The Gatemaker Project
1997 to 2000The Gatemaker project provides an enlightening lens through which to examine the interplay of ideas between Christopher Alexander and computing, over the last half-century. Interest in his work became intense by 1996, so his team secured funding for a research project: a computer-based design tool for improving the built-environment, which treats feeling as an objective metric. The application made significant progress along these lines, unfortunately unmatched in any other computer project since. There is much confusion about the program, within both computing and architectural circles. This is because, like many of Alexander's projects, Gatemaker unveiled a battle between different systems of thought.
Contents
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The Aspen Summit: Gatemaker as a fundamental step in computer science
11/04/1997
Memorandum addressed to Sun Microsystems’ co-founder Bill Joy, who had provided funds for the experimental project “Gatemaker”. Christopher Alexander refers to the implications such a tool could have for computing and design .
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The Aspen Summit: The Gate Maker, Proposal to C. Itoh Company - Computer-Supported House Construction Business
01/04/1997
Three pages laying out the methodology for a computerized design process which allows the customer and his family members to shape the design of their house. Its basic purpose is to develop a basis for a new housing business rooted ...
References
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The Aspen Summit: Thoughts on the Aspen Meeting
08/04/1997
Memorandum written after meeting in Aspen, between the Center for Environmental Structure Computing and Sun Microsystems, explaining the experimental process that led to the computer program named “Gatemaker”, and summarizing what has been achieved and what not. There are two ...
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The Aspen Summit: Report on Software Issues
03/04/1997
Report presented at the meeting in Aspen, between the Center for Environmental Structure Computing and Sun Microsystems, explaining the philosophy of good programming and its application in the experimental computer program named “Gatemaker”.