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TH

MARIA KHAN SEMESTER

A PATTERN LANGUAGE CHRISTOPHER ALEXANDER

Christopher wolfgang alexander was born in vienna he attended Cambridge University and graduated with an undergraduate degree in Mathematics and Chemistry. He then joined the Architecture program at Cambridge Architecture degree and instead went to Harvard to do his PhD. His doctorate dissertation is published under the title Notes on Synthesis of Form in 1964. Other books that he published are The Oregon Experiment (1975), A Pattern Language (1977), The Timeless Way of Building (1979), The Production of Houses (1985), A New Theory of Urban Design (1987), A Foreshadowing of 21st Century Art: The Color and Geometry of Very Early Turkish Carpets (1993) and The Nature of Order (1997). The development of Alexanders design theory can be examined in three stages, where in first he first stage he deals with the evolution of his theory and it was at this stage that Notes of Synthesis of Form was published. Then this led to the second stage where he published A City is Not a Tree. Lastly in third it culminated into the publication of A Pattern Language and The Timeless Way of Building. A pattern language is really nothing more than a precise way of describing someones experience of a building." CHRISTOPHER ALEXANDER The book A Pattern Language provides patterns based on the way people have built and used

their physical environment. Alexander lists 253 patterns which can be divided into the three major groups: towns, buildings and construction. Each pattern describes a problem which recurs over and over again in the environment. Like words which can be strung together to form different sentences, patterns can generate an infinite number of design solutions. He uses an interesting analogy between a pattern language and an ordinary language. He says that with a pattern language, people can have the capability to create an infinite variety of new and unique spaces just as ordinary language gives them the capability to create an infinite variety of sentences. He presented The Timeless Way of Building and A Pattern Language as design tools for humanizing places and endowing them with a life giving quality. This book emphasizes the interaction between people and the environment. It has prescriptive intention and in many instances, patterns provide all possible ways for solving the stated problem; they are archetypal and will still be a part of human nature five hundred years from today. Through the use of pattern language, environmental designers do not have to make predictions about the success of a design and so, many uncertainties about future outcomes can be avoided. However these Patterns can only be used as guides for the development of design concepts and not as ready-made design recipes.
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