“The Timeless Way of Building”, by Christopher Alexander

Alexander, Christopher. The Timeless Way of Building. New York: Oxford UP, 1979. Print.

I had read Alexander’s A Pattern Language back in the 90s when programmers were all talking about design patterns and using Alexander’s ideas as a springboard.  I was a bit surprised at the time to find out that it was about architecture, and since I was only just into my home-owning years I found it interesting, but not fascinating, and certainly not useful.

Wanting to revisit that book again, I thought I would use my current “funemployment” time to read all six volumes in the series.  At first I thought I was going to hate this book – his insistence in talking about “the quality that has no name” seemed ludicrious.  Fortunately I was reading it on the island, which is conducive to taking my time and feeling philosophical, and by the end of it I count myself a convert.  I like the way he constructs the book so that you can read it just by reading the headings and italicized chapters, which gives you a view of the whole.  (I think I recall that something like that is mentioned in How to Read a Book, which I’m overdue to re-read).

I’m eager to get at Volume 2 so that I can try for myself the methods he talks about; how by insisting on a series of patterns that we know describe a building with the nameless quality, we can create living buildings.  Applying a single pattern allows you the chance to improve other patterns at the same time, so that you are always improving the entire structure.  The patterns also follow a hierarchy, so you can start at whatever level (a town, a house, a room, a window) you need to deal with at that moment in time.  This dovetails neatly with Stewart Brand’s ideas about what he calls “low-road buildings” in How Buildings Learn, which I read just before this, but have not yet reviewed.

A transformative book for me, highly recommended for anyone interested in houses and what makes them work.