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SAN GIMIGNANO PIAZZA · 29

A town gathered around a well.

A bent main street opens into two adjoining piazzas, enclosed by attached stone houses and towers.

DioramaIllustratedClayLinework

Building the piazza…

NeighbourhoodHillsidePiazza roofsAxonometricPlanIn the piazza

StyleView

Drag to orbit · Scroll to zoomDrag to orbit · Pinch to zoom66 m piazza length · 13 m eaves · San Gimignano

MAKE IT YOURS

Shape the town square

01

An outdoor room

Wider neighbourhoodBuildings lining narrow lanes that descend from the piazza across a continuous hillside

Piazza lengthm

Typical eavesm

Lane widthm

Hillside reliefm

Attached frontages hold the edges of the square. The long Cisterna square meets the smaller Duomo square through an offset passage. Change the piazza length and eaves to compare enclosure; lane width moves the block edges as well as the paving.

02

Towers above the roofscape

Tower heightm

Stone towersSquare towers punctuate the lower, uneven skyline

Terracotta roofsRemove the pitched roofs to read the building volumes

Small roof pitches, varied eaves, pale stone dressings and deep-looking arched openings give each frontage its own rhythm.

03

Life around the edges

Cafe tables & umbrellasLinen canopies shade tables beside the frontages

People in the squareWalking figures make the scale of the piazza legible

Cypress backdropSlender trees rise behind the outer roofs

The stepped well provides a meeting point away from the busy edges. Choose In the piazza to look towards it at eye level.

04

Reading the references

The supplied aerial plan informs the relationship between the tapered Piazza della Cisterna and the smaller Piazza del Duomo. The church closes the Duomo’s western side; a projecting palazzo block separates the two spaces. A bent main route and narrow side lanes enter at the corners, keeping long views partially enclosed.

Houses share party walls along continuous street fronts. Irregular corner plots turn with the street, roofs follow their footprints, and courts and gardens occupy the backs of blocks. Towers rise from attached buildings around the squares. The plan is an approximate interpretation of the references, not a measured survey.

01 · The supplied aerial plan: paired squares, a bent main route and tightly joined blocks. Supplied reference.

02 · The two piazzas and the palazzo block between them. Supplied reference.

03 · Continuous frontages turn around the tapered Cisterna square. Supplied reference.

04 · Street-level enclosure, attached houses and a tower embedded in the frontage. Supplied reference.

Pattern 29 · San Gimignano piazza

An approximate trace of the supplied aerial plan, interpreted with the photographs. Dimensions and building details are exploratory. Changes last for this session.

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