Author Suzanne H. Crowhurst Lennard offers an online excerpt and summary of her book, "Genius of the European Town Square."
"There is no simple formula for a successful square, and every square is unique. The greatest squares are fan shaped (Siena), trapezoidal (Venice's Piazza San Marco), rectangular (Ascoli Piceno), triangular (Tübingen), funnel shaped (Telc), elliptical (Vigevano), oval (Verona), square (Salamanca), square-doughnut shaped (Krakow), or triangular-doughnut shaped (Olomouc), or they are broadened streets visually closed at each end (Landshut)...
The placement of buildings around the perimeter transforms the square into a three dimensional composition; more imposing buildings, spires and campanile articulate the vertical axis, increasing dramatic effects..."
Thanks to The Practice of New Urbanism listserv
Read the full story: Genius of the European Town Square
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