Product Description

What would a town be without squares? It is precisely these open spaces which give the built areas their meaning, function and character. Squares provide a breathing space within the structure of the city, separating and joining. They are the stage for urban actors, the heart of political and social life of an urban community, and as such designing new squares or redesigning existing ones is one of the most delightful tasks for architects, urban planners and landscape architects. Open-air and multi-functional, squares are always unique and more strongly defined by their surroundings than buildings. PThis book presents the best and most attractive squares which have been presented in individual Topos magazines since 1993. It contains successful examples from Barcelona, Lyon, Reykjavik, Verona, Dublin, and Vienna. Some of the examples, for instance, the Schouwerburgplein in Rotterdam, the Place des Terraux in Lyon or the Gustav-Adolf-Torg in Malmö were much discussed even criticized. Yet they bear the confident signature of their designer and a distinctive interplay of material and form, art and commerce, work and fun.