Christopher Alexander-Titles 24pt

8/3/2019 Christopher Alexander-Titles 24pt

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Nicholas Vella Muskat

Advanced Theory and History


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Introduction

Attended Cambridge University and graduated with an

undergraduate degree in Mathematics and Chemistry.

He then went into the Architecture program but was

dissatisfied with it since he wanted to learn to make beautiful

buildings which have a timeless quality (Grabow, 1983).

Alexander did not complete his Architecture degree at

Cambridge but instead went to Harvard to do his PhD.


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Alexanders design theory was initially based on Cartesian

rationalism for solving design problems.

Problems are broken into their smallest components; each component is solved separately, and then finally synthesized into a

grand solution.

Later on, Alexander moved into almost the opposite direction where the importance to a holistic approach was emphasized.

The development of his design theory can be analysed in 3 stages using his different books as guidelines:

The Rational ApproachThe Emphasis of Wholeness

The Development of Pattern Language


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What creates successful design

He uses specific terms to lay out his thoughts such as:

Form, context, fit, misfit, conscious, self conscious

Notes on the Synthesis of Form 1964

Alexander attempts to find out


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Spaces around buildings are dealt with afterwards - no

figure/ground

relationship


TODAYbuildings are designed as art objects - little

importance to context

During the RENAISSANCE cities in Europe designed buildings and the landscape together as one element Proper fitbetween form and context

Something rarely seen in modernarchitecture

Nuragic and Contemporary

Art Museum, Cagliari, Italy

by Zaha Hadid

Falling Water, Pennsylvania

by Frank Lloyd Wright

The Rational Approach


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They are highly context driven -products of their environment


Makes important observations between the Unselfconscious(traditional) and Selfconscious(specialised) approach to designing

and building

Alexander states indigenous buildings from traditional societies define good design in architecture

For example if the hut was to break or

culture to change, the inhabitants would

fix the hut in a tiny way

Changes in society were slow - conditions were well adapted to the system of building.


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Yemen - small country in middle east

Foreign aid in the form of architects and engineers from the West

Yemen already developed their on own unique urban architecture suited to their environment

Foreign professionals built almost everything with reinforced concrete putting their trust in modern

technology and construction systems

Yemen has differential temperature of 30/40 degrees in 24 hours

Thus expansion and contraction cause almost every new construction from concrete to crack and endangered

the structure of the building


Alexander argues that rapid changes in technology affect the quality of materials produced

EXAMPLE

In these modern times, change can be caused by the introduction of newsophisticated technology


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Within a short space of time wealthy Yemeni who wanted the

status of modern houses returned to their traditional homes

This shows that a study of traditional way of creating buildings can enrich our current

built environment

Traditional building material used in Yemen was mud bricks -

allowed for greater error and flexibility

in construction

Studies showed that in a traditional Yemeni house the inside

temperature varied only two degrees while the exterior temperature

fluctuated by 30 degrees


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A metal face is tested against a steel block.

The face of the block is inked and the metal face

is rubbed against it. Any high spot shows immediately

and demonstrates the misfit of form to the context

Alexander states that the final objective of design is form and the problem of design is to fit form to its context

Alexanders approach is to take care of all the misfits in the physical environment.

The idea of the misfit is a difficult notion to quantify in itself.

Misfits are mismatches between the capacities and

expectations on a form in a specific context.

Form is an important part of design over which designers have control

Contextis also a part of design which puts demands on this form

Example by Alexander to

explain misfit


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Treating cattle as sacred and village women gossiping while

fetching water or taking a bath

MAIN PROBLEM IN DESIGN : to find all relevant variables of misfit

1)it is difficult to find all the misfits

2) if there isnt enough information on what fits then we might not choose the best

appropriate solution to design and end up creating another misfit

3)the world is not simply divided into fits and misfits

To put the idea of misfits to practice Alexander studies an existing village in

India

Examples of

these misfits

- He identifies 141 misfits

However factors which may be considered a misfit according to Western standards may not be misfits according toEastern ones.

- Linked to culture


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A City is Not a Tree 1965

The Emphasis of Wholeness

Planned cities are not working well the way they are planned; as they are planned according to a rational method -.

There is no overlapping of functions thus not allowing for things to work

together

Makes comparison between the tree likeplanned like

cities and the semi-latticenatural cities

Scale model of Brasilia -

Planned city

Traditional cities however grew organically and have a complex

pattern of an overlapping structure.

The landuses in a natural city merge together and are not neatlyzoned and segregated like a planned city.

problems and functions are broken into various categories

London City

Plan -

Natural city


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To explain further we must define a set as a collection ofelements we think as belonging together

Both the tree and the semi-lattice are ways of thinking about how a large collection of manysmall systems go together

to make up a large and complex system

As designers we are concerned with the physical fabric of a city and

usually restrict ourselves to considering sets which are collections of

material elements like people, cars, bricks etc..

When the elements on a set belong together and co operate we call this set of elements a system


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On the corner of the street lies a drug store, and outside the drug store a traffic light. In the entrance of the drug store there is a newsrack

where the days papers are displayed. When the light is red, people who are waiting to cross the street stand idly by the light and since they

have nothing to do, they look at the papers displayed on the newsrack which they can see from where they stand. Some of them just read

the headlines, others actually buy a paper while they wait.

Consider the following example:

This effect makes the newsrack and the traffic light interdependent

The newsrack, the newspapers on it, the money going from peoples pockets to the dime slot, the people who stop at the light and read

papers, traffic light, the electric impulses which make the lights change, the sidewalk which they stand on all form a systemthey all work

together


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For a designer, the physicalunchanging part of the system is of special interest. The news rack, traffic light and sidewalk between them,related as they are, form thefixed part of the system . It is theunchanging part of the system that allows the changing part of the system(people,newspapers,money and electrical impulses) to work.

In this case, one set consists of the newsrack, sidewalk, and traffic light. Another set consists of the drug store itself, with its entry and thenewsrack. Both units overlap somewhat satisifying the semi lattice structure that Alexander uses to describe traditional cities..


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When we have a tree structure, it means that within this structureno piece of any unit is ever connected to other units, except through

the medium of that unit as a whole

City is made up of sectors based on functional land use: residential, commercial, educational, recreational and industrial. All connected together by an efficient

transportation system.

The designers made assumptions about how people were going to use the city without considering the traditional Indian way of life .

Example of the Indian city of Chandigarh:

A linear park area running from north to south through the entire city was provided for the residents but itis hardly used by them. This is because Indians are family oriented and their recreation takes place at home.

The green spaces around the houses and backyard gardens are therefore important because they follow the

traditional pattern very closely.

Many of these problems couldve been avoided if Corbusier had realised the durability of traditions: how

society and the traditional city are related to on another.

Alexander concluded that environmental planners and designers should think of cities in terms of semi-lattices rather than trees.


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A New Theory of Urban Design 1988

When we say something grows as a whole, we mean that....its new growth emerges from the specific, peculiarstructural nature of its past... We feel this quality very strongly, in the towns which we experience as organic.

1) the whole must grow gradually

2) the whole must be unpredictable - should be unclear how it will develop

or end

3) the whole must becoherent - truly whole and not fragmented

4) the whole must inspire feeling

Such growth requires certain fundamental rules:

Alexander argues that a new process of urban design is required:

...a process which has the creation of wholeness as its overriding purpose, and in

which every increment of construction, no matter how small, is devoted to thispurpose.


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A Timeless Way of Building and A Pattern Language (1977,1979)

Alexander developed pattern on the way people built and used their physical environment

Alexander believes patterns can provide answers to design problems byacting as a guideline

Each pattern describes a problem which recurs over and overin the environment. Like

words can be strung to form a different sentences, patterns can generate an infinitenumber of design solutions

253 patterns divided into : 1. Towns

2. buildings

3. construction


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It is important to specify that Pattern language does NOT provide a solution to all design problems.

- each situation is unique.

- important to analyse the problem within its context

T h e e n t r y t o a b u i l d i n gFOR EXAMPLE

- must fully understand the function and purpose of the entry, whether it is for a residential

or an industrial building, the number of people who will use it, the form, and, context of

the building

The 2 books can provide valuable input for the design if the design is visualised

properly


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Alexander describes two types of order:

Functional order

Functional And

Form

These two order tie the design with human nature and feelings

based on function and efficiency

can be described and analysed objectively

Form orderbased on the experiential factor

can only be described subjectively


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Conclusion

Alexander began with a rational approach to design only to then show that it fails to consider the inter-relationship of various parts in planning and design. The example of Chandigarh shows that the city does notrespond to the needs of its residents because it had been conceived of as a tree.In Theory of urban design he emphasises the importance of using wholeness as a basis for urban design andplanning taking an opposite direction to the rational approach he encourages in Synthesis of form.

A Pattern Language and A Timeless Way of Building provide rich material about the patterns of the builtenvironment. The Yemen example shows how the patterns of the traditional way of building and constructioncan be helpful in creating successful design solutions. Designs based on an understanding of patterns have agreater probability to be successful because they are the result ofpeoples experience over time. Pattern Languagecan therefore provide a useful basis for the design of the physical environment.


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Questions

Alexander began with a rational approach to design only to then show that it fails to consider the inter-

relationship of various parts in planning and design. The example of Chandigarh shows that the city does not

respond to the needs of its residents because it had been conceived of as a tree.


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References

Alexander, Christopher (1964). Notes on the Synthesis of Form. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press.

Alexander, Christopher (1966). City is not a Tree.Design. No.206. Feb.issue pp 44-55

Alexander, Christopher (1977). A Pattern Language. New York: Oxford University Press

Alexander, Christopher (1988). A New Theory of Urban Design. New York: Oxford University Press.

http://wiki.uelceca.net/avamsccomputingdesign/files/Notes%2Bon%2Bthe%2Bsynthesis%2Bof%2Bform%2BBD.pdf

http://www.katarxis3.com/Review_Nature_Order.htm

http://www.patternlanguage.com/archives/alexander1.htm

http://www.rudi.net/books/201
http://wiki.uelceca.net/avamsccomputingdesign/files/Notes+on+the+synthesis+of+form+BD.pdfhttp://www.katarxis3.com/Review_Nature_Order.htmhttp://www.patternlanguage.com/archives/alexander1.htmhttp://www.rudi.net/books/201http://www.rudi.net/books/201http://www.patternlanguage.com/archives/alexander1.htmhttp://www.katarxis3.com/Review_Nature_Order.htmhttp://wiki.uelceca.net/avamsccomputingdesign/files/Notes+on+the+synthesis+of+form+BD.pdf


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Christopher Alexander-Titles 24pt

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