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The Baselines of Public Space? Corners.
More so than public squares — which require a conscious set-aside of assembled space — corners naturally result from crossroads, the time-honored, elemental feature of travel between places.
The corner is the central place of urban life.
Ancient, grid-based Roman military towns, or castra, were planned around crossroads and their corners. The “100 percent corner” was real estate industry shorthand for flagship downtown or suburban road crossings, suitable for location of prime commercial businesses. Decision-making among retailers and residents debate the pros and cons of multi-street exposure to this day.
The corner has also been inspiration to authors and poets:
Albert Camus noted the corner as among a city’s most inventive places: “All great deeds and all great thoughts have a ridiculous beginning. Great works are often born on a street corner or in a restaurant’s revolving door”.
J.R.R. Tolkien’s poetry provided fantastical inspiration: “Still round the corner there may wait, A new road or a secret gate”.
As illustrated by the two exploratory images provided here, corners are by nature interdisciplinary, regardless of…
