Urban Spaces: Plan as Pavement

Source: wikipedia.org

Freedom Plaza(Formerly Western Plaza), Washington D.C. USA, 1980 designed by Venturi, Rauch and Scott Brown

the plaza is mostly composed of stone, inlaid with a depiction of parts of Pierre (Peter) Charles L'Enfant's plan for the City of Washington.  -- Wikipedia

The top terrace is elevated above street level to create a sense of separation from the streets and to create an edge to the piazza seen from the sidewalks. An edging of shrubbery adds a touch of softness.  -- Lotus International(50), pp.87-89

Source: phila.org

Welcome Park, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA, 1982 designed by Venturi, Rauch and Scott Brown

Laid out in marble on the ground is the original city plan of Penn's Philadelphia. In the middle of the park is a miniature version of the statue of William Penn that crowns City Hall, several blocks away. Penn's plans and promotions for Philadelphia are engraved on the walls surrounding the park.  -- USHistory

The park is a sensitive urban design that works at several levels. It is an instructive and recreational place for tourists, an urban amenity for the pleasure of the people who live or work in the area to sit in, and is oriented to appeal to children as well. -- Lotus International(50), pp. 107-109

Source: devotchka skyscrapercity.com

Source: worldisround.com

Plaza San Martin, Cordoba, Argentina designed by Miguel Angel Roca

The correct relationship between architectural typology and urban morphology could dilute the false antithesis between architecture and urban design and planning in the recovery of the discipline as urban art.

The two irreducible institutions -- street and square; the three structurizing elements of the existential image of space -- nodes, places or monuments; routes, roads, links between arrival and departure spots; and the most anonymous urban fabric -- districts, areas or neighborhoods; they are all the unique basic models for the recovery, reconstruction or materialization of the public domain which is the basic task of urban art. --  Lotus International(39), pp. 70-73.

More images from a post by BOWER