Urban morphology and architectural design of city edges and vertical connections in historical contexts

The papers considers, with a comparative approach, the architecture of vertical connections and city edges. We hypothize that the city edge, when its elevation overwhelms the surrounding urban fabric, cannot be redesigned within a basic typological repertoire. This research considers the transformations of the edge in historical towns looking at the architectural models used and investigating on the contextual deformations impressed. The design of vertical connections between different city levels redefines the image of the city from its meaningful points of view, changing the collectively recognized city image. A repertoire of models, typized according to the morphology of the site, is the base for a new theory outlining which parameters (i.e. measure, elevation, slope, and major urban nodalities) to use to deform models in each context. The study cases range throughout all history of architecture focusing on some pre-modern examples such as Laurana’s Torricini façade in the Palazzo Ducale of Urbino.The papers considers, with a comparative approach, the architecture of vertical connections and city edges. We hypothize that the city edge, when its elevation overwhelms the surrounding urban fabric, cannot be redesigned within a basic typological repertoire. This research considers the transformations of the edge in historical towns looking at the architectural models used and investigating on the contextual deformations impressed. The design of vertical connections between different city levels redefines the image of the city from its meaningful points of view, chianging the collectively recognized city image. A repertoire of models, typized according to the morphology of the site, is the base for a new theory outlining which parameters (i.e. measure, elevation, slope, and major urban nodalities) to use to deform models in each context. The study cases range throughout all history of architecture focusing on some pre-modern examples such as Laurana’s Torricini façade in the Palazzo Ducale of Urbino.