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Chair of Architecture and Urban Design
Asst. Prof. Dr. Alex Lehnerer
Grand Urban Rules

Design Rules and Design With Rules!

Cities as cultural products are neither ‘built’ nor ‘planned,’ at best they are guided and steered in a certain direction. Therefore, rules and regulations are one of the few tools that are actually suitable to guide future development within such collective and complex urban settings.

We strongly believe that the field of (urban) design should not simply adhere to these standards as some neutrally existing context but should actively engage in discussing them in order to make them subject to design as well. read more

Office for urban regulation

Lot Size Requirements

Houston / Los Angeles

A building site where a single-family house is to stand must have a minimum size of 5000 sqft (465 sqm).

  • Typical North American subdivision plan with evenly sized lots.

Rule category

Motivation
Managing Bulk: basic stipulations regarding the object's form and bulk
The Kind of Rule
Rule that stipulates a fixed limit.
Rule that is tied to a certain zone.
Rule that stipulates a lower limit.
Domain
Rule that has a strong influence on urban density and its distribution.
Rule that influences programmatic and functional issues.
Scale
Plot/Block Rule: Rule that relates to the scale of a city block or plot.