mapping the cultural landscape of san antonio

Mapping the Cultural Landscape of San Antonio

The study of the process whereby an antecedent rural landscape translates itself into urban form has hardly begun. And yet pre-urban land division may well be the most fundamental determinant for the irregular city-forms of all

ages. The main problem is that it is very hard, when not actually impossible, to reconstruct this initial landscape either through field work or documents.

Spiro Kostoff, The City Shaped

Cultural Landscape

What is it, and why should it be considered?

A cultural landscape is the result of the human imprint on the natural realm, the natural landscape fashioned

by the hand of man.

The term originates from anthropological studies to more fully understand and explain the contextual

relationships in social studies.

How is the cultural landscape useful for architects?

Lewis MumfordThe Culture of Cities, Contrapuntal Order

Edmund BaconThe City as an Act of Will, Simultaneity of Movement, Form, and Space

Kevin LynchNormative Theory, Human Values and Settlement Form Relationships

Christopher AlexanderPattern Language, Incremental Timelessness

Spiro KostoffForm as Receptacle of Meaning, The Urban Process

Rowe and KoetterThe City as Collage, Bricolage, the Architect as Bricoleur

GENERAL RELATIONAL ATTRIBUTES OF A CULTURAL LANDSCAPE

NATURAL REALMGeomorphology

ClimateWaterSoils

Flora/Fauna

HUMAN IMPRINTLand TenureInfrastructureArchitectureLandscapeEquipment

VANTAGETimeScale

MovementPosition

Involvement

TEXAS CITIES URBAN FORMRadial/Concentric

Regional Scale

San AntonioHouston

Dallas/Fort Worth

THE IRREGULAR CITY FORM

The study of the process whereby an antecedent rural landscape translates itself into urban form has hardly begun. And yet pre-

urban land division may well be the most fundamental determinant for the irregular city-forms of all ages. The main problem is that it is very hard, when not actually impossible, to reconstruct this initial

landscape either through field work or documents.

Spiro Kostoff, The City Shaped

METHODOLOGY

ARCHIVAL RESEARCHHistoric MapsDeed Records

Historic NarrativesContemporary Maps

FIELD INVESTIGATIONGround Investigation

Aerial Reconnaissance

RECONSTRUCTIONComparable Scale

Graphic Consistency

Measure is intrinsic to the design, habitation, and representation of land. It underlies the variety of ways land is traversed and

negotiated; it enables the spacing, marking, delineation, and occupation of a given terrain; and it reflects the values and

judgments of the society that lives upon the land…Measure, then, is as much a conceptual apparatus as it is a mode of representation,

facilitating events while constructing a particular world.

James Corner, Taking Measures Across the American Landscape

1722 Presidio and Mision San AntonioAguayo Expedition

1730Royal Plan for San Fernando Villasenior

1767Map of San Antonio de BexarUrrutia

1873 Bird’s Eye View of San Antonio, Augustus Koch

1911Map of Congested District San Antonio Sanborn Insurance Map

1965Quadrangle Map 7.5 Minute Series USGS

1725Rio San AntonioArroyo San PedroPresidio de BexarMision San Antonio de ValeroCaminos RealesAcequia MadreAcequia Principal

Presidio de BexarMision San Antonio de Valero

Rio San AntonioArroyo San PedroPresidio de BexarMision San Antonio de ValeroCaminos RealesAcequia MadreAcequia Principal

1725Presidio de BexarMision San Antonio de Valero

The Laws of the Indies regulated social, political and economic life in the American and Philippine Spanish Colonies and provided the planning precepts for the formation of settlements and towns..

The laws were compiled several times,

most notably in 1680 under Charles II in the Recopilación de las Leyes de los Reynos de Indias (Compilation of the Laws of the Kingdoms of the Indies).

The laws emphasized respect for native populations.

LAWS OF THE INDIES1573 King Philip II Spanish Ordinances for New Towns

“…choose the province, county, and place which will be settled taking into consideration the health of the area which will be known from the abundance of old men or of young men of good complexion, natural fitness and colour, and without illness; and in the abundance of healthy animals of sufficient size, and of healthy fruits and fields where no toxic or noxious things are grown, but that it be of good climate, the sky clear and benign, the air pure and soft, without impediment or alterations and of good temperature, without excessive heat or cold…and they should be in fertile areas with an abundance of fruits and fields, of good land to plant and harvest, of grasslands to grow livestock, of mountains and forests for wood and building materials for homes and edifices, and of good and plentiful water supply for drinking and irrigation.”


• the health of the area [as evidenced by healthy inhabitants]…• abundance of healthy animals…• healthy fruits and fields where no toxic or noxious things are

grown..• good climate, • the sky clear and benign, • the air pure and soft…and of good temperature, without

excessive heat or cold… • fertile areas with an abundance of fruits and fields… • good land to plant and harvest… • grasslands to grow livestock… • mountains and forests for wood and building materials… • good and plentiful water supply for drinking and irrigation.”


CLEAN AIR

CLEAN WATER

SITE LOCATION/CLIMATE(ENVIRONMENTAL COMFORT)

DIVERSE RESOURCES(SUSTAINABILITY)

FERTILE SOIL

(HEALTHY FOODS)



Grid Town Plan

PLAZAMinimum Size

200’x300’Optimum Size

400’x600’Maximum Size

300’x800’Ideal Proportion2:3 width/length

Arcades on all sidesPrimary buildings

STREETSBasis for town grid45 degrees to the

cardinal points12 streets converge

on Plaza4 main center streets4 pairs each corner

Arcades at main streets

MEASUREVara

32.89 inchesLeague (linear)feet, 2.7 milesLeague (area)1,728 acres,

7.29 square milesGun Blast

200-300 yards

SPANISH COLONIAL MEASURE

1750Villa San FernandoPotreroPropiosCaminos RealesAcequia Madre expansionsAcequia Principal expansionsAcequia Pajalache

Villa San Fernando

Villa San FernandoPotreroPropiosCaminos RealesAcequia Madre expansionsAcequia Principal expansionsAcequia Pajalache

1750Villa San Fernando

SAN ANTONIO de BEJAR

Villa de San AntonioPueblo del AlamoMision ConcepcionMision San JoseMision San JuanMision Espada

1800

Villa de San AntonioPueblo del AlamoMision ConcepcionMision San JoseMision San JuanMision Espada


1800

Acequia PrincipalAcequia MadreAcequia PajalacheAcequia San JoseAcequia San JuanAcequia Espada


1800

8 League GrantHilltopsFordsCaminos Reales


1800

Barrio del NortePotreroPueblo del AlamoBarrio del SurLareditoCamino RealesAcequia Labor ArribaAcequia Madre expansion

1800Villa de San Antonio


Barrio del NortePotreroPueblo del AlamoBarrio del SurLareditoCamino RealesAcequia Labor ArribaAcequia Madre expansion

Barrio del NortePotreroPueblo del AlamoBarrio del SurLareditoCamino RealesAcequia Labor ArribaAcequia Madre expansionAlameda


Plat of the City Tract of San Antonio de Bexar

Francois Giraud, SurveyorTheodore Gentilz, Draughtsman

1852

Disposition of Public Lands

Land Ordinance of 1785Required land be surveyed and recorded on the plat before settlement.

1852

RailroadsPublic Space

City of San Antonio

1875

Streetcar TransitRiver ChannelizationBridges

City of San Antonio

1925

1925City of San Antonio

Streetcar TransitRiver ChannelizationBridges

Expressway SystemStreet Closures

City of San Antonio

2000

City of San Antonio

2000Expressway SystemStreet Closures

2000Regional TransportationExpressway System

2000Regional TransportationRailroad System

Street Pattern Types

Caminos Reales

Laws of the Indies

Acequia

Mission Land Grant

Spanish Land Grant

Ranch Grant

Cardinal Grid

West Side Grid

Railroad

Radial

Drainage

Hillside

Expressway

San Antonio’s urban fabric is a

mosaic of geomorphic, radial and gridiron street

patterns that overlay the natural divide between hill

country and prairie, resulting in

an episodic and polymorphic city

form.

Polymorphic City Form

SAN ANTONIO CULTURAL LANDSCAPE

Laws of the IndiesClassical/Geomorphic Grid

17th century planning precepts for Spanish Colonial towns promoted a uniform street grid with a central plaza. This ideal form is well adapted to the course alignment of the San Antonio River and San Pedro Creek.

Spanish Land GrantMetes & Bounds - Geomorphic

Boundaries establishing the 1733 Land Grant also connected strategic point of defense and access: hilltops along the northern boundaries and water crossings along the southern boundaries. Aransas, Ogden, Jackson Keller, Hillcrest, Acme and Nogalitos mark the limits of Villa San Fernando.

TerrainTopography/Drainage

Open gravity flow irrigation channels for agricultural and domestic water were in use for more than half of San Antonio’s history. Their courses became geometric determinants in subsequent urbanization. SAN ANTONIO CULTURAL LANDSCAPE

AcequiaGeomorphic –

Linear/Orthogonal

The geomorphographic character is determined by the geology, soils, flora, climate, and resultant land form.

Secularization of missions Concepcion, San Jose, San Juan and Espada resulted in land grants with narrow frontage on the San Antonio River and extremely long side boundaries oriented east/west.

Payments of land by the Republic of Texas for military service encouraged settlement north of the 1733 Spanish Land Grant. The parcel configuration is aligned with the NE and NW boundaries of the 1733 grant.

Mission Land GrantLinear/Orthogonal

Ranch GrantGridiron

Cardinal GridTownship

Streets that follow the 1852 subdivision of the propios for public auction. The majority of the streets are oriented true north; the west side grid streets are slightly east of north due to initial alignment with San Pedro Creek.

Many Spanish Colonial regional roads followed the preexisting indigenous trail network between strategic destinations. The convergence of these roads emerged as radials imbedded in the expanding city.SAN ANTONIO CULTURAL LANDSCAPE

Caminos RealesRadial

DrainageGeomorphic Stream Bed

HillsideGeomorphic

Closely related to Riparian Streets, Hillside Streets are associated more with steeper grades remote from significant streambeds. Primary streets are parallel with contours to provide terracing and secondary streets orthogonally traverse the slope.

RailroadRadial Pattern

Rail lines generally follow the earlier Caminos Reales and so approach the center in

radial pattern until squaring up with the cardinal

alignment of downtown streets.

Drainage pattern streets are physiographically similar to acequia pattern streets as they are designed to convey water, but drainage streets are for the confluence of runoff rather than distribution of irrigation, and a low-cost stormwater solution for 20th century subdivisions.

ExpresswayRadial/Concentric Pattern

The primary State and US Interstate highways are larger

scale successors to the Caminos Reales and so are

radial in pattern at the regional scale. Similar to most other

cities San Antonio has circumferential loops for moving and distributing large volumes

of traffic.

SAN ANTONIO CULTURAL LANDSCAPE

San Antonio Psychrometrics- Year

28.4%

A 39.7%

J 2.0% F 10.7%

M 29.5%

A 27.3%

M 48.4

%

J 32.3%

J 25.8%

D 18.1%

S 28.2%

O 46.9%

N 30.3%

San Antonio Psychrometrics- Monthly

Walkable Cities Psychrometrics- Year

New York San Francisco Boston

Philadelphia Cairo Nice

18.1% 8.7% 13.3%

19.6% 25.8% 24.5%

“Any great work has within it seminal forces capable of influencing subsequent development

around it, and often in ways unconceived of by its creator.”

Edmund N. Bacon, The Design of Cities

mapping the cultural landscape of san antonio

Education

bexar mision san antonio

map of san antonio

birds eye view of san

san fernando villasenior

bexar urrutia

natural landscape

american landscape

initial landscape