intended to cover those shapes which

can only with difficulty be traced back to their

original geometric model.

These shapes may also be described as species born

out of chaos. Here the elevation of buildings may be

distorted or concealed to such an extent that they can no

longer the distinguished as clear demarcations of space. For

example:

A facade of mirror glass or one completely obscured

by advertisements. So that a cuckoo clock as big as a house

stands next to an out size ice cream cone, or an advent for

cigarettes or chewing gum stands in place of the usual

pierced facade.

1.9 CHARACTERISTICS OF URBAN SPACES

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The characteristics of the urban spaces can be

described as follows:

1.9.1 Accessibility

Access is an important prerequisite for realizing

many other dimensions of urban space quality. For a space to

be well used it must be accessible. Access is also essential

if people are going to be able to attach meaning to a space.

For example, teenagers access to community places is

important for them to feel attached to the community or the

access of elderly to comfortable outdoor spaces provide

opportunities far informal socializing and reduce a sense of

isolation.

Three types of access are important in urban or you

can say public spaces. The first is direct physical access

to the space. Design devices such as doors, walls and locked

gates are being used by same designers to physically black

access to some spaces. Another form of access is social,

where a space is open to different classes or types of

users. A third type of access is visual or the ability to

see into a space. Visual access has been found by several

researchers to be critical for people to feel safe and

secure for a public space.

1.9.2 Personalization

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The ability of people to change or modify is also

important. There are several ways users directly personalize

public environments. Example include - direct involvement of

users in the construction and maintenance of a place also

may enhance meaning or attachment to a public place other

ways are through popular art such as murals.

There also are subtle and indirect ways people

personalize public spaces. For example, as part of a fund

raising effort for a new plaza in Portland, Oregon,

residents contributed to purchase of bricks. The plaza is

now paved with the bricks that bear the names of the donors

and part of the use of the plaza includes people finding

familiar names of friends or neighbours. A similar but more

emotional activity can be observed at the Vietnam Veterans

Memorial in Washington D.C. where visitors discover the

names of relatives killed in the Vietnam. War in the granite

wall and often leave flowers, photos and other mementos.

1.9.3 Safety

To feel safe and secure in a space is also a pre-

requisite for space use safety is a critical issue for the

elderly and women in urban space.

Urban vegetation contributes to one’s sense of

security and safety for public space. Long-view distance,

open grassy areas and water were associated with high

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degrees of perceived safety, where as physical features such

as dense vegetation, graffiti and litter decreased the

perception of safety. Researchers have shown that scenes

with vegetation promoted more relaxed and less stressful

states than scenes lacking vegetation.

1.9.4 Elevation

Another important element of any urban space is the

elevations. Visually rich elevations not only enhance the

character of space but also, it adds interest of the

observer into the space.

Visual richness of these elevations depends on the

presence of visuals contrast in the surface concerned. The

most effective means of achieving such contrasts depends on

two main factors:

1. The orientation of the surface concerned.

2. The likely positions from which it will be

viewed.

Treatment of elevations in any urban space should be

done after considering:

Time

Number

and distance of the viewer from the facade.

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1.10 ELEMENTS OF URBAN SPACE

Following are the main elements of urban space.

1.10.1 Floor-scape

Urban spaces are bounded by sky, walls and floor. The

sky, ever changing, the walls, old and crumbling or sharp

and new; variety of style and contour texture, colour and

character. The floor - a monotone of tarmac.

The ground or “Floor-scape” is the platform of the

City. The Floor underfoot is a very immediate and personal

kind of experience for pedestrians, making walking an

aesthetic experience. In addition, the materials of floors

strongly influence usability and comfort, as well as

aesthetic qualities. The textures of paving can guide the

activities and movements of pedestrians, can even channel

their direction, or prevent their encroaching on specific

areas, or slow them down.

Floor could be connecting surface between and around

buildings or separating architectural elements and

expressing the kind of space which exists between buildings.

If it is to do so it can not be neutral ribbon of asphalt.

Asphalt as floor - it is as though the buildings are models

plunked down on a black-board. It must be considered an

equal partner with the buildings and by the nature of its

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levels, scale, texture, and general propriety produce the

effect of sociability and homogeneity.

But it cannot do this without itself having power to

move the emotions (otherwise if remains a no man’s land, a

dull spot in a bright scene. It is no good running a slab of

concrete between buildings and, since it is continuous,

hoping for homogeneity). The floor must contribute its own

unique type of drama.

Traditional floor material have varied, of course

with the regional availability of paving material.

Different kind of material can be used for floor i.e.

stone, pebbles. Brick, etc.

1.10.2 Section

A fundamental requirement of urban space is actual

physical enclosure or its strong articulation by urban

farms. Enclosed urban space, like the space in a bowl or a

tube, is formed by material surfaces. But just how much

enclosure is necessary? In a square we must be sufficiently

enclosed on all sides so that our attention focuses on the

space as an entity. On an avenue the enclosure can exist on

only two sides, but it must be sufficient to hold our

attention to it as a channel of space.

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As we move about in a space we move our heads and

eyes this way or that, according to what attracts us.

Nevertheless our normal frontal field of view, the view we

see when we look straight ahead, furnish us with a major

impression of the space we are in our normal frontal field

of view in a space determines the degree of enclosure - the

sense of space - which we feel. The feeling of enclosure,

whether channel or reservoir is largely determined by the

relation of viewing distance to building height as seen by

our normal frontal field of view.

When facade height equals the distance we stand from

a building (a I to I relationship) the cornice is at a 45o

angle from the line of our forward horizontal sight. Since

the building is considerably higher than the upper limit of

our field of forward view (30o). We feel well enclosed at

this proportion and tend to notice details more than whole

facade. When a facade height equals one half the distance we

stand from a building (a 1 to 2 relationship).

It co-incides with the 30o upper limit of our normal

view. This is the threshold of’ distraction, the lower limit

for creating a feeling of enclosure. At this proportion we

tend to see the space as a whole composition, together with

its details; when façade height equals one third our

distance from the building (a 1 to 3 relationship), we see

the top at about 18o angle. At this proportion we perceive

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the prominent objects beyond the space as much as we do the

space itself. In other words we see the space in relation to

its surroundings. When the facade height is one fourth our

distance away from the building (a 1 to 4 relationship) we

see the top at about an 14o angle, and the space loses its

containing quality and peripheral facade function more as an

edge in overall scene. The sense of ‘space’ is all but lost,

and we are left with a sense of ‘place’.

1.10.3 Furniture and Hardware

In the Urban Spaces between buildings is the

paraphernalia of urban living. The furniture which make

these spaces inhabitable. Space itself is only and envelope

within which events happen and the city like a stage set,

demands modulators for people in motion - objects of use and

comfort and artistry -guides for activity, shelters for

incidental but necessary events, semi-buildings signs,

symbols, places for sitting – a whole universe of objects.

They are the small sealed elements which we constantly use

and see; they set the dominant quality of urban spaces and

by their ubiquity, they become the space.

Attention to the detail and design of objects in its

streets pr plazas is as important to the qualities of a

city’s aesthetics as the buildings themselves. Urban spaces

as has been pointed out, are the stages for city peoples

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activities, and they need to he furnished with a whole range

of well designed incidental objects for public enjoyment.

There are need for benches and Places to sit, hand-

some light fixture with foot candle brilliances sealed to

human pedestrian needs. Sign can form exciting collages

related to the building to which they are affixed. They need

not necessarily be pristine or sterile; in fact, they can

sometime even be gaudy. There is need for drinking fountain,

bollards to control traffic etc. As the people eddy and move

in a multifaceted series of actions, the furniture becomes

the fixed point which can guide and enrich movements.

1.10.4 Light

Light is the medium through which most of us perceive

and experience the world around us. But the qualities of

light, of course are non-static and constantly changing.

Through seasonal, diurnal, and weather changes, the objects

in a city are seen indifferent lights, in differing

relationships and in different degrees of clarity.

Light quality must be geared to specific uses as

well. Small spaces, need warmer simpler lighting geared to

their own space instead of great blinding glare of 1000

watts mercury vapor lamps. These lights should be more human

in scale, more attractive even in the day light.

1.10.5 Benches

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Benches in city are a focus of activity. For elderly

gentlemen they can be a place to sit in the sun and pass the

time of day. They are places for students to study, for

young mothers to sit and enjoy watching their children

playing, for shopper to rest their weary feet.

There are two basic kinds of benches – one has a

back, the other is flat and back less. The flat bench is

adequate for short rest periods and simply enables the

pedestrian to get off his feet.

The can be placed as sculptural elements via plaza to

imply amenity without actually providing comfort for long

periods of time. Thus they most often are made of hard

masonry materials – concrete stone, tiles which relates to

more easily to the buildings which they surround and whose

space they least confuse. They are also least susceptible to

vandalism. But the most usable and comfortable benches are

the backed benches which encourage the sitter to stay and

spent some time in comfort in handsome urban surroundings.

1.10.6 Drinking Fountain

In ancient cities the well in the square was a center

of social life and gossip. In modern times the drinking

fountain is not only a generous civic gesture but can be an

esthetic experience as well.

1.10.7 Kiosk

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Kiosks comes from the old Turkish work “KIUSCH’ –

which means pavilion, and term has crept into our

architectural vernacular. We tend to think of Kiosks as

those handsome Persian structures used to collect signs and

notices of plays, movies and magazine articles into one

organized space. These are Kiosks as well - incidental semi-

architecture which is needed to make a community function

i.e., Telephone booths, flower stands, Bus stand and snack

stands.

1.10.8 Light and Shadows

Our eyes and light conditions govern the way we see

masses. Under conditions of bright, clear sunlight the

individual parts of objects stand out; as light dimishes, in

the evening or on dull cloudy days, the whole composition

presents itself to our view. Imagine, for example, an urban

space to be seen under conditions of bright light, the

details are move apparent than the space as a whole. In the

evening or on a dull cloudy day, when there is a dim light,

we notice sharp features less and thus the space more

vigorously sculptured objects are best seen in even light

such as show light or northern light, their delicate

outlines requiring less light contrast. Thus southern

facades may be vigorously articulated while northern facades

may be more successful if delicately articulated.

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Dar objects seen against light backgrounds recede,

while light objects seen against dark back-grounds advance

visually warm-hued buildings also advance whole cool-hued

buildings recede and seen less solid. Warm-hued buildings in

cool light, and cool-hued buildings in warm light, will

appear awkwardly discoloured. Rough surface seen thick,

smooth surface thin. Reflection is darker and less colourful

than the objects themselves. Our depth perception on clear

bright days comes largely from seeing the size of familiar

objects in relation to each other. On dull cloudy day depth

is conveyed by carrying degrees of haze which increase with

depth.

1.10.9 Landscape

Landscape is a vital part of space. They give people

a contact with nature, establish a relationship with

primitive needs and soften and hard, unyielding surface of

urban construction with the green leaver, texture and

shadow. They perform a real physiological function in

removing carbon dioxide from air and replacing it with

oxygen.

Urban vegetation contribute to one’s sense of

security and safety in public spaces. Long view distances,

open grassy areas and water were associated with high

degrees of perceived safety, whereas dense vegetation

decreased the perception of safety. This concept supports

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the physiological finding that scenes with vegetation

promoted more relaxed and less stressful states than scenes

lacking vegetation.

There is a quality about water which calls us to the

most deep rooted and atavistic part of our nature. Water and

fire evoke the most direct responses. Fire is dangerous,

negative and evil, while water is positive and life giving –

the element of which we all have come. The wildness and

exuberance of water stirs us with its qualities of non-

conformity and vigor. Even for the captive, contained and

confined pools. Water effect us in the same way as does a

wild animal in zoo. Pacing back and forth in 2 cages,

beautiful and quietly desperate, controlled but with

implications of wild danger. Water reminds us of high

mountain and streams, of deep chashmas and gurgling brooks

and quiet sound of wilderness. The sound and light of water

stirs the most elemental and basic rules of our human

nature. The water is used for reflective qualities and its

cool implications. When water falls its surface is broken

and aerated and it becomes luminous and alive.

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