The last of Christopher Alexander’s books that I read. It left me in a somewhat melancholy mood. In this book, Alexander gives a few examples (mostly from classical cultures and his own works) of buildings and neighborhoods that have life in them. I catch a glimpse of the “vision of a living world”, but also realize for the first time how fragmented and unwholesome the modern buildings are. Just as […]
Read moreTag: Christopher Alexander
“Notes on the Synthesis of Form” by Christopher Alexander
A Real Design Problem “We are searching for some kind of harmony between two intangibles: a form which we have not yet designed, and a context which we cannot properly describe.” The harmony / good fit between form and context can be regarded as the total absence of potential misfits, which can be represented by a finite set of binary variables all taking the value 0. A Homeostatic Form-Making Process […]
Read more“The Nature of Order: The Phenomenon of Life” by Christopher Alexander
Living Centers Centers arise in space and each center has life to a certain degree. It is not inherent in the center by itself, but is a function of the whole configuration in which the center occurs. The life of one center is increased or decreased according to the position and intensity of other nearby centers. The centers are the fundamental elements of the wholeness. Fundamental Properties of Life The […]
Read more“The Nature of Order: The Luminous Ground” by Christopher Alexander
From the Ground Up A mind-boggling work. I don’t know of any other works that provide a more coherent and meaningful worldview framework in which questions about matter, space, beauty, inspiration, value and even life itself are answered, or at least can be discussed. Ever the architect-builder, Alexander dug deep to reach the Ground on which he was able to build a framework that bridges the gaps between science, art, […]
Read more“The Nature of Order: The Process of Creating Life” by Christopher Alexander
As someone with a biology and computer science background and no creative power whatsoever, I’m fascinated by Dr. Alexander’s notion that the creative process is essentially the same as the genetic process (seen in the unfolding of an embryo or the growth of a seed). Both processes are subclasses of the Living Process, which is defined in this book. The Creative Process “The whole system of order we observe is […]
Read more“A Pattern Language” by Christopher Alexander
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 […]
Read more“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