Go BackThe Uniqueness of People’s Individual Worlds, Always Respected and Manifested
In the last two centuries "modular" design has produced identical apartments, arranged in typical apartment blocks. The same is true for mass-produced furniture. Uniqueness, which expresses personal needs and whiches, and which springs from the need to adapt and connect the constructed item to its surroundings and context, is completely missing.
The participation of the users in the design process will not properly resolve this issue, unless the required decision is made at the right moment in the sequence of decision making during design. The organic unfolding of a building tells us when various decisions must be made --as an example, the decision point for sizes and shapes of windows will be after decisions on position and size of rooms, and on position of the windows in each room in relation to views and light have been finalized.
The uniqueness of people's individual worlds and the geometric uniqueness of each space are tightly intertwined and arise from proper sequence in the process of design.
Thoughts and Arguments Explored and Developed
A process so finely tuned to circumstance that every part becomes unique
Uniqueness arises naturally from sequence, from doing things in the right order and from the appropriateness of repetition
Respect for what exists
A direct sequence of logical steps leading from people’s wishes to a useful geometric form
References
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The Timeless Way of Building
1979
“The Timeless Way of Building” is the opening work in “The Center for Environmental Structure Series” on architecture published by Oxford University Press. Here Alexander introduces the ideas behind the succeeding books. The book lays the foundation of the series. It ...
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The Production of Houses
1985
The fifth volume in “The Center for Environmental Structure Series” on architecture published by Oxford University Press, “The Production of Houses” puts Alexander’s theories to the test and shows what sort of production system can create the kind of environment Alexander ...
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The Nature of Order - An Essay on the Art of Building and the Nature of the Universe.
Book Two - The Process of Creating Life
2002
“The Process of Creating Life”, the second volume of “The Nature of Order” series presents a dynamic theory of living structure. It begins with an analysis of transformations, which occur in nature, and the distinction between structure-preserving transformations, responsible for ...
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Chapter 12. Every Part is Unique, 3 / Uniqueness Arises Naturally from Sequence, from Doing Things in the Right Order and from the Appropriateness of Repetition
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Chapter 12. Every Part is Unique, 4 / Every Living Process is -at its Core- a Process Which is Devetoted, Through Adaptation, to Making Every Part Unique
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Chapter 12. Every Part is Unique, 5 / The Surprising Character of what Unfolds
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Peru Project - Low Cost Housing for the United Nations
1969 to
1970
Master plan for a community of 1500 houses, submitted as one out of twelve other competition entries for the United Nations sponsored international housing competition PREVI (Proyecto Experimental de Vivienda). The Center for Environmental Structure was chosen as the ...
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User Designed Apartment Building
1974 to
1975
Design and construction of prototype apartment complex outside Paris. The project was initiated by Francoise Choay, the Minister of Housing in France, in November 1973, when she invited the Center for Environmental Structure to join her analysis of poor quality, ...
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Low Cost Houses for Mexicali
1975 to
1977
A cluster of houses for large families, with a builders yard, built by the families themselves with the help of students from the Universidad Autonoma of Mexico, and a team of builders from the Center for Environmental Structure. Each house ...
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An Uncommon Bench: A Small Building by Architect Christopher Alexander and Associates
01/09/1984
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Toward a Personal Workplace: Portfolio of Interiors and a New System of Office Furniture
15/09/1987
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Another Kind of Science; Christopher Alexander on Democratic Theory and the Built Environment
01/12/2003
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The Peru Project - Low Cost Housing for the United Nations: Preliminary Design Drawings - Choice Process
01/01/1969
Sequence of the twenty steps of the choice and combination process laid out in eighteen drawings, each one depicting the size alternatives offered to each family by each step of the process, during which they adjust the generic house layout ...
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Housing Plan for Guasare New Town: Preliminary Design Drawings - Neighborhood Street Elevations
01/01/1982
Two elevations of the neighborhood streets, conveying their character .
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Sweet Potatoes Offices and Workshops: Presentation Drawing - Layout Plans
01/03/1985
Floor Plan of the final design of the office and workshop areas, depicting thick-wall divisions and furniture arrangements.
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The New Apartment House - Project 46
01/01/1975
87-page project report which describes a new form of apartment house, intended for families who own their apartments. The aim of the project was to propose a new kind of apartment which has life and is personal to the people ...
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Herman Miller Furniture Systems: The Personal Workplace - A System of Office Furniture Designed for Comfort: Vol 1. Overview and Scope - General Introduction
01/01/1988
16-page document which provides an overview of the scope of the work, and the predominant issues to be addressed, as reflected in the Table of Contents: 1. Introduction; 2. The Character of Office Space; 3. Types of Individual Workspace; 4. ...
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Herman Miller Furniture Systems: The Personal Workplace - A System of Office Furniture Designed for Comfort: Vol 4. Examples of Private Offices Designed by Different Managers
01/01/1988
54-page document which provides examples of office layouts made by users of offices, demonstrating the results of the proposed layout process. Its Table of Contents are the following: 1. Introduction; 2. Process; 3. Examples of Offices Designed by Different Managers; ...
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Another Kind of Science; Christopher Alexander on Democratic Theory and the Built Environment - text of article by Brian Walker
01/12/2003
20-page text of the article in the Canadian Journal of Political Science, published online by Cambridge University Press and posted in www.natureoforder.com.
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Haworth New Office Furniture System: Layout of Common Space - for 10 unit office, 17,000 sf, 20sf per person gross density
01/01/1985
23-page draft document exploring the potential of five different processes for the layout of office space. ‘Basic Principles’, ‘The Steps’, and ‘List of Common Space to be Shared by all Units’ are outlined for each process proposal, together with simulation ...
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Sweet Potatoes Offices and Workshops: Office Design Sketches with Notes
01/01/1985
13 pages with sketches depicting different floor plans of working spaces belonging to the Sweet Potatoes clothing factory, with furniture arrangements user-selected and laid-out according to their needs. Some notes listing furniture chosen by people for their specific working areas, ...
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The Peru Project - Low Cost Housing for the United Nations: Photographs of drawings depicting the "Choice Process"
01/01/1969
Sequence of eighteen images, depicting Step-5 to Step-20 of the “Choice Process” followed by each family for designing their individual house. Each step provides a small number of variations of the individual houses depending on the basic design factors, as ...
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User Designed Apartment Building: Photographs of project model
01/01/1974
The apartment building large scale colored model, made of heavy cardboard and thick paint, depicting an extensive variety of apartments for different families.
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Low Cost Houses for Mexicali: Photographs of building interios
01/01/1976
Fourteen photos of the house interiors: Two photos of corridors with barrel roof and rooms opening on all sides and four photos of different bedrooms. A picture of the corner of a room with bookcase and two photos with children ...
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