Go BackDesign and Construction is one Integrated Making Process
The design process of a project and its construction process are united into one continuous and intertwined making process, unfolding in a step-by-step sequence. Design ends together with the completion of the construction process.
"Making" is a conception of the construction of a building which allows that the feedback, obtained constantly from the actions and experience of shaping the whole, provide feedback and guidance to the builders who then modify what they are shaping in accordance with the feedback just received.
The major consequence of this process is that the architect must also be a builder, and depending on the scale and engineering complexity of the project, the architect is asked to define the extent of the minimum required involvement in the actual construction process, which extends beyond the normal architectural control on a project. As an example, to undertake the construction of specialty works in a project, which would help in enhancing the wholeness and life of the building, and over which there is full control and responsibility.
Thoughts and Arguments Explored and Developed
The architect builder – The architect as a maker
The builder’s yard
Design decisions are best made when using in parallel and sequentially, all different means available, like sketching, rough small scale models, large scale models, drawings, mock-ups, testing techniques in the actual building site
Cardboard mock-ups in full scale, is a useful tool –much more than drawings– to test shapes and dimensions of building components
Finding and finetuning the right shape and right dimensions of each component during the time of its making, according to its position in the whole and according to the contribution it makes to the whole
The importance of detailing to the nearest tenth of an inch
Working on integrated wholes
The balance of rough and smooth
References
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The Timeless Way of Building
1979
“The Timeless Way of Building” is the opening work in “The Center for Environmental Structure Series” on architecture published by Oxford University Press. Here Alexander introduces the ideas behind the succeeding books. The book lays the foundation of the series. It ...
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The Linz Café, Das Linz Café
1981
“The Linz Café”, a bilingual book, both in German and English, is the fourth in “The Center for Environmental Structure Series” on architecture published by Oxford University Press. The book describes the application of the theory to a single building commissioned by ...
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Christopher Alexander - The Search for a New Paradigm in Architecture
1983
Dr. Stephen Grawbow, Director of the Architecture Program at the University of Kansas, had been closely associated with Alexander and, in full collaboration with him, has produced a biographical and philosophical study, which examines the development of Alexander’s ideas, from ...
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Appendix. A Small Example of a Living Process, 16 / Concrete Wall Details
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Appendix. A Small Example of a Living Process, 18 / Start of Construction
Appendix. A Small Example of a Living Process, 19 / The Retaining Wall
Appendix. A Small Example of a Living Process, 20 / Management Agreement that Feeling Must Guide Even the Most Technical Aspects of Construction
Appendix. A Small Example of a Living Process, 21 / Setting the Main-Floor Level
Appendix. A Small Example of a Living Process, 22 / Excavation
Appendix. A Small Example of a Living Process, 23 / Fine-Tuning the Plan as we Fix Forms for the Foundation Walls
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Appendix. A Small Example of a Living Process, 25 / Placing and Fine-Tuning First-Floor Rooms
Appendix. A Small Example of a Living Process, 26 / Making and Placing the First-Floor Wall
Appendix. A Small Example of a Living Process, 27 / Fixing the Living Room: Its Doors and Fireplace and Windows
Appendix. A Small Example of a Living Process, 28 / Remaking Other First-Floor Rooms
Appendix. A Small Example of a Living Process, 29 / Completing the First-Floor Structure
Appendix. A Small Example of a Living Process, 30 / Pouring and Forming the Garage
Appendix. A Small Example of a Living Process, 31 / Getting the Entrance Path Just Right
Appendix. A Small Example of a Living Process, 32 / Remaking the Upstairs Rooms
Appendix. A Small Example of a Living Process, 33 / The Master Bed Alcove
SEE ALL Book Chapters
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User Designed Apartment Building
1974 to
1975
Design and construction of prototype apartment complex outside Paris. The project was initiated by Francoise Choay, the Minister of Housing in France, in November 1973, when she invited the Center for Environmental Structure to join her analysis of poor quality, ...
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Low Cost Houses for Mexicali
1975 to
1977
A cluster of houses for large families, with a builders yard, built by the families themselves with the help of students from the Universidad Autonoma of Mexico, and a team of builders from the Center for Environmental Structure. Each house ...
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C.E.S. Office - Martinez House
1977 to
1984
The second building completed on the Martinez site, was a 2,000 square feet house. A gunite all-concrete building as well, it was the first sizable and fully functional project in which C.E.S. used gunite, while applying all permit and specification ...
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Low Cost Houses for Mexicali: Step-by-step construction process using cement interlocking block for foundation and walls and light-weight concrete for vaults
1976
Twentry three building operations, as an example of a step-by-step construction process, capable of allowing mass production of large number of houses which are all different without increasing costs. These operations are so defined that can be applied to each ...
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Eishin Campus - High School: Homeroom buildings wall mockups for testing ornaments
1983
Wall mockups with concrete block, white plaster, black plaster, green plaster, wood, stone in different proportions.
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Fresno Farmers' Market: Ornamental concrete tiles
1984
6.000-square-foot ornamental concrete slab with special hand made fish-tail tiles. Each tile is about 15 inches long and 6 inches wide, in thin dense concrete about 1/2 inch thick. made by precasting 1/2" thick light blue fishtail tiles, cast on ...
SEE ALL Construction Innovations
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The Linz Café: Perspective sketches exploring preliminary ideas for the building
9 9th sketch
01/01/1980
Nine perspective sketches of the building, studies on the building volumes and the use of canopies for the balconies. All show the west and south elevations of the building, as viewed from the river. .
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The Linz Café: Elevation sketches exploring preliminary ideas for the building
7 7) Interior elevation
01/01/1980
Seven sketches of building elevations studying the general proportions of the building elements.
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The Linz Café: Section sketches exploring preliminary ideas for the building
7 7) Cross section facing east
01/01/1980
Seven sketches of longitudinal and cross sections of the building, studying the interior elevations and the proportions of the interior spaces.
SEE ALL Drawings
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The New Apartment House - Project 46
01/01/1975
87-page project report which describes a new form of apartment house, intended for families who own their apartments. The aim of the project was to propose a new kind of apartment which has life and is personal to the people ...
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Design and Building Process as Critical Inquiry - Sakura Tsutsumi Experimental Building in Tokyo
01/01/1994
16-page document with text, sketches, drawings and photos with subtitle “General Design Objectives and Analytical Goals”.
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Sala House: Design decisions made during construction
01/01/1982
8-page list of design decisions made during construction, presented in groups under the following titles: Parking Deck, Lower Terrace, Exterior-General, Interior-General, Ground Floor Fireplace, Fireplace Alcove, Pantry, Farmhouse Kitchen & Stairs, Second Floor Entrance, Bathroom, Kid’s Bedroom, Stairs, Laundry Room ...
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Berryessa House: Field notes by Bob Theis
04/03/1988
63-page record of communication between the construction manager and Christopher Alexander regarding the progress of the second phase of construction. The time recorded is between September 22, 1987 and March 4, 1988, and presents a photographic record with chronological order ...
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The Julian Street Inn - Shelter for the Homeless: Cost-free clarifications lists
4 4) List of all structural revisions with indication on the previously approved ones
28/11/1988
Four lists of clarifications.
SEE ALL Records
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C.E.S. Office - Martinez House: Photographs of foundation construction works
7 7) Early stage excavations
01/01/1979
Eight images of the foundation excavations works, and the formation of the different levels of the building.
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C.E.S. Office - Martinez House: Photographs of foundation construction works
8 8) Foundation formwork removed, while the formwork for the columns of the tile workshop are being erected
01/01/1979
Twenty-five images of the foundation formworks. They depict various operations and elements of the formwork, like retaining walls, footings and perimeter beams, including both overviews and close-ups.
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C.E.S. Office - Martinez House: Photographs of foundation construction works
9 9) Herman Diedrich shooting concrete in the slab next to that of the porch
01/01/1979
Seventeen images depicting concrete pouring works. They depict preparations for pouring concrete, and the completion of the first slab pour on the entrance porch.
SEE ALL Photographs
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Principles for a Process which Produce Healthy and Human Places
01/11/1981
108-page paper on the definition of a design and building process for housing, taking into consideration available funding, construction cost, time for completion, while creating a place with human qualities loved by its people. Written for an independent study course ...
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Ph.D. Qualifying Examination: The New Apartment Building Process
21/05/1993
Ph.D. Qualifying Examination Committee: Chair – Gary Black, Christopher Alexander, Charles Ibbs, Sara Ishikawa, Hansjoachim Neis.
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Apartment Building Process: The Making of the Apartment Building in Cyprus
01/09/1998
Establishing an apartment building process capable of creating dwellings with an increased feeling of “ownership and belonging” to its inhabitants. Describes today’s apartment building problems and works his way in establishing the process to be followed for the creation of ...