Untitled - Triangle Modernist Houses

5Tapiola, view over whole area towardstown center6Typical apartment building, Tapiola7Pihlajamaki, outside Helsinki, governmentsupport housingtown. The building is servicedf rom below the main roadgoes under the town center. ltsimaginative design in concretehas many different levels and offersa variety of spaces connectedby stairs and ramps andelevators for shops, restaurants,and business and professionaloffices, a library, the town hall, atechnical college, clubs, etc.Many of the walking areas arecovered, which in the Scottishclimate, is a blessing. There alsois convenience shopping ineach neighborhood.Gumbernauld exemplifies a newapproach to town building interms of denser and more compacturban living. Each neighborhoodin Gumbernauld has itsown character and specific designquality, and thus the townoffers a variety of housing accommodationsand differentkinds of living. There are children'splaygrounds for eachgroup of houses and elementaryschools serving each neighborhood.A large high school is atthe edge of town, and other sitesare reserved for secondary educationas new areas get built. Infact, the schools provided by thecounty are usually built first.The shopping center by now ishalf built, and stores are rapidlymoving into the completedspaces. The hctel was onlyopened this spring, and much remainsto be done. The towncenter alone is expected to bedoubled in size. Yet by now onecan get a feeling of a new qualityof life that has been plannedand designed in these ratheraustere Scottish hills, mainly forfamilies with young children.Somehow one cannot escape thenotion that children brought upin this environment hopefullymight turn out to be very differentpeople with a positive and happyattitude towards life.Of the new towns around London,I visited both Basildon andStevenage, which have been discussedmany times before. Bothare designed for more than 70,-000 people and are by now activethriving communities thathave largely proven what theyset out to do: to provide a sound,pleasant, and satisfying life andgood housing, schools, and recreationfor a majority of peopleof often very modest incomes,certainly very modest by ourstandards. But then they do notneed to spend a quarter of thisIncome on housing but muchless, and health care for thewhole family is entirely free andso are of course schools andmuch of the recreation.Both Basildon and Stevenagehave large pedestrian shoppingcenters surrounded by county14 NC'FITH CAFIC'LINA AFICHITECT