What Christopher Alexander thinks about design
Architect and design theorist (1936 to 2022); author of A Pattern Language and The Timeless Way of Building.
Everything they publish, on ppll ↗
Christopher Alexander did not write this page.
We collected these quotes from things they published elsewhere, and every quote links to where it was said. They have no account here and have not endorsed this site. Quotes are word for word; the short line under each one is our own restatement, not their wording. Their own site. Is this you? Claim it or ask us to remove it. Or tell us what is wrong here.
20 dated positions, c. 1977 to c. 1979, in their own words. Our reading of what Christopher Alexander has said — not written or endorsed by them.
-
Their wordsIt is a process which brings order out of nothing but ourselves; it cannot be attained, but it will happen of its own accord, if we will only let it.
↗The Timeless Way of Building (Oxford University Press, 1979)books.google.com All 14 from this book
-
Their wordsWithout the help of architects or planners, if you are working in the timeless way, a town will grow under your hands, as steady as the flowers in your garden.
↗The Timeless Way of Building (Oxford University Press, 1979)books.google.com All 14 from this book
-
Their wordsEach one of us wants to be able to bring a building or part of a town to life like this. It is a fundamental human instinct, as much a part of our desire as the desire for children.
↗The Timeless Way of Building (Oxford University Press, 1979)books.google.com All 14 from this book
-
Their wordsIndeed it turns out, in the end, that what this method does is simply free us from all method.
↗The Timeless Way of Building (Oxford University Press, 1979)books.google.com All 14 from this book
-
Their wordsThere is a central quality which is the root criterion of life and spirit in a man, a town, a building, or a wilderness. This quality is objective and precise, but it cannot be named.
↗The Timeless Way of Building (Oxford University Press, 1979)books.google.com All 14 from this book
-
Their wordsWhen a place is lifeless or unreal, there is almost always a mastermind behind it. It is so filled with the will of its maker that there is no room for its own nature.
↗The Timeless Way of Building (Oxford University Press, 1979)books.google.com All 14 from this book
-
Our readingThe more living patterns a room, building or town has, the more it comes to life as a whole
Their wordsThe more living patterns there are in a thing — a room, a building, or a town — the more it comes to life as an entirety, the more it glows, the more it has this self-maintaining fire, which is the quality without a name.
↗The Timeless Way of Building (Oxford University Press, 1979)books.google.com All 14 from this book
-
Their wordsThe quality without a name occurs, not when an isolated pattern occurs, but when an entire system of patterns, interdependent, at many levels, is all stable and alive.
↗The Timeless Way of Building (Oxford University Press, 1979)books.google.com All 14 from this book
-
Their wordsIndeed the main thing we shall deal with in these next nine chapters, is the fact that the quality without a name cannot be made, but only generated by a process.
↗The Timeless Way of Building (Oxford University Press, 1979)books.google.com All 14 from this book
-
Their wordsIn the case of buildings and of towns, this process must be one which lets the people of a town shape rooms, and houses, streets, and churches, for themselves.
↗The Timeless Way of Building (Oxford University Press, 1979)books.google.com All 14 from this book
-
Their wordsThe patterns are responsible not only for the specific shape a building has, but also for the extent to which the building comes to life.
↗The Timeless Way of Building (Oxford University Press, 1979)books.google.com All 14 from this book
-
Their wordsPattern languages are the source of beauty and of ugliness.
↗The Timeless Way of Building (Oxford University Press, 1979)books.google.com All 14 from this book
-
Our readingTo let a pattern form itself in design, you must give up control and let the pattern do the work
Their wordsTo do it, you must let go of your control and let the pattern do the work.
↗The Timeless Way of Building (Oxford University Press, 1979)books.google.com All 14 from this book
-
Our readingTo make a building egoless, the builder must let go of willful images and start with a void
Their wordsTo make a building egoless, like this, the builder must let go of all his willful images, and start with a void.
↗The Timeless Way of Building (Oxford University Press, 1979)books.google.com All 14 from this book
-
Their wordsIt is shown there, that towns and buildings will not be able to become alive, unless they are made by all the people in society, and unless these people share a common pattern language, within which to make these buildings, and unless this common pattern language is alive itself.
↗A Pattern Language: Towns, Buildings, Construction (Oxford University Press, 1977; with 5 co-authors)books.google.com All 9 from this book
-
Their wordsEach pattern describes a problem which occurs over and over again in our environment, and then describes the core of the solution to that problem, in such a way that you can use this solution a million times over, without ever doing it the same way twice.
↗A Pattern Language: Towns, Buildings, Construction (Oxford University Press, 1977; with 5 co-authors)books.google.com All 9 from this book
-
Our readingNo design pattern is an isolated entity
Their wordsIn short, no pattern is an isolated entity.
↗A Pattern Language: Towns, Buildings, Construction (Oxford University Press, 1977; with 5 co-authors)books.google.com All 9 from this book
-
Their wordsThere is abundant evidence to show that high buildings make people crazy.
↗A Pattern Language: Towns, Buildings, Construction (Oxford University Press, 1977; with 5 co-authors)books.google.com All 9 from this book
-
Their wordsIn short, the more monolithic the building is, the more it prevents people from being personal, and from making human contact with the other people in the building.
↗A Pattern Language: Towns, Buildings, Construction (Oxford University Press, 1977; with 5 co-authors)books.google.com All 9 from this book
-
Our readingEverybody loves window seats, bay windows and big low-silled windows with chairs drawn up to them
Their wordsEverybody loves window seats, bay windows, and big windows with low sills and comfortable chairs drawn up to them.
↗A Pattern Language: Towns, Buildings, Construction (Oxford University Press, 1977; with 5 co-authors)books.google.com All 9 from this book