West Dean College Gardens Visitor’s Center – Arches in the transverse load bearing walls: Photographs

The four thick cross-walls are pierced by low arches, to make the openings between the spaces. The size of the openings differ, and so the curve of the arches differ as well. The final curvature of each arch was finalized ...

In any process of design or making, the next step which is most structure-enhancing, is that step which most intensifies the feeling of the emerging whole. What ultimately matters in this process is that the work produced generates feeling in ...

One of the main topics of research, included in every building project, was to identify, early on in the design process, the material and techniques of construction. This would re-establish building as an art, and allow rapid shaping and adaptation, ...

The West Dean Center is a simple one-story masonry building with a large red-tiled roof and intricate brickwork for its thick walls. The building is surrounded by gardens, and its south facing wall has large arched windows overlooking the garden ...

Three photographs of early sketches by Christopher Alexander depicting the emergence and shaping of the wall arches. The templates for making the curve of the formworks were copied from these sketches; in the second photo, the top sketch gave the ...