A Pattern Language: Towns, Buildings, Construction is a 1977 book on architecture. It was authored by Christopher Alexander, Sara Ishikawa and Murray Silverstein of the Center for Environmental Structure of Berkeley, California, with writing credits also to Max Jacobson, Ingrid Fiksdahl-King and Shlomo Angel. It is reputed to be the best-selling treatise on architecture of all time[1] (http://www.katarxis3.com/Review_Nature_Order.htm); more than 10,000 copies a year are still sold 25 years after its first publication. 1977 was a common year starting on Saturday (the link is to a full 1977 calendar). ... Architecture (in Greek αρχή = first and τέχνη = craftsmanship) is the art and science of designing buildings and structures. ... A professor-emeritus (the University of California, Berkeley) and licensed contractor as well as architect, Christopher Alexander (born October 4, 1936 in Vienna, Austria) is famous mostly for his popular appeal, and his theoretical contributions. ... Murray Silverstein co-authored the book A Pattern Language. ... Berkeley is a city in the San Francisco Bay Area of northern California, United States. ...
The book is a substantive, illustrated discussion of a pattern language derived from traditional architecture, with about 250 unitary patterns such as Main Gateways given a treatment over several pages. A pattern language is a structured method of describing good design practices within a particular domain. ... Vernacular architecture is a term from academic architecture to categorize structures built outside of academic tradition. ...
The book is part of a series with The Timeless Way of Building and The Oregon Experiment. The Timeless Way of Building is a book that ties life and architecture together, written by Christopher Alexander. ... The Oregon Experiment is a 1975 book by Christopher Alexander and collaborators Murray Silverstein, Shlomo Angel, Sara Ishikawa, and Denny Abrams. ...
Most use of patternlanguages appears to be by those outside the architecture profession: designer-builders, and people with no design training whatsoever who simply wish to remodel or build their own homes [14].
Each pattern is presented in a standard form which provides a prototypic example of the pattern, describes its relationship to other patterns of larger and smaller scales, as well as describing the pattern's rationale and implementation.
Because the patterns of any given patternlanguage are specific to the domain, and because they are accessible to anyone who understands that domain (most particularly, the users), the patterns can be bound to the particulars of the situation and used to ground the design discussion (as occurred in the case of Manteo).
The construction of the patternlanguage, however, is not the sole goal; if the participatory process unfolds "correctly" the community that collaborated in the process will be stronger and smarter and therefore better equipped to deal with the issues before them.
To encourage the collection of patterns from all over the world, to be able to display these patterns easily and inexpensively, to facilitate the creation of a patternlanguage, and to keep the administrative burden as low as possible we devised a pattern management system.
Authors can edit their patterns at any time and they can indicate which of several options they'd prefer for their pattern including whether it should be reviewed for presentation, whether it should be made public, and whether identifying information or email address should be displayed on the pattern.
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