San Francisco's Hills
(Français)
When the grid was applied to the hills, the relief was voluntarily disregarded better to neutralize it. Settlers preferred to provoke a confrontation between urban order and the terrain that would lead to the breaking point. In retaliation for this agression, the hills broke down the neutralizing logic of the grid by recharacterizing the space with localized deformations. From deformation to fracture, from fracture to distortion, the city was built up in defiance of is settings.
Paradoxically, what originally constituted snags in an ideal, homogenous fabric has become the city's specific spatial asset. The grid is no longer and equalizing factor but a place where built urban events each tell their own tale of how the settler dealt with undeveloped lands. Architecture has to some extent taken to the streets. The resulting aesthetic effect shows, dramatically at times, how a planning method can be pushed to its limits.
(San Francisco, The Grid meets the Hills, Florence Lipsky, 1999)
Click on pictures to view full size.
Cable cars sur Powell St.
Cable cars on Powell St. 		Le soleil se couche sur Fisherman's Wharf (de Mason St.)
Sun sets on Fisherman's Wharf (from Mason St.)
Mason St. au soleil couchant
Mason St. at the sun set 		Pente de Hyde St. près de Lombard St. avec Fisherman's Wharf et Alcatraz au bout
Slope of Hyde St. near Lombard St. with Fisherman's Wharf and Alcatraz at the end
Attention ! Les courbes de Lombard St. arrivent !
Warning ! Lombard St. curves ahead 		Les courbes de Lombard St. (nommée la rue la plus tordue au monde) aident les voitures à descendre la pente de 27 %
Lombard St. curves (named world's crookedest street) help cars go down it's 27% slope
Voitures descendant Lombard St.
Cars going down Lombard St. 		Lombard St. et Coit Tower au loin
Lombard St. and Coit Tower afar
Jolis édifices entourant Lombard St.
Nice buildings on Lombard St. 		Végétation de Lombard St.
Vegetation on Lombard St.
La rue la plus tordue et la plus photographiée
Most crooked and most photographed street 		La pente continue sur Lombard St. au-delà des courbes
Slope continues after the curves on Lombard St.
Lombard St.
Lombard St. 		La descente de Washington St. (ligne Powell/Hyde) en cable car
Going down Washington St. (Powell/Hyde line) in cable car
Montrée de Jackson St. en cable car (ligne Powell/Hyde)
Up Jackson St. in cable car (Powell/Hide line) 		Jolie maison victorienne
Nice victorian house
Pente apique devant
Sharp crest ahead 		Jolie maison sur la pente
Nice house on the crest
Pente
Slope 		Montée de Powell St. en cable car
Going up Powell St. in cable car
Montée de Jackson St. en cable car
Going up Jackson St. in cable car 		Descente de Hyde St. en cable car
Going down Hyde St. in cable car
Chestnust St.
Chestnust St. 		Chestnust St.
Chestnust St.
Greenwich St. descend puis remonte
Greenwich St. going down then up 		Pente prononcée et jolie maison sur Filbert St.
Steep slope and nice house on Filbert St.
Filbert St. descend et remonte
Filbert St. going down then up 		Panorama : Intersection Filbet St. / Kearny St.
Panorama: Filbet St. / Kearny St. Intersection
Filbert St. et Washington Square de Coit Tower
Filbert St. and Washington Square from Coit Tower 		À la croisée des chemins
Crossroads


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