A Pattern Language: Towns, Buildings, Construction

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A Pattern Language: Towns, Buildings, Construction

by Christopher Alexander, Murray Silverstein, Sara Ishikawa, Max Jacobson, Shlomo Angel, Ingrid Fiksdahl-King

4.39 of 5 stars 4.39 · rating details · 1,488 ratings · 176 reviews

You can use this book to design a house for yourself with your family; you can use it to work with your neighbors to improve your town and neighborhood; you can use it to design an office, or a workshop, or a public building. And you can use it to guide you in the actual process of construction.
After a ten-year silence, Christopher Alexander and his colleagues at the Cent...more You can use this book to design a house for yourself with your family; you can use it to work with your neighbors to improve your town and neighborhood; you can use it to design an office, or a workshop, or a public building. And you can use it to guide you in the actual process of construction.
After a ten-year silence, Christopher Alexander and his colleagues at the Center for Environmental Structure are now publishing a major statement in the form of three books which will, in their words, "lay the basis for an entirely new approach to architecture, building and planning, which will we hope replace existing ideas and practices entirely." The three books are The Timeless Way of Building, The Oregon Experiment, and this book, A Pattern Language.
At the core of these books is the idea that people should design for themselves their own houses, streets, and communities. This idea may be radical (it implies a radical transformation of the architectural profession) but it comes simply from the observation that most of the wonderful places of the world were not made by architects but by the people.
At the core of the books, too, is the point that in designing their environments people always rely on certain "languages," which, like the languages we speak, allow them to articulate and communicate an infinite variety of designs within a forma system which gives them coherence. This book provides a language of this kind. It will enable a person to make a design for almost any kind of building, or any part of the built environment.
"Patterns," the units of this language, are answers to design problems (How high should a window sill be? How many stories should a building have? How much space in a neighborhood should be devoted to grass and trees?). More than 250 of the patterns in this pattern language are given: each consists of a problem statement, a discussion of the problem with an illustration, and a solution. As the authors say in their introduction, many of the patterns are archetypal, so deeply rooted in the nature of things that it seemly likely that they will be a part of human nature, and human action, as much in five hundred years as they are today.(less)

Hardcover, 1216 pages

Published August 25th 1977 by Oxford University Press, USA (first published 1977)

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Aug 08, 2007 Tiggerj rated it 5 of 5 stars

This is the book that sparked my interest in architecture and home design, many years ago. Skip the town and urban planning if you are more interested in how to design a comfortable home. Christopher Alexander is passionate and persuasive about what he believes we need in our homes: natural light from two sides of a room, window seats one can actually read in, quiet separate dressing areas for every person in a house (because bedrooms should be rooms to relax and be intimate in, not a messy clot...more

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Jul 16, 2012 Mike rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: favorites

This is probably my favorite non-fiction book. Christopher Alexander and his students have collected everything there is to know about design and put it in one book. Yet cultures go on making the same mistakes over and over. And few architects I talk to have ever read the book.

The book is easy to read and understand. It consists of hundreds of patterns, described in a page or two. The range from the width of door molding to how cities should be laid out. For example, there is a pattern, "Old Peo...more

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Apr 24, 2013 Matt rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: fantasy, philosophy, previously-abandoned

I really don't know what I was expecting when I reserved this from the library, but it wasn't this. In my defense, it sounded interesting. I thought it might be a discussion of sociology and history meant to inspire or empower people to build what they wanted. In fact, what I got is....

Let me back up. Just recently, Bioware released the latest in their series of dystopian first person shooters - 'Bioshock Infinite'. In this series visionary philosophers seek to fond utopian communities based on...more I really don't know what I was expecting when I reserved this from the library, but it wasn't this. In my defense, it sounded interesting. I thought it might be a discussion of sociology and history meant to inspire or empower people to build what they wanted. In fact, what I got is....

Let me back up. Just recently, Bioware released the latest in their series of dystopian first person shooters - 'Bioshock Infinite'. In this series visionary philosophers seek to fond utopian communities based on the idea that humanity needs to be organized around a different guiding principle, and in this isolation temporarily achieve great things only to be ultimately undermined by the fundamental flaws inherent in their philosophy. In the first game, you get to live out the fantasy of killing a bunch of Ann Randian objectivist libertarians that have mutated into monsters. In this latest game, you are pitted against fanatical American patriots who worship the founding fathers.

One of the things that greatly interests me is that the utopian communities of Bioshock look absolutely nothing like the sort of utopian communities that are actually created or desired by the sort of people whose philosophies Bioshock draws inspiration from. American religious mystics don't create high tech cities. They create something more like a Shaker village. The people inspired by American Exceptionalism didn't create isolationist flying communes, but Detroit and Chicago. The followers of Ann Rand didn't and wouldn't be interested in planned communities. They'd correctly diagnosis any sort of planned community as a de facto government and isolation as a tool of empowerment by that government. You can say many things about the Objectivists, but they aren't really into building Utopias or at least not for communities as a whole. Actual religious utopians building intentional planned communities don't tend to imagine high tech cities as a way to get spiritual. If you actually look at the history of intentional communities in the United States and the world, you find a lot of luddite religious groups, a few con artists, a great many free spirited anarchist squatters, and an endless succession of socialist communes, compounds, show cities, and planned communities. In fact, the only modern religious philosophy that has shown any consistent interest in building communities set apart from the rest of society is socialism. It's got a rich 200 year history, but if you are waiting for the Bioshock game that has a communist planned community at its heart, well, I suspect you'll be waiting a long while. Actually attacking a vibrant religion, especially one many of your friends belong too, has way too many social repercussions.

If you want a real model for the sort of communities found in Bioshock, then you couldn't really do better than this book. Instead of a discussion of the theories of social organization and how they relate to architecture, what you get in this book is a blueprint based on a theory of desirable organization. There is within the pages of this book a detailed outline of exactly how the lives of people are to be controlled in every practical aspect. Alexander has a plan for everything - where you own land, where you work, what you do, where you shop, and where you sleep. Everything is planned out in meticulous detail.

What I find particularly interesting is that what he's planning is ultimately little more than a tessellated medieval town. This is guy who has clearly gone to Europe, fallen in love with the post-medieval countryside and decided that this is the way mankind must be made to live. Grounded in pseudoscience, Alexander outlines reasoning for recreating every incidental aspect of the medieval countryside. In the real world, the complex winding tapestry of medieval fields and farms was the result of patrimony and continual subinfeudation. In Alexander's fantasy world, the thin intertwined fingers of land familiar to anyone with more than a half-dozen hours of college level course study in Medieval history are the product of science - in the same way that the huge communal government owned farms of the Soviet Union and Mao's great agricultural leap forward were the product of science.

The pattern of streets in a medieval town, the layout of semi-self-sufficient neighborhoods within larger cities, virtually every aspect of medieval culture save the central organizing cathedral at the hub is apparent in the layout. The steel I-beam doesn't exist in this world, nor does it appear the elevator, nor does electricity save in the most cursory way. This is building for the 19th century. Now, there are important topics here that could be discussed, but from his perspective in the 1970's - a time filled with socialist community planning (my cousin lived on a commune) - the writer isn't really asking the right questions or thinking about them. Instead of looking at the world's architectural diversity and really seeing it as adaptive and useful engineering, he's got his theory and by golly he's going to stick with it.

I do Alexander no injustice to claim that he is a would be tyrant of the highest degree. Alexander is well aware that his intentional planned community won't come about organically by people seeing the sense of his ideas and incorporating them into their lives from the bottom up, first building house according to his principles, then latter building complexes, and latter neighborhoods and finally cities. He well aware that his vision requires above all two things – central planning and authoritarian force. The only way to get people to do what Alexander believes is good for them is to make them do it. Every second page of the book contains an enjoinder to create laws that enforce the pattern discussed in that section, and a discussion of the necessity of doing so. Of course, every page with such an injunction also contains a 'proof' that the pattern to be enforced is really the natural one humanity prefers, which means there has to be a Satan in the garden somewhere but I didn't read the book closely enough to find evidence beyond a few attacks on 'bankers' and 'investors'. I suspect however that I'd be learning nothing additional about the book to find the answer on that subject. I've encountered too much of this sort of crap before.

Anyway, what I wanted was science. What I got was religion. There are many ironies in this text, but probably the greatest one for me is that of all the areas of American life that this book impacts (other than a few municipal codes in California), the area you can see Alexander’s theories play out to their fullest is in the design of Shopping Malls.(less)

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Jan 23, 2013 Erika RS rated it 5 of 5 stars

Finished A Pattern Language by Christopher Alexander, Sara Ishikawa, and Murray Silverstein. For anyone interested in urban design, place making, or the design of interior spaces, this book is a must read, or at least a must skim.

A Pattern Language is a catalog of 253 patterns that cover everything from the layout of cities down to the layout of rooms. Some of the patterns have been criticized, particularly those dealing with the layout of cities and towns, but overall, the patterns provide a ri...more

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Aug 07, 2012 Dawn rated it 2 of 5 stars

1171 pages covering 253 'patterns'. And this is the second half of the book (1st half is "The Timeless Way of Building".

1171 pages!!! love their little sketches and diagrams, but for the average urbanist, this book isn't worth your time. Lots of the ideas are timeless, if misunderstood or neglected during certain periods, but many others are dated, unpopular, or so idealistic as to be ludicrous. Some principles counter-acted others, some are counter-intuitive but quite sensible, others are class...more 1171 pages covering 253 'patterns'. And this is the second half of the book (1st half is "The Timeless Way of Building".

1171 pages!!! love their little sketches and diagrams, but for the average urbanist, this book isn't worth your time. Lots of the ideas are timeless, if misunderstood or neglected during certain periods, but many others are dated, unpopular, or so idealistic as to be ludicrous. Some principles counter-acted others, some are counter-intuitive but quite sensible, others are classic gems.

This book in it's exhaustive coverage of all scales of living, might be a guide for God, as if he were moving on to towns and buildings on the 8th day. The scale of the proposed design is completely utopian, but the tone is unabashedly sincere and specific.

What i like is that instead of just identifying problems with the built environment as so many do, they are all about solutions, however unrealistic.

A few quotes.

"It is not possible to avoid the need for high speed roads in modern society; but it is essential to place them and build them in such a way that they do not destroy communities or countryside."

"There is abundant evidence to show that high buildings make people crazy."
(From Chapter 21: "Four-Story Limit", complete with cited studies and a comparison of SF's Transamerica Pyramid to a Big Brother Ministry from Orwell's 1984)

"As part of the network of bike paths, develop one system of paths that is extra safe - entirely separate from automobiles, with lights and bridges at the crossings, with homes and ships along it, so that there are always many eyes on the path. Let this path go through every neighborhood, so that children can get onto it without crossing a main road. And run the path all through the city, down pedestrian streets, through workshops, assembly plants, warehouses, interchanges, print houses, bakeries, all the interesting 'invisible' live of a town - so that the children can roam freely on their bikes and trikes."

See what i mean? ah, to have lived in the 70s, when such a path was still dreamable...

(less)

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Jul 20, 2010 Mike rated it 3 of 5 stars

Summary
This book is a classic in architecture and urban planning. It is a huge 1,200 page guidebook/manual for designing every aspect of the built environment. The approach is what we might call today object-oriented. In fact, I have read in a few reviews that this is a popular book for computer programmers.
The book describes 253 "patterns", that can be uniquely instantiated and combined to envision, articulate, and ultimately create the fabric of our surroundings. The patterns, such as roads...more

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Apr 24, 2012 Hal O'Brien rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: architecture, favorites, conviviality

I was reading John Brunner's "The Shockwave Rider" in college, and it makes some architectural references. Trying to dig up what they were, I stumbled on this, mostly because Alexander was early in the card catalog, and at 1200 pages I felt sure it'd have what I was looking for.

I was wrong, of course, but only in the limited-to-the-task-at-hand way.

Alexander's main idea is that architecture is like a language. With a finite set of elements he calls patterns (not unlike words), you can put them t...more

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Jul 12, 2011 Stephanie rated it 4 of 5 stars

I found Christopher Alexander's book A Pattern Language: Towns, Buildings, Construction absolutely and brilliantly insightful in its examination of what works in towns, buildings, and construction -- what, historically, is both pleasing and functional for the people who inhabit them. When (if ever) I design my next house, I will slavishly follow many of the prescriptions in the book. Some of the book was ridiculous and romantic in the most idiotic way; Alexander recommends building a bench near...more

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Oct 09, 2010 Scott Moonen rated it 5 of 5 stars

This has long been on my must-read list, partly because someday we'd like to build our own house, but also partly because of Alexander's surprising influence on computer science via folks like Ward Cunningham and Kent Beck. In that way, this book illustrates a compelling way of thinking about problem-solving within a discipline of study.

I have mixed feelings about some of the large-scale patterns, both in terms of their correctness and also whether they are realistic in a free society. This firs...more

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Jun 20, 2009 Faith rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: read-nonfiction

Anyone with the luxury of designing their own home should jump at the chance to get this book. It's a bit dated, but at 1100+ pages it surely describes most of the details you'll need to think about.

I took it home from the library because it's a fascinating book about architectural design in general, everything from the optimal size of a public square (70 feet wide) to the best place for a garden seat. I learned that my house has a good "intimacy gradient" (spaces meant to be public are readily...more

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Jan 22, 2012 Anne Bogel rated it 5 of 5 stars

This architecture classic from 1977 approaches architecture in a way that's altogether new to me: it provides 253 archetypal elements of design that together form a "language" to speak of an infinite variety of designs, from the large scale (regional metro plans) to the small scale (individual homes).

I loved how this book was very easy to pick up and put down--the 1000 or so pages don't have to be read all at one go for it to make sense.

What I hate about this book: I adore the building plans Al...more

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Apr 12, 2012 Alper Çugun rated it 5 of 5 stars

An essential book for anybody interested in the field. I read it cover to cover, very slowly with breaks and now I feel I have some grasp of what it takes to build a house.

It is of course dated and highly geared towards North American houses but it's still a seminal work. The parts on urbanism are in fact how we in CNW Europe do manage things, so that is heartening.

Extensions to the book for instance how to build houses in very space constrained environments like the Netherlands could be intere...more

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Sep 29, 2008 Aaron rated it 5 of 5 stars

a revolutionary book on making: cities, spaces, buildings, places. human-scaled and highly personal. essential for anyone interested in the relationship between humans and the built-environment.

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Nov 29, 2010 Deirdre Keating rated it 5 of 5 stars

Recommended to Deirdre by: Gretchen Rubin's website

Shelves: philosophy, nonfiction, favorites, wishlist

I have to give it 5 stars because there is no other way to describe it but as amazing. Forgive me the long review, but it was a library checkout and I want to refer back to it.

I was initially annoyed that there wasn't an idex where I could look up "office space" and quickly read their recommendations for the best layout. Yet now I love the way each pattern refers to all the other patterns it is connected to, and you find yourself flipping from garden benches to farmhouse kitchens. It probably al...more I have to give it 5 stars because there is no other way to describe it but as amazing. Forgive me the long review, but it was a library checkout and I want to refer back to it.

I was initially annoyed that there wasn't an idex where I could look up "office space" and quickly read their recommendations for the best layout. Yet now I love the way each pattern refers to all the other patterns it is connected to, and you find yourself flipping from garden benches to farmhouse kitchens. It probably also helps that each chapter/pattern is only a few pages so I could delude myself (and my family) that I was only going to read for a few more minutes.

I can see why some wouldn't enjoy this---I can't imagine trying to read it for a class, or as laid out from start to finish rather than jumping around. One (positive) reviewer wrote: "It's wildly ambitious and preachy and reassuringly confident." All true, and also quite dated at times, but still lovely and inspiring.

It made me want to contact the designer of our house, because, while we unfortunately don't have the several feet-thick walls recommended, so much of our house has patterns as if the designer had the book in hand, eg: the flow through rooms, cascade of roofs, dormer window, ceiling height variety, low window sills (something I previously found baffling), as well as things we added: window seats, half-hidden garden, child-caves (under-the-stairs room).

I especially loved the last pattern: Things From Your Life. "Do not be tricked into believe that modern decor must be "slick"...or "natural" or whatever else that current taste-makers claim. It is most beautiful when it comes straight from your life--the things you care for, the things that tell your story." I so appreciated this after being told, by a much more "design-wise" friend that I was "brave" to have so many family photos out. I know design "rules" call for them to be in less public rooms, but I love photography and these people, and love having them throughout our home.

I love the open shelves pattern & hope to implement it in our kitchen. The city-planning patterns depressed me, as they are the opposite of how most public spaces are laid out, but I still found them instructive. Loved the "child in the city" pattern and more.

The copy I borrowed from our library had a personal inscription that included this quote:
There is nothing stronger or nobler
than when a man and a woman
are of one heart in a home--
a grief to their enemies
And to their friends great joy,
But their own hearts know it best.--Homer(less)

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Dec 09, 2007 Karey rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: creating-home

This is the classic among architectural books. Some might find in quite dry, but for me, it was like reading a suspenseful novel. I gobbled up every last page.

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Jan 15, 2011 Heather rated it 5 of 5 stars

This book formed the basis of one of the most interesting classes I took in university.

The underlying concept is that different types of places have different patterns of being. Like, farmhouses in Ontario have a different layout/ form than Victorian townhouses of the same era. Having lived and worked in various places, I have found this to be very true. This book talks about the larger patterns as they apply to public spaces and town planning, more than individual buildings.

Must-read for public...more

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Jul 28, 2011 Malcolm rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: urban-studies

If A New Theory of Urban Design is the summation of the theoretical developments in Christopher Alexander's work, this is the practical how-to guidebook vision of building integrated and human centred spaces, of building spaces that blend internal and external physical environments. I was introduced to this by an architect friend and neighbour when I was doing some writing about topography and (our) community: it is an inspirational and exciting book, although at 1200 pages of architectural and...more

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Nov 12, 2012 Joni rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: architecture, design, ecology, economics, engineering, entropy, evolution, future, geography, diy, non-fiction, philosophy, psychology, urbanism, utopia

"The fundamental philosophy behind the use of pattern languages is that buildings should be uniquely adapted to individual needs and sites; and that the plans of buildings should be rather loose and fluid, in order to accommodate these subtleties."

Introduction
A Pattern Language: Towns, Buildings, Construction is not simply a guide on how to build. It feels more like a hand guide on how to live and reconnect with what makes us human - not by shunning technology but rather by embracing it in a mor...more

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Sep 09, 2010 Katie rated it 5 of 5 stars

In full disclosure I only read chapters that I was interested in. A great book for space planning and ways to make the most of your home, community, etc. Alot of "so true!" statements. Chapters are very specific and short. Liked "lights on two sides" and the home sections on how to encourage coziness. Book is about "patterns" created by our behavior that affects space. A must read for an architecture student or if you are remodeling or building a house. Or just interested in the topic. Really co...more

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Mar 26, 2009 Bruce rated it 2 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Utopians, world-builders, architects

I'm with Goodreader Sonny here -- http://apps.new.facebook.com/good_rea.... This is a tough book to review. Not dull outright (although I thought its formula of problem statement - all-too-brief analysis - conclusion quickly grew tedious), I have to confess I finally gave up on this one after 560 pgs. and the library unearthed my next reserve. This utopian monster runs close to over 1000 pages of proposed ideal "patterns" of organizing every kind of human space from international to bathroom-sca...more I'm with Goodreader Sonny here -- http://apps.new.facebook.com/good_rea.... This is a tough book to review. Not dull outright (although I thought its formula of problem statement - all-too-brief analysis - conclusion quickly grew tedious), I have to confess I finally gave up on this one after 560 pgs. and the library unearthed my next reserve. This utopian monster runs close to over 1000 pages of proposed ideal "patterns" of organizing every kind of human space from international to bathroom-scale. There are actually about 243 (I'd give the exact number, but as I say, I've returned the book and became too exhausted and exasperated with it to bother with keeping up my notes). A decent Facebook meme might well be to blog about one pattern every day. I've read worse articles.

Here you will find largely utopian ideas about urban and domestic planning conceived by architects who lived in a society that assumed women could only be domestics (see this was published in the '70's and never properly updated). The onslaught of independent ideas here (presumably connected, though it seemed to me to offer a number of apparent contradictions) are too sprawling to adequately convey, but this should give you the gist: people should live in communes if they can't live as extended families; all stores should be single-owner/operator with small inventories to service neighborhoods; all townships should be organized, designed, and built like Hobbiton's shire, people should be distributed about arable valleys and urban centers with populations which do not exceed 300,000 in clusters much like a fractal sponge; all education should be made informal, reduced to apprenticeships, at large Mary Poppinses, and gentlemen-scholars; houses should all face southward to catch the sun, filled with windows, covered with cascading roofs on corner columns, in a grand, English pubby aesthetic of warm hearths, dripping leafy plants, peristyle gardens letting into hidden networks of bicycle paths all leading down to waters gleaming like the River Cam yet simultaneously enjoying the mysterious shadows of graceful, holy landmarks like Mount Hood. Ahhhhh.

I couldn't help thinking this might well make for a fun fantasy activity in Sim City... oh, wait, I hear that Will Wright was inspired during development by this book. Whether or not that's true, it sure ought to be. And this is volume 2, believe it or not. Volume 1 is apparently more theoretical/philosophical and less practical (something so hard for me to imagine I'm searching it out) while Volume 3 documents the results of many of these "patterns" implemented at the University of Oregon.

Now I find this bit of trivia curious for two reasons. First, these experiments would have been undertaken immediately prior to the filming of the movie "Animal House," shot on the campus (and in UO's Sigma Nu frat house, according to Wikipedia). Second, this would have taken place prior to Phil Knight's massive infusion of Nike money to UO. Judging by the pictures of the PLC and other buildings which postdate the authors' works, it would appear that Christopher Alexander's innovations, if once adopted, have been largely abandoned.

Ah, well. We will still have Tolkien to fall back on should the pattern languages of Sim City or Second Life not prevail.(less)

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Hal O'Brien I wouldn't consider Alexander (or "Pattern Language") as all that utopian. Partly that's because I've read Corbusier's "Ville Radieuse," Gropius' "The...more
Apr 25, 2012 07:09am

Bruce I suppose that would depend on your definition of utopian. I would certainly hope that Alexander's vision was encouraged by positive (if only anecdota...more I suppose that would depend on your definition of utopian. I would certainly hope that Alexander's vision was encouraged by positive (if only anecdotal) feedback. It would be mind-boggling, though no less impressive to think it sprung fully-formed from his brain.

I don't mean "utopian" as a denigration or trivialization, by the way. Without dreams to aspire to, our realities would be far more bleak. I should have mentioned that Alexander's group did caveat their magnum opus by hoping it would have value even if only invoked piecemeal. For all I know, many if not all of the proposed innovations would genuinely improve our lifestyle.

I'm lucky enough to live in an integrated community similar in many respects to his ideal (it is actually named Alexandria, but that's a coincidence that has nothing to do with Christopher), and the fact that my kids and I can walk to and patronize my local library, hardware store, cheese shop, elementary schools, and open fields alike is terrific. We're mostly well-governed by well-intentioned men and women of goodwill and of course, like everyone I suppose, must still contend with the complexities of our neighborhood drug dealers, violent crime, bureaucratic incompetents, and partisans. It's presumably possible that with still closer adherence to Alexander's grand vision, my Alexandria would be nicer and finer still. I'm skeptical; it would still be populated by human beings, and they don't tend to have a unitary vision (if they even know what they want).

Whether or not Alexander's ideas would really solve or even lighten all our problems (if they were even practical to implement on the fractal scale he contemplates) is a bit beside the point, though. I certainly don't mean to use pragmatism as a criticism of A Pattern Language, which is still a fascinating, thought-provoking, and monumental work. However, I do think that like all reductionist visions of a perfect society (in this case one brought about by universal environmental manipulation), it's one that requires no small amount of hubris and naivete to assert with a straight face.(less)
Apr 25, 2012 08:18am

Aug 08, 2008 Jared rated it 5 of 5 stars

Who would have thought that one of my favorite books of all time would be about . . . architectural planning? One of my life dreams is to design and build my own home. In my research on home design I heard about this book and thought it might be a good resource, so, I bought it, started reading it, and realized I had found a real treasure! I’m hard pressed to think of another non-fiction work longer than 1000 pages that I’ve found so interesting and practical.

“Classic,” “seminal,” and “timeless”...more

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Jul 15, 2008 Henry rated it 3 of 5 stars

I didn't actually read all of this book. In fact, I only got as far as chapter 13, Subculture Boundary. I found it very interesting and compelling. That is, unless you happen to place a high premium on private property rights. Looking back on my notes on the first 13 chapters, they all have a similar feel. Yes, that's great. But forcing it on people won't necessarily work. It's been tried, you know. Certainly none of those experiments were as well thought out as this book things things out. It a...more

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Ben I see where you're coming from here, but keep in mind that this books lays out patterns that could be used in any number of contexts. Someone planning...more
Oct 31, 2008 10:44am

Henry You make good and valid points. Nevertheless, the early chapters of this book deal specifically with issues at a larger scale than even university cam...more
Oct 31, 2008 11:42am

Aug 19, 2008 Rico rated it 5 of 5 stars

This is an amazing book. A must for anyone building anything as small as garden beds to as large as a city.

Alexander extracts patterns (what you might think of trends) in building from ancient to contemporary architecture that create "living" buildings, places that are alive and energetic and used.

For instance, one that sticks with me is the pattern of Transitions. Thick walls in a home and well defined doorways, give you a sense of transition between rooms. This gives a peaceful or comfortable...more

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Aug 16, 2010 Sarah Sammis rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: borrowed, read-in-2010

Back in my first life as a masters student, I was planning my thesis around the codification of the city on the Hollywood road film. I blame (or perhaps credit) this wacky idea on my long commutes. See, UCLA is in Westwood and I lived in Pasadena at the time. There is no straight shot between the two locations thanks to the Hollywood Hills. That means I had a fifty mile commute in typical L.A. traffic (gridlock) and plenty of time to ponder stuff while I started at the dashed white line blipping...more Back in my first life as a masters student, I was planning my thesis around the codification of the city on the Hollywood road film. I blame (or perhaps credit) this wacky idea on my long commutes. See, UCLA is in Westwood and I lived in Pasadena at the time. There is no straight shot between the two locations thanks to the Hollywood Hills. That means I had a fifty mile commute in typical L.A. traffic (gridlock) and plenty of time to ponder stuff while I started at the dashed white line blipping by my windshield.

Before I could apply Hollywood's interpretation of the city and its roadways in the Road Film genre, I had to understand the symbols used in Los Angeles and more broadly, the United States. Why had we settled on the signs, patterns, and other symbolic short cuts that we had? In trying to come to an understanding of the language of the city and its roads, I started to read books by the bucket load on things like Los Angeles history, the automobile, urban architecture and the like.

When I didn't get accepted to the PhD program I stopped my research. Maybe now that I'm back in academia again or maybe it's just been long enough for the burnout to have faded, but I've started re-addressing my interest in the city.

One of those books I didn't get to in my first round was A Pattern Language: Towns, Buildings, Construction by Christopher Alexander (et al). It's a huge architectural, urban planning tome, coming in between 900 and 1200 pages depending on which edition you read. I don't expect many (if any) of my regular readers to rush out and get a copy to read for fun. OK, I know of one friend who has read it (I don't know if it was for fun or for school), so maybe there will be others.

Although I'm not an architect, I loved the book. The 900 pages (older edition) flew by quickly. At the time I read it, I was just starting out as a Non-Response Housing Unit Follow Up Enumerator (aka one of those door to door census takers) so maps, city planning and basic human behavior was forefront on my mind. What I was reading and what I was experiencing in the field meshed.

The gist of the book is this: people naturally live together in groups and these groups naturally form patterns that can be analyzed to judge the stability of the population. For areas to grow they need access to certain other areas in predictable, easy to reach locations. More importantly, these patterns can be put into place to help a city or neighborhood's success. I see a lot of the current day "green neighborhood" planning coming right out of this book.

I'd love to own a copy some day. (less)

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Dec 19, 2010 Rose rated it 5 of 5 stars

I marked this as "read" but really it's a a book I graze through, with an eye to home improvement. Some bits are impracticably utopian, but on the whole there are a lot of really thoughtful, useful ideas for how to arrange things to enhance living, including small practical things (a deck should be at least six feet deep, and have some measure of privacy, or no one will actually use it). I've focused on the sections about the neighborhood and home, and haven't read much of the city structural pa...more

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Oct 09, 2010 Wayne rated it 5 of 5 stars

This Book has been so valuable to me for so long that it has it's own special pocket in my library.
It has informed many of my decisions and I have been delighted to see it's principles applied to numerous domains and disciplines such as education, organizational transformation, ecological prioritization, software development, etc.
In issues of The Whole Earth Catalog this was the only book to review a full-page review.
Highly recommended along with the other volumes in by this author, et al.

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Apr 05, 2010 Cindy Frewen Wuellner rated it 5 of 5 stars

Pattern Language I rate slightly less useful for me than A Timeless Way of Buildingby Christopher Alexander and still call it a truly powerful book. It resonates well beyond the architecture and planning fields into computer thinking so has far greater reach. both are must reads for architects. I first read it in 1977 as a new book and have also referenced it in research projects during the past decade so review it regularly. PL sits among my favorite books.

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Mar 16, 2009 Rob rated it 5 of 5 stars

A truly awe-inspiring book that has influencing thinking in areas far beyond architecture. Alexander calls into question the entire system of architects handing down designs to the masses, contrasting it with the age-old process of people incrementally building things around them that fit 'just right'. If you feel much is wrong with today's built environment, this book (and Alexander's others) can help you in thinking about a different, better way.

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Apr 29, 2013 Michelle rated it 5 of 5 stars

Classic and beloved book on my shelf. I first read this when we were building our home; can't tell the number of ways it lead us to better solutions and ideas. Though I sometimes differ from the authors philosophically, their principles resonate with common sense and uncommon knowledge of the way people react to their environments. It is a favorite. (Other reviews will give more detail in content than I will here attempt.)

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Jan 06, 2012 Goodacre rated it 4 of 5 stars

This is another textbook highly worth mentioning, though it wasn't really intended as a formal textbook, more like the beginning of a cultural, architectural movement. A Pattern Language is the genesis of the software engineering, user interface, social, and other design pattern compendia that have become popular. It isn't really a book to read from beginning to end. You flip through it and learn the relationships.

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