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TMP Article:
Introducing The New Urban Guild
 Theory Meets Practice through the implementation of great ideas into solid reality.
Jeff Schommer, CharretteCenter
Duluth, MN
September 2005 | Click Here
to open the printable pdf
of this Article. (26kb) |
The New Urban Guild is a collection of professionals who practice architecture and town building at the scale of the human being, a tried and true method of building timeless, economically and environmentally sustainable places for people to live, work and play. The goal of the Guild is to move modern architecture from the phase of designing towns around the auto and designing buildings as “machines for people” and into a phase of town building “when the practitioners have assembled such a compelling body of work that the academies will begin to teach the architectural languages of humanity once again, rather than the languages of the machine.”
The Guild acts as an agent for architects who perform a number of services for developers and builders in the interest of building great places. Seasonal workshops are held which focus on certain topics in traditional building design and detailing. For example, the November 2005 workshop revolves around doors and windows. This workshop is being held on South Beach in Miami Beach, Florida, November 10 - 11, 2005. The New Urban Guild also provides services tailored to the development process. Each service serves a distinct purpose at a specific point in the building of a neighborhood. Their services are a sort of a la carte menu for aid in building a traditional, human scaled and oriented community.
Charrettes - This is the central service provided by Guild members. Architectural Charrettes to be done after the master plan charrettes. Architectural charrettes develop the architectural patterns that will fill in the urban plan patterns. The Guild suggests three types of Architectural charrettes and can link developers and builders with practitioners.
Plan - Plan revisions are best accomplished by the original architect. The Guild will put the purchaser of stock plans in contact with the original architect, at which point the revision terms are negotiated directly between purchaser and architect.”
Custom Design - The Guild can link interested parties with architects who understand traditional, human oriented design for custom design projects.
Design Review - The Guild uses and innovative design review process in conjunction with developer, contractor and architect including site visits and resulting in a general education of all involved in the principles of human oriented design.
Builders’ Seminars - A beginners and an intermediate seminar are designed for builders in the development process.
Builders’ Workshops - More in depth teaching sessions for the “how to’s” of actual construction of traditional elements.
Tours - Three different tours of unique and distinct areas of the southeastern US give insights to those in the development process about some of the greatest and most loved of the U.S.’s urban areas, both the historic core neighborhoods that have stood the test of time, and the new communities where builders are attempting to create a sustainable longevity. These tours show by example what works… and what doesn’t.
The Guild also offers studies on precedents from books on theory to CAD libraries, can provide speakers for events and many other services and information to help in the building of timeless places. Check the website for articles about the practice of human scaled design and information on Guild speaking engagements.
Visit the New Urban Guild at www.newurbanguild.com for more information about the services that they provide and for information on designing through the language of humanity. |
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