Some Notes on Christopher Alexander (2008)
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Some Notes on Christopher Alexander (2008)
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Re: Some Notes on Christopher Alexander (2008)
#2He missed that Notes on the Synthesis of Form inspired the software design perspectives of coupling and cohesion
Re: Some Notes on Christopher Alexander (2008)
#3This page seems to omit it, but there was a third book in the Pattern Language series where he applies the ideas to a small complex in a city in Oregon. Sadly, I read somewhere that this got tangled in local politics and was ultimately crushed.
The ideas of anyone as truly gifted as Alexander are doomed to failure, at least within their lifetimes. One look at our current celebrated architecture fills me with mourning for what could have been.
Re: Some Notes on Christopher Alexander (2008)
#4This page seems to omit it, but there was a third book in the Pattern Language series where he applies the ideas to a small complex in a city in Oregon. Sadly, I read somewhere that this got tangled in local politics and was ultimately crushed. The ideas of anyone as truly gifted as Alexander are doomed to failure, at least within their lifetimes. One look at our current celebrated architecture fills me with mourning…
He also published The Battle for the Life and Beauty of the Earth after this page was made (apologies if I overlooked the reference.) It’s about a more successful project, a Japanese college campus. The difficulties he faced were very interesting, especially from bureaucratic insistence on going over budget (Alexander advocates realistic cost discipline as necessary to humane design.)
Re: Some Notes on Christopher Alexander (2008)
#5This page seems to omit it, but there was a third book in the Pattern Language series where he applies the ideas to a small complex in a city in Oregon. Sadly, I read somewhere that this got tangled in local politics and was ultimately crushed. The ideas of anyone as truly gifted as Alexander are doomed to failure, at least within their lifetimes. One look at our current celebrated architecture fills me with mourning…
Where did you read that? The book you are thinking of is "The Oregon Experiment" [0], the "small complex" is the University of Oregon [1], and the project was broadly successful. To quote WP:
> In the late 1960s and early 1970s, students and faculty at the University of Oregon protested against log trucks driving through campus; against the destruction of a 19th-century cemetery; against the military draft and the invasions and occupations in Southeast Asia; and against the idea that the University was acting in place of students' parents.[4] On top of this, buildings created since the end of World War II included Brutalist architecture, which was aesthetically polarizing.
I grew up in Eugene and can confirm all of this. Following the restructuring of Franklin Boulevard, there are no longer any logging or gravel trucks driving through the Ferry Street, downtown, or university areas. The cemetery grounds across from McArthur Court [2] are preserved and maintained. Many of Alexander's buildings and courtyards are still there, along with some of the older brutalist buildings as well as some of the newer buildings built with donor money [3][4].
I would say that the University is tangled not with local politics, but with multinational money. Nike has had a strong grasp on the University's spending habits for many decades, and their influence twists and distorts everything in the area. Despite Nike's attempts to stop it, though, the University still has an excellent architecture program to this day, and the campus is beautiful and walkable. I would say that the experiment succeeded beyond expectations.
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Oregon_Experiment
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Oregon
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McArthur_Court
Re: Some Notes on Christopher Alexander (2008)
#6I just read A City is not a Tree, linked somewhere here (http://www.patternlanguage.com/archives/alexander1.htm) and found it quite interesting.
Re: Some Notes on Christopher Alexander (2008)
#7This page seems to omit it, but there was a third book in the Pattern Language series where he applies the ideas to a small complex in a city in Oregon. Sadly, I read somewhere that this got tangled in local politics and was ultimately crushed. The ideas of anyone as truly gifted as Alexander are doomed to failure, at least within their lifetimes. One look at our current celebrated architecture fills me with mourning…
Where did you read that? The book you are thinking of is "The Oregon Experiment" [0], the "small complex" is the University of Oregon [1], and the project was broadly successful. To quote WP: > In the late 1960s and early 1970s, students and faculty at the University of Oregon protested against log trucks driving through campus; against the destruction of a 19th-century cemetery; against the military draft and the in…
I was mostly going by this article, which seems factual.
http://www.rainmagazine.com/archive/1994/alexander-visits-th...
Just to reaffirm my prior comment, I think Alexander is a genius. Having walked through the UO campus, it doesn't particularly remind me of his ethos. (The cemetery, of course, is quite nice, but not part of the campus.)
I don't see any indication that Alexander was involved with Hatfield-Dowlin or the Matthew Knight Arena. Is there a source on that?
As for the quality of the architecture program, the campus speaks for itself. I particularly liked that quote about "Science losing faith in the Arch". Ouch.
Re: Some Notes on Christopher Alexander (2008)
#8Earlier quoted context omitted.
Where did you read that? The book you are thinking of is "The Oregon Experiment" [0], the "small complex" is the University of Oregon [1], and the project was broadly successful. To quote WP: > In the late 1960s and early 1970s, students and faculty at the University of Oregon protested against log trucks driving through campus; against the destruction of a 19th-century cemetery; against the military draft and the in…
I was mostly going by this article, which seems factual. http://www.rainmagazine.com/archive/1994/alexander-visits-th... Just to reaffirm my prior comment, I think Alexander is a genius. Having walked through the UO campus, it doesn't particularly remind me of his ethos. (The cemetery, of course, is quite nice, but not part of the campus.) I don't see any indication that Alexander was involved with Hatfield-Dowlin or…
I suppose I wasn't very clear. Alexander not only was not involved with those donated buildings, but he would presumably not have liked what they did to the landscape. The Arena, in particular, is bad for traffic.
I am saying that the University both takes input from qualified architectural plans, and also takes cash from folks at Nike. This article is very interesting and provides great historical context, but pales in comparison to the millions of dollars that Phil Knight and friends have poured onto campus, and the corresponding shift in power. Knight has demanded changes to University staff and faculty, and gotten them, multiple times over the decades. He's also managed to keep his influence well-hidden; "Nike" barely appears at all in this magazine article, for example, despite already being a powerful donor on-campus by the 90s.
Re: Some Notes on Christopher Alexander (2008)
#9Earlier quoted context omitted.
I was mostly going by this article, which seems factual. http://www.rainmagazine.com/archive/1994/alexander-visits-th... Just to reaffirm my prior comment, I think Alexander is a genius. Having walked through the UO campus, it doesn't particularly remind me of his ethos. (The cemetery, of course, is quite nice, but not part of the campus.) I don't see any indication that Alexander was involved with Hatfield-Dowlin or…
I suppose I wasn't very clear. Alexander not only was not involved with those donated buildings, but he would presumably not have liked what they did to the landscape. The Arena, in particular, is bad for traffic. I am saying that the University both takes input from qualified architectural plans, and also takes cash from folks at Nike. This article is very interesting and provides great historical context, but pales…
Agreed.
To concentrate on the positive for a moment, if you ever get there, don't miss the Dracula hall (Deady?) and there's the most beautiful ancient and massive lounge inside Gerlinger (?). Johnson Hall (from Animal House) is attractive. And Streisinger (?) evokes Escher in a pleasing way.
All of these are quite old, but I'm almost as.
Re: Some Notes on Christopher Alexander (2008)
#10Alexander’s books have been on my bucket list for a while. He is one of the few thinkers bridging between traditional and modern, and designing lived experience. It is no accident his work extends beyond building design and into human user experience and software architecture.