A Pattern Language

"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."

"The language begins with patterns that define towns and communities...."

"We now start that part of the language which gives shape to groups of buildings, and individual buildings, on the land, in three dimensions...."

"The next, and last part of the language tells how to make a buildable building directly from this rough scheme of spaces, and tells you how to build it in detail...."

Christopher Alexander's Magnum Opus

Vol 1: The Phenomenon of Life
Vol 2: The Process of Creating Life
Vol 3: A Vision of a Living World
Vol 4: The Luminous Ground

Alexander has advanced a new theory of architecture, matter, and organization, that has attracted thousands of readers and practical followers throughout the world. His grasp of the fundamental truths of traditional ways of building, and his understanding of what gives life and beauty and true functionality to towns and buildings, is put forth in a context that sheds light on the character of order in all phenomena.

The four books, each one an essay on the topic of living structure, are connected and interdependent. Each sheds light on one facet of living structure: first, the definition; second, the process of generating living structure; third, the practical vision of an architecture guided by the concept of living structure; and fourth, the cosmological underpinnings and implications brought into being by the idea of living structure.

Watch Alexander's Celebration of Life Ceremony

Building Beauty: Ecologic Design & Construction Process

Building Beauty, a post-graduate program in architecture, explores the principles expressed in Christopher Alexander’s The Nature of Order through an integrated approach to hands-on making, appropriate technology construction, and self-aware design at the individual and community levels.

Registration for Building Beauty's 2024-25 academic year is now open. Write to [email protected] to explore how you can be a part of it. www.buildingbeauty.org

Building Beauty India began January 16, 2023. Details are available here: www.buildingbeautyindia.org

The Archive Project, a program of CES

An archive of Christopher Alexander's work is underway.