''Notes on the Synthesis of Form'' is a book by
Christopher Alexander about the process of design.
Design
Alexander defines design as "the process of inventing things which display new physical order, organization, form, in response to function...".
Even though his focus was formed in
architectural design
A design is a plan or specification for the construction of an object or system or for the implementation of an activity or process or the result of that plan or specification in the form of a prototype, product, or process. The verb ''to design' ...
and
civil engineering
Civil engineering is a professional engineering discipline that deals with the design, construction, and maintenance of the physical and naturally built environment, including public works such as roads, bridges, canals, dams, airports, sewa ...
, the core ideas underlying his approach can be applied to many other fields.
Influence
By the time it was published, the book was considered "one of the most important contemporary books about the art of design, what it is, and how to go about it."
The book influenced a number of leading software writers, including
Larry Constantine
Larry LeRoy Constantine (born 1943) is an American software engineer, professor in the Center for Exact Sciences and Engineering at the University of Madeira Portugal, and considered one of the pioneers of computing. He has contributed numerous ...
,
Ed Yourdon
Edward Nash Yourdon (April 30, 1944 – January 20, 2016) was an American software engineer, computer consultant, author and lecturer, and software engineering methodology pioneer. He was one of the lead developers of the structured analysis tec ...
,
Alan Cooper, and
Tom DeMarco
Tom DeMarco (born August 20, 1940) is an American software engineer, author, and consultant on software engineering topics. He was an early developer of structured analysis in the 1970s.
Early life and education
Tom DeMarco was born in Hazle ...
.
Alexander's later work
For some reasons – perhaps related to the mathematical difficulties he faced or to the paradigm shift taking place in the design methods movement through the 1960s and 1970s, or argument by the German designer Horst Rittel that design deals with 'wicked problems' that have well defined boundaries or rationales, and cannot be solved with rigid methodology advocated in ''Notes''
– Alexander did not continue to develop the formal parts of his approach, which, by that time, showed promise. Instead, he chose, temporarily, to work on
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 ...
(''
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 ...
'') together with other well-known architects (Sarah 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 ...
). These patterns are visible or material manifestations of the driving forces underlying the synthesis of form. For an example, consider the following excerpt from the part one of the book (page 15):
Nevertheless, what matters here is not only the form itself but the forces induced by the magnetic field. The fact that the magnetic field induces certain kind of form is relevant for some purposes; however, there are many practical applications not related to form. The equations describing the magnetic field can be translated into many useful outputs, to which, the concept denoted here by term "pattern" is a corresponding material manifestation or articulation. In his most recent work, ''
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 ...
'', Alexander demonstrates that it is illogical to separate formal manifestations from the underlying processes or sequences which produce the form, as both are observable aspects of the same field, thereby resolving the apparent conflict between this work and his subsequent pattern research.
See also
*
Idea networking
Idea networking is a qualitative method of doing a cluster analysis of any collection of statements, developed by Mike Metcalfe at the University of South Australia. Networking lists of statements acts to reduce them into a handful of clusters o ...
*
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 ...
Notes
External links
*
{{Christopher Alexander, state=expanded
Architecture books