A Pattern Language

A Pattern Language- Towns – Buildings - Construction. Christopher Alexander.

Summary •The Th A Author th h has ttried i d tto show h th thatt A Architecture hit t connects t people l tto their th i surroundings di iin many ways. The book has been abstracted from vernacular architecture, which is done by the people. •The The structure of the language is composed of the links from larger patterns to smaller patterns, together creating a network. This defines the order in which the patterns should be applied to a design. This is called the pattern language sequence. •Instead I t d off studying t d i the th theories th i off architecture, hit t the th author th studies t di the th existing i ti buildings b ildi and d spaces that work very well and then gives his observations. These observations generalize to form a set of “patterns”. These patterns are common structural and spatial elements that support living communities. These pattern elements range in scale from city-wide city wide features to the placement of furniture in rooms. •Each pattern describes a problem that occurs in our built environment and then suggests ways to solve l th thatt problem bl iin a very common manner.

Towns Towns or cities gradually emerge due to time. They can never be created or designed by a person or with anyy kind of restrictions. Everyy individual residing g in a town,, contributes in making g the organic g pattern of the city, taking in mind his personal expectations as to what he wants from his neighbourhood. The author has subcategorized the chapter into following ways: •Region works well when it is small in size and is independent .

•Distribution of the population in a town, ration of the urban population to the farmlands

• Preserving the agricultural valleys for farmlands and protect them from and further development of any building.

• Distribution of work space and the residential areas and the hierarchy of the roads for local transport.

• Defining a neighborhood and the amount of people in it and formation of a boundary around it . 

• The network of public transportation and the placement of the ring roads and establishing a system of small taxies and buses that stops at small distances.

•Creating activity nodes at suitable distance and shopping streets in form of pedestrian streets.

• Encourage mixture of household types in the neighborhood and the amount of privacy, cluster of houses and row houses and that old people should be there in every neighborhood.

• Placement of the market place , health centers, etc.

Critiques •The book is a detailed study of what works and what doesn’t work in the human environment, this book helps to create an environment where people feel alive in their surroundings surroundings. • It uses very simple language to express, so that it can be understood to any common man. •The ideas are simple and obvious. •The theme of the book is to give a meaningful human behaviour. •The Th manner iin which hi h th the author th writes it th the b book k iis excellent. ll t •The format of the book is effective in that it allows one to follow the connections between various design rules. • For every pattern he gives a brief description in bold and he explains it at a length, with a photograph and hand drawn sketch for each pattern. • It is a handbook for anyone concerned with the development of healthy and humane environments. It uses very simple language to express, so that it can be understood to any common man. The Th id ideas are simple i l and d obvious. b i •The theme of the book is to give a meaningful human behaviour. •The manner in which the author writes the book is excellent. The format of the book is effective in that it allows one to follow the connections between various design rules. •For every pattern he gives a brief description in bold and he explains it at a length, with a photograph and hand drawn sketch for each pattern. It is a handbook for anyone concerned with the development of healthy and humane environments.