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the_timeless_way_of_building [2007-07-11 16:18] – nikthe_timeless_way_of_building [2007-07-11 16:20] – nik
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-==== The Timeless Way of Building ====+===== The Timeless Way of Building =====
  
 by Christopher Alexander 1979 ISBN 0-19-502248-3 by Christopher Alexander 1979 ISBN 0-19-502248-3
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-a summary :+==== a summary : ==== 
  
  
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- +==== The Quality ====
- +
- +
-The Quality +
  
  
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-Being alive+==== Being alive ==== 
  
  
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-Patterns of events+==== Patterns of events ==== 
  
  
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- +==== Patterns of space ====
-Patterns of space+
  
  
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-The patterns which are alive+==== The patterns which are alive ==== 
  
  
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-The multilicity of living patterns+==== The multilicity of living patterns ==== 
  
  
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- +==== The quality itself ====
-The quality itself+
  
  
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 The idea that a building can-and ought- to be made of modular units is one of the most pervasive assumptions of twentieth-century architecture. Nature is never modular. Nature is full of almost similar  units (waves, raindrops, blades of grass- but though the units of one kind are all alike in their broad structure, no two are ever alike in detail. The idea that a building can-and ought- to be made of modular units is one of the most pervasive assumptions of twentieth-century architecture. Nature is never modular. Nature is full of almost similar  units (waves, raindrops, blades of grass- but though the units of one kind are all alike in their broad structure, no two are ever alike in detail.
  
-1. the same broad features keep recurring over and over again.+1. the same broad features keep recurring over and over again.
  
 2. in their detail appearance these broad features are never twice the same. 2. in their detail appearance these broad features are never twice the same.
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 The repetition of patterns is quite a different thing from the repetition of parts. When two physical windows are identical the relationship which they have to their surroundings are different, because their surroundings are different. But when the relationships of their surroundings-their patterns- are the same, the windows themselves will all be different, because the sameness of the patterns, interacting with the difference of the contexts, makes the windows different. The repetition of patterns is quite a different thing from the repetition of parts. When two physical windows are identical the relationship which they have to their surroundings are different, because their surroundings are different. But when the relationships of their surroundings-their patterns- are the same, the windows themselves will all be different, because the sameness of the patterns, interacting with the difference of the contexts, makes the windows different.
  
-In a place which is alive, the right angles are rarely exact; the spacing of parts is hardly ever perfectly even. One column is a little thicker than another, one angle is a little larger than a right angle, one doorway is just a little smaller  then next, each roof line departs just an inch or two from the horizontal. They follow from the process which allows each part to be fitted carefully to its position. A building in which angles are all perfectly right angles, in ehich all eindows are exactly the dame size, andf in which all  columns are perfectly vertical, and all floors perfectlly horizontal, can only reach its false perfection by ignouring its surrounding utterlly.+In a place which is alive, the right angles are rarely exact; the spacing of parts is hardly ever perfectly even. One column is a little thicker than another, one angle is a little larger than a right angle, one doorway is just a little smaller  then next, each roof line departs just an inch or two from the horizontal. They follow from the process which allows each part to be fitted carefully to its position. A building in which angles are all perfectly right angles, in which all windows are exactly the dame size, andf in which all  columns are perfectly vertical, and all floors perfectlly horizontal, can only reach its false perfection by ignouring its surrounding utterlly.
  
-The cahracter of nature is fluid, rough, irregular, but it will not be true, unless it is made in the knowledge that it is going to die.+The character of nature is fluid, rough, irregular, but it will not be true, unless it is made in the knowledge that it is going to die.
  
 No matter how much the person who makes a building is able to understand the rhythm of regularity, it will mean noting so long as he creates it with the idea that it must be preserved because it is so precious. If you want to preserve a building, you will try to make it in materials which last forever. You will try to make sure that this creation can be preserved intact, in just its present state, forever. Canvas must be ruled out because it has to be replaced; tiles must be so hard that they will not crack, and set in concrete, so that they cannot move, and so the weed will not grow up to split the paving; trees must be nice to look at, but not bear fruit, becauses the dropped fruit might offend someone. No matter how much the person who makes a building is able to understand the rhythm of regularity, it will mean noting so long as he creates it with the idea that it must be preserved because it is so precious. If you want to preserve a building, you will try to make it in materials which last forever. You will try to make sure that this creation can be preserved intact, in just its present state, forever. Canvas must be ruled out because it has to be replaced; tiles must be so hard that they will not crack, and set in concrete, so that they cannot move, and so the weed will not grow up to split the paving; trees must be nice to look at, but not bear fruit, becauses the dropped fruit might offend someone.
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 +==== The gate====
  
-The gate  
  
  
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-The breakdown of language+==== The breakdown of language ====
  
  
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