Menu
Office of Urban Regulation

Design Rules and Design With Rules!

Cities as cultural products are neither ‘built’ nor ‘planned,’ at best they are guided and steered in a certain direction. Therefore, rules and regulations are one of the few tools that are actually suitable to guide future development within such collective and complex urban settings.

We strongly believe that the field of (urban) design should not simply adhere to these standards as some neutrally existing context but should actively engage in discussing them in order to make them subject to design as well. read more

Office for urban regulation

Gentlemen’s Agreement

New York

An agreement exists according to which taller structures will maintain an appropriate distance from the UN Secretariat Building. This is true at least for all buildings taller than the 38 stories of the UN tower.

  • However Donald Trump did not really adhere to that rule.
  • And put his 260 m tall One World Tower in a very prominent location.

Rule category

Motivation
Contextual Regimes: issues depending on the immediate context and its preservation, economic and social regimes, traditions, etc.
The Kind of Rule
Rule that works as reference, ratio, or dependency.
Rule that is tied to a certain zone.
Rule that stipulates an upper limit.
Domain
Rule that has a strong influence on urban density and its distribution.
Rule with direct impact on architectural or urban form.
Rule that regulates building heights.
Scale
General Land Use: Rule that specifies land use in general.
District Related Rule: Rule that relates to a whole city district and its identity.