Form-Based Code — The Built Environment
Architecture for Centuries.
Every URBAL town is built from a single material standard: natural stone. No EIFS. No metal panel. No vinyl siding. No synthetic stone. The town is designed to stand for 500 years — not 30.
264
Outer Wall Modules
Each 80 ft section designed by a different classical architect
4
URB Typologies
Courtyard, Evelyn Rose, Wild Flower Garden, Tulip
500+
Year Lifespan
Bedford Indiana limestone: the preferred material for Town 001
489
Third-Place Buildings
1,392,000 sqft of community space in 24 Spice Strips
Neighborhood Unit
The URB: 720 × 720 Feet
Every URBAL town is assembled from repeating 720 ft × 720 ft neighborhood units called URBs — inspired by the Oglethorpe Plan of Savannah, Georgia, the most successful planned town grid in American history. The fractal logic scales from a single dwelling to the full square mile.
Courtyard URB
Haussmann-style apartment courtyards. Four sub-types by internal street width: 18, 37, 75, and 150 ft. Rooftop holds daycare, K–12 school, and public library behind a mansard with privacy glass.
Evelyn Rose URB
The central block. Savannah Oglethorpe ward layout with Charleston SC single houses. Trust lots and tything lots create a graduated density from the square outward. 70 dwellings per block.
Wild Flower Garden URB
16 single-family home blocks around 4 Tulip commercial corners. Tuileries Garden-style perimeter fence — limestone base, wrought iron top — encloses individual garden plots.
Tulip URB
Commercial, sports, education, and R&D at the four corners of the Wild Flower Garden zone. Houses URBAL College campus, military lease space, and specialized commercial.
T4 Zone — Outer Perimeter
The Outer Wall
The town is bounded by a continuous 5,280 × 5,280 ft perimeter ring — a five-story building that forms both the town's edge and one of its most distinctive architectural statements.
80 ft
Module width
5 stories
Continuous height
264
Unique facade sections
Inner Core — 3 × 3 Block System
Street Width Defines Building Height
The inner neighborhood grid is 2,640 × 2,640 ft — nine blocks of 675 × 675 ft each, spaced 160 ft apart. Street width determines building height. The narrower the street, the more intimate the scale. The formula is precise and non-negotiable.
The Central Block
The center of the nine-block grid is always the Evelyn Rose URB — the Oglethorpe ward layout with Charleston single houses. Trust lots face the central square. Tything lots run along the outer lanes. 70 dwellings in one block. No apartments. No shared walls.
T5-C Zone — Inner Ring
The Inner Wall
Inside the outer wall, at a 3,300 × 3,300 ft ring, sits the inner wall — four stories of dedicated civic infrastructure. This is where the town's healthcare system lives.
Linear Gardens
Between the Walls
The space between the outer and inner walls is not transitional dead space — it's the green perimeter. Eight linear gardens, each 90 ft wide × 2,450 ft long, run parallel to the outer wall. Wild Flower Garden URBs occupy the corners.
Building Material Standard
Natural Stone. Always.
Every exterior surface in every URBAL town is natural stone. This is non-negotiable and codified in the Form-Based Code. The material standard is enforced at the SPV level — no variance process, no exceptions, no waivers.
Not permitted
Why stone?
The CNC cutting process generates swarf — stone dust and offcuts — that is collected and used as resin-bound aggregate for the town's car-free streets. Zero waste. The material that builds the walls also paves the ground.
T6 Zone — Spice Strips
489 Buildings. 1.4M sqft. All Community.
The 160 ft between each URB block is activated as Spice Strips — 24 named commercial and cultural corridors per town. Every strip is selected and ranked annually by steward vote.
Narrow Strips (T6-N)
720 × 40 ft • 12 total • 1–3 stories
Oregano, Red Chilli, Basil, Nutmeg — 3 of each. Small retail, kiosks, restaurants, workshops. No 80×80 ft buildings permitted.
Wide Strips (T6-W)
720 × 80 ft • 12 total • 1–4 stories
Ginger, Cinnamon, Cayenne, Clove — 3 of each. The 80×80 ft (4-story) building in each wide strip is reserved exclusively for cultural anchors: opera, ballet, arts, museum, cinema.