DOES ORDER IMPOSE ARCHITECTURE?

Brasilia. Photo: Joana França

Not all of the spaces that we live in today were intentionally designed, but all of them were at some point rationalised. The grid, arguably one of the most classic instances of rational urban design strategy, may appear as a constrain to buildings within it's blocks — and it is indeed. Architecture is a discipline of constrains, either by ideals, climate, politics, economics. Urban morphology is just another one, and it is inevitable. A city could be seen as 'rational'/'gridded' or as 'natural'/'organic' as possible, in either case architecture will have to be adapted to the urban constrains around the site.

The grid does mean power. Power of a common language in such a complex structure as the city. This order can, indeed liberate the smaller actors in a city to be actively play in it. In the end what matter is not the space itself, but the possibility to actively do something about it. The matter of spaces is that it may create some patterns, but it's very rare to impede people, as Jan Gehl or Jane Jacobs would argue. People adapt themselves to different situations and may even adapt spaces to their own needs. The power of people and their adaptability to spaces cannot be ignored. The grid is not the problem.