The Timeless Way of BuildingThe theory of architecture implicit in our world today, Christopher Alexander believes, is bankrupt. More and more people are aware that something is deeply wrong. Yet the power of present-day ideas is so great that many feel uncomfortable, even afraid, to say openly that they dislike what is happening, because they are afraid to seem foolish, afraid perhaps that they will be laughed at. Now, at last, here is a coherent theory which describes in modern terms an architecture as ancient as human society itself. The Timeless Way of Building is the introductory volume in the Center for Environmental Structure series. Christopher Alexander presents it in a new theory of architecture, building, and planning which has at its core that age-old process by which the people of a society have always pulled the order of their world from their own being. Alexander writes, "There is one timeless way of building. It is thousands of years old, and the same today as it has always been. The great traditional buildings of the past, the villages and tents and temples in which man feels at home, have always been made by people who were very close to the center of this way. And as you will see, this way will lead anyone who looks for it to buildings which are themselves as ancient in their form as the trees and hills, and as our faces are." -- from dust jacket. |
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User Review - elenchus - LibraryThingI came to Pattern Language with an eye toward theory and meaning, more than a specific architectural interest. How do wholes and parts relate? What ramifications follow from specific choices at one ... Read full review
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User Review - ghd-read - LibraryThingI read this as an introduction to Alexander's other books. The same sentiments apply. This is a very easy to read book. It explains the philosophy of pattern based design much better than many later ... Read full review
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Bibliographic information
| Title | The Timeless Way of Building Volume 1 of Center for Environmental Structure Berkeley, Calif: Center for Environmental Structure series Volume 1 of Center for Environmental Structure series, Center for Environmental Structure |
| Author | Christopher Alexander |
| Edition | 2, reprint |
| Publisher | Oxford University Press, 1979 |
| Original from | the University of Michigan |
| Digitized | Dec 13, 2007 |
| ISBN | 0195022483, 9780195022483 |
| Length | 552 pages |
| Export Citation | BiBTeX EndNote RefMan |