Modesto Community Mental Health Center: Letter referring to the enclosure named “Incomplete Language of the Mental Health Centers”, the work done on patterns and a notification that there is still work to be completed with an outline of that work and directions for moving forward

Modesto, CA, U.S.A.

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

Christopher Alexander, Murray Silverstein

Beuving Construction, Oakdale, California

$1,500,000

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.

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

Design and Building Process

Pattern Languages in Practice

Christopher Alexander, Berkeley, CA, U.S.A.

Photocopy

8 1/2"x11"

1/50"=1'

Christopher Alexander, Murray Silverstein, Center for Environmental Structure, Berkeley, CA, U.S.A.
Friedner D. Wittman, Clyde Dorsett, Coryl Jones, National Institute of Mental Health, Bethesda, MD, U.S.A.

Christopher Alexander, Murray Silverstein, Friedner D. Wittman, Center for Environmental Structure, Berkeley, CA, U.S.A.