PATTERN

LANGUAGE
To w n s . B u i l d i n g s . C o n s t r u c t i o n

Ar. Brijmohansingh D Thakur, M.Arch 1st yr

Environment Architecture
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A PATTERN LANGUAGE written by Christopher alexander is a
wonderful book which describes an entirely new attitude
towards architecture and planning. This book covers a
numerous topics on the present ideas about architecture,
building and planning.

The book provides a platform where it empowers

individuals to design, build and shape independently. This is
done by creating a “pattern language”, a kind of generated
grammar with 253 patterns that can be used to make
things. The surrounding has been divided as town, building,
construction all with its own space. All this patterns have
been divided and described with specification.

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Today, I will be briefing about 5 different points that I feel is
important from the topic “buildings”. This Is a topic where the
writers brings out the possible control of individuals or small
groups of individuals, who are able to build the patterns all at
once. The part of the language which gives shape to groups of
buildings and individual buildings on land in three dimensions.

The five points that I have chosen all falls in the first
group of patterns that is 95,96,97,98,99 and 100 are some of
which helps to lay out the overall arrangement of a group of
buildings: the height, number of buildings, the entrances to the
site, main parking areas and lines of movement through the
complex. Here 95 being building complex, 96 number of stories,
97 shielded parking, 98 circulation realms, 99 main building and
100 as pedestrian street.

Now let’s look into the points as follows

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95.) Building complex
This pattern, and the next (96) will give you the basic of the building’s layout on
the site. This pattern shows you a rough path on breaking the building into different
parts. The “number of stories” helps you to decide how to make each parts. We can
now see that the two patterns must be used together to get a better result.
Here the writer states that “a building cannot be a human building unless it is
a complex of still smaller building or smaller parts which manifest its own internal
social facts”. Here, he talks about how a building is visible only if it consist of a social
group or social institution. Like a family has couples or groups within it; a factory has
a terms of workers; a town hall has division etc. A building can show subdivisions and
articulations in its fabric because it is the choice of the individuals group. Any
monolithic building is denied the fact of its own social structure and is denying the
fact that it’s asserting other facts of a less human kind and forcing people to adapt
their lives to them instead. In 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. Two kinds of public service building were studied- Old or three
storied buildings and huge modern office buildings.

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95.) Building complex
The great majority of these visitors found their satisfaction in
“good physical appearance and equipment”.
people from being personal and from making human contact with
the other people in the building. Two kinds of public service
building were studied- Old or three storied buildings and huge
modern office buildings. The great majority of these visitors found
their satisfaction in “good physical appearance and equipment”.

According to this studies it was stated that “never build

large monolithic buildings. Whenever possible translate your
building program into a building complex, whose parts manifest
the actual social facts of the situation. At low densities, a building
complex may take the form of a collection of small buildings
connected by arcades, paths, bridges, shared gardens and walls.

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At higher density, a single building or a small building can be
treated as a “building complex”. At 3 or 4 stories, a pedestrian
street can break the building into narrow, tall separate buildings,
common walls with each own internal or external stairs. It is
important to arrange the buildings in the complex to form realms
for circulation realms.

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96) Number of stories
Here we see that the writer has explained that a building need to be
built to satisfy the need, to make the best use of the land and to form a
continuous fabric with its surrounding buildings. In this pattern the writer
gives rules for striking the balance.

Rule 1: set a four story height limit on the site. This rule comes
directly from “four-story limit (21) from the town language where the
number or stories can play a great role in the life of the families living in it.

Rule2: for any given site, do not let the ground area covered by
building exceed 50 per cent of the site.

Rule 3: do not let the height of your building vary too much from
the predominant height of surrounding buildings.

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100) pedestrian street

“The simple social intercourse created when people rub shoulders in

public is one of the most essential kinds of social “glue” in society”

Here the writer give and example to explain the differences

between a public indoor spaces against the public outdoor space that is use
for the movement of people. He also explains that indoor space can be
projected as a dangerous and can get abandoned. In short providing a
solution to this problem can be by creating a pedestrian streets which is
away from the infection that is built by cars.

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pedestrian street
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 THANK YOU

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