A system of cells interlinked within Cells interlinked… — “A Pattern Language” explored.
“I cannot understand why from the lake
I could make out our front porch when I’d take
Lake Road to school, whilst now, although no tree
Has intervened, I look but fail to see
Even the roof. Maybe some quirk in space
Has caused a fold or furrow to displace
The fragile vista, the frame house between
Goldsworth and Wordsmith on its square of green.”
— Pale Fire by Vladimir Nabokov
Architecture may seem incomprehensible, it is so for me and I have an architecture degree.
Looking back at architecture school there was a such a big fuss made on making submissions on time that I forgot to really take the time to get to know architecture and what it was all about.
One of my professors spoke one day spoke about Christopher Alexander’s “A Pattern Language”.
I found the title interesting, as I felt language and writing was one of my strong suits, since the practice of architecture was turned into the metaphor of language.
This is a fundamental view of the world. It says that when you build a thing you cannot merely build that thing in isolation, but must also repair the world around it, and within it, so that the larger world at that one place becomes more coherent, and more whole; and the thing which you make takes its place in the web of nature, as you make it. — A Pattern Language, written by Christopher Alexander
There are a total of two hundred and fifty three patterns in the book which also reflect the modular way these patterns can be used to make sense of a space and help design a space that you wish to see in the world.
“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.”
― Christopher W. Alexander, A Pattern Language: Towns, Buildings, Construction
In the upcoming few days I shall further explore these patterns and have relevant examples for them each.
