Pattern in

architecture Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and constructing buildings ...

is the idea of capturing

architectural design Building design refers to the broadly based architectural, engineering and technical applications to the design of buildings. All building projects require the services of a building designer, typically a licensed architect. Smaller, less complica ...

ideas as archetypal and reusable descriptions. The term ''pattern'' in this context is usually attributed to

Christopher Alexander Christopher Wolfgang John Alexander (4 October 1936 – 17 March 2022) was an Austrian-born British-American architect and design theorist. He was an emeritus professor at the University of California, Berkeley. His theories about the nature ...

, an Austrian born

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

. The patterns serve as an aid to design

cities A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...

and

building A building, or edifice, is an enclosed structure with a roof and walls standing more or less permanently in one place, such as a house or factory (although there's also portable buildings). Buildings come in a variety of sizes, shapes, and func ...

s. The concept of having collections of "patterns", or typical samples as such, is much older. One can think of these collections as forming a

pattern language A pattern language is an organized and coherent set of ''patterns'', each of which describes a problem and the core of a solution that can be used in many ways within a specific field of expertise. The term was coined by architect Christopher Alexa ...

, whereas the elements of this language may be combined, governed by certain rules. This may be distinct from common use of pattern books, which are collections of architectural plans which may be copied in new works.

Alexander's idea of patterns

Alexander's patterns seek to provide a source of proven ideas for individuals and communities to use in constructing their living and working environment. As such their aim is both

aesthetic Aesthetics, or esthetics, is a branch of philosophy that deals with the nature of beauty and taste, as well as the philosophy of art (its own area of philosophy that comes out of aesthetics). It examines aesthetic values, often expressed t ...

and

political Politics (from , ) is the set of activities that are associated with making decisions in groups, or other forms of power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of resources or status. The branch of social science that studi ...

: to show how beautiful, comfortable and flexible built environments can be constructed, and to enable those people who will inhabit those environments to challenge any solution forced upon them. A pattern records the design decisions taken by many builders in many places over many years in order to resolve a particular problem. Alexander describes a problem in terms of the so-called ''forces'' that act in it, and the ''solution'' is said to resolve those forces. If there are still unresolved forces, then additional patterns may be needed to balance these remaining forces.

Pattern language

Patterns may be collected together into a

that addresses a particular domain. A large body of patterns was published by Alexander and his collaborators as '' A Pattern Language''. The patterns in that book were intended to enable communities to construct and modify their own

home A home, or domicile, is a space used as a permanent or semi-permanent residence for one or many humans, and sometimes various companion animals. It is a fully or semi sheltered space and can have both interior and exterior aspects to it. ...

workplace A workplace is a location where someone works, for their employer or themselves, a place of employment. Such a place can range from a home office to a large office building or factory. For industrialized societies, the workplace is one of ...

town A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares an o ...

s and

. Other than Alexander's own projects, few building projects have tried to use Alexander's patterns. Those that have done so have met a mixed response from other architects, builders, architectural critics, and users. Alexander has come to believe that patterns themselves are not enough, and that one needs a "morphogenetic" understanding of the formation of the built environment. He has published his ideas in the four-volume work '' The Nature of Order''. While the pattern language idea has so far had limited impact on the building industry, it has had a profound influence on many workers in the information technology industry.

Alexander's idea of patterns

Pattern language

See also

Architecture

Computer science

References

Further reading