landarchs.com
Sonia Jackett

Top 10 Public Squares of the World

The recent protests in Taksim Square, Istanbul, and those in Tahrir Square, Cairo, have once again highlighted the power of public space as a tool of protest.

The use of public space has always been employed as way to reflect the economical and socio-political mood. Yet, public space is a fragile thing. The London Occupy Movement highlighted that our public space may not be as public as we think, when protesters were prevented from entering Paternoster Square by a high court injunction taken out by the owners.

Public space is important because it is supposed to be just that. Public. For you, and me, and the person sitting next to you. It represents our rights, and in all the above cases the right to political protest.

The architectural emblem of society in all its guises — economics, politics, protest, food, fun, and enjoyment and at the same time, the arena for all these constructs is, the public square.

In what will culminate as Landscape Architects Network’s Top 100 public squares, we kick off with a general Top 10 Public Squares of the World…

10. Tahrir Square, Cairo, Egypt

Tahrir Square

The square unites four main streets and is surrounded by various Egyptian political and cultural institutions (the burnt out NDP headquarters included). Huge underground viaducts provide pedestrian accesses. Overall, a traffic dominated square perhaps, but the recent images illustrate it filled to the brim with the people of Cairo, suggests its power as a site of solidarity and tool for protest.

9. Times Square, New York, USA

Times Square

Times Square is the world’s most buzzing square in the city that never sleeps. The constant stimuli make it an absolute “eye-gasm” and complete sensory overload, but it’s an incredible experience!

8. Plaza de Armas, Cuzco, Peru

Plaza de Armas

As the center of the ancient Inca capital, the plaza is richly layered with history. From its foundation, to the Spanish arcades that surround the square and the more modern formal layout, the square, with its hard and soft landscape, acts as a healthy, beating heart to the city.

7. Rynek Główny, Kraków, Poland

Rynek Główny

Voted the world’s best square by Project for Public Spaces in 2005, the Main Square in Krakow certainly has its virtues. It is accessible to pedestrians from 13 different points and one of the best car-free squares in Europe, as it is generally only accessible via foot.

6. Federation Square, Melbourne, Australia

Federation Square

This modern square was opened in 2002 to much controversy. Often voted one of the ugliest places due to the deconstructivist style of the buildings, the square has come to be very successful. Why so? Well, with a constant stream of entertainment, dining and free Wi-Fi, it’s always busy with people.

5. St Peter’s Square, (Piazza San Pietro), Vatican City

St Peter’s Square

Is there a square anywhere else in the world as impressive as Bernini’s masterpiece? Baroque grandeur at its best.

4. Trafalgar Square, London, United Kingdom

Trafalgar Square

The square in London. Since its inception by the great British architect John Nash, the square has been a source of pride for all Brits. Moreover it is a constant stage for art, culture, and other events.

3. Red Square (Krasnaya ploshchad), Moscow, Russia

Red Square

Surrounded by significant buildings – St Basils, the Kremlin, Lenin’s mausoleum, Red Square is a wonder to behold. It is often considered not just the central square of Moscow, but all of Russia as the city’s major streets, which connect to Russia’s major highways, originate from Red Square.

2. Piazza del Campo, Siena, Italy

Piazza del Campo

A Tuscan red, shell-shaped piazza that hosts a horse raise – the Palio di Siena – twice a year. What’s not to love? The ingenuity of the medieval square, the cultural buildings around its perimeter, warm colors and rich textures make the square, always filled with people, one of the best experiences of public space in the world!

1. Imam Square, Isfahan, Iran

Imam Square

One of the world’s most beautiful squares, with a wonderful area of luscious green in the middle. Lined with shops, filled with cafes, with the great Shah Mosque to the north this square will leave you breathless. Its other name Naqah-e Jahan Square means ‘Image of the World Square’.

https://landarchs.com/top-10-public-squares-world/

Iran Air logo. In our estimation the most striking looking logo in all of airline industry. The logo was designed by Edward Zohrabian in 1961, inspired by an image atop one of the columns at Persepolis.

skift.com
RAFAT ALI

We’re obsessed with travel branding here at Skift, and earlier this year we came up with a fun list of the “20 Most Colorful Airlines in the World,” which was very well received.

This time we decided to go a little deeper, and explore logo design with this new list. The criteria wasn’t exactly scientific, or deep, just in the eye of the…well, us Skifters. It was a mix of what looks great on an airline tail, plus what would look great on a t-shirt.

These 30 airlines from around the world represent a broad geographic mix, and show the predominance of national flag carriers when it comes to conveying a sense of history through the logo design.

Some observations:

• Birds dominate airline logo and branding, for obvious reasons. Other animals come second.
• The flag carriers (the national carriers) are the ones with most eye-catching and historic logos.
• Ironically, Iran Air, which has been severely hampered by the international sanctions against the country it represents, Iran, has one of the most eye-catching logos of all.
• Most of the ornate ones have been refreshed for the modern era, and hence you see a lot of them with curved lines and pastel colors.
• Some of the Middle East airlines, with their cool Arabic calligraphy/typography, work very well when it comes to conveying brand distinctiveness.
• Landor Associates is everywhere as the design agency of choice when airlines around the world need to refresh their branding; followed by Interbrand and Futurebrand.
• Low-cost airlines have been at the forefront in making their airline design colorful, as our previous list highlighted, but don’t figure anywhere in intricate logo design.
• Africa is under-represented, which shows the state of airline branding and marketing in the continent, though that is rapidly changing with new entrants, especially the low-cost ones.
• Three U.S. airlines show up in the list — Alaska, American and Hawaiian — though Southwest may qualify in a bigger list.
• We chose not to include British Airways because of the ubiquity of its design and color scheme, and with its actual logo being too generic and simplified to figure in our litmus test of t-shirt design.
• Etihad and Qatar need to catch up with its bigger cousin Emirates, which is miles ahead when it comes to overall branding and marketing.

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