The nature of order Book

The Poetry of Design

In Book 1 (The Phenomenon of Life) of this series, architectural theorist and practitioner Christopher Alexander introduced a highly organic view of a natural process of architectural design based on 15 principles that played off against each other. Book 2 continues the conversation by discussing examples of how each of these principles can be correctly applied, and what happens if they are not. It's a somewhat mystical approach that evolves not from abstract geometry but from a profound sense of place, one that completely negates cookie-cutter replication that characterizes suburbia and most of modern planned urban development.

One begins with terrain, climate and the character of the surrounding structures, coaxing out the centres of interests, delineating boundaries and introducing strong focal centers and utilizing irregular almost fractal symmetries (fractals have infinite depth, and there are limits as to what can be done) who's effect echoes on different scales. Rather than have an architect draft a building, then pass it on to the builder, the architect and client and contractors work together throughout the building process to dynamically evolve not just a machine for living, but spaces that are evoke life, a fundamental change in the way that buildings and communities are made. Unlike contemporary design, the technique integrates feedback between the stakeholders throughout, down to the placement of individual elements, allowing for experimentation and changing of mind. Alexander's design process is highly explorative where each step transforms into the possibilities of the next.

The approach is not without problems, and IMV requires a leap of faith on the part of the client in an extremely high level of competence in the designer, because one might just as easily design oneself into a dead end. However to counter this, in my own experience, I've observed the evolution of these "little boxes on the hillside" , and through additions, landscaping, furnishings and decoration, one eventually can arrive at the similar effect creating liveable homes. Yet the end result is somewhat narcissistic as the suburban streets themselves are largely empty of life as life enhancing principles are not considered at the outset. The design of buildings has to give life to the community as well. This can highly evident in the design of office and public space - if it's dead it's probably because cost and manageability overrode the need to create liveable centres. For Alexander, rustic peasant society naturally adapted to communal living which 20th century architecture with its emphasis on Tayloristic deconstruction destroyed.

On one level the key to Alexander are the 15 transformation rules which are the basis of what he calls a "pattern language" and one evolves one's design from these. On another there are observable local cultural norms which one documents and builds on in order to create an aesthetic in tune with community, social cohesion and intended use. His critique of mid century American homes (pp355) with is excess formality of living and dining rooms turned them into dead spaces most of the day and the isolation of the kitchen from dens or playrooms discourages interaction and participation in food preparation, drives home the point that bad design fails to bring people together. Yet I note that his own web site patternlanguage.com, while having some open content is mostly paid subscription based, misses the pattern of the of the internet - the free exchange of information encourages aggregation and development of the same.

Throughout Alexander's theorizing is highly enjoyable and one emerges with a better eye for understanding how buildings can be altered to better serve our needs. He often repeats the same points in different ways , but the images he uses to illustrate are both beautiful and well chosen. I found treating the book as a poem (or paen) to organic design as opposed to a textbook made it all the more enjoyable and eminently rereadable.