Density and Built Form: Integrating ‘Spacemate’ with the Work of Martin and March

The ‘Spacemate’ diagram of Berghauser Pont and Haupt [2004 Spacemate: The Spatial Logic of Urban Density (Delft University Press, Delft); 2005 Nordisk Arkitekturforskning 4 55–68] relates together three geometrical properties of buildings: Density expressed as a floor space index (FSI), ground coverage, and number of storeys. The authors measured these variables in a sample of Dutch residential estates and showed how Spacemate segregates the buildings into distinct morphological types. Martin and March [1972 Urban Space and Structures (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge)] showed how three generic built forms—freestanding ‘pavilions’, parallel ‘streets’, and inward-looking ‘courts’—make use of land in distinctively different ways, again measuring density in terms of FSI. This paper brings the two pieces of work together and shows how Martin and March's analysis can provide further theoretical explanation for Berghauser Pont and Haupt's empirical findings. Two additional variables are introduced: depth of buildings in plan, and cut-off angles describing the distances by which buildings are separated. A more precise morphological categorisation is then possible.