
Christopher Alexander: An Introduction for Object-Oriented Designers - martian
http://g.oswego.edu/dl/ca/ca/ca.html
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13ren
I'm curious: what do architects think of Christopher Alexander? I like what he
says, but I'm not an architect, and they say no man is a prophet in his own
country...

~~~
gruseom
From what I understand (I'm no architect either) they largely ignore him or
dismiss him as a quack. I wonder if Fred Gibson (architect and Lisp hacker who
hangs out here) would have a comment on this.

I like Alexander quite a bit, except for his tendency to intellectual
cultishness. The 4-volume set he recently came out with (after 30 years) has a
lot of good stuff in it, but it's marred by gobs of insufferable nonsense
about being the greatest this-or-that of the last 1600 years. Like most gurus,
the man doesn't need an entourage of epigones. What he needs is an editor.

Edit: there's another thing that bugs me about Alexander (though I really am a
fan). It's that the photos of his actual buildings I've seen don't seem to
live up to the genius of the things he says _about_ how to make buildings.
That incongruity gives me pause. Of course, one wouldn't expect him to make
grand or immodest buildings in any way (that would be even more incongruous).
Perhaps one has to experience them in person.

~~~
13ren
_Embodied in the books "A Pattern Language" and "The Oregon Experiment",
pattern theory inspired many, but also failed to consistently lead to
beautiful buildings. [...] Although most of his buildings have effectively
supported his theories, Alexander has mainly influenced the architectural
profession through his writings and teaching rather than through his completed
buildings._
[http://www.archiplanet.org/architects/Christopher_Alexander....](http://www.archiplanet.org/architects/Christopher_Alexander.html)

It may be that he's a brilliant/inspiring communicator and a competent
practitioner. Others like this (to my mind) are Douglas R Hofstadner and David
Flanagan. We need inspiring writers; it's a good thing.

~~~
martian
Yeah, I'd always considered Alexander more of an academic than a practitioner,
but it's interesting to look at what he and his colleagues actually produce.
His buildings don't look amazing, but perhaps they work really well for their
intended audience?

<http://www.katarxis3.com/Gallery/community/community.htm>

[http://www.patternlanguage.com/pbrochure/purplebrochurehead....](http://www.patternlanguage.com/pbrochure/purplebrochurehead.htm)

Ha, this is my first time to the Pattern Language website... It's clear that
while Alexander may understand patterns in architecture, he has very little
understanding of patterns in web design.

