• Pattern languages consist of a multitude of patterns which reflect and define a way of life, people's inner feelings and aspirations, they relate to culture, to climate and to the actual place, and they are rooted in observation. During the pattern language stage of work, it is important to get a glimpse of the centers that will make the project which is to be designed, come to life as a whole. A pattern language is essentially a way of defining generic centers, and then use them sequentially, in the design process. A pattern language for a project, when successful, contains a geometrically constructive aspect of the emotions and content of the people who will use it.
      Thoughts and Arguments Explored and Developed

      Patterns as generic rules for making centers or “making lIfe enjoyable”
      Structure-preserving transformations as the origin of function
      Discovering new pattern languages
      The system of patterns emanates as a whole
      Forming a collective and shared vision

    • Focusing primarily on the pure beauty of the geometric order, which comes, above all, from the building structure (columns, walls, beams, vaults and so forth), specifically from the aperiodic grids which form the abstract underpinning of the building structure.
      Thoughts and Arguments Explored and Developed

      Focusing only on the pure beauty of the structural order
      Beauty of structure and positive space
      Appearance of coherent form
      Simplicity of form

    • Ornament arises as part of the design process, when a person is making and seeks to embellish this "something" while making it. It arises as a result of the latent centers in the uncompleted thing requiring still more centers, requiring still more structure, in order to be complete. The ornamental structure most often comes from the material, and from the way a thing is being made. Ornaments in wood, have different form and structure from ornaments in cast concrete, or in shot concrete. Brick patterns create fine structure, as colored patterns on hand-glazed tilework. Ornament is not something which is imposed to finish things off. It is, in itself, of the essence. It is an essential part of the design process, connected to the shaping and geometry of its structural components, introducing centers in a range of scales. Furthermore, the function of a thing, and its ornament, are not two separable features: they are inseparable. When a thing is well made, then this thing is always at once practical and at the same time an ornament.
      Thoughts and Arguments Explored and Developed

      Ornament as detail emerges directly from the making process
      Making lifelike animals and plants in the fabric of buildings
      Simplicity of ornamental human figures
      The joy of building is that, in a profound sense, I feel the whole building as an ornament –whose rooms, passages, staircases, windows, ceilings, paving, benches lamps, are all extensions of that ornament

    • A building can only amount to something as a living thing when the various physical elements which appear in it are profound centers. The dominant feature of the process that is working correctly is that new centers are formed, and as they form, the space re-arranges itelf, not only locally, but also in the neighborhood of the newly forming center, and in the structure as a whole. Centers are always formed within the whole and by the whole, which requires constant focus on larger wholes, and the awareness that in each small act the process is contributing to the significant shape and organization of larger wholes within the structure. It is not only geometry and color that count when making a building; substance -- the materials a building is made from, and its detailing -- the way materials are put together, are the critical elements of a proper construction process in which building details contribute and enhance the big field of centers by creating centers at the scale of the very small. A field of centers evolves through a by step-by-step creation of strong centers, local symmetries and positive space.
      Thoughts and Arguments Explored and Developed

      Every center is shaped by the next step in the differentiation process
      Emerging centers which help to enhance the whole
      Emergence of strong centers at fine scale
      Position: starting with the most important room
      The main centers of a room: Internal elements which create the room’s life
      Fine structure determines the feeling in a room
      Construction elements as living centers
      Construction details and their physical substance unfold as centers

    • Theoretical basis and key assumptions for the process of urban growth, tested initially in the San Francisco Waterfront experimental project in 1979, in which the formation of larger urban wholes was highlighted as an overriding rule. This process was further developed while being used and tested in a series of other large scale and urban projects, with emphasis on the quality of public space as a three-dimensional entity and the sequence of actions which best would generate it.
      Thoughts and Arguments Explored and Developed

      Piecemeal growth
      The growth of larger wholes
      Visions
      The basic rule of positive urban space
      Formation of centers

    • In architecture, as in other things, the "right" sequence is of vital importance. It is a generative sequence of progressive differentiations, which allow space to unfold in the right order. Each differentiation acts on the product of the previous differentiations, and as it does so, new centers are formed and unfold, and in turn themselves --later-- get differentiated further. The classic example of a generative sequence occurs in biological morphogenesis, where sequence is well known. A generative sequence guarantees the emergence of coherent form, while providing the conditions in which structure preserving transformations can occur successfully. Such a sequence works, or does not work, according to the order of steps. A good sequence --steps in the right order-- can be defined by asking, for each center, which other centers need to be in position before that center can be formed. This unfolding process allows to go one step at a time, because it is based on a sequence which permits this without disturbing the unfolding of the whole. The reason it works is that, like any system in nature, what is actually unfolding is indeed the whole. The crux of every design process lies in finding the generative sequence for that design, and making sure that the sequence is the right one for the job.
      Thoughts and Arguments Explored and Developed

      Step by step adaptation: Gradual progress towards living structure
      Each step is always helping to enhance the whole
      Generative sequences are the key to the success of a creative process, whenever a complex structure is being formed
      The vital importance of the “right” sequence
      The vital interplay of form and sequence
      A sequence works, or does not work, according to the order of steps

    • Outdoor space is positive when it is shaped just as a room is shaped. It has a contained character, it is bounded by walls, fences, natural vegetation, enclosure of some kind. It looks into other positive spaces, some larger, some smaller. Each space individually is a strong center, each one has a boundary, one feels its substance when moving through them. Outdoor space is a world by itself, where people enjoy walking along paths and avenues of trees, through gates, gardens, doorways, stairs; it is a connected world, not kept too isolated from cars, but still protected and peaceful. Specific patterns address the issue of how the cars can be accommodated best, without affecting the feeling of pedestrian space.
      Thoughts and Arguments Explored and Developed

      The hulls of public space come naturally from structure preserving transformations
      Shaped public space forms living centers
      Positive outdoor space is formed volumetrically before the buildings are designed, and the building are then shaped to form the space

    • Large building are not easy to design and keep the feeling of intimay in them. The way a large building can be given this quality is by succeeding in the creation of living centers throughout its fabric. The profusion and the unity of the living centers, which make the larger whole a living center too, bring real life to the community and to its individuals. In large buildings, the successive transformations of space is crucial. The first thing to unfold will usually be the arrangement of volumes; to start with, rectangles of the building volumes as centers, and rectangles of the outdoor space as centers too. And then articulations in these volumes in distinct levels of scale.
      Thoughts and Arguments Explored and Developed

      Intimacy of design within the huge
      The building comes genuinely from the inspiration and deep feeling of the users
      The intricacy of detail in the making process
      Arrangement of volumes with rectangles of the building volumes as centers, and rectangles of the outdoor space as centers too.