Menu ETH
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

Shoehorning

New York

As long as the maximum allowable site utilization has not been attained, and no landmark protection provisions apply, an existing building may be extended in height by putting another one on top of it.

  • M. Breuer's Proposal for Grand Central Terminal, New York, 1965.
  • The Villard Houses, 1884.
  • The Villard Houses being shoehorned, 1981.

Rule category

Motivation
Aesthetic Regimes: public beauty, visual appearance
The Kind of Rule
Rule that stipulates a fixed limit.
Rule that is NOT related to any preconceived zone or area.
Rule that stipulates an upper limit.
Domain
Rule that has a strong influence on urban density and its distribution.
Rule that influences programmatic and functional issues.
Rule with direct impact on architectural or urban form.
Rule that regulates building heights.
Rule that explicitly copes with stylistic and aesthetic concerns.
Scale
Plot/Block Rule: Rule that relates to the scale of a city block or plot.