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Lessons from Rome 1: Every Man’s House Is His Palazzo

/ pmzeren / Leave a comment
By Pauline Marie Zeren 
This post is the first in a series of Lessons from Rome. I am delighted that Tamara has invited me to comment here on some elements of urban design in Rome that are useful tools for creative thinking about modern cities.  To read more about my current projects, you can visit https://tiberisrestaurandus.wordpress.com/
In her post about Urban Fabric Pizza Tamara describes the urban experience that is possible when a place is defined by including– by building types-instead of excluding– by building uses. In Rome a key ingredient in the inclusive urban fabric is the palazzo building type.  We could say that it is the cheese the holds the neighborhood together.
If every man’s house is his castle, in Rome that castle is often literally a palace, or palazzo.  The palazzo developed from the ancient Mediterranean courtyard house.  In courtyard houses, extended family groups utilize flexible indoor and outdoor spaces to socialize and create household goods.
House of the Faun, Pompeii. Image: "HoFBuildingPlan". Licensed under PD-US via Wikipedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:HoFBuildingPlan.gif#mediaviewer/File:HoFBuildingPlan.gif

House of the Faun, Pompeii.     Image: “HoFBuildingPlan”. Licensed under PD-US via Wikipedia

The Evolution of the Palazzo
As Roman houses developed through the medieval period, added elements of fortification, such as towers and gated doors, served a practical purpose in a city that was often besieged.

the medieval Torre della scimmia as painted by Ettore Roessler-Franz

The medieval Torre Della Scimmia as painted by Ettore Roessler-Franz

In the renaissance palazzo, this culture of fortified multipurpose spaces was refined by the addition of the symbolic language of classical forms.  Literate or not, the average Roman would understand from the architectural design something of the civic importance of the family inhabiting a palazzo.
Palazzo Altemps, with a decorative loggia in place of a defensive tower.

Palazzo Altemps, with a decorative loggia in place of a defensive tower.

Interior courtyard of Palazzo Altemps

Interior courtyard of Palazzo Altemps

 A Mix of Uses in the Renaissance Palazzo
The basic form of the renaissance palazzo has three parts. The base of the building, containing a large door and courtyard, was a place for business and for secure storage.  Above this, an elevated and enlarged floor, called the piano nobile, held the important public spaces of the noble family.  The floors above the piano nobile, the top of the building, could be subsidiary family space or room for tenants, and staff.

Palazzo Altemps Courtyard

Interior courtyard of Palazzo Altemps, showing middle Piano Nobile zone.

A single palazzo building could therefore contain commercial, residential, and industrial spaces, all united by the patronage of the noble landlord.  Rather than keeping different activities and uses in different buildings, the Palazzo keeps them all together, separated by floor, room, or hall.

QMZ Palazzo diagram 1

Infinite Flexibility is Sustainable and Helps Build Community
As an urban building type, the palazzo form has the advantage of infinite flexibility.  Because a palazzo is not designed for any one purpose, many different uses may come and go in the same building over the course of its history, provided the basic construction is  of durable materials.

The diversity of residential space adds another kind of flexibility.  Romans of different social and economic status live and work in the same building today, as they always have.  A rich public life is possible because of this diversity.  All classes of citizen are represented in the neighborhood markets, festivals, and daily routines.

The Magic of the Six Story Building
There is also an apparent limitation in the palazzo form which actually has had an advantageous effect on Roman urban life.  Load bearing masonry construction limited the height of the renaissance palazzo to about six stories.   This limitation to the number of upper residential floors provides neighborhoods with a population density high enough to support commerce, but low enough that a resident can know their neighbors.  It supports the kind of relationships necessary for civic life.   In short, it makes it possible to know one’s neighbors.   This height limitation also means that an elevator is also not an absolute necessity, and a comfortable walk up a stair, like a comfortable walk down a street, is good for the citizen.

QMZ Palazzo diagram 2
Graceful Integration
In contrast to Roman neighborhoods, many American cities separate uses into distinct geographical areas: the suburb, the shopping district, and the industrial park.  This separation was once an understandable response by city planners to the changes which the industrial revolution brought to the nature of work.  No one wants to live next to a giant glue factory after all.  However, the physical environment that results from separated uses has other trials: long commutes, over-sized industries with related pollution, isolated residences for separated socioeconomic classes.  Perhaps it is time to revisit the graceful integration possible with the vertical urban walk of a palazzo.
PalazzoTypesEdited

Diagram of an ideal Palazzo (left) and the variations possible due to site constraints (center and right)

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Transforming Empty Storefronts 1: Pop-up Shops

/ Tamara Nicholl-Smith / Leave a comment

By Tamara Nicholl-Smith

When I began my work with Downtown South Bend, Inc. (DTSB) in the summer of 2010, there were five empty storefronts on the primary retail block in the downtown. The Holiday Pop-up Shop Program was the remedy we cultivated in cooperation with the redevelopment commission, private landowners, the real estate community, existing shop and restaurant owners, and a small band of volunteers.

AllEmpty
Downtown South Bend main retail block in 2010. 

Program Overview

The program offered start-up and established retailers no-cost short-term leases (November – December) in a downtown South Bend storefront through a juried selection process. Businesses were selected based on the following criteria:

  • The appeal of their product mix to holiday shoppers,
  • How well their concept worked in synergy with established full-time tenants,
  • Their ability to add excitement to the festive holiday atmosphere through in-store events, promotions, and
  • The quality of their proposed window displays.

DTSB promoted the locations and hours of the pop-up shops in conjunction with advertising and marketing of downtown holiday events and activities.

Program Goals

  1. To provide the retail density necessary to support current downtown retailers/restaurants.
  2. To build upon the success of existing downtown holiday activities.
  3. To leverage the opportunity and good will presented by the program to develop long-term lease prospects for the spaces.
  4. To shift the downtown retail narrative in the media and populace.
  5. Create hope in the midst of a recession through a successful short-term wins.

Additional Benefits

Through the juried application process the Pop-Up Shop Program gave DTSB a say in the downtown business mix, a decision usually left only to the real estate agents representing the building owners. This allowed DTSB to work from a cohesive overarching vision.

By lowering the barriers to entry to a brick and mortar storefront, local entrepreneurs had a way to test their ideas in the market place and determine if shop ownership was truly a fit for their lives.

Toolkit

Below are the documents we created to run the program. You are free to download them and use them as the basis for your own community’s initiative. There is only one catch, you must acknowledge the City of South Bend, and Downtown South Bend, Inc. as the source of inspiration for your project. That’s it. Otherwise, they are free!

Results:

Several of the pop-up shops remained and became permanent downtown businesses. Others, inspired by their positive experience returned at a later date, once an appropriate space was located.

Results by Year

  • In 2010, one out of the four pop-up shops signed a lease and remained.
  • In 2011, one of out the four pop-up shops, inspired by their success signed a lease and opened that spring.
  • In 2012 three out of eight pop-up shops signed a lease and remained. An additional fourth shop found a permanent downtown location the following year.

ImagineThat_all
In 2010, this empty storefront was transformed by Pop-Up Shop participants into a toy store and arts collective called Imagine That! 

Considerations

The rapid turn-round and intense amount of energy required to participate in the pop-up shop program seemed to favor the co-op model of business where many individuals, all with a stake in the game were involved. However, the permanent storefront seems to benefit from the single-owner model.

Final Thoughts

Solutions are contextual. The pop-up shop program was created out of a set of circumstances brought about by the recession.  The program proved to be a necessary intervention when the usual tactics yielded no results.

We always considered the program a temporary measure. One day, we hoped, the country would no longer be embroiled in a recession. Real estate prices would rebound, retail sales would recover, families would stabilize in homes, and downtown would once again be a vibrant center of retail, restaurants, and cultural activities.

Indeed after four very successful years (2010-2013), the program in Downtown South-Bend is being discontinued in favor of a year-long business incubation program currently in development. Meanwhile, downtown South Bend is stronger than it was before the recession because of the number of people engaged in its successes, specifically the number of people who are NOT employees of Downtown South Bend, Inc. or the City of South Bend who stake some claim of ownership in the downtown, and who each day, through their own personal connections are ambassadors and defenders of a vibrant downtown community.

Perhaps most importantly, the program brought hope.

Hope
Photos from 2010 and 2011 pop-up shop grand openings. 

Media Articles

Other Pop-up Shop Programs

View the links below to see how other places have implemented their pop-up shop programs. Each was designed to address different challenges within distinctly different contexts.

Contact Tamara Nicholl-Smith through LinkedIn.

Note: Posts of this sort are intended to serve as a toolkit for those in the field. This post will be permanently linked from the Theory in Action page. If you know of other programs like this not mentioned in this post, please share them in a comment.