Raise the main storey on slender columns so that the ground beneath flows under the building (for circulation, cars, gardens or public space) and the rooms are lifted into light, air and view.
Decks that reach the ground
Run the decks the whole length of a continuous, snaking slab and use the fall of the site so that every deck arrives at ground level somewhere: the roofline stays level while the number of storeys rises as the ground drops.
Park Hill: decks 10 ft (3 m) wide every third floor; 4 to 13 storeys under one level roof
At Park Hill the decks were made wide enough for a milk float, and the residents of the old streets were rehoused together so that neighbours stayed neighbours along the same deck. The slab bends at wide angles to enclose courts, and its height varies from four storeys at the top of the slope to thirteen at the bottom. On the flat ground of this town the steps in height show the same rule without the hill.
Related rules
Make the flat roof a garden and terrace, returning to the house the ground that the building has occupied.
House a whole community in one tall slab: stack duplex flats that run through the block with light on both sides, put shops and services on an interior street half-way up, and give the roof to everyone.
Where density is needed, build tall blocks widely spaced, so that every dwelling has sun, air and a view, and the ground freed between them becomes green space.
Give high housing a deck every few floors, wide enough to be a street, on which front doors open and neighbours meet, and join the decks from block to block into a continuous network across the city.
In a dense centre, give the ground to vehicles and service, and build a continuous pedestrian level above it (a podium and highwalks joining the buildings) so that people never meet the traffic.
Cite this page Chris Paton, “Decks that reach the ground”, The Textbook of Architecture, https://textbookofarchitecture.com/rule/park-hill-decks. Text, drawings and models licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0.