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Patterns

 

 

Patterns : definition (Reference Books)
Patterns : a pattern language (Christopher Alexander)
Patterns : time and space patterns (Walter Grey)
Patterns : patterns as messages (Norbert Wiener)
Patterns : patterns in problem solving (Christopher Alexander)
Patterns : balance of patterns (Christopher Alexander)
Patterns : patterns of complementary opposites (György Doczi)
Patterns : units and patterns (Christopher Alexander)

 

 

Patterns : definition

Reference Books

[1974] The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language

                            -  " 1. An ideal worth of imitation.
                            -    2. A model to be followed in making things.
                            -    3. A sample.
                            -    4. Any artistic or decorative design.
                            -    5. A composite of traits or characteristics.”

 

A pattern language

[1979] Christopher Alexander, The Timeless Way of Building
“Each pattern is a three-part rule, which expresses a relation between a certain context, a problem, and a situation.” (p. 247)
“As an element of language, a pattern is an instruction, which shows how this spatial configuration can be used, over and over again, to resolve the given system of forces, wherever the context makes it relevant.” (p. 247)
“A pattern is a discovery ... of a relationship between context, forces, and relationships in space, which holds absolutely.” (p. 259)
“If you can’t draw a diagram of it, it isn’t a pattern.” (p. 267)

 

Time and space patterns

[1951] Walter Grey in Lancelot Law Whyte (editor), Aspects of Form 
“For various reasons it is convenient to divide patterns into two groups - those in which the components are arranged in space, and those in which there is a sequence in time. Clearly, the whole pattern of the perceived world is extended both in space and in time, but there is reason to believe that the methods of perception are different for the two classes.” (p. 181)

 

Patterns as messages

(1954) Norbert Wiener, The Human Use of Human Beings
“A pattern is a message. and may be transmitted as a message. How else do we employ our radio than to transmit patterns of sound, and our television set than to transmit patterns of light.” (Chapter V, p. 96)

 

Patterns in problem solving

[1979] Christopher Alexander, The Timeless Way of Building
“The pattern solves a problem. It is not merely ‘a’ pattern, which one might or might not use on a hillside. It is a desirable pattern; and for a person who wants to farm a hillside, and prevent it from erosion, he must create this pattern, in order to maintain a stable and healthy world.” (p. 183)
“We say that a pattern is good, whenever we can show that it meets the following two empirical conditions:
-  1. The problem is real.
-  2. The configuration solves the problem.”
(pp. 282-283)

 

Balance of patterns

[1979] Christopher Alexander, The Timeless Way of Building
“To be in balance, each pattern must be supported by a situation in which both the larger patterns it belongs to, and the smaller patterns it is made of, are themselves alive.” (p. 132)
“Each pattern creates an organization which maintains that portion of the world in balance.” (p. 134)

 

Patterns of complementary opposites

[1994] György Doczi, The Power of Limits
“Patterns generated by spirals moving in opposite directions are frequent in nature.
Here they concern us as special instances of a more general pattern-forming process: the union of complementary opposites." (Chapter 1, p. 3)

 

Units and patterns

[1994, First Published 1964] Christopher Alexander, Notes on the Synthesis of Form 
“Every aspect of a form, whether piece like or patternlike, can be understood as a structure of components. Every object is a hierarchy of components, the large ones specifying the pattern of distribution of the smaller ones, the small ones themselves, though at first sight more clearly piece like, in fact again patterns specifying the arrangement and distribution of still smaller components.
Every component has this twofold nature: it is first a unit, and second a pattern, both a pattern and a unit.
Its nature as a unit makes it an entity distinct from its surroundings.
Its nature as a pattern specifies the arrangement of its own component units.
It is the culmination of the designer’s task to make every diagram both a pattern and a unit. As a unit it will fit into the hierarchy of larger components that fall above it; as a pattern it will specify the hierarchy of smaller components which it itself is made of.”
(Chapter 9, pp. 130-131)

 

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