TWENTY-FOUR REVIEWS OF THE PATTERN LANGUAGE, POSTED AT AMAZON.COM

This book is the dictionary for A Timeless Way of Building. The Oregon Experiment is a case study of the use of these ideas to plan a college campus.

This book is about functional design for humans rather than design for design's sake. It directly refutes the real estate industry's insistence on neutral design for quick sale (which is the industry's goal - not the goal of a homeowner!) It promotes design which fits the needs and desires of the user, not the developer or architect. The philosophy involves the users heavily in the process of design, permitting integrated design without requiring comprehensive knowledge of all interacting factors on the part of the designers, it is a way of modularizing the design process into smaller, comprehensible units which can be understood and discussed in a useful way.

You will not be disappointed in reading these books.

Yes, it's dated a bit, especially in it's language approach to social issues.

Yes, it's Utopian, but not impractical.

No, all of the patterns do not apply to all people in all places, but then, they are not intended to.

What is important is the basic premise: That physical environment design can either promote community or divide people. That there exist basic patterns of interaction between people, buildings, roads and environment.

No, you cannot just change your entire community overnight into a utopia (mores the shame) however, these books can help to redefine how your community grows and develops to improve the quality of life for everyone in the community.

All of the research is fairly old, but it is research into basic human actions and reactions to their surroundings - not something which is subject to a great deal of change - examples cover several thousand years.

If you're tired of strip malls, rampant development for development's sake, neighborhoods without character or community, irritating traffic patterns, multiple hour commutes, buildings which are uncomfortable to live and work in or just interested in improving your corner of the world, read these books and apply some of the principles wherever you feel they will fit your life.

I own multiple copies and recommend it highly.

FIRST of all, the book is dated. This is not only a problem as far as the quoted works and the statistics are concerned, all of which have probably changed massivly since 1977, but esp. as far as the whole philosophical attitude of the book is concerned. While this is probably not as much an issue with the parts concerned with building the own home, it is a grande issue with the city stuff. The suggestions made here too often reek of '68 and have in fact -- in all the cases I could find -- where Alexander and his coworkers tried to peek into the future not materialized. (Esp. the network of learning pattern seems meaningless to me.)

SECONDLY, while this book is recommended reading for all Object--Oriented--Programmers, I am not quite sure why this is the case. Alexander teaches his pattern language by doing rather than by a consistent theory. So, if you are a programmer, go ahead and buy "Design Patterns" by Gamma, Helm, Johnson and Vlissides first. The fact that "Design Patterns", which sees itself as a desciple of Alexander, restricts its discussion of him to two pages (p356-7) in the concluding chapter of the book should be some indication. This is not to say that Alexander's book aint great -- only that its NEED for OOP is somewhat overrated in my opinion.

THIRDLY, hardly any of the texts perusing Alexander make it clear enough that to him this book is part of a three-volume effort. It is in fact PART TWO (nobody tells you this), and the accompagning volumes are "The Timeless Way of Building" (Part ONE) and "The Oregon Experiment" (Part THREE). So if you are seriously interested in understanding Alexander and don's just want to peruse "A pattern Language" as a quarry for your own problems, you should be aware that HE considers the project not understood until you've read these as well.

Once you know about the Waist High Shelf pattern you start spotting them everywhere! Pattern languages are the way to go!

(Also take a look at Hildebrand's THE WRIGHT SPACE for another great look at "what makes a building feel good")

Unfortunately, although he did not say it then, it was obvious that contemporary architecture was pursuing design goals that are almost the opposite of what was discovered in the pattern language. For this reason, anyone could immediately see that Alexander's findings invalidated most of what practicing architects were doing at that time. The Pattern Language was identified as a serious threat to the architectural community. It was consequently suppressed. Attacking it in public would only give it more publicity, so it was carefully and off-handedly dismissed as irrelevant in architecture schools, professional conferences and publications.

Now, 20 years later, computer scientists have discovered that the connections underlying the Pattern Language are indeed universal, as Alexander had originally claimed. His work has achieved the highest esteem in computer science. Alexander himself has spent the last twenty years in providing scientific support for his findings, in a way that silences all criticism. He will publish this in the forthcoming four-volume work entitled "The Nature of Order". His new results draw support from complexity theory, fractals, neural networks, and many other disciplines on the cutting edge of science.

After the publication of this new work, our civilization has to seriously question why it has ignored the Pattern Language for so long, and to face the blame for the damage that it has done to our cities, neighborhoods, buildings, and psyche by doing so.

The core idea is the elaboration of a series of patterns inherent in the way we build any habitation--from a garden bench, to a sleeping room, to a house, to a university, town, or region. The patterns; written, concrete and specific, can be interlocked and extended--like a language--in unlimited ways. These patterns are not blueprints for construction. They are more about behavior than about decoration, more about relationships than about dimensions. Thus, the pattern, "Sunny Window", when joined to another pattern, Thickened Walls" leads to just the right arrangements for a window seat-- a fitting place to sew, or read, or day-dream. When we build aright, says he, we inevitably follow these patterns, and enjoy the fullness of our humanity as we inhabit them.

Alexander is a radical, an anti-architect. He says that the best buildings are vernacular structures; the ordinary furnishings, gardens, rooms and houses that evolved slowly as ordinary people built what they needed and repeated what worked. What one might call "right building", as opposed to architecture, is not about style or the individuality of the professional designer, but the discovery of transcendent and inherently beautiful supports for the human functions of work, play, intimacy, and family living. Then you build it yourself. When we remodeled our own small urban house, we wove many of the patterns (there are hundreds) into the new space we built, and were happy with the results.

Twenty years after publication, it's a scandal that there are architects and designers who have never heard of this work. (ours--a professor of Architecture, hadn't). Alexander's ideas are reflected today in Stewart Brand's recently popular "How Buildings Learn", and there's surely a vast underground following out there, people who have, or want to build or renovate their homes, or landscapes with an eye to more sociable and spiritually nourishing places. Perhaps as more and more of us work at home, we will turn to this kind of resource to help us enrich our sterile, enfenced suburban environments(Alexander found a lot of his patterns in pre-industrial villages of Scotland and Wales).

Yes, Alexander will be back! This book is one of two that sits out on our reading table constantly. I cherish it and recommend it to anyone who wants to take a more active role in the design of their lives as well as their homes and gardens. END

Alexander and his contributing editors present a series of patterns that operate universally on the mood and activities of people using spaces. "Light on Two Sides," for example, is a pattern describing the impact of light entering a room from two directions. Functionally, this arrangement softens light by cancelling the harsh shadows that arise from a single light direction. Emotionally, this makes a room more pleasant to live and work in, and may of its own accord encourage certain activities.

Alexander's huge study of over 200 patterns is at once modest and sweeping. He details patterns with care, and offers sketches and photographs to illustrate them, along with an unassuming voice. Above all, he demystifies architecture itself, calling upon any reader to assume a role in the design process. Despite this humility, the significance of Alexander's vision is always present. In the end, he is constructing a formula for social utopia—an architectural prescription for living well and wisely. From integrating children and senior citizens into the daily life of a community to revealing the advantages of mixed use commercial and residential zoning, Alexander proposes ideas that can successfully animate any town's master planning efforts.

Read this book if you're designing house, working with an architect, looking for a new house, or contributing to your city's planning commission. You will doubtless come away with a heightened appreciation for the influence of space on your choices and activities.

We design and build houses and buildings professionally and are always interested in new ideas which contribute to a better final product. This book is for anyone who has an interest in achieving the highest level of good design in terms of placement, workability of all parts--inside and out--of their house. Its insights are on a par with what you would expect from the authors, and go so much further than a normal architect's communications with a client. The errors alone that this book will help avoid make it worth ten times the cost. Highly readable, very clearly organised, logical and to the point. For real estate developers as well as homebuilders, too, since it has a lengthy section of the elements of good city planning.An excellent philosophy of good design.

"If there is a beautiful view, don't spoil it by building huge windows that gape incessantly at it. Instead, put the windows which look onto the view at places of transition--along paths, in hallways, in entry ways, on stairs, between rooms."

"When they have a choice, people will always gravitate to those rooms which have light on two sides, and leave the rooms which are lit only from one side unused and empty."