CONTEMPORARY PUBLIC SPACE,

A TOPOLOGICAL ANALYSIS METHOD

Jingwen Shan

Ph.D. Candidate – Department of Architecture and Urban Studies

– Politecnico di Milano – Piazza Leonardo 26, Milano, Italy

Corresponding Author Email: [email protected]

Abstract
Along with the progressive building technology and massive urban transformation in
contemporary times, the functional and formal requirements for urban spaces are
changing as well. As a young branch of modern mathematics, topology has gradually
penetrated into the architectural field. It breeds alternative thinking methods with a
brand-new spatial dimension that makes it one of the heated trends in present urban
projects. The article begins with the status quo of European cities particularly urban
public spaces in the present day and then the elaboration of topology in urban spaces.
Subsequently, the topological design method in urban spaces will be analyzed through
actual cases, in block scale, architectural scale and urban scale respectively.
Eventually, it comes to the summarization of topology as a physical and philosophic
urban spaces design tool.

Keywords: topology; topological space; public spaces; city; scale

1. In the Era: Public Space as a Transitional Zone

Historical European cities have peculiar urban fabrics that unify buildings and blocks
in a whole and compact environment. At the opposite, in contemporary cities, this
character gets completely lost. Urban spaces are located among buildings of various
scales and styles. One of the problematic issues of historical cities today is the visual
and physical split between old and new urban fabrics. This article, based on a
comparative analysis of case studies and on exercises of architectural and urban
design, states that urban public spaces can play a pivotal role as transitional spaces
between urban fragmentations belonging to different historical ages. Nowadays,
pushed from the changes of contemporary architecture, urban spaces mutate their
nature, such as squares grown in vertical direction and complex spaces articulated in
multiple layers, often more integrated with the facades and interior space of the
surrounding buildings. For instance, the recently built Piazza Gae Aulenti, in Milan,
appears being wrapped into the building. Cantilever structure is now widely applied to
modern architectures, which leave the ground floor open public spaces while upper
floors building. Moreover, each floor plan of a contemporary architecture could shares
different shapes and even positions. In this case, urban morphology is no longer
comprehensive to analysis of urban design and public space, because it is not able to
demonstrate vertical information. Then, the article is addressed to a series of selected
public squares in Milan, analyzing construction timelines and regarding how their
impact is, in reference with connecting the low-density areas with high-density ones,
developing new relations among the surrounding buildings, exploiting new
topological characters and potential qualities. Topology is not a realistic description of
the existing place, but a possible opportunity.
2. Topology in Urban Public Space
Topology is concerned with the properties of space that are preserved under
continuous deformations, such as stretching, crumpling and bending, but not tearing
or gluing. [1] Therefore, in topology measures such as distance and angle are not
important, but shapes, relative positions, and arrangements are. Topologically, two
shapes are considered the same if one can be deformed to the other. For instance, a
doughnut is the same as a coffee cup. Topology developed as a field of study out of
geometry and set theory, through analysis of concepts such as space, dimension, and
transformation. [2] In the 17th century, Gottfried Leibniz proposed geometria situs
(Greek-Latin for "geometry of place") and analysis situs (Greek-Latin for "picking
apart of place"). The notion of ‘place’ is evidently the root for topology. Since it was
originally used to study the positional relationship between graphs, topology is also
called ‘geometry of Position’. It accidently matches up with de. Certeau's place
theory. He defines the “place” as an “instantaneous configuration of positions”.
Topological studies have shown that the shapes in reality are
mostly orientable, including 2-dimensional planes, but there
are also non-orientable ones. The Möbius strip discovered by
the German mathematicians August Ferdinand Möbius and
Johann Benedict has the mathematical property of being
unorientable. It is a surface with only one side and only one
FIGURE 1.
boundary. [3] The discovery of Möbius strip makes the space Möbius Strip
more complex, and brings infinite imagination to urban public
space design. As the French mathematician Poincaré described, topology as “the
science that allows us to know the nature of geometric bodies that exist in space
beyond the three-dimensional world”[4].
Topology as a relatively new branch of mathematics has been used in many discipline
fields. The birth of Leonhard Euler's Seven Bridges of Königsberg Problem brought
up a heat among geographers around 60s and 70s of last
century. By turning to topology in their research, they seek a
mathematical language that could capture the shifting network
of relationship. For architectural and urban design field,
topology is referenced relatively late. Nevertheless, in
contemporary architectural and urban design projects, design
that takes deformation as a form and spatial tendency is
becoming the mainstream of contemporary landmarks.
Topology is becoming a theoretical support in the field of
architectural and urban design by studying the characteristics FIGURE 2.
of objects that remain unchanged under deformation. Seven Bridges of
Königsberg Problem
Continuously streamlined and curved spatial pattern is
considered as a new styling of architecture and urban public
space, such as Möbius strip air walkway, Klein Bottle Houses, Chinese National
Aquatics Center "Water Cube” and so on.
Topology breaks through the formal language of architecture under the constraints of
Euclidean geometry and orthogonal Cartesian coordinate systems and inspires new
patterns of spatial composition. It can be dedicated to the physical form and inner
philosophy of architecture and urban spaces, creating a ground for fertile imaginations
and possibilities.
 FIGURE 3. FIGURE 4.
Möbius Strip Air Walkway Klein Bottle House

3. Topology Applications in Multi-scale

Although there are still few iconic applications of topology in architectural field so
far, analyzing urban spaces and transformations from a topological perspective is
crucial to understand the nature, formation and pattern of space, since topology
research is a qualitative research in nature rather than a quantitative one. It can
identify possibilities or impossibility; assert existence or non-existence.

1) Block Scale, Micro-terrain

Topology captures objects at different times and collects them in the same space-time,
forming a continuous 4-dimensional dynamic space model. Adding a time axis to the
original Cartesian coordinate axes, the classic Euclidean space gets collapsed,
compressed and stretched under the effect of time. We can imagine, for example, that
after getting off from Milan central station, it takes 35 minutes by walking to get to
the Cathedral of Milan, but only 7 minutes by subway. Then we can assume that the
impression of the space on the high-speed subway is compressed. Following this
logic, if we slow down the speed of passing through a place, the space will be
stretched, at least in people's perception. This way limited land can be utilized more
efficiently, especially in high-density cities. Tardiness of crossing enlarges how
people perceive the space among buildings of different historical periods with various
styles and scales, and therefore weakens the sense of huge fragmentation between the
old and new neighborhoods, and brings people physical and mental relaxation.
Taking the city of Milan as an example. As a city with excellent architectural
monuments and the fastest urban construction in Italy in the same time, Milan owns
architectures of various historical periods, from ancient Roman walls to medieval
Gothic and Renaissance buildings, international style during industrial revolution, and
digital architecture at present, is all-encompassing. This diversity is both an
opportunity and a challenge for the city. According to a social survey, most urban
residents prefer to work in skyscrapers while live in low-rise buildings. These
streamlined high-rises in Milan fulfill people's psychological needs for modernization
and high-tech as they bring a strong visual impact and novelty. But at the same time,
the huge differences in style and scale between the old and new built create a sense of
fragmentation, especially for these Milanese who live there every day. The rigid and
insufficient-transitional boundaries leave the city seems a battlefield divided by
various camps. The void between buildings ought to provide people adequate room to
breath and adapt themselves to the environment. There are several such cases in
Milan.
The City Life area that currently under
construction is one of the newest blocks in
Milan. It covers 225 thousand square
meters area and will become one of the
largest pedestrian areas in Europe. As
showed in the rendering on the left, the
area is centered on three high-rise buildings
designed by the Arata Isozaki, Daniel Libe
skind and Zaha Hadid respectively, so that
the subway station is named "Three
Towers". Among the three towers, the one
of Libeskind and the one of Hahaidid have FIGURE 5.
been constructed and open to the public Rendering of City Life Area
while Arata Isozaki’s tower is still under
construction. Being designed by outstanding post-modernism architects, three towers
appear nothing in common with the surrounding buildings that constructed during
18th and 19th centuries, neither the architecture monomer, nor the architecture
composition. For the monomer, the height of one single tower is more than ten times
higher than any building in the neighborhood, and the facades of the towers tend to be
flowing wavy forms instead of monotonous vertical and horizontal ones of the
peripheral buildings; For the composition, three towers are clustered in the center of
the block, surrounded by green vegetation that extends to the edge of the site. The
surrounding plots are in accordance with the traditional Italian street layout, on the
contrary, buildings are distributed along the border and enclose a courtyard in the
middle. In short, the new block is growing from inside to outside while the traditional
ones are growing from the outside to the inside.
The public spaces are essentially different in City Life area and its surrounding
blocks. Most of the public spaces in the traditional Milan block layout appear as
atriums that shared only by residents of this block and not with outsiders. Therefore
they can only be regarded as semi-open public spaces whose
overall characteristics can be analyzed via the basic principle of
figure-ground in urban morphology, and conclusion will be
illustrated through a simple, clear and two-dimensional way.
However, the public space in City Life area is more complex
relatively. It can be divided mainly into two parts, the square
among three towers that will be discussed in the following part of
architectural scale, and the green area between towers and
surrounding streets. The green area is a public park named "a
park between mountains and valley". It is located on the
periphery of the main buildings and has direct contact with the
surrounding environment. As the name implies, the vast green FIGURE 6.
Diagram of
vegetation is planned with slopes, which fluctuates and simulates Architectural
the spatial effects of mountains and valleys, filling the gap of Composition
form between the towers and the buildings around. Along the
sloping terrain, there are naturally streamlined trails and bicycle lanes to guide people
from outside in an open manner. This artificial micro-terrain not only enriches the
spatial form, but more importantly amplifies the surface area of the plot, allowing
people to wander longer in this place, and thereby the sense of split cause by buildings
of different historical period is weakened.
Not far from City Life area, the Park of Industrial Alfa Romeo is also somewhere that
 worth a walk, in fact it is the green area of a residential area with the same name in
Milan. The modeling of the park seems is very particular in such a city like Milan,
which still manufactures the atmosphere of "between mountains and valleys", but
being expressed in a more absurd and philosophical depiction. The micro-terrain here
is manifested by the combination of a hill and a lake, which
contains the philosophical implication of positive and
negative volume. The park is a continuous of another hill
named Montagnetta di San Siro. Both of them are built with
rubble and excavated earth, linked by a footbridge, just like FIGURE 7.
two reliefs embedded in the city of Milan, balance and Diagram of Hill and Lake
coordinate other convex and concave in the city.

2) Architecture Scale, Connectedness
We assume that different buildings are states where the same object moves to different
moments. For instance, the Roman wall is the state where the object moves to 3
seconds, the parametric building is the state where it moves to 15 seconds, and the
buildings in between these two periods can be analogized according to the same
hypothesis. Then we can try to capture the deformation laws of the movement of the
object, and calculate the characteristics of the blank public space between various
states through the conservation of energy. The relationship between traditional
architecture and public space is usually clearly divided, since there is always a 90-
degree right angle between their surfaces. However, due to the low elevation of the
building itself, people in public space do not feel much a sense of distance to the
building. After all, the urban space scales at the time when science and technology
were not sufficiently developed are humanistic. Yet nowadays, with the promotion of
technology, the elevation of the object movement is gradually increasing, as the dream
of mankind has always been getting rid of gravity through science and technology.
Corresponding to this, the blank space in between ought to be pulled up as the object
is stretched upwards, becoming a continuous surface hovering along the surface of the
object. In the absence of gravity effects, it is the prototype of Möbius strip in
topology.
The square that mentioned above in City Life area is encircled with three skyscrapers.
With curved stairs leading from the first floor to the second floor, the whole square is
a continuous, band-like surface that spirals along the building skin. As the square
ground going higher, people no longer look up to the skyscrapers around from horizon
like a frog at the bottom of a well. They have the opportunity to personally reach the
surface of the high-rises and go inside of them. Distant becomes at your fingertips. It
is the same principle of opening up the ground floor of high-rise buildings for
commerce, eliminating people's psychological distance. The surface of public space
and building facades are now connected and form a whole, which breaks through the
clear divisions of the traditional planning.
MiCo Milano Congresses in the northwest corner of City Life area borders few
industrial period buildings and some residential buildings from the 50s to the 80s.
Giving full consideration to deal with the relationship with the environs, a liquid flow-
shaped roof is designed, which spans two adjacent blocks and covers all buildings in
the blocks. On the one hand, the piece of top echoes the parametric style of City Life
area and contributes to a nice visual transition between buildings and blocks of
different construction periods. On the anther hand, it ensures the unobstructed
connectivity between adjacent blocks. Pedestrians under one single roof can walk
through freely, regardless of seasonal weather changes. The void between buildings is
no longer just a passing tunnel, but a place where public lives take place.
Another upcoming architecture in City Life area, the Museum
of Contemporary Art by Daniel Libeskind, has also strong
topological features. The building itself is a dynamic process.
It has a five-story vertical structure， as it moves upwards,
each layer continuously rotates to create a fluid geometry that
transforms into a circular terrace at the top. " A highly
suggestive geometrical evolution on a vertical axis that recalls
not only Leonardo da Vinci's golden section but also spherical
astronomy and the process of evolution of art itself, which
derives its beauty from the dynamics of transformation, the
overlapping of images and the movement of different
geometrical figures." [5] Applied advanced materials and
FIGURE 8.
building technology, the building pursues the highest level of
Rendering of Museum of environmental compatibility and zero-impact the rest of urban
Contemporary Art life. Moreover, the topological dynamics respond as flexibly
FIGURE 9.
Conceptual Diagram
as possible to today's unpredictable needs in the contemporary
art space.
There is a relatively complete preservation of architecture and public space in Milan
during all periods of time. Therefore, many other plots in the city deserve to be
studied and compared. The next step of the research is in-depth study of the following
selected public squares with a topological approach in order to obtain a longitudinal
comparison.

Research Objects:
PUBLIC SQUARE NAME YEAR AREA PEROID
Colonne di San Lorenzo 4 A.D (1935) 1.750 m2 Ancient Roman, medieval
Piazza del Duomo di Milano 14 A.D. 17.000 m2 Gothic, neoclassical
Arco della Pace 1838 16.000 m2 Neoclassical
Piazza XXIV Maggio 1802 (2014) 19.000 m2 Neoclassical
Gallaratese II Housing 1972 5.500 m2 Modern
Piazza Duca d’Aosta 1994 26.000 m2 Contemporary
Hangar Bicocca Milano 2004 1.500 m2 Modern renovation
Piazza Gae Aulenti 2012 7.850 m2 Contemporary

3) Urban Scale, Dynamic Balance

The ideal topological urban model is to allow the various elements and energy in the
city to be crossed and parallel but remain order in the same time. The popular urban
planning nowadays are the regular grids of Manhattan or Barcelona, which is in
contrast to the seemingly undisciplined urban fabric of Mumbai. On the streets, cars,
people and cattle walk through each other without causing any traffic accidents. With
the second biggest population in India, Mumbai has continued to develop apace in
recent years. The city has superior natural conditions, owning a deep natural water
harbor, several world cultural heritages and the national park. However, this city is
carrying a huge flow of people and goods, which is a challenge to city planning and
design. How to maintain the order of the city and ensure people's quality of life in
such a dense environment is a question. Although Mumbai still needs to improve the
efficiency of land use and housing, but the vitality of the city cannot be ignored. This
kind of vitality is the source of life that is extremely lacking in many cities under strict
planning.
Topology as a tool and method can capture and analyze the hidden energy and flow
trajectory in cities, then establish a 4-dimentional abstract space model where
activities, flows, logistics and other energies in each periods of time are all recorded.
When the 4-dimensional virtual model meets the physical environment, the output
will be more thoughtful and intelligent, because it understands more the specific
needs of various energy and balances them better than a rigid “lattice” city.

4. Reflections triggered by new spatial forms

There are evident indications that the inclination of topology penetrating into urban
spaces design. Topology as a neo design tool plays a consequential role in urban
design, and topological space as an innovatory spatial form has a great potential for
exploration. Thanks to the rapid development of science and technology, the scientific
investigation of outer space is accelerating, and the veil of the enigmatic space beyond
the earth is being uncovered layer by layer, such
as dark matter and quantum etc., which are
gradually discovered and perceived by
scientists. The traditional notion of spatial
dimension will become the past while the multi-
dimensional spatial image will be confirmed by
science and widely applied. The transformation
and expression of topology today cannot yet be
arbitrarily implemented since the construction
on the earth is restricted by gravity. But one day, FIGURE 10.
if the science and technology are sufficiently An illustration about gravity
advanced, humans could build cities, buildings
and parks in an environment without gravity effects, maybe on the earth or another
planet. By that time, people will be able to walk along the unorientable surface and
through the multi-dimensional space, like in a wonderland. Although the research on
topology is only at the initial stage, it has become a trend to use topology methods to
analyze and solve spatial design issues. The moment of topology in urban spaces
design is coming.
As Prof. Christophe Girot, Chair of Landscape of Architecture of ETH said,

[Topology] is to integrate heterogeneous fields of action that can be both

physical and philosophical and scientific and poetic – integrating past, present,
and future potentials into a single meaningful whole. It will bring different
design disciplines together to work on a better understanding of [public space]
as a surface and a space in all its inherent beauty and wonder. [6]

5. Acknowledgement
First, I appreciate the advising and patience my Ph.D. supervisor, Prof. Laura
Montedoro has been giving me. Second, I would like to thank Prof. Alessandro Rocca,
who first introduced the CA2RE research conference and tutored me along the
process. The last but no least, thank Prof. Luca Basso Peressut, my Ph.D. coordinator,
head of Dastu department of Politecnico di Milano for his concern and guidance from
the first beginning of my Ph.D. journey.

6. Funding
This paper work is sponsored by China Scholarship Council.

7. Annotation
1. “The definition of topology”
2. Bruner, Robert (2000). What is Topology? A short and idiosyncratic answer
3. Clifford A. Pickover (2005). The Möbius strip: Dr. August Möbius's marvelous
band in mathematics, games, literature, art, technology, and cosmology. Thunder's
Mouth Press
4. Michele Emmer (2005). Mathland: The Role of Mathematics in Virtual
Architecture, Nexus Network Journal. Vol 7, No 2, 2005, p. 77
5. www.itsliquid.com
6. Christophe Girot. Topology – A new measure of quality in landscape architecture

8. References
1. Deluze. The diagram [M].
2. Ray Laurence, David J. Newsome (2011). Rome, Ostia, Pompeii: movement and
space [M]. Oxford university press, Oxford University Press.
3. Maurice Klein, Zhang Zugui (2005). Mathematics in western culture [M]. Fudan
University Press
4. Stephen Bar, Xu Ming (2002). Topological experiment [M]. Shanghai Education
Press
5. Christian Noble-Schultz (2005). Meaning of western architecture [M]. China
Building Industry Press
6. Bruno Zevi (2006). Architectural space theory: how to comment on architecture
[M]. China Building Industry Press
7. Adams et al. (2010). Topology and application [M]. Press of Mechanical Industry

9. Images/Illustrations
FIGURE 1. Möbius Strip. Auther
FIGURE 2. Seven Bridges of Königsberg Problem. Baike.baidu.com
FIGURE 3. Möbius Strip Air Walkway. Blog.renren.com
FIGURE 4. Klein Bottle House. Blog.renren.com
FIGURE 5. Rendering of City Life Area. City-life.it
FIGURE 6. Diagram of Architectural Composition. Auther
FIGURE 7. Diagram of Hill and Lake. Auther
FIGURE 8. Rendering of Museum of Contemporary Art. Hayes Davidson
FIGURE 9. Conceptual Diagram Image. Studio daniel libeskind
FIGURE 10. An illustration about gravity. Julien Pacaud