An Architect’s Utopia “Do what you can to establish a world government, with a thousand independent regions, instead of countries”. This statement alone should alert readers that A Pattern Language is not just a DIY manual for home builders, although it is a good manual too, as the reviews on amazon.com can attest. This book is very ambitious and impressive in the breadth and depth of its coverage, touching on […]
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“Mary Rose Museum” by Christopher Alexander
What I find particularly interesting and fascinating about this book is how Dr. Alexander describes in vivid detail what one would experience when he visits the museum, what he would see and how he would feel at various places, though the museum was never built due to a lack of funding. In the book “The Nature Of Order Book II: The Process of Creating Life”, Dr. Alexander says the first […]
Read more“The Production of Houses” by Christopher Alexander
This book is about building houses, but it is more about life. There is joy, there is disappointment and sadness, but above all, there is hope. The Joy of Building For someone like me, who absolutely abhors construction sites and all the raw materials, Alexander brings them to life in a way that only he can. His “physical love for the buildings and the building materials, … the way a […]
Read more“The Timeless Way of Building” by Christopher Alexander
One of the most delightful and insightful books I’ve ever read. It is written with the fluidity of a poet and the preciseness of a mathematician. “There are those special secret moments in our lives, when we smile unexpectedly –when all our forces are resolved. … When we know those moments, when we smile, when we let go, when we are not on guard at all–these are the moments when […]
Read more“The Oregon Experiment” by Christopher Alexander
The Principle of Participation: The fundamental human needs: to create, to control, to identify with the environment in which they live and have a sense of ownership. The Principle of Diagnosis: The well being of the whole is protected by an annual diagnosis which explains, in detail, which spaces are alive and which ones dead, at any given moment in the history of the community. The Principle of Piecemeal Growth: […]
Read more“The New Theory of Urban Design” by Christopher Alexander
Vision “Every project must first be experienced, and then expressed, as a vision which can be seen in the inner eye (literally). It must have this quality so strongly that it can also be communicated to others, and felt by others, as a vision.” “This vision is a literal thing. It is not merely an idea or concept, but a thing seen and felt in the mind’s eye as in […]
Read more“Small is Beautiful” by E. F. Schumacher
The Problem of Production “The modern industrial system, with all its intellectual sophistication, consumes the very basis on which it has been erected”, the irreplaceable capital which it treats as unlimited income, i.e., natural capital (capital provided by nature, not by man, e.g., fossil fuels) and human substance. “We need methods and equipment which are cheap enough so that they are accessible to everyone, suitable for small-scale application and compatible […]
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