Go BackParticipation of the Users in the Design Process – Testing and Applying Pattern Languages and Layout Rules
Christopher Alexander believed that people have a right to determine and shape their environment. The genuine and wholehearted involvement of the users in the shaping of their buildings contributes positively to good architecture. It gives life, identity and personal qualities to space. The initial driving force in the development of patterns was to provide a useful tool to users and enable them to participate effectively in the design and construction process. Furthermore, aspiring to better results and trusting their potential, he formulated step-by-step rules for laying out houses in order to guide the users with confidence, through the whole making process. .
Thoughts and Arguments Explored and Developed
The principle of participation of users
The collective design of common land
The layout of individual houses
Rules for the layout on the site by the users
Testing of rules by users
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 Nature of Order - An Essay on the Art of Building and the Nature of the Universe.
Book Three - A Vision of a Living World
2005
“A Vision of a Living World”, the third volume of “The Nature of Order” series, presents, for the first time, a full spectrum of Alexander’s and CES built and unbuilt works. The book describes hundreds of buildings, plans, neighborhoods, drawings, ...
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The Battle for the Life and Beauty of the Earth - A Struggle between Two World-Systems
2012
The ninth and last volume of “The Center for Environmental Structure Series” on architecture published by Oxford University Press is the “The Battle for the Life and Beauty of the Earth – A Struggle between Two World-Systems”. The book puts ...
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Chapter 10. "Belonging" in High-Density Housing
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Chapter 8. People Forming a Collective Vision of their Neighborhood, 4 / Start of a Collective Vision in Fort Lauderdale
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Chapter 8. People Forming a Collective Vision of their Neighborhood, 6 / A Collective Vision Growing in Chikusadai
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Master Plan for the University of Oregon
1967 to
1973
A complete user-based master plan for the University of Oregon, in Eugene, introducing a new planning theory, which replaced the predominant theory of master plans. It gave primacy to the use of pattern languages and user design, in the continuous ...
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Peru Project - Low Cost Housing for the United Nations
1969 to
1970
Master plan for a community of 1500 houses, submitted as one out of twelve other competition entries for the United Nations sponsored international housing competition PREVI (Proyecto Experimental de Vivienda). The Center for Environmental Structure was chosen as the ...
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Stanislaus County Mental Health Center
1970 to
1973
A community mental health center for outpatients and outpatient care with seven buildings, including clinics, outpatient facilities, therapeutic departments for adults, teenagers and children, staff facilities, administrative offices, gardens, courts and walkways, with total area 24,000 square feet. The key ...
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The Oregon Experiment After Twenty Years
01/12/1991
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Rethinking the “Pattern Language” by C. Alexander. Spatial prototypes for participatory urban design, presented at the 15th International Conf. "Standardization, Protypes & Quality: A Means of Balkan Countries’ Collaboration", Trakya University, Turkey
01/10/2019
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Modesto Community Mental Health Center: Preliminary Design Drawings - Floor plan
01/01/1971
Freehand layout drawing of the clinic buildings, drawn to scale; it is the first overall layout plan of the clinic.
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Master Planning Process for the Town of Marsta: Sketches - One Individual House
01/01/1972
Four pages with seven sketches related to the individual house layout process. The sketches depict the fundamentals of the process.
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Master Planning Process for the Town of Marsta: Sketches - Cluster of Houses
01/01/1972
Nine sequential sketches depicting the steps of the layout process for a cluster of houses, using patterns.
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Modesto Community Mental Health Center: Incomplete Pattern Language for Community Mental Health Centers
01/06/1970
Introductory summary followed by twenty-five distinct patterns; each pattern provides the solution to a problem related to the following: Community, Mental Health Center, Public Gathering Place, Main Entrance, Inpatient, Outpatient, Day Care, Circulation, Patients Social Area, Alcoves – Windows, Day ...
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Master Plan for the University of Oregon: Theory and Practice
01/08/1971
403-page second draft of a project report on the preparation of a master plan for the University of Oregon. The report has to halves; Part 1 deals with theory and Part 2 deals with practice. Part 1 outlines the theoretical ...
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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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Grant Application for the "Evaluation of the Pattern Language"
29/05/1972
65-page grant application to the Department of Public Health, Education and Welfare / Public Health Service for covering the cost for the 3-year CES research on the hypothesis that users of an environment use the pattern language to design that ...
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"Tony Ward Reviews: A Pattern Language": Original text of article
01/11/1978
43-page original text of the article “Tony Ward Reviews: A Pattern Language”, shortened and edited before its publication in the January issue of “Architectural Design” journal.
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Master Plan for the University of Oregon: Project for the College of Education
30/05/1971
25-page document which presents a project as an example, and creates a design for the College of Education, in order to solve the deficiencies the college is experiencing in its current state, by satisfying a group of selected patterns. A ...
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Modesto Community Mental Health Center: Photographs of drawings
01/01/1971
Initial sketch for the clinic layout produced by the first participants in the project workshop, during a charette; a spatial organization of initial patterns and courtyards.
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Modesto Community Mental Health Center: Photographs of drawings
01/01/1971
Freehand layout drawing of the clinic buildings, drawn to scale; the first overall layout plan of the clinic.
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Master Planning Process for the Town of Marsta - One Individual House: Photographs on design process
01/01/1972
Five images with eight sketches related to the individual house layout process.
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