Page 38 - Vertical City
P. 38
38 The vertical city
hours in tropical zones) corresponding to a L/B value
of 3,8 (and 1,87), L being the distance between facades 21
[figures 12 and 13].
Imagine towers on a square plan of 30 meters per
side 22 situated on a square ground site. Each tower is
surrounded by a first square ring of eight others, thus
four facing them and four in prolongation of its diago-
nals.
The facades of the towers that face them are distant
by L = 30 m × 3,8 (or 1,87); they are thus distant from
axis-to-axis by Lx = 30 m × 4,8 (or 2,87) or 144 m (or
86,1 m).
The territory S occupied by each tower is equal to
144 m × 144 m = 20.736 m² (or 86,1 m × 86,1 m = 7.413 m²).
With a footprint of C = 900 m², the ground occupation
coefficient C/S is reduced to 4,34% (12,14%).
The 4 diagonal towers are a square root of two
further away, but perceived on the diagonal, a square
root of two times larger. They embrace an angle of
13°16’, in other words 53 minutes of shadow (or 23°52’
or 95 minutes in tropical zones) from the angle of the
tower, which does not modify the distance between the
axis of 144 m (or 86,1 m).
21 This theoretical model only serves to clarify thought and action.
Consulting Google Earth 3D illustrates how restrictive this rule is:
high-rise buildings are, in reality, much closer at the heart of cities.
Manhattan is a perfect example.
22 Again the actual towers do not all have 30 m sides. Their plans and
their forms vary, and what’s more often from one story to another.
This reductive hypothesis is thus proposed to stimulate a theoretical
reference model.
