Frontages: Shopfront and awning; gallery and arcade

New Urban News Technical Page by Andres Duany, Michael Morrissey, and Patrick Pinnell

Within the urban center and core zones uses mix densely, and the value of land is such that the setback of facades from property lines often diminishes to zero. Private and public realms abut directly. Consequently the details of their design assume heightened importance in the continual negotiation of how each influences comfortable use of the other.

Of eight frontages discussed in this series, two are especially characteristic of the most intense Transect zones. The shopfront and awning and the gallery and arcade evolved to mediate between public and private realms. Both are particularly attuned to commercial exchange. The two frontage types entice and protect pedestrians, and simultaneously protect and project the interior activity of a building. When designed properly they add greatly to the usability and interest of civic space.