My summarisation of a lecture by Dr. Christopher Alexander

Transcript of the lecture - https://patterns.architexturez.net/doc/az-cf-177389?utm_sq=gmuhg75dhj

I humbly tried my best to understand and write a summary of 26 page long transcript of a lecture presented by Dr. Alexander who is greatly known architect, theorist, teacher, author and builder. It was a very intellectually exhausting read, I enjoyed it a lot and realised that there is a lot left to explore and understand.

Enjoy!

Descartes:

Dr. Alexander emphasises on the concept that to establish something we need to study the nuances and small things that bring it together. Giving the example of Descartes' observation that if we assume that the world is the product of several smaller mechanisms which we can understand then we can know how the world works.

Describable and non-describable:

He proceeds to show that this is not a straightforward concept by giving the example of Mozart's symphony. We know what the symphony is composed of but if we were to ask what made it great, we would not be able to define it. But on the other hand we can have a clear understanding of how a vending machine would work. In the building process too the components are divided into two such types, describable like circulation, ventilation, etc and non-describable like social needs, values, etc

(Look up The Oregon Experiment - Book about the following issue: In the late 1960s and early 1970s, students and faculty at the University of Oregon protested against log trucks driving through campus; against the destruction of a cemetery; against the military draft and the invasions and occupations in Southeast Asia; and against the idea that the University was acting?in place of students' parents. The book prescribed that "feeling" should be the primary criteria used for making changes to any place.)

Values:

Architects have different values which gives rise to specific types of building by certain architects. He pointed out that generally it is considered slightly obscene to propose the matter of values in an objective manner as it appears to infringe individuality of the person. He argues that this idea needs to be challenged.

Adolf Loos:

The statement "ornament is a crime" by Adolf loos stirred up discomfort in the architectural realm. The issue with Ornament and Function is that if one decides to design keeping in mind both the functional and ornamental aspects of the building, then he or she would face a problem which he chalked out as follows: if you design functionally you would have a different root while when you are trying to incorporate ornament you would have another line of thought.

Order of space:

Dr. Alexander presents his argument that the order of space is the fundamental aspects whose byproducts are functional and ornamental elements. He would be explaining about the order of space in the next parts

Contemporary and historic:

He presents pictures of historic appliances like a Japanese tea pot and asks the audience to reflect on the issue that why the current products do not hold the same value and intricacy as the historic ones. He then proceed to show historic and contemporary structures side by side and asked the audience to identify themselves from contemporary or the historic picture from the slides presented. He points out that the historic pictures had "deep structures" which were absent in the contemporary ones. About the Deep structures, he has identified several structural properties that are found in the historic objects while they are mostly absent in the contemporary ones.

Example of structural features of "deep structures":

"When there is an entity, it will be surrounded by a boundary that is large compared with the size of the entity which it bounds." Like the window frame binds the window inside, and also forms a transition between the wall and window. This concept is used in the planning of Alhambra (A Spanish palace) at many places, like the placement of windows and even the order of rooms around the courtyards. And it is important to understand that these features happen at every scale. Similar feature is seen in nature at a cellular level as the cell wall, the river bank forming a fat boundary to the main stream of the river.

Conclusion:

The 12, 15 structural features of "deep structures" identified by the doctor are defined by him as "The different ways in which space can be glued together to become whole." For the execution of such elements, the speaker emphasises that it takes enormous concentration and constant attention, but that is not possible while being a professional architect as the contractor would not be doing all that. This was one of the reasons Dr. Alexander became a general contractor several years back.