urged its possibilities for the much grander conception of an entirely new city, in which a great underground railway station would form the junction between the residential and business districts, and the city area, formerly occupied to the extent of 70 to 80 per cent. by tightly packed low buildings, would be transformed into wide-open spaces with only 5 per cent. of ground occupied by building and the rest devoted to great arteries, garages and parks. It would be a city “en hauteur. ” “The parks at the
feet of the skyscrapers would turn the streets of this new city into an immense garden. ”
Inspired perhaps by ideas similar to those of Le Corbusier and Jeanneret, Raymond Hood, the architect of the American Radiator Building and the Chicago Tribune Tower, has evolved plans for the zoning of New York by methods far more drastic than the scheme of setbacks which is the best provision so far made for safeguarding light and air, but which does not touch the root of the real problem,
public circulation in the streets. Mr. Hood’s proposals, like those of the French architects, call for a series of tower buildings; its interest lies not only in the effect produced, but in the means by which the scheme could be carried out,
In the first place, Mr. Hood believes that the suggested plan will increase the profit of the owner who takes advantage of it, that it will develop automatically, and at no cost to the city; the revision of present building laws is all that is necessary to put the plan immediately in force. Mr. Hood calls his plan a “Tower City. ” It is based on establishing a proportion between the amount of occupied floor space in the city and the amount of public circulation space on the streets, such that there would be ample street space for traffic; and once established, the proportion would be kept constant. A property owner desiring to increase his building beyond the prescribed limits would be obliged fo increase proportionately the street
AN OPERATION IN THE MIDDLE OF A BLOCK.
feet of the skyscrapers would turn the streets of this new city into an immense garden. ”
Inspired perhaps by ideas similar to those of Le Corbusier and Jeanneret, Raymond Hood, the architect of the American Radiator Building and the Chicago Tribune Tower, has evolved plans for the zoning of New York by methods far more drastic than the scheme of setbacks which is the best provision so far made for safeguarding light and air, but which does not touch the root of the real problem,
public circulation in the streets. Mr. Hood’s proposals, like those of the French architects, call for a series of tower buildings; its interest lies not only in the effect produced, but in the means by which the scheme could be carried out,
In the first place, Mr. Hood believes that the suggested plan will increase the profit of the owner who takes advantage of it, that it will develop automatically, and at no cost to the city; the revision of present building laws is all that is necessary to put the plan immediately in force. Mr. Hood calls his plan a “Tower City. ” It is based on establishing a proportion between the amount of occupied floor space in the city and the amount of public circulation space on the streets, such that there would be ample street space for traffic; and once established, the proportion would be kept constant. A property owner desiring to increase his building beyond the prescribed limits would be obliged fo increase proportionately the street
AN OPERATION IN THE MIDDLE OF A BLOCK.