A Pattern Language: Towns, Buildings, Construction (Center for Environmental Structure Series),   ISBN:9780195019193

Customer Rating: 

This classic architecture work contains abundant wisdom and practical direction for living for every thinking person. I first read it nearly thirty years ago and used its principles to create a garden that delights to this day. When I found it again, I was eager to read the parts I had skipped over the first time. To my sorrow, the book is no longer relevant to the way most people now live. There is barely any nod to electronic communication or entertainment. If you want to be overwhelmed by how much we have lost, or changed, since this was written, I highly recommend it. I hope that, as with other lost arts, a new generation will be fascinated by the old ways people used to live, and will adopt the good and reinvent human spaces. Big box stores, super highways, multiplex cinemas, malls, security-driven barriers and other structures such as looping airport approaches and chaotic store layout, fractured product placement in retail outlets: all were not thought of in this work. The serenity of the human soul was the overriding value. It is easy to see the world today is organized more like a bandit's trap than a serene living arena. Definitely a deep and thought-provoking read.

Customer Rating: 

I love to have this book on hand to refer to when I am thinking about making changes to my living space or when I just want to let my imagine roam. Recently we designed a small cottage and found it invaluable as we worked to create the most livable and economical space.

Customer Rating: 

An excellent book to peruse before sleeping, as its great wellspring of clear and concise ideas and examples consistently inspire dreams about how - in concrete, practical terms - we can improve the tenor of our daily lives at home and in community.

Customer Rating: 

As an architect and a builder, Christopher Alexander's work is invaluable. As a sister volume to "The Timeless Way of Building", "A Pattern Language" is an indispensable addition to anybody's library. I reference this book for nearly every project. It explains over 250 patterns found in healthy built environments around the world. It is meant as a reference manual or compendium on building design, but is a great read, in general, and full of insight and years of research. The photographs used as examples are wonderful and get to the heart of the matter. If you only buy or read one book on building design - it should be this one. It makes a great gift for any student or practitioner engaged in building design, construction, or architecture.

Customer Rating: 

A Pattern Language was probably ground-breaking for its time, it is certainly spoken about in some circles with reverence. I found that it contains many fascinating ideas and many that I thoroughly agree with, however is based on very slender or no evidence and a distinct world view, that tends towards the didactic. If your personal philosophy is in alignment with Alexander et al then you may be a very willing consumer of these ideas, however I do not think they area as universal and timeless as claimed. Several of them have been invalidated by the passage of time, for example, being based on (US) society in the 70s.

Still, it all certainly makes you think, and willl definitely infuence the way I look at places, and how I design my next house. I don't regret buying the book, I just don't care to agree with a good proportion of it.