Architectural Lecture Series: The Growth of Order from Small Acts

06/02/1974

Audio, Tape

Tape with lecture given at the Department of Architecture, on “what it means to create something;” the duration of the lecture is about one hour and twenty minutes.

Created by:

Christopher Alexander, University of California Berkeley, College of Environmental Design, Department of Architecture, Berkeley, CA, U.S.A.

Content of

Academic Course

Architectural Lecture Series: 6-Feb-1974 lecture 1974

University Program:

Architecture Lecture Series

Course type:

Lecture Course

Instructors:

Christopher Alexander

The topic of the lecture was “The Growth of Order from Small Acts”.

References

Scientific Research

The Uniqueness of People's Individual Worlds, Always Respected and Manifested

Areas of focus:

Design and Building Process

Guiding idea:

Participation of Users

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 ...
Theory of Patterns and Pattern Languages

Areas of focus:

Structure of Space

Guiding idea:

Patterns and Pattern Languages

In 'The Timeless Way of Building' Christopher Alexander postulates that the quality in buildings cannot by made, but only generated, indirectly, by the ordinary actions of the people. He asserts that people can shape buildings for themselves, and have done ...
Master Planning as a Dynamic Process - Organic Order and Piecemeal Growth

Areas of focus:

Design and Building Process

Guiding idea:

Step by Step Process

It is simply not possible to fix today, in a Master Plan, what the environment should be like in the future, and then to steer the piecemeal process of development toward that fixed, imaginary world. Instead, planning and construction will ...

Projects

Master Plan for the University of Oregon 1969 to 1971

Eugene, OR, U.S.A.

Master Planning, Educational, Realized , Completed in 1971 and impletented

Client:

University of Oregon - Mr. Robert S. Harris, Dean of the School of Architecture and Chairman of the user planning committee

C.E.S. staff:

Christopher Alexander, Murray Silverstein, Shlomo Angel, Sara Ishikawa, Denny Abrams

Project stages:

Pattern language for the project by clients and C.E.S. Layout on the site by clients and C.E.S. Generic rules for urban growth process Diagnosis and repair process

A complete user-based master plan for the University of Oregon, in Eugene, introducing a new planning theory, which replaced the predominant theory of master plans. It gave primacy to the use of pattern languages and user design, in the continuous ...
Stanislaus County Mental Health Center 1970 to 1973

Modesto, CA, U.S.A.

Civic, Realized , Construction completed in 1973

Client:

Stanislaus County Mental Health Services - Dr. Hewitt F. Ryan, County Director of Psychiatric Services

C.E.S. staff:

Christopher Alexander, Murray Silverstein

Contractor:

Beuving Construction, Oakdale, California

Project cost:

$1,500,000

Design and construction process:

1) Creation of a pattern language for the new mental health center, which defined the general spatial layout and conditions required by the psychiatric services. 2) Layout on the site: C.E.S. worked intensively on the ground with the team of users; in a period of about one week, the layout of the building on the site, according to the pattern language, was completed. 3) Final drawings: The plan laid out on the site with stakes, was then recorded on paper, and the final building drawings prepared directly from this data, with few changes. 4) Users were brought in again, while final decisions about structure and materials were made.

Project stages:

Pattern language for the project by clients and C.E.S. Layout on the site by clients and C.E.S. Development Design and Construction Drawings done after layout

A community mental health center for outpatients and outpatient care with seven buildings, including clinics, outpatient facilities, therapeutic departments for adults, teenagers and children, staff facilities, administrative offices, gardens, courts and walkways, with total area 24,000 square feet. The key ...
Canary Island Tourist Resort 1973

Fuerta Ventura, Canary Islands, Spain

Commercial, Designed , Completed in 1973

Client:

Development Consortium, Rueger and Associates, Stuttgart, Germany

C.E.S. staff:

Christopher Alexander, Ingrid Fiksdahl-King, Halim Abdelhalim, Lisa Heschong

Project stages:

Pattern language for the project by C.E.S. Generic rules for urban growth process Preliminary design

Development plan for a tourist resort for 80,000 people. Formulation of a project specifc pattern language for creating real and active communities all year round; it included 45 patterns which defined the preservation of land, the sites for building, relative ...