A Pattern Language (1977)

Were I tasked with building a library-bunker suited to rebuilding civilization in the case of global collapse, the first book on the shelf would be Christopher Alexander’s A Pattern Language.

I think of it as a catalog of cultural wisdom, capturing and interrelating effective patterns that have emerged from centuries of ad-hoc experimentation. These patterns are focused on environmental design (ex. #196 Corner Doors) but include arrangements for communal life as well (ex. #80 Self-Governing Workshops and Offices). Alexander studied patterns like these across time and cultures, and distilled them into an artifact approachable enough for the mass public yet comprehensive enough to “form a language,” and “create a coherent picture of an entire region.” As a language, it is open-ended, non-prescriptive, and enables an infinite array of possibilities nonetheless informed by the evolutionary algorithm of mankind’s history.

A Pattern Language is said to be the first book ever-written in hypertext, and inspired the creation of object-oriented programming. Every pattern follows the same basic structure:

1. Pattern ID, title, and image:

2. A contextual note about how the pattern is informed by previous (larger-scale) patterns:

…once the building’s major rooms are in position we have to fix its actual shape: and this we do essentially with the position of the edge. The edge has got its rough position already from the overall form of the building–WINGS OF LIGHT (107), POSITIVE OUTDOOR SPACE (106), LONG THIN HOUSE (109), CASCADE ROOFS (116). This pattern now completes the work of WINGS OF LIGHT (107), by placing each individual room exactly where it needs to be to get the light. It forms the exact line of the building edge, according to the position of these individual rooms. The next pattern start to shape the edge.

3. A succinct rationale (followed by several pages of supporting studies, diagrams, and explanation):

When they have a choice, people will always gravitate to those rooms which have light on two sides, and leave the rooms which are lit only from one side unused and empty.

4. The heuristic:

5. How the pattern’s implementation should consider related patterns:

Don’t let this pattern make your plans too wild–otherwise you will destroy the simplicity of POSITIVE OUTDOOR SPACE (106), and you will have a terrible time roofing the building–ROOF LAYOUT (209). Remember that it is possible to keep the essence of the pattern with windows on one side, if the room is unusually high, if it is shallow compared with the length of the window wall, the windows large, the walls of the room white, and massive deep reveals on the windows to make quite certain that the big windows, bright against the sky, do not create glare.

Place the individual windows to look onto something beautiful–WINDOWS OVERLOOKING LIFE (192), NATURAL DOORS AND WINDOWS (221); and make one of the windows in the room a special one, so that a place gathers itself around it–WINDOW PLACE (180). Use DEEP REVEALS (223) and FILTERED LIGHT (238)…

This book has had a major impact on the way I think about design, complexity, information, and the relationship between humans and their environment. Alexander’s tenure at UC Berkeley was a meaningful part of why I chose to study city planning there. He is, to my mind, one of the greatest thinkers of the past century.