The Nature of Order: The process of creating life"Here is acclaimed architect Christopher Alexander's four-volume masterwork; the result of 27 years of research and a lifetime of profoundly original thinking. Consider three vital perspectives on our world: a scientific perspective; a perspective based on beauty and grace; a commonsense perspective based on our intuitions about everyday life. Neither scientists, nor mystics, nor architects, nor politicians have so far found a single view of the world in which the three are united. This groundbreaking work allows us to form on picture of the world in which all three perspectives are interlaces. It opens the door to 21st-century science and cosmology."--From dust jacket. |
Contents
PREFACE | 5 |
STRUCTUREPRESERVING TRANSFORMATIONS | 15 |
PART ONE | 23 |
THE PHΕΝΟΜΕΝON OF LIFE | 27 |
OUR PRESENT PICTURE OF THE UNIVERSE 9 | 29 |
THE PRINCIPLE OF UNFOLDING WHOLENESS 15 | 33 |
THE EXISTENCE OF AN I | 38 |
PART TWO | 41 |
THE FACE OF GOD | 301 |
HIGH DENSITY HOUSING | 311 |
THE MIRROR OF THE SELF | 313 |
A MODIFIED PICTURE OF THE UNIVERSE | 317 |
EVERY PART UNIQUE | 323 |
EMPIRICAL CERTAINTY AND ENDURING DOUBT | 339 |
GENERIC RULES FOR MAKING CENTERS | 341 |
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS | 345 |
STRUCTUREPRESERVING TRANSFORMATIONS | 51 |
DEGREES OF LIFE | 63 |
THE HULLS OF PUBLIC SPACE | 69 |
THE TEN THOUSAND BEINGS | 73 |
WHOLENESS AND THE THEORY OF CENTERS | 79 |
STRUCTUREPRESERVING TRANSFORMATIONS IN TRADITIONAL SOCIETY | 85 |
STRUCTUREDESTROYING TRANSFORMATIONS IN MODERN SOCIETY | 107 |
HOW LIFE COMES FROM WHOLENESS | 109 |
RECAPITULATION OF THE ARGUMENT | 135 |
TWENTIETH CENTURY CASES WHERE LIVING PROCESS DID OCCUR | 137 |
FIFTEEN FUNDAMENTAL PROPERTIES | 143 |
LARGE PUBLIC BUILDINGS ΙΟΙ | 153 |
COLOR AND INNER LIGHT | 157 |
LIVING PROCESSES 6 GENERATED STRUCTURE | 175 |
POSITIVE SPACE IN ENGINEERING STRUCTURE AND GEOMETRY | 191 |
A FUNDAMENTAL DIFFERENTIATING PROCESS | 203 |
STEPBYSTEP ADAPTATION | 229 |
EACH STEP IS ALWAYS HELPING TO ENHANCE THE WHOLE | 249 |
THE GOAL OF TEARS | 250 |
PART THREE | 257 |
MAKING WHOLENESS HEALS THE MAKER | 261 |
IO ALWAYS MAKING CENTERS | 267 |
IO PLEASING YOURSELF | 271 |
THE RECONSTRUCTION OF AN URBAN NEIGHBORHOOD | 283 |
THE PERSONAL NATURE OF ORDER | 299 |
A NEW FORM OF SCIENTIFIC OBSERVATION | 351 |
NECESSARY FURTHER DYNAMICS OF ANY NEIGHBORHOOD | 357 |
DEEP FEELING | 369 |
IO THE IMPACT OF LIVING STRUCTURE ON HUMAN LIFE | 371 |
EMERGENCE OF FORMAL GEOMETRY | 401 |
THE AWAKENING OF SPACE | 403 |
THE CHARACTER OF ROOMS | 411 |
FORM LANGUAGE AND STYLE | 431 |
CONCLUSION | 441 |
PART FIVE | 447 |
SIMPLICITY | 461 |
ALL BUILDING AS MAKING | 481 |
A NEW PARADIGM FOR PROCESS IN SOCIETY | 495 |
ENCOURAGING FREEDOM | 499 |
MASSIVE PROCESS DIFFICULTIES | 511 |
CONTINUOUS INVENTION OF NEW MATERIALS AND TECHNIQUES | 517 |
MAKING THE SHIFT TO THE NEW PARADIGM | 531 |
THE ROLE OF THE ARCHITECT IN THE THIRD MILLENNIUM | 551 |
PRODUCTION OF GIANT PROJECTS | 561 |
CONCLUSION | 565 |
A SMALL EXAMPLE OF A LIVING PROCESS | 571 |
PART | 579 |
COLOR WHICH UNFOLDS FROM THE CONFIGURATION | 615 |
ARCHETYPAL FORM 639 | 629 |
Other editions - View all
The Nature of Order: An Essay on the Art of Building and the Nature of the ... Christopher Alexander No preview available - 2002 |
The Nature of Order: An Essay on the Art of Building and the Nature of the ... Christopher Alexander No preview available - 2002 |
Common terms and phrases
20th century adaptation allow appear architects architecture beautiful become Berkeley hills Book boundary built cess chapter character Christopher Alexander coherent color complex configuration construction context create culture defined detail differentiation drawing emerging evolution example existing feeling fifteen properties fifteen transformations form language formation fundamental process Geoffrey Bawa geometry grid happens herent idea intensify kind larger whole latent centers Le Corbusier LEVELS OF SCALE living centers living process living structure LOCAL SYMMETRIES look main garden means mistakes modern morphogenesis nature needed occur painting pattern language POSITIVE SPACE possible preserving principle repetition result Samarkand Sapporo sequence shape simple sketch smaller centers society stage step by step street strong centers struc structure-destroying structure-preserving transformations symmetries system of centers tea house thing tile tion tokonoma traditional trees ture unfolding process unique visible wall