This presentation is about the first-generation urban designer Christopher Alexander.pptx

This presentation is about the first-generation urban designer Christopher Alexande

1. Christopher Alexander 1936

2. “ Modernism cut our ties to this traditional language and imposed upon us an artificial language of design”

3. city of Rome typical post-war American suburb

4. collection of many small systems goes to make up a large and complex system Semilattice Tree A city is not a tree natural cities and artificial cities the dynamic coherence of the larger living system 1965

5. Neighbourhoods in clusters of five, Villages. Columbia, Maryland garden city of superblocks Greenbelt,Maryland , Clarence Stein made of a large number of communities, each sharply separated from all adjacent communities.   Greater London plan (1943

6. Ronda in Andalucia , Spain incorporating many layers of complex cultural response to local conditions and needs.                                                

7. A New Theory of Urban Design problems of individual structures recapture the process by which cities develop organically . To discover the kinds of laws needed to create a growing whole in a city

8. • Piecemeal growth • Growth of larger wholes • Vision of growth • Positive urban space • Construction reinforces whole • “Centers” created at all scales Designated Open Spaces at the University of Oregon

9. A Pattern Language  medieval cities are attractive and harmonious. built to local regulations that required specific features, but freed the architect to adapt them to particular situations. Look for inspiration from the existing when trying to place your shops for example in the right locations.

10.  people should design houses, streets, and communities for themselves “Alexander contended that the roots of architectural vocabulary were to be found in the places that people made for themselves rather than in the abstract language of science or in the romance with the machine.”

11. Market in Fresno ,California Street in a medieval city

12. The Nature of Order A scientific perspective A perspective based on beauty and grace A commonsense perspective based on our intuitions about everyday life

13. The Phenomenon of Life Alexander argues that living structure is at once both personal and structural. The Process of Creating Life understanding the geometry sequence of events A Vision of a Living World examples of buildings and places The Luminous Ground a geometrical view of space and matter seamlessly connected to our own private, personal, experience as sentient and knowing creatures

14. Interactions between Cars and Pedestrians Starting with What is Beautiful Now discover the right order of a place  form the “spine” of the area and making good starting points for wider improvements Harmonizing the Shape of Public Buildings A great public building makes the environment better Triangulation: Arranging Overlapping Functions in Small Spaces space allows for two or more overlapping functions and thus facilitates additional activity and interaction between people