CHRISTOPHER

ALEXANDER
INTRODUCTION
• Born on 4 October 1936 in Vienna ,
Austria.
• He is a influential architect and
design theorist.
• His theories about the nature of
human-centered design have
affected fields beyond architecture,
including urban design, software,
sociology and others.
• His is known as “ father of pattern
language”.
• He is currently emeritus professor
at the university of California ,
Berkeley

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Pattern Language
• A Pattern Language: Towns,
Buildings,Construction,1977 is a book on
architecture, urban design, And community livability.
• Patterns describe a problem and then offer a
solution. In doing so the authors intend to give
ordinary people, not only professionals, a way to
work with their neighbors to improve a town or
neighborhood, design a house for themselves or
work with colleagues to design an office, workshop
or public building such as a school.

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Pattern Language
• Each pattern is represented by 5 main points :
1. Title
2. Problem
3. Context
4. Discussion
5. Solution

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Pattern Language
• A pattern language is a method of describing good design practices or patterns of useful organization within a
field of expertise.

• A pattern language can also be an attempt to express the deeper wisdom of what brings aliveness within a
particular field of human endeavor, through a set of interconnected patterns.

• An important aspect of design patterns is to identify and document the key ideas that make a good system different from
a poor system, and to assist in the design of future systems. The idea expressed in a pattern should be general enough to
be applied in very different systems within its context, but still specific enough to give constructive guidance.

• The range of situations in which the problems and solutions addressed in a pattern apply is called its context. An
important part in each pattern is to describe this context.

• The book uses words to describe patterns, supported by drawings, photographs and charts

• Pattern Language - Official web site of Christopher Alexander.

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Methodology used in pattern language
 Pattern language development
 See “Hints”
 Develop “Framing “ at the same time
 Motivation and purpose
 Vision
 Audience
 Documentation
 Form
 Online , book , card or game,etc .
 Use
 Anticipate while developing ; preview and co-design with potential users

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The Nature Of Order
• It is divided into four parts :
1. the phenomenon of life
2.The process of creating life
3.The vision of living world
4.The Luminous Ground

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Phenomenon Of Life
(Nature Of Order Book One)
• Alexander defines life and the living structure as the necessary
criteria for the quality in buildings
• He starts with the analysis of the present day architecture , and
goes to the root of the functional order in the world
• It is proposed that the living structure depends on the features
which make a close connection with the human self.
• The quality of work of art , artifacts , and building is defined
,not merely in terms of living structure , but also in their
capacity to affect human growth and human well-being.

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The Process of Creating Life
(Nature of Order Book Two)

• In this book, Alexander puts forward a fully developed theory

of living process.
• The process of creation - whether in the formation of a single
object, or in the piecemeal aggregation of a town - requires
this sort of generative process, a careful and deliberate
sequence of steps in which each step creates the context for
the next one, and each next wholeness is derived from the
previous wholeness.

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 Low-Cost Houses in Mexicali

• The beauty of this construction code, is that it

does not merely constrain construction. Instead
it provides the step-by-step instructions for
building the building
• The purpose of generative construction code
goes far beyond this. The remarkable thing
about this kind of generative code, is that it
does not require a prefixed design.

CONSTRUCTION OF LOW COST HOUSE

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Sequence of Construction Operations
• Mark the corners on the ground
• Place corner rebar-blocks over each corner .
• Place a line of bar blocks between each corner.
• Place steel and mesh, then pour the concrete.
• Place corner turret blocks to form corners.
• Place wall blocks fitting into corner blocks.
• Locate windows and window sills as the walls are going up.
• Place a pair of two-by-tens to form perimeter beams.
• Place reinforcing steel in the beam.
• Use the perimeter beams to anchor ends of lattice strips so making it possible to weave baskets for
vaults.

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Sequence of Construction Operations
• Once the baskets are woven, fix each crossing of lattice strips.
• Staple burlap and chicken wire over basket.
• Pour a thin, ultra-light-weight frothy concrete to form a one-inch shell .
• When the one-inch shell is hard and cured, place a second shell of about three inches in a heavier
denser lightweight concrete.
• Fit window frames and door frames.
• Place finish material on floors.
• Whitewash the interiors.
• Complete plumbing and electrical fixtures.

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A Vision of a Living World
(Nature of Order Book Three)
• Providing hundreds of examples of buildings
and places, this volume demonstrates proposes
forms for large buildings, public spaces,
communities, neighborhoods, which then lead
to discussions about the equally importance.
• The projects include neighborhoods, housing
built by people for themselves, public buildings,
public urban space, ornament, colors, and
details of construction innovation.

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The Luminous Ground
(Nature of Order Book Four)
• It contains what is, perhaps, the deepest
revelation in the four-volume work. Alexander
addresses the cosmological implications of the
theory he has presented.
• The outline of a theory in which matter itself is
more spirit-like, more personal in character, is
sketched.
• He shows us conclusively that a spiritual,
emotional, and personal basis must underlie
every act of building or making.

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The West
Dean Visitor
Centre

PLAN OF WEST DEAN VISITOR CENTRE

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The West Dean Visitor Centre

VIEW OF WEST DEAN

VISITOR CENTRE

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The West Dean Visitor Centre

• The West Dean Visitor Centre is a building which Alexander and his colleagues at The Center for
Environmental Structure (C.E.S.) built between July 1994 and November 1995 for the Edward James
Foundation. This Foundation is located at West Dean, just north of Chichester in West Sussex,
England .
• The Edward James Foundation, the West Dean Visitor Centre was a unique opportunity for
Alexander to put his theories into practice.
• Here they speak of a moral intent to not only build a functional and perhaps attractive building but
to actually produce something profound - a work of art with a life expectancy significantly longer
then most modern buildings

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Eishin Academy

VIEW OF EISHIN
ACADEMY

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Eishin Academy

DETAILED PLAN OF A SEMINAR HALL PLAN OF EISHIN SCHOOL

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Eishin Academy
• The Eishin school is a high school in Tokyo,
Japan. It was built using wood and masonry
by Architect Christopher Alexander in 1985,
employing neo-vernacular style.
• Christopher Alexander’s latest book is
subtitled “A struggle between two world-
systems,” and it is largely the theme of
conflict, both conceptual and real-world, that
this architect and architectural theorist uses
to organize the story of his designing and
fabricating the 36-building, 10-million-dollar
Eishin School, a 2000- student combination
high school and college in suburban Tokyo,
Japan, begun in 1981 and largely completed
by 1990

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Summary
• Christoper Alexander's always controversial work raises issues critical to regenerating the
environment and creating a new culture for building—and rebuilding— our cities, neighborhoods,
buildings, and gardens.
• The creative processes described in the book are for anyone who designs, builds, shapes, repairs,
or otherwise modifies the built environment.
• Demonstrates the application of Alexander's theories and methods to a large-scale project and
shows how architecture can bring life to a community.

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 Citation
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Alexander
• http://www.demetriusgonzalez.com/architecture/thesis/thesis.westdean.html
• http://groups.csail.mit.edu/mac/users/rauch/misc/alexander/mexicali.html
• http://www.natureoforder.com
• http://www.greatbuildings.com/buildings/eishin_school.html

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THANK YOU