AN OPPOSITE TRUTH

THERE’S NO RIGHT WAY

There Are Good Ways

IT’S ABOUT WHAT USERS WANT

AND YOU ARE NOT YOUR USER

Christopher Alexander, Eishin Campus (1986)

A single, solid,

objective basis for the

difference between good and

bad

The picture of the

physical universe

that’s prevailed since Descartes

is wrong

There is a kind of egalitarianism which holds that any two things equal in price are equal in value, and that nothing is better than anything that may profitably or fashionably replace it.

Forest = field = parking lot; One place is as good as another, one use is as good as another, one life is as good as another — if the price is right.

Wendell Berry (1981)

On the level playing field

of [Cartesian] cosmology

we are nowhere special

because

the very definition of relativistic space

guarantees that there is no place

special to be

Margaret Wertheim (1999)

Venice (9th - 17th C)

Christopher Alexander, West Dean (1994-6)

Christopher Alexander, Julian Street Inn (1990)

Christopher Alexander, Julian Street Inn (1990)

Philip Johnson (1976)

All matter/space

has some degree of lifein it

…something

within space and matter

can be awoken

by the presence

of the proper configurations

wholenessbeautylife

So that’s what I’m really getting at is the existence of a level of thought or a level of reality where order in space is such a deep phenomenon that it’s capable of generating all our activities as architects or as builders and that function, ornament, and what have you will all come into play as byproducts of that level of observation and thought.

Inherent value is empirically

testable through a

“mirror of self”

http://bit.ly/mirrorofself

Somebody could say, well what’s so great about those, anyway? Or you happen to like those, and I happen to like these.

So I want to just mention an empirical criterion which happens to correlate with some of the artifacts that I’ve picked out here.

This is a peculiar criterion.

...it is intended to transcend personal likes and dislikes, attitudes, trips, and so forth.

And you simply say: okay fine, which of these two objects is, if I have to pick one of them,a picture of my true self.

And when I say a picture of myself, I mean all of you... The whole thing

the agreement is extremely strong and it also is cross-cultural

Christopher Alexander, Unpublished Speech at Harvard GSD (1982)

How’d We Do?

All matter/space

has some degree of self

in it

Detail, West Dean (1994-6)

Space in an absolute sense can be either more whole or less whole.

When structures have these kinds of properties you can get a progressively more and more profound gluing together and that that’s the thing that we recognize in these great works.

Christopher Alexander, Unpublished Speech at Harvard GSD (1982)

15 GEOMETRICPROPERTIES

01. LEVELS OF SCALE02. STRONG CENTERS03. BOUNDARIES04. ALTERNATING REPETITION05. POSITIVE SPACE06. GOOD SHAPE07. LOCAL SYMMETRIES08. DEEP INTERLOCK & AMBIGUITY09. CONTRAST10. GRADIENTS11. ROUGHNESS12. ECHOES13. THE VOID14. SIMPLICITY AND INNER CALM15. NOT-SEPARATENESS

I mean we can’t make things like that anymore.

I mean all of that would suddenly become totally unacceptable if what I have just said were true.

Because if it’s true that space has the capacity to be more whole or less whole, and there are real structural properties that have the capacity to glue it together more or less, both in a functional sense and in a deep sense. I mean then of course in some way one would start to confront a kind of moral imperative that that is what we’re supposed to be doing when we make something, to glue space together like that.

Speech TranscriptChristopher Alexander (1982)

The Design Success Ladder serves as a benchmark for assessing the value your product provides now, plus ways to take it to the next level. Each rung represents a unique stage in the product development process. By moving from one rung to the next, you’re not only better meeting your users’ needs, but also increasing your company’s likelihood of success.

anordinary

way

for everybody

What would it be liketo live in a mental worldwhere one’s reasonsfor making somethingfunctionallyand one’s reasonsfor making somethinga certain shape,or in a certainornamental wayare actually comingfrom preciselythe same placein you –

precisely the same place

Christopher Alexander, Unpublished Speech at Harvard GSD (1982)

Christopher Alexander Select Chronology

1958 - Dual degrees in Mathematics and Architecture, Cambridge1962 - PhD in Architecture, Harvard 1963 - Professor of Architecture, UC Berkeley1965 - The City is Not a Tree1967 - Founder: Center for Environmental Structure1970 - Notes on the Synthesis of Form1972 - AIA Gold Medal, Research1976 - A Pattern Language1977 - The Timeless Way of Building1985 - Eishin School: Tokyo, Japan - Best Building In Japan Award, Japanese Institute of Architects1990 - Julian Street Inn: San Jose, USA1990 - The Nature of Order (1st Draft)1993 - A Foreshadowing of 21st Century Art1994 - West Dean Gardens Visitor Centre: East Sussex, England1996 - Fellow, American Academy of Arts and Sciences2002 - The Nature of Order2009 - Vincent Scully Prize2012 - Battle For The Life and Beauty of the Earth