pattern books: a planning tool -...

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F E AT U R E

Pattern Books: A Planning Toolby Amy Souza

Think of an older neighbor-hood with smallish houses setback from tree-lined streets. Then picture a new home, three storieshigh, pushing to the edge of its lot, tow-ering over its neighbor. Even if thedesign is right – Craftsman on a street ofbungalows – the scale is all wrong. Thehouse looks bloated and out of place. Ormaybe three blocks of modern town-houses are built just outside a village ofhistoric single-family homes. Most peo-ple know when buildings do not fit theirsurroundings, but many communitiesstruggle with how to combat such con-struction proactively.1

What’s at stake is a sense of place,which comes as much from a town’sman-made landscape as from its naturalsetting and the personality traits of itsresidents. New England’s picket fences,

San Francisco’s colorful Victorians –these speak to each area’s character anduniqueness and are part of what attractspeople to visit or live there. But what ofthe street lined with nearly identicalgarage-fronted homes lacking architec-tural details and providing no regionalclues? That generic street could be any-where, and for many people that’s aproblem.

“A lot of things get done hastily, with-out people being very aware of whatgives a place distinction,” says PhilipLangdon, senior editor of New UrbanNews.

coast, has experienced extensive infilldevelopment and renovation of olderhomes.

“The houses have character and his-tory, but often lack the modern amenitiesthat support today’s lifestyles,” saysAcquanetta Ellis, Norfolk’s assistantdirector for planning and communitydevelopment. “We were seeing construc-tion that was not compatible or appropri-ate and were concerned because it’sdevaluing the communities.”

City officials turned to Pittsburgh-based Urban Design Associates (UDA),an architecture and urban design firm, todevelop a citywide pattern book. Createdas part of Norfolk’s strategic housing ini-tiative aimed at strengthening the city’sneighborhoods and increasing homeownership, the pattern book was intend-ed, in part, to educate residents about thearchitectural and historic significance oftheir homes – in the context of Norfolk’sneighborhoods and housing patterns.

Virginia law does not allow a city todictate residents’ architectural stylechoices, Ellis says, but “what we find is ifyou educate residents about the choices,most of the time they will make betterdecisions.”

UDA cataloged the various types ofNorfolk architecture, by looking atneighborhood and housing patterns. Theresulting document provides historicaldata and ideas for renovation or newconstruction.

The city gives out the pattern bookfree of charge and would like every resi-dent and builder to have a copy, notesEllis. “Residents are better able to under-stand the significance of their propertywithin the context of their neighborhoodand the city,” she adds.

1. The Result of a Process

UDA literally wrote the book on mod-ern-day pattern books. The ArchitecturalPattern Book: A Tool for Building Great

1 Some people actually favor overly large houses,sometimes called monster homes or McMansions. Seethe May 2002 issue of Planning to read why RobertLang and Karen Danielsen think large infill buildingsbenefit both the economy and neighborhoods.

Many Minds’ Eyes“Part of the big gap thatcomes with layperson plan-

ning commissions is that everyone envi-sions something else,” says RobRobinson of Urban Design Associates.“No one’s a great 3-D visualizer.” Evenpeople with technical knowledge, likeengineers, architects, and builders, havetrouble forming a mental picture fromfloor plans or CAD drawings, he notes.So for every project, UDA builds a three-dimensional physical model at a scale ofone inch to twenty feet. Robinson callsthe models “a great equalizer.” “Youreighty-three-year-old grandmother canwalk in and say, ‘What’s that?’”

Once a group has reached consensuson the types and scale of buildings, UDAdevelops drawings from the 3-D models.

CONTEMPORARY PATTERNBOOKS ARE THE

DESCENDANTS OF THEBUILDING GUIDES WRITTENBY THE WORLD’S EARLIEST

ARCHITECTS …

Pattern books filled with historicaland architectural data and guidelines canhelp cities and towns steer developmentefforts to more easily protect andenhance their identity. Sometimes theycontain regulations that must be fol-lowed; other times they offer sugges-tions.

While pattern books have been calleda tool for New Urbanism, and many areused to promote traditional neighbor-hood design, that is not their only pur-pose. The push to create a pattern bookoften comes after a city witnesses out-of-place building – a log cabin in the seasidetown of Denton, Maryland, or rebuiltdwellings crowding small lots in KansasCity’s post-World War II suburbs – orafter a municipality creates a specialredevelopment zone.

Norfolk, a city on Virginia’s southern

If You Create a Pattern BookThe pattern book process

doesn’t have to be intimidating, but itdoes require forethought and intention.In addition to the usual project manage-ment concerns like budget, timeline, and ownership, here are some things toconsider:

• Write down the goals you have for thebook. Is it for a specific development areaor broader in scope? Will it detail regula-tions or make suggestions? How will it beused and by whom?

• Gather stakeholder input and facilitateopen communication among areabuilders, realtors, planning commission-ers, public works staff, and the public.Consider using a charrette process toreach consensus.

• Seek out other communities, in yourregion or beyond, that have created a pat-tern book for a similar project. Gain thebenefit of their experience.

• Determine staffing. Will you hire a con-sultant or manage the project in-house?You will also need a number of profes-sionals, including an architect for draw-ings, a graphic designer to lay out thefinal document, and a writer for the text.

• Determine how you will distribute thebook. Will you give it away or sell it? If itwill not be printed, will it exist on yourweb site as a .pdf file, and will the publichave access to downloading it?

If you plan to print the book, consultwith a design professional early in theprocess to make sure you’re not designinga document that will exceed your budget.

necting the pattern book to the masterplan, which resulted in an approval toolfor the city and an implementation toolfor the housing authority.”

That connection – between masterplan or a project’s goals and the actualpattern book – is crucial, Robinson says,as is a high degree of specificity makingclear what can be done and how. “Youcan’t cover every last thing,” he notes,

Neighbor-hoods compiles highlights and lessonslearned from the firm’s 30+ years devel-oping and producing the guides formunicipalities across the globe.

Architect Rob Robinson, a UDA prin-cipal and the book’s co-author, startedusing pattern books in the 1970s as aUDA client. His then employer, the Rich-mond (Virginia) Housing Authority,hired the firm to develop a master planfor a particular redevelopment zone.Newly constructed commercial buildingsin this area (despite the city’s written reg-ulations and guidelines) bore no relationto Richmond and looked as if they couldhave been built anywhere. City officialsdecided that, in addition to a masterplan, they needed a detailed visual guide,in part because the usual images – what Robinson calls “bad engineeringCAD drawings” – didn’t provide muchuseable data for builders or for city plan-ners faced with approving a constructionproject.

“Pattern books have been around for-ever,” Robinson said, “but in Richmondwe took it just one more notch of con-

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Norfolk’s pattern bookincludes a focus on howrenovations and additionscan fit with the neighbor-hood character. This is animportant issue in manycities having a large stockof small, post-World War IIsingle-family houses.

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The Kansas City area’s First SuburbsCoalition haspublished a verypopular folio-sizepattern book onways of avoiding“McMansion-ization” throughcreative additionsand enhance-ments to existingsuburbanhousing.

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Gulf Coast Pattern BooksPerhaps the most widely

reported on pattern books have been theresult of recovery efforts from HurricaneKatrina. State agencies, drawing on plan-ners, architects, and urban design profes-sionals, have released pattern books as akey tool in rebuilding communities.

★

A Pattern Book for Gulf Coast Neighborhoodsincludes several well-illustrated pages focusingon strategies for meeting FEMA requirements.

One of the most significant examples,prepared in Mississippi under the leader-ship of the Governor’s Commission onRecovery, Rebuilding and Renewal, is APattern Book for Gulf Coast Neighborhoods.As Governor Haley Barbour describes inits Introduction, the pattern book “fol-lows the tradition of American townbuilding by providing practical tools andresources for small builders, homeownersand suppliers. In an effort to conserveand restore the sense of place that is spe-cific to each locality, this book provides akind of DNA code for our communitiesand our inherited architecture.”

Under the guidance of the LouisianaRecovery Authority, a comparable patternbook (Louisiana Speaks: Pattern Book) hasbeen prepared for hurricane devastatedcommunities in that state. The two booksfocus, in large part, on practical ways torebuild housing for a range of income lev-els. They also include detailed informa-tion on how building designs can complywith FEMA requirements.

Ray Heil, revitalization project man-ager in the Baltimore County Office ofCommunity Conservation, agrees. Aspart of its Renaissance RedevelopmentPilot Project, aimed at revampingneglected areas, the county acquired an18-acre site on which sat a blighted,World War II-era apartment complex.The county ran a seven-day charrette,open to all community members. Thefirst night, people met in small groups todiscuss what they’d like to see done withthe property. Professional architects thendrew plans of those ideas for a “pin-up”session the next night, during which res-idents could comment on the drawingsand provide additional suggestions.

This input–design–pin-up processcontinued until the group reached con-sensus on the area’s look and amenities,and came away with a plan to create amixed-income neighborhood of single-family houses and townhomes.

“The pattern book is the documentthat provides assurance to the communi-ty that the project is ultimately going tobe consistent with what everyone agreedto in the charrette,” Heil says. “The valueis that it builds a level of trust within thecommunity. We were able to get supportfor a relatively dense project with mixed-income housing that we think couldn’thave been done any other way than this:getting buy-in up front and having a doc-ument to refer to.”

After the county demolished the oldapartment complex, however, the site satempty for a number of years. Local news-papers reported that residents fearedbuilders were being scared off by thedetailed pattern book. This year, though,the county entered into an agreementwith a builder who is now preparing thesite.

3. The Visuals

Pattern books themselves come inmany shapes and sizes. Baltimore Coun-ty chose not to print theirs, so it lives as a.pdf document on their web site. TheMid-America Regional Council’s IdeaBook for Updating Post-World War IIHomes is 11"x 17" and spiral-bound. Its36 pages contain information and imagesof home types found in the city’s inner-

“but if you just lay out a list of ‘dos’ and‘don’ts,’ you’ve just spent a lot of moneyfor something with very little teeth.”

The ideas in the book should also be regionally appropriate, Robinsonexplains. That’s why UDA’s process startswith gathering as much informationabout a place as possible. “We spend a lotof time looking at what a community’sinherited patterns are … and we spendtime with builders, looking at the floorplans they use.”

UDA designers travel to a town andtake photographs of houses, notingwhere certain styles appear and whichoccur most frequently. They note, too,the natural surroundings, which helpsinform both landscaping and buildingmaterial choices, and then compile whatthey’ve learned to create a regionalpalette. This allows UDA to open a dialogwith local officials, builders, realtors, andresidents about what the municipalitywants to see and to make suggestionsbased on their observations.

2. The Importance of the Process

Community-wide pattern books likeNorfolk’s generally provide suggestionsthat homeowners and builders canchoose to utilize or not. In contrast, pat-tern books that are created for specificprojects (such as the redevelopment of adowntown area) often spell out rules andregulations. But whether community-wide or area specific, pattern books areusually the end product of a months-long process that, in addition to basicinformation gathering, includes publicinput sessions, sometimes in the form ofa charrette. Editor’s Note: For more oncharrettes, see “An Introduction to Char-rettes,” in PCJ #71 (Summer 2008).

“We advise all of our clients to openup the process to public input, and if it’sopened early that’s the easiest time torespond to people’s concerns,” UDA’sRobinson says. “This is the best way togain public enthusiasm, goodwill, andresponsiveness. By the time you get tothe guide, everybody knows how you gotthere,” he adds.

Pattern Books …continued from previous page

HistoryContemporary pattern booksare the descendants of the

building guides written by the world’s earli-est architects in Greece and Rome. Europeanregions, notably France, England, and Italy,each produced their own pattern books thatguided design, and early American settlershad books to refer to as they expanded west.Plan books remained popular in America inthe late 19th century on through develop-ment of kit houses, such as those by Searsand Roebuck in the early 20th century.

While architects have often been instru-mental in putting together pattern books,one of the very purposes of pattern books(and reasons for their popularity) has beento allow smaller-scale local builders andhome buyers avoid the extra cost of needingtheir own architect. Interestingly, somerecent pattern books have specificallyfocused on providing well-designed, low-cost housing. One example, “A Pattern Bookfor Neighborly Houses,” developed for Habi-tat for Humanity, was one of the recipientsof the 2008 Congress for the New UrbanismCharter Awards; www.cnu.org/node/1822.

four, despite having a pattern book toguide them.2 The book focused on a special zoning district developed in2004, the goal of which was to establishwhat residents had continually expressedthey wanted: a traditional downtownwith walkable amenities that gave thetown a sense of identity. The 40-acre areawith commercial buildings dating fromthe 1940s to 1960s hadn’t seen new construction or extensive renovation in30 years.

After a public input session, approvalof the new zoning, and creation of thepattern book, the town spent $3.5 mil-lion for infrastructure investments,including building a road into the area,complete with a roundabout and clocktower.

“The pattern book is a reiteration ofthe regulations with graphic and photo-

most suburbs (ranch, two-story, CapeCod, and split-level), as well as historicaldata and ideas for tackling renovationprojects to address what homeownersdislike about their older homes: too fewbathrooms, small kitchens, one-cargarages, and a lack of energy efficiency.

Most books contain extensive visualevidence, such as photographs of samplehomes and buildings, architectural draw-ings of outdoor and indoor spaces, andsize and scale dimensions. Yet it stillsometimes happens that different peoplerefer to the same book yet don’t envisionthe same thing.

This year, Brentwood, Tennessee’splanning commission voted on a newdevelopment project and split four to

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2 Editor’s note: Subsequent to completion of the articleand just prior to publication, we heard from BrentwoodPlanning Director Joe Lassus that the project Amy Souzadescribes in the following paragraphs “returned to theplanning commission in September with some designchanges and received approval by a vote of 7 to 3.”

Holding a week-longcharrette was key todeveloping plans for anew neighborhood on the18-acre site of a demol-ished apartment complexin Baltimore County. The charrette also laid the groundwork forputting together the pattern book.

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Sears has a truly remarkable online archive ofits mail order homes. As the company notes,“From 1908–1940, Sears, Roebuck and Co. soldabout 70,000 - 75,000 homes through theirmail-order Modern Homes program. Over thattime Sears designed 447 different housing styles,from the elaborate multistory Ivanhoe, with itselegant French doors and art glass windows, tothe simpler Goldenrod, which served as a quaint,three-room and no-bath cottage for summervacationers.”

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Pattern Books inConway, Arkansas

by Donald Anthony

Conway is a city of just over 52,000,located about 30 miles north of LittleRock. In 2007, the Conway Planning andDevelopment Department created two pat-tern books based on guidelines includedin ordinances enacted by the Conway CityCouncil.

The Design Standards Pattern Bookincludes city-wide development guidelinesand is the result of an amendment to thecity’s Zoning ordinance; the amendment created a development review process fornew developments and expansions ofexisting developments.

The Old Conway Residential DesignGuidelines Pattern Book includes develop-ment guidelines for residential develop-ments in the Old Conway Design OverlayDistrict.

Why develop a pattern book? Asexplained in the introduction to theDesign Standards Pattern Book, it “isintended as a reference point from whichall persons involved in the developmentprocess can gain a common understandingof the minimum design expectations inConway. Designers and developers areurged to become familiar with these guide-lines and to apply them to the design oftheir projects from the very beginning.This is to assure that projects can bedesigned, then reviewed and permitted bythe City, as efficiently as possible.”

As the introduction continues, “This Pattern Book identifies techniques and minimum standards for achieving the levelof design quality that the citizens of Con-way will come to expect in all new devel-opment, as well as redevelopment. … Noclaim can be made, however, that theguidelines contained within this PatternBook encompass every possible techniquefor achieving a high level of design quality.The designer is encouraged to use his orher own creativity and experience toimprove upon the means for achievingindividual objectives.”

The Design Standards Pattern Book clar-ifies the ordinance and includes illustra-tions of desired and/or acceptable sitecharacteristics, which are grouped into sixcategories: design and architecture; traffic,access, parking, and loading; screeningand fencing; landscaping; lighting; and

signage. An additional chapter containsillustrations and guidelines for atypicaldevelopments such as mixed-use areas, bigbox stores, outdoor dining establishments,and intensive industrial areas.

We have found that the Design Stan-dards Pattern Book is much more user-friendly than the “legalese” language ofthe ordinance itself.

By illustrating the ordinance and offer-ing scenarios and examples, we find thatwe are better able to find a common lan-guage with landowners and developersregarding the most important componentsof the ordinance.

The Old Conway Residential DesignGuidelines Pattern Book simplifies the ordi-nance that regulates residential develop-ment within the Old Conway DesignOverlay District, which encompassesdowntown Conway and the neighbor-hoods immediately surrounding it. Aswith the Design Standards Pattern Book, itis illustrated and conveys the items foundwithin the ordinance itself (the “shalls”) aswell as the items encouraged by the Con-way Planning and Development Depart-ment (the “shoulds”).

Donald Anthony is a Planner in the Conway,Arkansas, Planning and DevelopmentDepartment. He can be reached at:[email protected]

★ graphic elements to guide builders,” saysJoe Lassus, director of planning andcodes department. “It also outlines thetechnical standards written into thecode. The code is not definitive; it con-tains more ‘shoulds’ than ‘shalls.’ There issome latitude that the planning commis-sioners can use.”

A local developer purchased four lotsand in June brought two designs beforethe commission – one, for a spec build-ing, which the commissioners approved;the other, which would sit on a promi-nent corner in the new downtown andwas to be constructed for a local bank,was rejected. At the review meeting, fourcommissioners believed the proposeddesign met the pattern book’s spirit andrequirements; four thought it didn’t. Themain point of disagreement was theroofline. Everyone involved appearedsurprised that they didn’t agree with oneanother, particularly because the archi-tect had utilized the pattern book whendesigning the proposed structure.

Randy Campbell, who has been onthe commission for 13 years and becamechairman this year, say he voted toapprove the plan, but respects the fourcommissioners who spoke out againstthe building because they truly believedit didn’t meet the pattern book’s guide-lines.

“I thought the pattern book wouldmake it more cut and dried, but itdidn’t,” says Campbell. Still, he notes,“I’d much rather have it than not. Maybeover time you become clearer on thevisualization of a project, and futureapplicants will have this as history.”

Commissioner Jack Fletcher votedagainst the proposal, but also favors hav-ing a pattern book as a guide. “Theyalways have to have a generic componentto them, so there’s always going to besome subjective interpretation,” saysFletcher. But, he adds, the detailed draw-ings and text give builders a sense ofdirection, and let them know what’sexpected. “It also ought to make it easierfor the commission, or in any case itgives them something to fall back on, a

Conway’s Design Standards Pattern Book evenoffers guidelines on issues like the screening oftrash receptacles and utilities – concerns which,while perhaps minor on any one project, canadd up to having a major impact on the visualcharacter of the community.

Pattern Books …continued from previous page


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sense of what fits and what doesn’t fit.”The alternative – evaluating a projectwithout visual guidelines as reference –is much less desirable, Fletcher observes.

4. Cost/Benefit Analysis

According to Rob Robinson of UDA,it can take anywhere from six to ninemonths to complete a pattern bookprocess, including gathering informationand gaining public input. UDA’s projectsaverage $150,000. Baltimore County’scharrette and pattern book designprocess cost approximately $90,000 andtook nine months (six for the charretteprocess, and then three to complete thepattern book). The county chose not topublish a hard copy of the book, howev-er, due to printing costs. Like many otherrecently developed pattern books, itexists on the county’s web site as a .pdf.

The Mid-America Regional Councilpaid $35,000 for architectural drawingsand $18,000 to print 5,000 copies. Pro-ject management and graphic designwere done in-house, so those costs werenot broken out. MARC sold the book for$10 on their web site and in bookstores.

Norfolk’s pattern book took approxi-mately six months to complete. Thebook’s first 9,000 copies have been

Resources

Books:• American Architects and Their Books, 1840-1915

(2007), Kenneth Hafertepe and James F. O’Gorman, Eds.• The Architectural Pattern Book: A Tool for Building GreatNeighborhoods (2004), Urban Design Associates• A Pattern Language: Towns, Buildings, Construction (1977), Christopher Alexander, Sara Ishikawa, and Murray Silverstein• The Urban Design Handbook: Techniques and Working Meth-ods (2003), Urban Design Associates

Available Online:• First Suburbs Coalition Idea Book and Green Idea Book, Mid-America Regional Council, Kansas City, Missouriwww.marc.org/firstsuburbs/planbook.htm andwww.marc.org/firstsuburbs/greenideabook.htm• A Pattern Book for Norfolk Neighborhoods, Norfolk, Virginiawww.norfolk.gov/Planning/comehome/Norfolk_Pattern_Book/• Kingsley Park Pattern Book, Baltimore County, Marylandwww.baltimorecountymd.gov/Agencies/community/kingsleypark/index.html• Mississippi’s A Pattern Book for Gulf Coast Communitieswww.mississippirenewal.com/documents/Rep_PatternBook.pdf

distributed, and the city recently printedanother 5,000. Cost estimates were notavailable. In addition, the book is avail-able on the web as a series of .pdf documents.

Ultimately, the decision to create apattern book depends not upon moneybut upon need. “I think a pattern bookmakes sense when communities are get-ting construction that they don’t thinkfits in or they’re getting a hodgepodge ofconstruction that doesn’t connect verywell with the community,” explains Nor-folk’s Acquanetta Ellis. When a localitysees that occurring it gets them interest-ed in doing something like a patternbook.” Says UDA’s Rob Robinson, “It’s ajourney for everybody to find better toolsand to demand better information fornegotiating and making decisions.” ◆

Amy Souza is a writer andeditor living in Arlington,Virginia. She has writtenon a variety of environ-mental topics, and is theauthor of two articles pub-lished in the PlanningCommissioners Journal: Community Food Needs& Opportunities (PCJ #63, Summer 2006); andPlanning for Dogs: Exercise vs. Restraint (PCJ#55, Summer 2004).

Taking a CloserLookReprintSets• Design &Aesthetics –Design doesmatter. Thiscollection ofpast articles from the PlanningCommissioners Journal provides an excellentintroduction to urban design and the use ofdesign guidelines. Articles about signregulation, zoning for aesthetics, visualpreference surveys, and more are included.For detailed contents and to order go to:plannersweb.com/reprints.html

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