Grafisk skärpa : ett arbete om gaturummet

Abstract: The streetscape is a complex environment with a lot of different parts and users. If you look at the streetscapes main parts you have floor, walls, roof and furniture. The floor in the streetscape, the street, consists of the ground and the paving. It can be made of a lot of different materials with both architectonic and practical functions. The walls usually consist of the houses. They have a big influence on the streetscape depending on architecture, heights and widths. The houses meet the sky with a roof-foot. This can be even or uneven. The houses meet the street with a socket. The different parts can either help or break the streetscape in its form. The roof in the streetscape often consists of the sky unless it has a built roof as in the case of malls. It can also be crossed by different built construction creating a more evident roof. The streetscape also consists of smaller parts. We call them furniture. It is benches, bicycle stands, sculptures and last but not least all the signs. Both commercial signs but a lot of traffic signs. The traffic signs are there for the safety and the more complex the traffic situation is you need more signs. However the design can reduce the need for signs. There are many people moving around in the streetscape. How they move can be controlled by the design. The people are important for the streetscape and it is form them we want to create well functioning streetscape and find solutions so that pedestrians and cars can coexist like with Shared space where you don't use regulations, signs or traffic separation. The term graphic sharpness is used sometimes to describe architecture. Graphic sharpness stands for clearness and simplicity. In photography we find graphic sharpness in the lines and what they do for the streetscape. The pictures have diagonals, verticals and horizontals that affect our experience. In the streetscape we find lines in the houses, roadways and different surfaces. It can be small details in shadows that give the graphic sharpness or big surfaces and shapes. The graphic sharpness doesn't work in all environments. Creating distinct spaces that leads to safe and beautiful environments is never wrong. Where bicyclist and pedestrian surfaces becomes clear and the direction of the room is emphasised. If the graphic sharpness on the other hand creates places that are too simplified and sterile it won't be very attractive for people. But there are environments where the thoughts of graphic sharpness can make these places complete. Graphic sharpness together with the idea of the composition of the lines gives a new way of looking at places and gives an extra dimension to the analyses of streetscapes.