PON Downtown Axis PDF

Nashville Civic Design Center
The Axis in Urban Design

Gary Gaston
Associate Design Director
Nashville Civic Design Center
Of the many definitions of the word

“axis” given in the Oxford English Dic-
tionary, the most literal is “a main line of
direction, motion, growth, or extension.”
In spatial compositions--such as sculp-
ture or architecture--the line is implicit,
serving as the organizing principle to
which elements in the composition are
referred. In the composition of the city,
axial design emphasizes long formal
vistas with strongly defined edges; the
vista is frequently terminated by a
prominent building or monument. The
axis itself is invisible, but the perception
it creates--of a well-organized city--is
definite.
As a tool of city building, the axis is a

primary element in the European Ba-
roque tradition, a tradition which urban
historian Spiro Kostof describes in The
City Shaped as the “Grand Manner.”
The most enduring themes of this tradi-
tion were first articulated in the master plan of Pope Sixtus V Diagrammatic rendering of Washington DC. Note the axes radiating
for 16th century Rome: the notion of the vista, the use of the from the U.S. Capitol Building and other major monuments (in red).
obelisk as a striking spatial marker, and the overarching princi- Drawing: Gary Gaston
ple of geometric order for its own sake. France appropriated
the Baroque aesthetic, most notably in the replanning of Paris
by Baron Euge’ne Georges Haussmann between 1853 and “The European Baroque,” Kostof says, “is a phenomenon of
1868. capital cities.” So it is no coincidence that the District ofCo-
lumbia is America’s most successful experiment in Baroque-
Underlying the Baroque language of urbanism at the time of its inspired planning.
inception, according to Kostof, were new ways of considering
the relation between streets and buildings. The street is no The plan for the nation’s capital was drawn by Major Pierre
longer thought of merely as “the space left over between build- Charles L’Enfant, a French architect and military engineer who
ings, but as a spatial element with its own integrity.” The build- had served as an aide to George Washington during the Revo-
ings defining the street channel are viewed as continuous lution. L’Enfant combined his knowledge of French planning--his
planes rather than independent entities. And straight streets father worked on the famous gardens of Vaux-le-Vicomte--with
are used to connect churches and other public buildings-- the ideals of the emerging nation. A brand new capital of a
creating “constellations of monumentality.” brand new nation undoubtedly seemed ripe for the Baroque
aesthetic because that aesthetic could, as Kostof says, “stage
easily perceived, strong urban images that were at once
modern--wide, straight streets, open prospects, and the
Nashville Civic Design Center • Urban Design / Policy Brief • Downtown Nashville Civic Design • www.civicdesigncenter.org" " " 1
generous distribution of green--and resonant with historical
authority.” Baroque planning “had become synonymous with
the city as a work of art.”
As he surveyed the site in 1791, L’Enfant fixed on the two

highest ridges for two centers of government: the house of the
executive and the house of Congress. From this symbolic divi-
sion L’Enfant radiated a dynamic web of diagonal avenues over-
laid by a rational grid of streets. Within this framework, L’Enfant
envisioned a series of classically-styled buildings to convey the
same message as the plan: a government aggressively radiating
into the future, yet grounded with stable roots in the past.
L’Enfant’s plan was revived and enlarged by the McMillan

Commission--named after Senator James McMillan, who
formed it--in 1902. The resulting plan--overseen by a group of
prominent architects and landscape architects who were mov-
ers and shakers in the American City Beautiful movement, in-
cluding Daniel Burnham, subsequently co-author of the Plan of
Chicago[ital.]--is largely responsible for the Washington, D.C.
we know today.
Key elements:
• The physical dominance of the buildings housing the legisla-

tive and executive branches of government.
• The siting of monuments on major axes to memorialize

leaders and events that helped to form the nation.
• The provision of grand public spaces--most particularly the

Mall, which occupies the city’s grandest axis--in which citi-
zens can congregate for protest and celebration.
Aerial view of Washington DC. Axial connectors give the capital a
strong visual identity. Photograph, 1999: Project for Public Spaces,
• Definition of the edges of the axes through the placement of
prominent buildings. The Mall, for example, is flanked by the NYC
National Gallery, the Museum of Natural History, the Mu-
seum of American History and the National Air and Space
Museum.
In commissioning L’Enfant’s original plan, George Washington

and Thomas Jefferson understood the importance of symbol-
ism and recognized the need to create an instant history to
legitimize the New World to the Old. The evolution of this
plan, extending its strongly formalistic nature, reaffirms the
capital as the physical manifestation of the nation.
In strengthening Nashville’s identity as the physical manifesta-

tion of the State of Tennessee, the Plan of Nashville is strongly
influenced by the example of Washington, D.C. In Washington,
however--as in Rome and Paris--the axes are in geometric con-
trast to the street grid. The Plan of Nashville employs axes
within the existing geometry of the streets.
From The Plan of Nashville: Avenues to a Great City.
Vanderbilt University Press (Nashville) 2005.
Nashville Civic Design Center • Urban Design / Policy Brief • Downtown Nashville Civic Design • www.civicdesigncenter.org" " " 2

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Nashville Civic Design Center

The Axis in Urban Design

Of the many definitions of the word

As a tool of city building, the axis is a

As he surveyed the site in 1791, L’Enfant fixed on the two

L’Enfant’s plan was revived and enlarged by the McMillan

• The physical dominance of the buildings housing the legisla-

• The siting of monuments on major axes to memorialize

• The provision of grand public spaces--most particularly the

In commissioning L’Enfant’s original plan, George Washington

In strengthening Nashville’s identity as the physical manifesta-

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