portman 03.23.10

city form: planning

 
Much of Downtown Atlanta was designed by John Portman, giving it a distinctive scale and character. Portman’s self-proclaimed goal in planning and architecture is to develop a more ‘people-friendly’ approach. This was the result of a visit to Brasilia, which he felt showed no understanding of human scale. He vowed to create a more responsive solution to urban design. The result was Peachtree Center, which became his prototype, his home, and a working laboratory for his architectural concepts. Whether the monolithic scale, abundance of interior atriums, and skyways that allow people to circulate between buildings without using the sidewalk make for ‘people-friendliness’ is part of an ongoing debate, one taken up quite adamantly by the Congress for the New Urbanism.http://www.portmanusa.com/http://www.portmanusa.com/master_plan.htmlhttp://www.portmanusa.com/master_plan.htmltabula_rasa.htmlhttp://www.peachtreecenter.com/Mall%20-%20Home.htmhttp://www.cnu.org/cnu18/http://www.cnu.org/cnu18/shapeimage_5_link_0shapeimage_5_link_1shapeimage_5_link_2shapeimage_5_link_3shapeimage_5_link_4shapeimage_5_link_5shapeimage_5_link_6