Christopher Wolfgang John Alexander (4 October 1936 – 17 March 2022)
was an Austrian-born British-American architect and
design theorist. He was an
emeritus professor
''Emeritus'' (; female: ''emerita'') is an adjective used to designate a retired chair, professor, pastor, bishop, pope, director, president, prime minister, rabbi, emperor, or other person who has been "permitted to retain as an honorary title ...
at the
University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...
. His theories about the nature of human-centered design have affected fields beyond architecture, including
urban design
Urban design is an approach to the design of buildings and the spaces between them that focuses on specific design processes and outcomes. In addition to designing and shaping the physical features of towns, cities, and regional spaces, urban de ...
, software, and sociology.
Alexander designed and personally built over 100 buildings, both as an architect and a general contractor.
In software, Alexander is regarded as the father of the
pattern language
A pattern language is an organized and coherent set of ''patterns'', each of which describes a problem and the core of a solution that can be used in many ways within a specific field of expertise. The term was coined by architect Christopher Alexa ...
movement. The first
wiki
A wiki ( ) is an online hypertext publication collaboratively edited and managed by its own audience, using a web browser. A typical wiki contains multiple pages for the subjects or scope of the project, and could be either open to the pu ...
—the technology behind Wikipedia—led directly from Alexander's work, according to its creator,
Ward Cunningham.
Alexander's work has also influenced the development of
agile software development.
In architecture, Alexander's work is used by a number of different contemporary architectural communities of practice, including the
New Urbanist
New Urbanism is an urban design movement which promotes environmentally friendly habits by creating walkable neighbourhoods containing a wide range of housing and job types. It arose in the United States in the early 1980s, and has gradually inf ...
movement, to help people to reclaim control over their own built environment. However, Alexander was controversial among some mainstream architects and critics, in part because his work was often harshly critical of much of contemporary architectural theory and practice.
[Nikos Salingaros, "]A Theory of Architecture
''A Theory of Architecture'' is a book on architecture by Nikos Salingaros, published in 2006 by Umbau-Verlag, Solingen, Germany . Cover recommendations are by Kenneth G. Masden II, Duncan G. Stroik, Michael Blowhard, and Dean A. Dykstra. Pre ...
", Umbau-Verlag, Solingen, 2009
Alexander is known for many books on the design and building process, including ''
Notes on the Synthesis of Form,
A City is Not a Tree'' (first published as a paper and re-published in book form in 2015), ''
The Timeless Way of Building
''The Timeless Way of Building'' is a 1979 book by Christopher Alexander that proposes a new theory of architecture (and design in general) that relies on the understanding and configuration of design patterns. Although it came out later, it is es ...
, A New Theory of Urban Design,'' and ''
The Oregon Experiment
''The Oregon Experiment'' is a 1975 book by Christopher Alexander and collaborators Murray Silverstein, Shlomo Angel, Sara Ishikawa, and Denny Abrams. It describes an experimental approach to campus community planning at the University of Oreg ...
.'' More recently he published the four-volume ''
The Nature of Order
''The Nature of Order: An Essay on the Art of Building and the Nature of the Universe'' () is a four-volume work by the architect Christopher Alexander published in 2002–2004. In his earlier work, Alexander attempted to formulate the principles ...
: An Essay on the Art of Building and the Nature of the Universe,'' about his newer theories of "morphogenetic" processes, and ''The Battle for the Life and Beauty of the Earth'', about the implementation of his theories in a large building project in Japan. All his works are developed or accumulated from his previous works, so his works should be read as a whole rather than fragmented pieces. His life's work or the best of his works is The Nature of Order on which he spent about 30 years, and the very first version of The Nature of Order was done in 1981, one year before a famous debate with
Peter Eisenman at
Harvard
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...
.
Alexander is perhaps best known for his 1977 book ''
A Pattern Language
''A Pattern Language: Towns, Buildings, Construction'' is a 1977 book on architecture, urban design, and community livability. It was authored by Christopher Alexander, Sara Ishikawa and Murray Silverstein of the Center for Environmental Struc ...
,'' a perennial seller some four decades after publication. Reasoning that users are more sensitive to their needs than any architect could be, he produced and validated (in collaboration with his students Sara Ishikawa,
Murray Silverstein
Murray Silverstein (born September 19, 1943) co-authored the books '' A Pattern Language'' and The Oregon Experiment. At that time, he taught architecture courses at the University of California, and subsequently taught at the University of Washi ...
, Max Jacobson, Ingrid King, and Shlomo Angel) a "
pattern language
A pattern language is an organized and coherent set of ''patterns'', each of which describes a problem and the core of a solution that can be used in many ways within a specific field of expertise. The term was coined by architect Christopher Alexa ...
" to empower anyone to design and build at any scale.
Personal life
Alexander was born in Vienna, Austria. His father, Ferdinand Johann Alfred Alexander, was Catholic and his mother, Lilly Edith Elizabeth (Deutsch) Alexander was Jewish. As a young child Alexander emigrated in fall 1938 with his parents from Austria to England, when his parents were forced to flee the
Nazi regime
Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...
.
[Grabow, S. (1983) ''Christopher Alexander: The Search for a New Paradigm in Architecture'', Routledge & Kegan Paul, London and Boston] (They worked as German language teachers.
) He spent much of his childhood in
Chichester
Chichester () is a cathedral city and civil parish in West Sussex, England.OS Explorer map 120: Chichester, South Harting and Selsey Scale: 1:25 000. Publisher:Ordnance Survey – Southampton B2 edition. Publishing Date:2009. It is the only ci ...
and
Oxford
Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...
, England, where he began his education in the sciences. He moved from England to the United States in 1958 to study at
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...
and
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the ...
. He moved to
Berkeley, California
Berkeley ( ) is a city on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay in northern Alameda County, California, United States. It is named after the 18th-century Irish bishop and philosopher George Berkeley. It borders the cities of Oakland and Emer ...
in 1963 to accept an appointment as Professor of Architecture, a position he would hold for almost 40 years. In 2002, after his retirement, Alexander moved to
Arundel
Arundel ( ) is a market town and civil parish in the Arun District of the South Downs, West Sussex, England.
The much-conserved town has a medieval castle and Roman Catholic cathedral. Arundel has a museum and comes second behind much large ...
, England, where he continued to write, teach and build up to the time of his illness and death. Alexander was married to Margaret Moore Alexander, and he had two daughters, Sophie and Lily, by his former wife Pamela Patrick. Alexander held both British and American citizenship.
On 17 March 2022, Alexander died peacefully in his home in Binsted, near Arundel, United Kingdom, following a long illness.
The immediate cause was
pneumonia
Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of productive or dry cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing. The severity ...
, according to Margaret Moore.
Education
Alexander attended the
Dragon School
("Reach for the Sun")
, established = 1877
, closed =
, type = Preparatory day and boarding school and Pre-Prep school
, religion = Church of England
, president =
, head_label = Head
, head = Emma Goldsm ...
in Oxford and then
Oundle School
Oundle School is a public school (English independent day and boarding school) for pupils 11–18 situated in the market town of Oundle in Northamptonshire, England. The school has been governed by the Worshipful Company of Grocers of the City ...
.
In 1954, he was awarded the top open scholarship to
Trinity College Trinity College may refer to:
Australia
* Trinity Anglican College, an Anglican coeducational primary and secondary school in , New South Wales
* Trinity Catholic College, Auburn, a coeducational school in the inner-western suburbs of Sydney, New ...
,
Cambridge University
, mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts.
Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge.
, established =
, other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...
in chemistry and physics, and went on to read mathematics. He earned a
Bachelor's degree
A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...
in Architecture and a Master's degree in Mathematics. He took his doctorate at Harvard (the first PhD in Architecture ever awarded at
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...
). His dissertation "The Synthesis of Form: Some Notes on a Theory" was completed in 1962. He was elected fellow at Harvard. During the same period he worked at
MIT
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the m ...
in transportation theory and computer science, and worked at Harvard in cognition and cognitive studies.
Honors
Alexander was elected to the
Society of Fellows
The Society of Fellows is a group of scholars selected at the beginnings of their careers by Harvard University for their potential to advance academic wisdom, upon whom are bestowed distinctive opportunities to foster their individual and intell ...
, Harvard University 1961–64; awarded the First Medal for Research by the American Institute of Architects, 1972; elected member of the Swedish Royal Academy of Arts, 1980; winner of the Best Building in Japan award, 1985; winner of the ACSA (Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture) Distinguished Professor Award, 1986 and 1987; invited to present the
Louis Kahn
Louis Isadore Kahn (born Itze-Leib Schmuilowsky; – March 17, 1974) was an Estonian-born American architect based in Philadelphia. After working in various capacities for several firms in Philadelphia, he founded his own atelier in 1935. Whi ...
Memorial Lecture, 1992; elected a Fellow of the
American Academy of Arts and Sciences
The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and ...
, 1996;
[ one of the two inaugural recipients of the Athena Medal, given by the ]Congress for the New Urbanism
New Urbanism is an urban design movement which promotes environmentally friendly habits by creating walkable neighbourhoods containing a wide range of housing and job types. It arose in the United States in the early 1980s, and has gradually inf ...
(CNU), 2006;. awarded (''in absentia'') the Vincent Scully Prize
The Vincent Scully Prize was established in 1999 to recognize exemplary practice, scholarship or criticism in architecture, historic preservation and urban design. Created by the National Building Museum in Washington, D.C., the award first honored ...
by the National Building Museum, 2009; awarded the lifetime achievement award by the Urban Design Group
Urban Design Group (UDG) was a professional architectural, interior, planning and urban design services firm with studios in Atlanta, Chicago, Georgia, and Dallas, Texas.
Organizational background
Urban Design Group was founded in 1975, by John ...
, 2011; winner of the Global Award for Sustainable Architecture
The Global Award for Sustainable Architecture was founded in 2006 by architect and scholar Jana Revedin. The Global Award Community, which in 2022 consists of the 75 contemporary architects or architect collectives from around the globe who have ...
, 2014 and 1994 Seaside Prize recipient.
Career
Author
''The Timeless Way of Building
''The Timeless Way of Building'' is a 1979 book by Christopher Alexander that proposes a new theory of architecture (and design in general) that relies on the understanding and configuration of design patterns. Although it came out later, it is es ...
'' (1979) described the perfection of use to which buildings could aspire:
'' A Pattern Language: Towns, Buildings, Construction'' (1977), co-authored with Sara Ishikawa and Murray Silverstein
Murray Silverstein (born September 19, 1943) co-authored the books '' A Pattern Language'' and The Oregon Experiment. At that time, he taught architecture courses at the University of California, and subsequently taught at the University of Washi ...
, described a practical architectural system in a form that a theoretical mathematician or computer scientist might call a generative grammar
Generative grammar, or generativism , is a linguistic theory that regards linguistics as the study of a hypothesised innate grammatical structure. It is a biological or biologistic modification of earlier structuralist theories of linguisti ...
. The work originated from an observation that many medieval cities are attractive and harmonious. The authors said that this occurs because they were built to local regulations that required specific features, but freed the architect to adapt them to particular situations.
The book provides rules and pictures, and leaves decisions to be taken from the precise environment of the project. It describes exact methods for constructing practical, safe, and attractive designs at every scale, from entire regions, through cities, neighborhoods, gardens, buildings, rooms, built-in furniture, and fixtures down to the level of doorknobs. A notable value is that the architectural system consists only of classic patterns tested in the real world and reviewed by multiple architects for beauty and practicality.
The book includes all needed surveying and structural calculations, and a novel simplified building system that copes with regional shortages of wood and steel, uses easily stored inexpensive materials, and produces long-lasting classic buildings with small amounts of materials, design and labor. It first has users prototype a structure on-site in temporary materials. Once accepted, these are finished by filling them with very-low-density concrete. It uses vaulted
In architecture, a vault (French ''voûte'', from Italian ''volta'') is a self-supporting arched form, usually of stone or brick, serving to cover a space with a ceiling or roof. As in building an arch, a temporary support is needed while ring ...
construction to build as high as three stories, permitting very high densities.
This book's method was adopted by the University of Oregon
The University of Oregon (UO, U of O or Oregon) is a public research university in Eugene, Oregon. Founded in 1876, the institution is well known for its strong ties to the sports apparel and marketing firm Nike, Inc, and its co-founder, billion ...
as described in ''The Oregon Experiment
''The Oregon Experiment'' is a 1975 book by Christopher Alexander and collaborators Murray Silverstein, Shlomo Angel, Sara Ishikawa, and Denny Abrams. It describes an experimental approach to campus community planning at the University of Oreg ...
'' (1975), and remains the official planning instrument. It has also been adopted in part by some cities as a building code.
The idea of a pattern language
A pattern language is an organized and coherent set of ''patterns'', each of which describes a problem and the core of a solution that can be used in many ways within a specific field of expertise. The term was coined by architect Christopher Alexa ...
appears to apply to any complex engineering task, and has been applied to some of them. It has been especially influential in software engineering where patterns
A pattern is a regularity in the world, in human-made design, or in abstract ideas. As such, the elements of a pattern repeat in a predictable manner. A geometric pattern is a kind of pattern formed of geometric shapes and typically repeated li ...
have been used to document collective knowledge in the field.
''A New Theory of Urban Design'' (1987) coincided with a renewal of interest in urbanism
Urbanism is the study of how inhabitants of urban areas, such as towns and cities, interact with the built environment. It is a direct component of disciplines such as urban planning, which is the profession focusing on the physical design and ...
among architects, but stood apart from most other expressions of this by assuming a distinctly anti-masterplanning stance. An account of a design studio conducted with University of California Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant univ ...
students on a site in San Francisco, it shows how convincing urban networks can be generated by requiring individual actors to respect only ''local'' rules, in relation to neighbours. A vastly undervalued part of the Alexander canon, ''A New Theory'' is important in understanding the generative processes which give rise to the shanty towns latterly championed by Stewart Brand, Robert Neuwirth
Robert Neuwirth is an American journalist, author, and investigative reporter. He wrote '' Shadow Cities: A Billion Squatters, A New Urban World'', a book describing his experiences living in squatter communities in Nairobi, Rio de Janeiro, Ist ...
, and the Prince of Wales
Prince of Wales ( cy, Tywysog Cymru, ; la, Princeps Cambriae/Walliae) is a title traditionally given to the heir apparent to the English and later British throne. Prior to the conquest by Edward I in the 13th century, it was used by the rulers o ...
.[See Brian Hanson & Samir Younés, "Reuniting Urban Form and Urban Process: The Prince of Wales's Urban Design Task Force", ''Journal of Urban Design'', v.6, no.2 (June 2001), pp.185–209; Charles, Prince of Wales, speech at the "Traditional Urbanism in Contemporary Practice" conference at The Prince's Foundation, London, 20 November 2003.] There have been critical reconstructions of Alexander's design studio based on the theories put forward in ''A New Theory of Urban Design''.
'' The Nature of Order: An Essay on the Art of Building and the Nature of the Universe'' (2003–04), which includes The ''Phenomenon of Life'', ''The Process of Creating Life'', ''A Vision of a Living World'' and ''The Luminous Ground'', is Alexander's most comprehensive and elaborate work. In it, he put forth a new theory about the nature of space and described how this theory influences thinking about architecture, building, planning, and the way in which we view the world in general. The mostly static patterns from ''A Pattern Language'' were amended by more dynamic sequences, which describe how to work towards patterns (which can roughly be seen as the end result of sequences). Sequences, like patterns
A pattern is a regularity in the world, in human-made design, or in abstract ideas. As such, the elements of a pattern repeat in a predictable manner. A geometric pattern is a kind of pattern formed of geometric shapes and typically repeated li ...
, promise to be tools of wider scope than building (just as his theory of space goes beyond architecture).
The online publication ''Katarxis 3'' (September 2004) includes several essays by Christopher Alexander, as well as the legendary debate between Alexander and Peter Eisenman from 1982.
Alexander's final book published while he was alive, ''The Battle for the Life and Beauty of the Earth: A Struggle Between Two World-Systems'' (2012), is the story of the largest project he and his colleagues had ever tackled, the construction of a new High School/College campus in Japan. He also used the project to connect with themes in his four-volume series. He contrasted his approach, (System A) with the construction processes endemic in the U.S. and Japanese economies (System B). As Alexander describes it, System A is focused on enhancing the life/spirit of spaces within given constraints (land, budget, client needs, etc.) (drawings are sketches – decisions on placing buildings, materials used, finish and such are made in the field as construction proceeds, with adjustments as needed to meet overall budget); System B ignores, and tends to diminish or destroy that quality because there is an inherent flaw: System A is a generally a product of a different Economic System than we live in now. When the architect is only responsible for concept and casual field drawings (which the builder uses to build structures at the lowest possible ompetitivecost), the builder finds that System A can not produce acceptable results at the lowest market cost. Except for a culture where land and material costs are low or first world clients who are sensitive, patient and wealthy. In most cases, the economically motivated builder must use a hybrid system. In the best case, System AB, the builder uses the processes of System A to differentiate, improve and inform his work. Or there are no economic considerations and the builder is the architect and is building for himself. In the last few chapters he described "centers" as a way of thinking about the connections among spaces, and about what brings more wholeness and life to a space.
Works of architecture
Among Alexander's most notable built works are the Eishin Campus near Tokyo (the building process of which is outlined in his 2012 book ''The Battle for the Life and Beauty of the Earth''); the West Dean Visitors Centre in West Sussex
West Sussex is a county in South East England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the shire districts of Adur, Arun, Chichester, Horsham, and Mid Sussex, and the boroughs of Crawley and Worthing. Covering an ar ...
, England; the Julian Street Inn (a homeless shelter) in San Jose, California
San Jose, officially San José (; ; ), is a major city in the U.S. state of California that is the cultural, financial, and political center of Silicon Valley and largest city in Northern California by both population and area. With a 2020 popul ...
(both described in ''Nature of Order''); the Sala House and the Martinez House (experimental houses in Albany and Martinez, California
Martinez (Spanish language, Spanish: ''Martínez'') is a city and the county seat of Contra Costa County, California, United States, in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area. Located on the southern shore of the Carquinez Strait, t ...
made of lightweight concrete); the low-cost housing in Mexicali, Mexico
Mexicali (; ) is the capital city of the Mexican state of Baja California. The city, seat of the Mexicali Municipality, has a population of 689,775, according to the 2010 census, while the Calexico–Mexicali metropolitan area is home to 1,000, ...
(described in ''The Production of Houses''); and several private houses (described and illustrated in ''The Nature of Order''). Alexander's built work is characterized by a special quality (which he used to call "the quality without a name", but named "wholeness" in ''Nature of Order'') that relates to human beings and induces feelings of belonging to the place and structure. This quality is found in the most loved traditional and historic buildings and urban spaces, and is precisely what Alexander has tried to capture with his sophisticated mathematical design theories. Paradoxically, achieving this connective human quality has also moved his buildings away from the abstract imageability valued in contemporary architecture, and this is one reason why his buildings are under-appreciated at present.
His former student and colleague Michael Mehaffy
Michael West Mehaffy (born October 24, 1955, in Beaumont, Texas) is an urbanist, architectural theorist, urban philosopher, researcher, educator, and executive director of Sustasis Foundation, based in Portland, Oregon, USA.
Mehaffy has held teac ...
wrote an introductory essay on Alexander's built work in the online publication ''Katarxis 3'', which includes a gallery of Alexander's major built projects through September 2004.
Teaching
In addition to his lengthy teaching career as a Professor at UC Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of Californi ...
(during which a number of international students began to appreciate and apply his methods), Alexander was a key faculty member at both The Prince of Wales's Summer Schools in Civil Architecture (1990–1994) and The Prince's Foundation for the Built Environment
The Prince's Foundation (formerly the Prince of Wales's Institute of Architecture until 2001, the Prince's Foundation for the Built Environment until 2012, and the Prince's Foundation for Building Community until 2018) is an educational charity est ...
. He also initiated the process which led to the international Building Beauty post-graduate school for architecture, which launched in Sorrento, Italy for the 2017–18 academic year.
Influence
Architecture
Alexander's work has widely influenced architects; among those who acknowledge his influence are Sarah Susanka
Sarah Susanka (born March 21, 1957) is an English-born American-based architect, an author of nine best-selling books, and a public speaker. Susanka is the originator of the "Not So Big" philosophy of residential architecture, which aims to "bu ...
,[Sarah Susanka: ''Not So Big House'', Taunton Press, 2001, ] Andres Duany
Andres or Andrés may refer to:
*Andres, Illinois, an unincorporated community in Will County, Illinois, US
*Andres, Pas-de-Calais, a commune in Pas-de-Calais, France
*Andres (name)
*Hurricane Andres
* "Andres" (song), a 1994 song by L7
See also ...
, and Witold Rybczynski
Witold Rybczynski (born 1 March 1943) is a Canadian American architect, professor and writer. He is currently the Martin and Margy Meyerson Professor Emeritus of Urbanism at the University of Pennsylvania.
Early life
Rybczynski was born in E ...
. Robert Campbell, the Pulitzer Prize-winning architecture critic for the ''Boston Globe'', stated that Alexander "has had an enormous critical influence on my life and work, and I think that's true of a whole generation of people."
Architecture critic Peter Buchanan, in an essay for ''The Architectural Review
''The Architectural Review'' is a monthly international architectural magazine. It has been published in London since 1896. Its articles cover the built environment – which includes landscape, building design, interior design and urbanism ...
''s 2012 campaign ''The Big Rethink'', argues that Alexander's work as reflected in ''A Pattern Language'' is "thoroughly subversive and forward looking rather than regressive, as so many misunderstand it to be." He continues:
Many urban development projects continue to incorporate Alexander's ideas. For example, in the UK the developers Living Villages Living Villages is an organisation in the United Kingdom established in 1993 as part of The Athena Foundation UK (now dissolved) and as ThLiving Village Trustin 1997 by Carole Salmon and Bob Tomlinson. The objectives are to encourage sustainable d ...
have been highly influenced by Alexander's work and used ''A Pattern Language'' as the basis for the design of The Wintles in Bishops Castle, Shropshire. Sarah Susanka
Sarah Susanka (born March 21, 1957) is an English-born American-based architect, an author of nine best-selling books, and a public speaker. Susanka is the originator of the "Not So Big" philosophy of residential architecture, which aims to "bu ...
's "Not So Big House" movement adapts and popularizes Alexander's patterns and outlook.
Computer science
Alexander's '' Notes on the Synthesis of Form'' was said to be required reading for researchers in computer science throughout the 1960s. It had an influence in the 1960s and 1970s on programming language design, modular programming, object-oriented programming
Object-oriented programming (OOP) is a programming paradigm based on the concept of "objects", which can contain data and code. The data is in the form of fields (often known as attributes or ''properties''), and the code is in the form of pr ...
, software engineering and other design methodologies. Alexander's mathematical concepts and orientation were similar to Edsger Dijkstra
Edsger Wybe Dijkstra ( ; ; 11 May 1930 – 6 August 2002) was a Dutch computer scientist, programmer, software engineer, systems scientist, and science essayist. He received the 1972 Turing Award for fundamental contributions to developing progra ...
's influential ''A Discipline of Programming''.
The greatest influence of ''A Pattern Language
''A Pattern Language: Towns, Buildings, Construction'' is a 1977 book on architecture, urban design, and community livability. It was authored by Christopher Alexander, Sara Ishikawa and Murray Silverstein of the Center for Environmental Struc ...
'' in computer science is the design patterns movement. Alexander's philosophy of incremental, organic, coherent design also influenced the extreme programming
Extreme programming (XP) is a software development methodology intended to improve software quality and responsiveness to changing customer requirements. As a type of agile software development,"Human Centred Technology Workshop 2006 ", 2006, P ...
movement. The Wiki
A wiki ( ) is an online hypertext publication collaboratively edited and managed by its own audience, using a web browser. A typical wiki contains multiple pages for the subjects or scope of the project, and could be either open to the pu ...
was invented to allow the Hillside Group to work on programming design patterns. More recently the "deep geometrical structures" as discussed in ''The Nature of Order
''The Nature of Order: An Essay on the Art of Building and the Nature of the Universe'' () is a four-volume work by the architect Christopher Alexander published in 2002–2004. In his earlier work, Alexander attempted to formulate the principles ...
'' have been cited as having importance for object-oriented programming
Object-oriented programming (OOP) is a programming paradigm based on the concept of "objects", which can contain data and code. The data is in the form of fields (often known as attributes or ''properties''), and the code is in the form of pr ...
, particularly in C++.
Will Wright wrote that Alexander's work was influential in the origin of the ''SimCity
''SimCity'' is an open-ended city-building video game series originally designed by Will Wright. The first game in the series, ''SimCity'', was published by Maxis in 1989 and were followed by several sequels and many other spin-off "''Sim ...
'' computer games, and in his later game ''Spore
In biology, a spore is a unit of sexual or asexual reproduction that may be adapted for dispersal and for survival, often for extended periods of time, in unfavourable conditions. Spores form part of the life cycles of many plants, algae, f ...
''.
Alexander has often led his own software research, such as the 1996 Gatemaker project with Greg Bryant.
Alexander discovered and conceived a recursive structure, so called wholeness, which is defined mathematically, exists in space and matter physically, and reflects in our minds and cognition psychologically. He had his idea of wholeness back to early 1980s when he finished his very first version of ''The Nature of Order''. In fact, his idea of wholeness or degree of wholeness relying on a recursive structure of centers resemble in spirit Google's PageRank.
Religion
The fourth volume of ''The Nature of Order
''The Nature of Order: An Essay on the Art of Building and the Nature of the Universe'' () is a four-volume work by the architect Christopher Alexander published in 2002–2004. In his earlier work, Alexander attempted to formulate the principles ...
'' approaches religious questions from a scientific and philosophical rather than mystical direction, focusing in human feelings, well-being and nature interaction rather than metaphysics. In it, Alexander describes deep ties between the nature of matter, human perception
Perception () is the organization, identification, and interpretation of sensory information in order to represent and understand the presented information or environment. All perception involves signals that go through the nervous system ...
of the universe, and the geometries people construct in buildings, cities, and artifacts. He suggests a crucial link between traditional practices and belief
A belief is an attitude that something is the case, or that some proposition is true. In epistemology, philosophers use the term "belief" to refer to attitudes about the world which can be either true or false. To believe something is to take i ...
s, and recent scientific advances. Despite his leanings toward Deism
Deism ( or ; derived from the Latin ''deus'', meaning "god") is the Philosophy, philosophical position and Rationalism, rationalistic theology that generally rejects revelation as a source of divine knowledge, and asserts that Empirical evi ...
, and his naturalistic and anthropological approach to religion, Alexander maintained that he was a practicing member of the Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
, through which he believing to have accumulated a great deal of human truth within its knowledge.
Design science
The life's work of Alexander is dedicated to turn design from unselfconscious behavior to selfconscious behavior, so called design science A concept of design science was introduced in 1957 by R. Buckminster Fuller who defined it as a systematic form of designing. He expanded on this concept in his ''World Design Science Decade'' proposal to the International Union of Architects in 196 ...
. In his very first book ''Notes on the Synthesis of Forms'', he has set what he wanted to do. He was inspired by traditional buildings, and tried to derive some 253 patterns for architectural design. Later on, he further distills 15 geometric properties to characterize living structure in ''The Nature of Order
''The Nature of Order: An Essay on the Art of Building and the Nature of the Universe'' () is a four-volume work by the architect Christopher Alexander published in 2002–2004. In his earlier work, Alexander attempted to formulate the principles ...
''. The design principles are differentiation and adaptation.
Complex networks
In his classic A City is Not a Tree, he already had some primary ideas of complex networks, although he used semilattice rather than complex networks. In his 1964 book Notes on the Synthesis of Form (p. 65), he prefigured community structure
In the study of complex networks, a network is said to have community structure if the nodes of the network can be easily grouped into (potentially overlapping) sets of nodes such that each set of nodes is densely connected internally. In the part ...
in complex networks, a topic that emerged around 2004.
Published works
Alexander's published works include:
* ''Community and Privacy'', with Serge Chermayeff
Serge Ivan Chermayeff (born Sergei Ivanovich Issakovich; russian: link=no, Сергей Ива́нович Иссако́вич; 8 October 1900 – 8 May 1996) was a Russian-born British architect, industrial designer, writer, and co-founder of ...
(1963)
* '' Notes on the Synthesis of Form'' (1964)
* ''A City is Not a Tree'' (1965)
* ''The Atoms of Environmental Structure'' (1967)
* ''A Pattern Language which Generates Multi-service Centers'', with Ishikawa and Silverstein (1968)
* ''Houses Generated by Patterns'' (1969)
* ''The Grass Roots Housing Process'' (1973)
* The ''Center for Environmental Structure Series'', made up of:
** ''The Oregon Experiment
''The Oregon Experiment'' is a 1975 book by Christopher Alexander and collaborators Murray Silverstein, Shlomo Angel, Sara Ishikawa, and Denny Abrams. It describes an experimental approach to campus community planning at the University of Oreg ...
'' (1975)
** ''A Pattern Language
''A Pattern Language: Towns, Buildings, Construction'' is a 1977 book on architecture, urban design, and community livability. It was authored by Christopher Alexander, Sara Ishikawa and Murray Silverstein of the Center for Environmental Struc ...
'', with Ishikawa and Silverstein (1977)
** ''The Timeless Way of Building
''The Timeless Way of Building'' is a 1979 book by Christopher Alexander that proposes a new theory of architecture (and design in general) that relies on the understanding and configuration of design patterns. Although it came out later, it is es ...
'' (1979)
** ''The Linz Cafe'' (1981)
** ''The Production of Houses'', with Davis, Martinez, and Corner (1985)
** ''A New Theory of Urban Design'', with Neis, Anninou, and King (1987)
** ''Foreshadowing of 21st Century Art: The Color and Geometry of Very Early Turkish Carpets'' (1993)
** ''The Mary Rose Museum'', with Black and Tsutsui (1995)
* ''The Nature of Order
''The Nature of Order: An Essay on the Art of Building and the Nature of the Universe'' () is a four-volume work by the architect Christopher Alexander published in 2002–2004. In his earlier work, Alexander attempted to formulate the principles ...
Book 1: The Phenomenon of Life'' (2002)
* ''The Nature of Order
''The Nature of Order: An Essay on the Art of Building and the Nature of the Universe'' () is a four-volume work by the architect Christopher Alexander published in 2002–2004. In his earlier work, Alexander attempted to formulate the principles ...
Book 2: The Process of Creating Life'' (2002)
* ''The Nature of Order
''The Nature of Order: An Essay on the Art of Building and the Nature of the Universe'' () is a four-volume work by the architect Christopher Alexander published in 2002–2004. In his earlier work, Alexander attempted to formulate the principles ...
Book 3: A Vision of a Living World'' (2005)
* ''The Nature of Order
''The Nature of Order: An Essay on the Art of Building and the Nature of the Universe'' () is a four-volume work by the architect Christopher Alexander published in 2002–2004. In his earlier work, Alexander attempted to formulate the principles ...
Book 4: The Luminous Ground'' (2004)
* ''The Battle for the Life and Beauty of the Earth: A Struggle between Two World-Systems, ''with Hans Joachim Neis and Maggie More Alexander (2012)
Unpublished:
* ''Sustainability and Morphogenesis'' (working title)
See also
* Pattern gardening
References
Further reading
* Grabow, Stephen: ''Christopher Alexander: The Search for a New Paradigm in Architecture'', Routledge & Kegan Paul, London and Boston, 1983.
* Leitner, Helmut: ''Pattern Theory: Introduction and Perspectives on the Tracks of Christopher Alexander'', Graz, 2015, .
* Mehaffy, Michael: ''Cities Alive: Jane Jacobs, Christopher Alexander, and the Roots of the New Urban Renaissance'', Sustasis Press, 2017, .
External links
Official website for Alexander's ''Pattern Language''
Official website of Christopher Alexander, on his 4-volume book ''The Nature of Order''
by Nikos Salingaros
Nikos Angelos Salingaros ( el, Νίκος Άγγελος Σαλίγκαρος; born 1952) is a mathematician and polymath known for his work on urban theory, architectural theory, complexity theory, and design philosophy. He has been a close ...
Introduction to Christopher Alexander
Radio interview with Christopher Alexander
by NPR's Jennifer Ludden
on the occasion of Christopher Alexander receiving the 2009 Scully Prize
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Alexander, Christopher
1936 births
2022 deaths
20th-century American architects
American Roman Catholics
Austrian architects
Austrian emigrants to the United Kingdom
British emigrants to the United States
British Roman Catholics
Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge
Harvard Fellows
Harvard Graduate School of Design alumni
UC Berkeley College of Environmental Design faculty
People educated at Oundle School
Architectural theoreticians
Design researchers
Urban theorists
Artists from Vienna
Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
New Classical architects
21st-century American architects
Members of the Royal Swedish Academy of Arts