
Do You See a Pattern? - edw519
http://www.slate.com/id/2237109/
======
RyanMcGreal
> The theories that are taught in architecture schools today are of a
> different sort, and in the belief that the field of architecture should be
> grounded in intellectual speculation, rather than pragmatic observation,
> students are more likely to be assigned French post-structuralist texts than
> A Pattern Language. Which is a shame.

It's just astonishing, decades after Jane Jacobs' _The Death and Life of Great
American Cities_ , that pragmatic observation is still on the margins. What, a
half-century of abject failure in building and neighbourhood design isn't
enough to demonstrate the fundamental wrongheadedness of dogmatic, a priori
design principles?

~~~
Skeuomorph
There's an unforeseen problem with well patterned livable houses--they often
don't sell well to conventional real estate buyers. If you need to relocate or
access equity quickly, you're stuck with an remarkable property but buyers
looking for McMansions. Buyers that do drop by out of curiosity comment with
gems such as, "We could never live here, the master bath needs to be as big as
the bedroom."

Seems as though the only way to move such a property is to offer it so far
below market that people become willing to compromise and consider the more
livable home instead of yet another generic "keeping up with the Joneses"
colonial:

<http://images.google.com/images?q=colonial%20house> (exteriors)

It's galling, because such easily substitutable boxes have little intrinsic
value beyond market. The cost to build a colonial is quite low compared to the
cost of building, for example, "... varying ceiling heights between large and
small rooms to create different degrees of intimacy."

One eye-line in my home reveals 8 ceiling heights, correlating to the intimacy
of the spaces below them. It's extraordinary, but generic buyers want five
bedrooms with full baths so what should be livable spaces end up the size of
closets.

What's worse, when buyers today see the prices of McMansions plunging, they
expect to see the price of a well patterned home (that may have cost 5x - 8x
as much to build) also plunge, despite the more complex home already having a
replacement cost higher than its asking price, price of materials and labor
having risen.

(PS. Serious inquiries welcome for a well patterned home a commuter train ride
from Manhattan.)

~~~
kurtosis
I agree with you nearly 100%, but why do you think the market fails to
recognize the higher value of such a home?

~~~
wmf
Indeed. If it's so much better, why doesn't anyone want it?

~~~
Skeuomorph
That's like asking (in 2006 after the Intel switch but before everyone heard
of the iPhone), "If it's so much better, why doesn't anyone want a Mac?"
Arguably, "the market" didn't even know what it was, much less why they should
value one. It's not that no one wanted a Mac, it's that less than 1 in 25 did.
If only 10 people went shopping, odds were none were looking at a Mac.

Folks like Lindal Cedar Homes spend money marketing livable homes as an
experience, but the general population isn't yet aware of the benefits or why
they should even desire such a home.

------
martian
I recommend Notes on the Synthesis of Form to everyone. For one, it's a
delightful read (Alexander is a master linguist), but it's also tremendously
helpful for anyone thinking about building a large system, especially
software. The main takeaway for me was thinking in terms of systems of
constraints. When designing a vacuum, constraints might be: needs to be
reasonably priced, needs to be profitable, needs to be easy to carry, needs to
be durable, needs to be powerful enough, etc. Adjusting one constraint usually
affects another, so it's easy to see how complicated this can get.

Alexander formalizes the process, and demonstrates mathematics to solve the
constraint problem. This assumes, of course, that you can articulate and
quantify the constraints in the first place.

Web developers are lucky: unlike architects or product designers they can
quickly test their assumptions (A/B tests) and move the system to a better
state.

~~~
mbrubeck
I'd also recommend _The Timeless Way of Building_ , which provides the
overview of Alexander's method (of which _A Pattern Language_ is just one
piece). I once wrote a review of _The Timeless Way_ from a programmer's
perspective: <http://advogato.org/person/mbrubeck/diary/106.html>

( _The Oregon Experiment_ , which I mention in that link, might also be of
interest to programmers inside huge organizations.)

------
gojomo
I have great respect for Alexander's ideas, but when he's mentioned, I can't
resist sharing this cheeky presentation from one of his Berkeley hills
neighbors about the "patterns" evident from the exterior of Alexander's house:

[http://metatime.blogspot.com/2005/04/patterns-good-and-
bad.h...](http://metatime.blogspot.com/2005/04/patterns-good-and-bad.html)

(I don't believe the presentation was prepared with the intent to belittle
Alexander's work, and I don't share it in a negative spirit -- but rather as a
sort of "only human"/"cobbler's children" observation about the contrasts
between a professional oeuvre and personal life.)

~~~
mbrubeck
That's exactly how I'd expect Christopher Alexander's house to look. The
buildings he praises in his work include few cathedrals, and many folk houses
in traditional villages around the world. He wrote that the clean, sterile
lines of Modernism were designed to enhance the egos of architects, not the
lives of their clients. The houses he built in Mexico ( _The Production of
Houses_ ) were made cheaply, using community labor, from handmade local
materials.

He also believes that a building is never finished, and should be continually
modified by its inhabitants. (Stewart Brand's _How Buildings Learn_ is another
book that should be read by both programmers and architects.)

~~~
tome
The documentary version of How Buildings Learn is also available:

[http://video.google.co.uk/videoplay?docid=863955592548621085...](http://video.google.co.uk/videoplay?docid=8639555925486210852)

------
praptak
"Design Patterns aren't" is required reading for anyone interested in both
Alexander's work and software design patterns:
<http://perl.plover.com/yak/design/>

Same goes for Alexander's speech at The 1996 ACM Conference:
<http://www.patternlanguage.com/archive/ieee/ieeetext.htm>

------
hugothefrog
Christopher Alexander also wrote the introduction to Patterns of Software
([http://www.amazon.com/Patterns-Software-Tales-
Community/dp/0...](http://www.amazon.com/Patterns-Software-Tales-
Community/dp/0195121236)).

It's a great book, and I've unfortunately only had the time to read a few of
the essays.

It's available online as a PDF from
<http://www.dreamsongs.org/Files/PatternsOfSoftware.pdf>.

------
kqr2
Here's a summary of his influential book _A Pattern Language_ :

<http://downlode.org/Etext/Patterns/>

------
ojbyrne
I really enjoyed "A Pattern Language, " even though it wasn't relevant to my
life other than its influence on the Design Patterns people.

~~~
cpr
Gosh, if you've ever even thought about building your own home, APL is
invaluable.

I think the book should be required reading for everyone in high school, and
the language acquired with enough fluency that you could "speak" your own
house into being.

Fantastic stuff.

His magnum opus (4 volumes) The Nature of Order is rather daunting, by
comparison, but probably quite important. I've got it, but haven't had time to
really dig in...

