ON THE VISUAL EFFECTS OF TOWNSCAPING IN A TRADITIONAL RESIDENTIAL AREA : An experimental study using perspective drawings as stimuli

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to provide a basic data on conservation planning of a traditional residential area by analysing the visual effects of townscapings. First, a certain residential area designated as a conservation area by Nagano City was considered. The characteristics of the area were analysed by the investigation of the scenes. Then the scenes were classified into eleven groups. And the physical elements which make up the visual environment were abstracted. Secondly, for drawing the perspectives, the width of the visual angle of field was investigated by making a comparison between the classifications on the scenes and those of five photographs groups taken on them by fisheye lens and lenses with focal lengths of 21 mm, 28 mm, 35 mm and 50 mm respectively. Judging from the degree of correspondence in the classifications, the 35 mm lens's width was found the most suitable to the visual field. Using this width, fifteen drawings of typical scenes of the area were made. Then sixty-five altered drawings were made, under the following four transfiguration measures : i) to remove the street installations such as road-signs and utility poles, ii) to remodel the walls, gates and house into traditinal style, iii) to reconstruct the water ways along the street, and iv) to transfigure i) to iii) simultaneously. Lastly, the changes of the visual effects of the scenes from the present to the altered were evaluated using the seven bipolar semantic scales. Through these processes, visual effects of each transfiguration in the traditional residential area were made clear.