A town on the hillside.

Contour streets, stepped links and a close roofscape.

ModelIllustratedClayLinework

Preparing the hillside…

Town modelPlanHillside profilePerspective

StyleView

Drag to orbit · Scroll to zoomDrag to orbit · Pinch to zoom150 × 120 m study · Uphill to the rear

FROM STREET TO SETTLEMENT

Grasse, as a whole

Starting pattern

Landform & movement

Hillside rise26 m

Street & passage width3.2 m

Streets run across the slope; shorter stepped routes connect them uphill. Increase the rise to see the roofscape climb.

Highlight the street networkOchre across the slope · blue-green uphill

The urban fabric

Typical storeys4

Typical court size5 m

Unequal plots follow angled street edges. Some blocks are solid; others enclose small, off-centre courts. Larger courts open the fabric without moving the streets.

22 irregular blocks · 2 squaresA church precinct anchors the upper town.

Shared places

Cathedral precinctA church and bell tower orient the upper town

Trees in the squaresCanopies mark the two larger public spaces

Small openings in the dense fabric become places to meet; the taller landmark helps you find your way.

Read the pattern

Let the ground shape the town. Keep continuous street edges, connect levels with short passages, and open the fabric around shared places.

Tapered blocks, branching lanes and uneven frontages draw on the irregular fabric in your Grasse plan. The layout is an interpretation of that character.

Explore the Grasse street pattern

Pattern 10 · Grasse settlement

Indicative dimensions. An interpretation of settlement form, not a surveyed town model. Changes last for this session.

Explore related patterns

Grasse streetsStep into the streets and squares of the hillside town.
French hill townCompare two ways of arranging a compact hill town.
Cotswold burgage townExplore a town organised around a market street.

View all patterns