HELP ON STEP-BY-STEP TRANSFORMATION OF THE CITY, BLOCK BY BLOCK

Continue to step 4 of the city street sequence

THIS PAGE IS NOT ITSELF PART OF THE SEQUENCE BUT IT IS SOMETHING YOU MAY FIND HELPFUL

The structure of a city can -- only -- be transformed gradually. If we seek to reach a certain state, or a certain kind of structure, we can only hope to create that structure as a result of a long sequence of steps -- possibly taken at random throughout space -- yet gradually building up coherent structures for cars, for pedestrians, and for their interaction.

In this teacup, we see various centers. The bowl of the cup is its most important center; the space inside it. The handle is a center. The hole in the handle, is a center. The rim of the cup, because it has a slight flair and there has more punch or life is a center. The concept of centers has surprising depths. Full analysis of these depths is explored in length in THE NATURE OF ORDER. The crucial thing to keep in mind is that life exists only in space and that it is the interplay of centers that brings the space to life. Sometimes the space which forms a center has a solid object at its core, like your desk. In other cases, it is what we think of as "empty" space, like the "empty" space above your desk. In both cases it is the SPACE which makes the center. Often the space near an object - such as the area in space formed by the light below a table lamp - is more important than the solid object itself. By placing chairs in your office where you will speak with people, you create a strong center in the space between the chairs where your eyes meet. Your office will be made of these centers. You must attend to all these centers. Your goal is to bring these centers into a strong harmony. In making anything well, what happens is always a process in which centers are being formed. Here are some important points about understanding centers. First, in any particular place, indoors or outdoors, There are natural, existing centers. In a room, natural centers are created by windows, doors, and wall shapes - in any room even before physical objects are added to it. In a terrain, the naturally occurring centers are created by dips in the land, by naturally occurring boundaries, by distant focal points, and so on. In all cases, the naturally occurring centers must be respected. Second, there are culture-borne, or problem-borne generic types of centers, like "door", "doorway", "garden", "path" -- these are widely recognized patterns, which you may think about and work with. These, as much as phsical objects, are resources, and may be introduced into a real situation, to make a design, or to improve the environment. Some of these patterns have been identified and are visible in A PATTERN LANGUAGE. These are centers created by you, or your family, or your clients, or a community, when you begin to understand what you need to do in a given situation. Third, there are new centers, real ones, which you create in the design and making of your office. For a thing to become good, these centers it is made of need to have as much life, or life-force, as possible. As you put your design together, the thing will come out good, and will have life, to the extent that you are able to make the overall pattern and configuration of these different centers work together. The new centers need to reinforce and intensify the pattern of the existing or "natural" centers. That is the clue to life-giving design. Remember that all centers are made of space. In all that follows -- in planning, designing, building, making -- everything you do, has to do with focusing on these different kinds of centers, becoming aware of them, and then creating them and shaping them to make something beautiful and practical.

Go on to step 3 of the Office Sequence