A PALACE for the PEOPLE
Residential block from Lion Kuntz’s eco-cities
This is the project of a residential block which is
meant to fit into the ampler urban vision by Lion Kuntz, a research-
ing scientist from
about a few of his urban designs, ideal and abstract,
practicable to particular concrete cases.
They deal with eco-compatible settlements, in which a
great ammount of attention and study on Mr. Kuntz's part
have been dedicated to techniques and materials which
save as much energy as possible, depend for the most
part on renewable sources, and render the residential
block autonomous and independent from the point of view of
electric energy, the water ducts, waste removal and
provision of fuel. Practically free of any hook-ups to any kind of
grid.
Each block is called Palace for the People. For more
and exhaustive details on the overall urban design, its techni-
ques and materials, see the following links:
In the above mentioned forum Lion Kunts was inviting
anyone who was interested to design more in detail one block
of his urban scheme, which was, at the time, at a
level of volume definition. He was asserting that the Palaces, even
though with a recurrent comprehensive form, could be
individually characterized by the views of each single designer.
I didn't immediately take the proposition into
consideration, as I began working on the project of Saint Cabrini city,
and I believe that the scheme of that is best suited
for a more ecological and in-contact-with-nature way of life. By
use of a higher density of inhabitants, and a further
development in height, it allows extensively for ground dedicated
to parks and green landscapes.
However, I always thought that Lion Kuntz's researches
regarding sustainable materials and techniques were extre-
mely interesting and meaningful. So I subsequently
took a closer look at one of the Palaces, and I became interest-
ed in imagining it more in detail.
The scheme is simple and it is essentially the same on
all four sides of the building, except at a higher floor. At the
ground-floor are located shops, stores, and the
entrances to the internal "par-terre" (a square, covered for the most
part, public, open to pedestrian passage), and to the
homes above.
At the floor above the stores (of the same first lower
volume "ring") are service rooms of the stores themselves or a
few dwellings, at which one arrives by means of spiral
staircases from the internal "par-terre".
At higher floors are located homes, of different sizes
and arrangements, most of them on two floors, and some col-
lective open spaces (they give air and light),
enclosable by use of glass screens, or other transparent synthetic ma-
terial.
In order to go up from the street level to the floors
above one ascends a continuous staircase, or an automatic esca-
lator, which extends as far as the last two floors,
dedicated to a kindergarten, a grade-school, and a gymnasium. At
each floor of the dwellings one arrives at a corridor,
which is open to the "par-terre" below, and give access to the
homes.
Every dwelling (from the second "ring" up)
has a front yard of its own, corresponding to the roof of the apartment be-
low, and facing out over the street.
At the top two floors (at which one arrives only by
means of the escalators) are located, as I've already mentioned, a
kindergarten, a grade-school and a gymnasium, for the
most part at the service of the Palace (they are not big), but
also available to external users.
A Palace can host about 540 inhabitants. In Lion
Kuntz’s project a population of 700 for each building was taken into
account, but as I conceived the homes and certain
common services, a littler number was the ultimate result.
The “par-terre” is a vast space, covered for the most
part, public, with an opening at its central top, at the angles of
each volume “ring”, and at the location of the
collective areas (which can be screened with glass or other transparent
synthetic material).
At the first underground floor are located the parking
places for the residents, at which one arrives by means of de-
scents arranged on all four sides. At the floor under
that, are the technical rooms which Lion Kuntz extensively illu-
strates in his dissertations, including the big pool
for collecting rain water.
A number of solar and photovoltaic panels are designed
by Lion Kuntz for the outside of the Palace, hanging on walls
or over windows, for the conversion of solar energy
into heat and electricity. In my drawings I saw to those as the pa-
rapets of the individual front yards and as the
dividing screens between one yard and the next one. If the total surface
should turn out to be insufficient, it is possible to
imagine more of them, the way Lion Kuntz depicted them, as “brise-
soleil” over windows.
Views of an example of home for 4/5
people:
From window toward
Toward upper floor From upper
floor toward yard Iso 3D view from
yard Iso 3D view from back
kitchen
Plans and sections of a few different
types of homes:
Home for couple (48.41 sqm.=445 sq.feet)
Plan of first
floor Plan of upper
floor Transversal section
Home for 3 people (62.58 sqm.=657 sq.feet),
to be joined with another inverse (larger lower floor)
Plan of first floor Plan of upper
floor Transversal section
Home for 4/5 people (82.77 sqm.=793 sq.feet)
Plan of first
floor
Plan of upper
floor
Transversal section
Home for 6 people (105.11 sqm.=1064.55
sq.feet)
Plan of first floor Plan of
upper floor Transversal
section
Views of the interior of a Palace for
the People:
From a common area
Toward the corridors to the
From one corridor to the homes
A corridor to the dwellings
of one floor homes
and par-terre below
Another
corridor
Escalators and a
corridor
View of
par-terre
Par-terre and corridors
and par-terre
below
at ground
level
to homes above
Par-terre, public
and
From par-terre up
crossable
Plans, sections and a 2D view of a
Palace:
Ground floor
Upper ground floor
First
floor
Second
floor
Third floor
Kindergarten
floor
Grade-school
floor
Grassy
roof
Section A-A’
Section B-B’
2D straight view of one side
Iso 3D view from above Iso 3D view from
below
Views of exterior of Palaces:
Toward an entrance View along a
street with
View of outside of one
Palace
View of outside
to
par-terre
several Palaces
An entrance to staircase
View from the
balcony
View from a
balcony
Bird’s eye view with
and
escalators
of a home
several
Palaces
Bird’s eye
view
Iso
3D view,
original scheme by Lion Kuntz