Volcan Works Scale of Community

The Melville Street project in the centre of Perth establishes a desired relationships/community between the resident and the buildings users, whilst also developing wanted/unwanted relationships with the residents of surrounding accommodation. The Courtyard boundary is very unclear and provides the potential for the Volcan Works to lay claim to the 'no mans land' pushing social boundaries and forcing a dialogue between resident and neighbour.

Thinking Machine No.1

Thinking Machine No.1

The Doorn Manifesto

1. It is useless to consider the house except as a part of a community owing to the inter-action of these on each other.

2. We should not waste our time codifying the elements of the house until the other relationship has been crystallized.

3. 'Habitat' is concerned with the particular house in the particular type of community.

4. Communities are the same everywhere.

(1) Detached house-farm.

(2) Village.

(3) Towns of various sorts (industrial/admin./special).

(4) Cities (multi-functional).

5. They can be shown in relationship to their environment (habitat) in the Geddes valley section. (see image)

6. Any community must be internally convenient-have ease of circulation; in consequence, whatever type of transport is available, density must increase as population Increases, i.e. (1) is least dense, (4) is most dense.

7. We must therefore study the dwelling and the groupings that are necessary to produce convenient communities at various points on the valley section.

8. The appropriateness of any solution may lie in the field of architectural invention rather than social anthropology.

Extract from the Team 10 website, http://www.team10online.org/team10/text/doorn-manifesto.htm

Outlook Tower: Civic Observatory - Social Laboratory

Sketch of the Outlook Tower courtesy of the Geddes Archive, Strathclyde University.

Outlook: n. a person's point of view or attitude to life; a view; the prospect for the future.

The Outlook Tower in Edinburgh encapsulates the Geddesian concept of learning through acts as opposed to learning from facts. Geddes described the tower as a "social observatory" from which the city, with its complex relationships and systems could be viewed, explained and analysed. Similarly to how a biologist might use a microscope to examine organisms, cells and their systems, Geddes used the Outlook Tower to analyse the city.

The sketch above shows how exhibitions on the tower were curated by Geddes. He dealt with the city of Edinburgh, Scotland, the English speaking world, Europe and the World in a series of exhibits. These exhibits expanded geographically descending down the tower and thus contextualised Edinburgh on many levels.

From the tower one can view the city on many levels at once. From micro to macro levels, the geographical, historical and social forces which act upon the city can be examined. Geddes would have explained how the geology of Edinburgh, with its craggy terrain has influenced the development of the city. How certain historic events such as the Jacobite invasion subsequently affected the city and its people. This understanding of the city was then related to Scotland, the Commonwealth, Europe and the World.

George Bizet, in an article written in the Leith Observer in 1898, saw the tower as "an essay towards exhibiting things in their mutual relationships". Importantly, it was a visual essay rather than a written one and thus accessible to all. Bizet rejoiced at the prospect of the tower ushering in a new direction in education.

Geddes Archive Material

Images from the Geddes Archive at Strathclyde University.

Below are excerpts from notes taken at the Geddes archive.

“I have rambled through many cities and have found no better site for an Outlook Tower than here in Edinburgh” - P. Geddes.

“The Tower is a civic observatory” - P. Geddes.

Quotations from a brochure advertising Edinburgh’s Outlook Tower – publish date unknown.

“The Outlook Tower may be defined as an attempt at an encyclopaedia arranged not in alphabetical order but in rational order.”

“...tower is an essay towards exhibiting things in their mutual relationships, not in printed but in graphic form.”

“And we who have suffered somewhat from the cast iron rigidity of codes rejoice at the dawn of a new era in education.”

Quotations from an article by George Bizet in the Leith Observer of 25/9/1898.

“Here may ye see infinite riches in a little room.” - P. Geddes

“The spirit creative is liberated in flight but too timidly and on dissevered quests. It is time for a clearer understanding, deeper unison between all men, women of good will and high endeavour. So may be prepared definitely planned campaigns of the making and maintenance of worthy homes, smiling villages and noble cities.” - P. Geddes

Quotations from advertising booklet on the Outlook Tower – publish date unknown.

12. Ramsay Gardens

Ramsay Gardens

The now iconic apartments at the top of Edinburgh’s Royal mile are another example of Geddes’ effort to bring his biological studies in reciprocal accommodation to a human environment. In this complex Geddes set up a flat for himself and flats for many other families as well as creating a Town and Gown hall of residence.