Università Roma 3
Dipartimento di Studi Urbani
PROGETTAZIONE ASSISTITA (Laurea Magistrale)
Prof. Elena Mortola
Arch. Antonio Caperna
Introduction to
The Pattern Language
Scritti di
Elena Mortola
Alessandro Giangrande
Antonio Caperna
Nikos Salingaros
Angelica Fortuzzi
PROGETTAZIONE ASSISTITA (Laurea Magistrale), Prof. Elena Mortola
“Introduzione al Pattern Language”, a cura di Antonio Caperna
Pattern Language
Elena Mortola
Laboratorio CAAD del Dipartimento Progettazione Studi Urbani (DiPSU) dell'Università di Roma Tre, via
della Madonna dei Monti 40
00184 Roma
[email protected]
Parole chiave: partecipazione, crescita per parti, crescita incrementale, diagnosi
Sintesi: Un Pattern language è un insieme di istruzioni in forma esplicita per progettare e
costruire, che definisce Pattern a ogni scala, dalla struttura di una regione al dettaglio della
finestra. I pattern consentono ai cittadini di progettare un ambiente soddisfacente ed
ecologicamente appropriato per loro stessi e le loro attività.
Che cosa è un Pattern Language
Un Pattern language è un insieme di istruzioni in forma esplicita per progettare e costruire,
che definisce Pattern a ogni scala, dalla struttura di una regione al dettaglio della finestra. I
pattern consentono ai cittadini di progettare un ambiente soddisfacente ed ecologicamente
appropriato per loro stessi e le loro attività.
Un Pattern Language consente ai cittadini, sotto la condizione di un budget centralizzato, di
prendersi cura dell'ambiente per loro stessi e di avere, di conseguenza, una forma di controllo
delle loro vite.
Secondo Alexander il processo di pianificazione e costruzione in una comunità creerà un
ambiente che soddisferà i bisogni umani solamente se seguirà i seguenti sei principi:
il principio dell'ordine organico (la pianificazione e la costruzione devono essere
guidati da un processo che consente di raggiungere l'unità gradualmente a partire da
azioni locali)
il principio della partecipazione (tutte le decisioni, su ciò che deve essere
costruito e come costruirlo, deve essere nelle mani degli utenti)
il principio della crescita per parti (la costruzione che deriva da un budget e da
una tempistica dovrà essere orientata verso piccoli progetti)
il principio dei pattern (tutti i progetti e le costruzioni saranno guidati da una serie
di principi di piano adottati dalla comunità chiamati pattern)
il principio della diagnosi (il "benessere" dell'insieme sarà protetto da una diagnosi
annuale che spiega, dettaglio, quali spazi sono vivi e quali morti, a ogni dato momento
nella storia della comunità)
il principio del coordinamento (alla fine, l'ordine organico dell'insieme verrà
assicurato dal processo di finanziamento che regola il flusso dei singoli progetti
proposti dagli utenti)
A Pattern Language contiene 250 Pattern.
Che cosa è un pattern
Il Pattern costituisce la base di un accordo condiviso in una comunità. La sua appropriatezza
può essere supportata dall'evidenza empirica, può essere discussa in pubblico.
Il pattern, risultato di questo processo di discussione, deve essere adottato dai tecnici
incaricati dalla comunità. Possiamo definire un pattern come un principio di progettazione,
che definisce un problema chiaro che si presenta spesso nell'ambiente, definisce il contesto in
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PROGETTAZIONE ASSISTITA (Laurea Magistrale), Prof. Elena Mortola
“Introduzione al Pattern Language”, a cura di Antonio Caperna
cui questo problema si presenta, propone i requisiti richiesti dagli edifici e dai piani che
risolvono il suddetto problema. Il pattern può essere considerato un imperativo a base
sperimentale che stabilisce le precondizioni per una sana vita sociale nella comunità.
Ogni pattern descrive un problema che ricorre sempre o spesso nel nostro ambiente e quindi
descrive il cuore della soluzione a questo problema; in questo modo si può usare questa
soluzione moltissime volte ancora senza fare la stessa cosa due volte.
Ciascun pattern, per chiarezza, ha lo stesso formato. Viewne descritto inizialmente da un
disegno o da una fotografia che mostra un esempio archetipo di questo pattern. Dopo il
disegno, ciascun pattern viene descritto da un paragrafo introduttivo che definisce il contesto
del pattern, che spiega come esso aiuta a completare pattern a scala più vasta.
Tre asterischi introducono l'inizio del problema. Dopo gli asterischi in grassetto si descrive
l'essenza del problema. Poi inizia il corpo del problema, i modi diversi in cui si manifesta,
quindi sempre in grassetto si descrive la soluzione. La soluzione è sempre espressa sotto
forma di istruzioni. Quindi dopo la soluzione, un disegno-schizzo che comprende le sue parti
componenti (le invarianti).
Dopo lo schizzo ancora tre asterischi. Dopo gli asterischi vengono indicati i legami con gli altri
pattern.
Esempi di pattern per una zona verde urbana vicino a un fiume
• Accesso all'acqua
• Passeggiata o percorso pedonale
• Verde accessibile
• Piccole piazze pubbliche
• Piccoli parcheggi
• Ingressi principali (portali)
• Percorso ciclabile
• Percorso natura
• Percorso botanico
• Incroci stradali protetti
Esempi di pattern per un giardino scolastico
• Punto d'incontro
• Attività sportive locali
• Percorso natura
• Piccoli parcheggi
• Ingressi principali (portali)
• Percorso ciclabile e rastrelliere
• Apprendimento all'aperto
• Piccolo orto e compost
• Luogo per riposare all'aperto o chiacchierare in privato
• Manifestazioni o feste all'aperto
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PROGETTAZIONE ASSISTITA (Laurea Magistrale), Prof. Elena Mortola
“Introduzione al Pattern Language”, a cura di Antonio Caperna
note su "A PATTERN LANGUAGE"
a cura di Angelica Fortuzzi - [email protected]
Nella sua articolazione il Pattern Language ricorda un frattale, per la sua possibilità di
continuo approfondimento. Infatti un pattern ne include altri di scala minore, che a loro volta
sono maggiormente definiti da altri pattern sempre più di dettaglio, ed è vero anche il
processo inverso, dal piccolo verso il grande. In base a ciò un pattern non può essere
considerato isolatamente «In short, no pattern is an isolated entity» , ma è parte del mondo
di relazioni che lo connette ad altri superiori, di cui fa parte, e ad altri inferiori che
approfondiscono i concetti sottesi.
La maglia di relazioni, in cui si inserisce un intervento, è così costituita dal “mondo” intorno
e all’interno «This is a fundamental view of the world. It says that when you build a thing you
cannot merely build that thing in isolation, but must also repair the world around it, and
within it, so that the larger world at that one place becomes more coherent, and more whole;
and the thing which you make takes its place in the web of nature, as you make it.»
Ogni soluzione è pensata in modo tale da poter dare delle indicazioni necessarie per risolvere
un certo problema, ma usando una modalità sufficientemente astratta o generale da poter
essere adattata ai singoli problemi. Per questo le soluzioni sono formulate in modo tale da
non imporre nulla di troppo specifico su chi le usa.
In questo modo A. ha cercato di catturare le proprietà invarianti comuni per la soluzione di un
determinato problema.
Questo non sempre è riuscito, di conseguenza alcuni pattern sono "più veri, più approfonditi,
più certi che altri" e questo viene indicato nel:
grado di soddisfacimento raggiunto nella costruzione dei pattern
**
*
.
SODDISFACENTE: il problema e la soluzione sono individuati con appropriatezza
soddisfacente;
MIGLIORABILE: il problema e la soluzione sono abbastanza individuati, ma
potrebbero essere definiti meglio;
NON SODDISFACENTE: il problema e la soluzione non sono sufficientemente
individuati nella linea adottata, potrebbero esserci altri vie di sviluppo più
adatte.
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PROGETTAZIONE ASSISTITA (Laurea Magistrale), Prof. Elena Mortola
“Introduzione al Pattern Language”, a cura di Antonio Caperna
I pattern sono comunque ipotesi e sono dei tentativi, liberi quindi di evolversi sotto l'impulso
di nuove esperienze e osservazioni.
alcuni esempi di pattern
a cura di Angelica Fortuzzi - [email protected]
.
**
**
**
10 - MAGIC OF THE 14 - IDENTIFIABLE 30
CITY
NEIGHBORHOOD
NODES
**
*
36 - DEGREE OF
59 - QUIET BACKS
PUBLICNESS
**
ACTIVITY
31 - PROMENADE
**
69
PUBLIC
88 - STREET CAFE
OUTDOOR ROOM
Il processo di piano che garantisce l'ordine organico
Il piano (master plan) dovrebbe garantire un ordine globale, specificare la crescita futura
della comunità, definire gli usi del suolo, le funzioni, i pesi e altre qualità che dovrebbero
essere garantite in aree differenti.
Secondo Alexander il master plan può creare una totalità al posto di un insieme, un ordine
totalitario al posto di un ordine organico. L'obiettivo principale della pianificazione è quello
di assicurare che i singoli interventi formino un tutto unitario. Il master plan convenzionale,
basato su una mappa del futuro, non può rispondere a questo obiettivo perché è troppo
rigido, e perchè crea una serie di altri problemi più gravi di quelli che vuole risolvere.
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PROGETTAZIONE ASSISTITA (Laurea Magistrale), Prof. Elena Mortola
“Introduzione al Pattern Language”, a cura di Antonio Caperna
Un ordine organico viene raggiunto quando si arriva a un equilibrio tra i bisogni delle parti e
le necessità dell'insieme. Il master plan non può adattarsi facilmente ai naturali e
imprevedibili cambiamenti che nascono all'interno di una comunità. Se si presentano dei
cambiamenti, il master plan diventa obsoleto e non può essere rispettato.
Secondo il principio dell'ordine organico la pianificazione sarà guidata da un processo che
garantisce un insieme unitario che emerge gradualmente da azioni locali. Per ottenere questo
risultato la comunità non dovrà adottare un master plan, dovrà adottare un processo e un
pattern language comune. Il processo dovrà essere gestito da un ufficio, per conto della
comunità, di meno di 10 membri, costituito da utenti e da amministratori in uguale numero e
da un direttore di piano. Il direttore del piano dovrà avere un gruppo di circa una persona
ogni 2000 abitanti, per guidare le azioni della comunità.
Partecipazione
Tutte le decisioni sugli interventi e come devono essere fatti, sarà nelle mani degli utenti. A
questo fine ci sarà un gruppo di progettazione degli utenti (users design team) per ogni
intervento proposto. Ogni gruppo di utenti può iniziare un progetto, e solo questi progetti
iniziati dagli utenti saranno considerati per il finanziamento.
Il gruppo di progettazione tecnico (planning staff) propone i pattern, la carta della diagnosi
e gli aiuti necessari. Il gruppo di progettazione degli utenti dovrà completare il disegno
preliminare prima che il gruppo tecnico intervenga.
Ci sarà un gruppo di progettazione degli utenti per ogni progetto proposto.
Carta ricognitiva della diagnosi
Il "benessere dell'insieme sarà protetto da una diagnosi annuale che spiega,in dettaglio, quali
spazi sono vivi e quali sono morti, a ogni dato momento della comunità, A questo fine il
gruppo di progettazione tecnico, lavorando assieme agli utenti che usano i singoli spazi,
prepareranno una mappa diagnostica dell'intera comunità. Questa mappa sarà adottata
dall'ufficio tecnico, dopo una serie di pubblici incontri, quindi verrà pubblicata e resa
disponibile per chiunque debba iniziare un progetto.
Libri dello stesso autore:
• The Timeless Way of Building (1979)
• A pattern language (1977)
• The Oregon Experiment (1975)
• The Linz Café
• The Production of Houses
• The New Theory of Urban Design (1987)
(Oxford Univ. Press)
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PROGETTAZIONE ASSISTITA (Laurea Magistrale), Prof. Elena Mortola
“Introduzione al Pattern Language”, a cura di Antonio Caperna
Pattern Language by Christopher Alexander
Robert Saunders
Introduction
Alexander's "Pattern Language" describes a highly structured collection of patterns, intended
as a practical guide for architectural designers. The language described contains 253 patterns
split into three broad categories, towns, buildings and construction.
Towns
The first 94 patterns are collected together under the heading of "Towns". However, they
cover far more than just urban planning and begin by examining the responsibilty of the
designer from a global perspective. Alexander suggests that the designer should think about
the issues which surround everyday and political life in a wider context when embarking any
new project. Clearly illustrating the importance which Alexander puts on the work of the
architect in shaping society.
Moving to a more narrow field of view Alexander examines the role of the designer in the
development of urban and rural regions within the borders of a nation. Again Alexander
emphasises the importance of thinking on a much larger scale than the current project.
Examining both the urban spaces which the architect creates and the rural spaces which
remain, highlights the tension between urban and rural needs caused by continued
development.
However, the book is mainly concerned with the urban regions and having established the
framework in which town development is situated Alexander moves on to consider the
structure of towns and cities. The decomposition of spaces continues through the examination
of various services which must be provided, public transport systems, roads, common land, as
well as the arrangement of industrial and residential areas.
This first group of patterns are obviously heavily influenced by studies in human behavioural
sciences and tries to address many of the issues which people have to face living in a modern
city. The result is a prescription for cities to develop naturally according to the needs of the
population. Proposing that city planning should not completely dictate the nature of each
area but facilitate the development and growth of local communities and neighbourhoods.
Promoting the importance of local communities through the provision of services and
facilities.
Buildings
Moving on from the study of areas and collections of buildings, Alexander examines the
buildings which make up the urban landscape and suggests over 100 patterns which define his
position on what constitutes good building design.
Alexander concerns himself primarily with the specification of the family home. Spending a
smaller amount of time on the office workplace, and little directly concerned with factory
environments. Some of the patterns included for the home could also be applied to the
working environment. For instance, the pattern "Intimacy Gradient" encourages that homes
are designed with a series of levels of privacy radiating away from public entrances and main
public spaces. The pattern could be adapted to the design of offices to encourage the use of
public, semi-public and private areas within an office or study environment. These
ommissions from the patterns are to be expected, as any single attempt at creating a
language of design is bound to omit some possible applications.
Alexander makes great use of the human sciences to derive patterns for buildings in the same
way that he did when considering the importance of communities and there role in urban
planning. In the design of a building Alexander draws upon psychological studies in particular
and suggests patterns for the provision of facilities which these studies recommend. The
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PROGETTAZIONE ASSISTITA (Laurea Magistrale), Prof. Elena Mortola
“Introduzione al Pattern Language”, a cura di Antonio Caperna
need for privacy is recognised both for couples and individuals. As well as the need for
communal activities to reassert bounds between the members of a family.
However, Alexander does stray from the course of defining buildings to defining the lifestyle
of those who are to occupy them. In doing so he begins to prescribe how the activities of
occupants should be conducted. As an easily accepted example Alexander encourages the
eating of communal meals together as an important part of family life. It is hard to deny this
and so easy to follow the design patterns which he puts forward for the provision of suitable
facilities within a building for this purpose.
However, take the patterns of "Bathing Room" and "Bed Cluster" as examples of less easily
accepted suggestions. "Bathing Room" advocates the provision of communal bathing facilities
for the whole family to bathe together. Culturally this may not be acceptable to many people
because of their social or religious upbringing, it is debatable whether this type of
prescription should be within a language for building design. Although obviously if such a
facility were to be provided it would have many repercussions throughout the design process.
"Bed Cluster" is a similar, if less extreme example, of a pattern which prescribes a lifestyle
which many may find unacceptable. Here Alexander advocates that all members of a family
should sleep in a single room, as an important point of contact between the family members.
Although this may be a well-founded belief, that all members of a family should sleep close to
one another, it is an idea that is foreign to many people in Western societies. It is also
difficult to see how to resolve this pattern with others where Alexander advocates privacy for
couples and individuals, "Couple's Realm" and "Teenager's Cottage".
In an admission of the practical constraints imposed upon a designer there is some
redundancy in the scope of the patterns. This is a recognition of the fact that not all design
patterns can be considered within the scope of a single project. By introducing a rich set of
overlapping patterns, beneficial properties are reinforced, increasing their likelihood of
consideration in a particular design.
As an example consider the three patterns, "Wings of Light", "Long Thin House" and "Light on
Two Sides". Although they obviously all refer to different aspects of building design and are
correctly separated as design patterns there is an area of overlap between them. That is,
both "Wings of Light" and "Long Thin House" advocate restricting the width of spaces within a
building in part to ensure good lighting across the area. Similarly, "Light on Two Sides" also
advocates good lighting within the enclosed spaces of a building by providing more than one
natural lightsource to any room, reducing the stark contrasts inherent in rooms lit by a single
window.
Of course if the advocation of "Long Thin House" was always followed it would be somewhat
redundant to also include a pattern for "Wings of Light". Additionally, if a certain design of
the interior spaces could be guaranteed to be followed within a building's construction it
would be a trivial matter to also specify the lighting requirements for the space within the
same pattern. Obviously, it is not possible in practical design problems to rigidly follow a set
of patterns and the pattern language recognises this and repeats similar messages throughout
the book with various levels of specificity.
With a language as complex as this, one would expect to find a certain amount of ambiguity
of appropriateness to a design problem and contradiction between the patterns. It is a tribute
to the construction of the language that it is difficult to find such contradictions. To some
extent the problem of contradictions is eased by the redundancy within the language.
However, the provision of strictly redundant patterns does increase the difficulties in
selecting a set of appropriate design patterns when faced with a problem. This raises the
question of whether it is possible to create a normative
language of design which avoids both contradictions and ambiguity while still remaining rich
enough to be useful for the complex problems faced in practice.
Construction
Having provided a definition for good buildings, Alexander finishes his collection of patterns
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PROGETTAZIONE ASSISTITA (Laurea Magistrale), Prof. Elena Mortola
“Introduzione al Pattern Language”, a cura di Antonio Caperna
by defining the right way to construct buildings. The patterns in this final section of the
language show how the need for careful thought and creative effort are required throughout
the design process.
As might be expected these patterns are the most specific in their recommendations.
Specifying classes of materials and approximate dimensions appropriate for various
construction tasks.
Many of the patterns take historical cues from proven successful designs as a starting point
for further development. For example the advocation of the use of columns to delineate
spaces, where Alexander shows through several examples how columns can be used in various
ways to add interesting features to both internal and external spaces.
Discussion
Beyond the obvious discussion of a normative approach to design is a plea for designers to
understand their place in society and their power to change the physical and social
environment for all. Alexander urges the designer to look beyond the confines of the project
and recognise the responsibilities which are inherent in any position of power.
On a more practical level in trying to understand the design process, Alexander presents an
excellent foundation for further work. He shows within the confines of his chosen field of
architecture how a single hierarchical decomposition into a lattice structure rooted at a
suitably general level can be constructed to encompass all the processes which combine to
make design. One could easily imagine how the same lattice could be augmented to also
cover other design disciplines, product, graphic etc. Creating a "family tree" of the design
disciplines which may help to uncover commonalities between different fields. By giving a
common structure upon which to base further work a lattice of the type that Alexander
presents would create a common ground for discussion and dissemination of ideas throughout
the design community.
Another consequence of Alexander's construction of a lattice from a root which has a global
perspective on the function of design is to include a number of professions which are not
normally thought of as designers. For instance, under Alexander's broad definition of the
responsibilities of design come the territory of politicians, lawyers and others who more
directly engineer the social climate in which design takes place.
This poses the question of whether anyone can be considered a designer in some way or
another. As a profession, a person may be responisble for the design of anything from a
nations long-term fiscal policies to the distribution a task between colleagues.
Alternatively, most people enter into some form of design of their home environment. This is
touched on by Alexander also when he considers the interior decoration of a home in his final
patterns. Of course Alexander prescribes the "correct" actions which one should take when
decorating a home but in doing so he releases most constraints and prescribes a that a person
should be surrounded by items which are of personal importance. Whether it is really
neccessary to have a pattern such as this is debatable, but it does prove the point that
everyone in their daily lives enters into processes which can be included in a taxonomy of
design tasks.
Conclusion
Pattern Language is an ambitious book which tries to define a complete philosophy of
architectural development process from it's position within a global context to the basic
construction of the final design. By attempting such an ambitious project Alexander highlights
the many levels on which any designer must consider a project. Obviously this infers a great
deal of power is in the hands of designers which may not be obvious at the single project
level.
An argument which could be directed towards any prescriptive system of design is that it
diminishes the potential for creative design. All designers who use Alexander's patterns would
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PROGETTAZIONE ASSISTITA (Laurea Magistrale), Prof. Elena Mortola
“Introduzione al Pattern Language”, a cura di Antonio Caperna
always create designs of a "type" and therefore would at best only be capable of innovative
design within this bounded class of designs. However, it is often the case that a designer
needs to impose arbitary constraints on a problem in order to limit the possibilities which are
open to solve a problem. This is commonly referred to as "style", but is essentially the same
as using a set a design patterns. The result is a reduction in the amount of freedom the
designer has to solve a problem, allowing the problem to be tackled within the practical
constraints of available resources.
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PROGETTAZIONE ASSISTITA (Laurea Magistrale), Prof. Elena Mortola
“Introduzione al Pattern Language”, a cura di Antonio Caperna
Short introduction to The pattern language
Antonio Caperna
Università Roma 3 – Dipartimento di Studi Urbani
Http://www.tious.uniroma3.it
http://www.c1roma3.it
e-mail: [email protected]
Abstract
Using the work of Christopher Alexander and Nikos Salingaros, I present a paper that want
discuss the philosophical structure that are behind The Pattern Language (PL). Through a
simple way I’ll show you the intimate connection existing among the PL and other cultural
aspect like painting as well as the fractal geometry. I have referred my philosophical
approach especially to the work of Oswald Spengler and his work “Der Untergang des
Abendlandes” (Decline of the West)
Philosophical aspect
Before introducing the essential elements to be exposed by Salingaros I would like to devote
our attention, even though in a concise way, to the philosophical structure which has
generated Alexander’s research on Pattern Language [1].
The structure that can be individuated within the Pattern Language is the result of a
culture that has seen its flourishing during the first years of the 20th century.
Spengler’s philosophical studies, which in their aspects of reaction to the illuministic
cultural structure have tried an historical-ideological reconstruction of the historical
processes, attributing to these a cyclic structure in which the cosmic symbolism, so filled
with poetry, juxtaposes to our modern cultural structure, so strongly centred on technical
and scientific progress and on the principle of cause and effect that it has ended by losing
into the mazes of our centuries-old cultural matrix; the research in the logicmathematical field of Gödel, Boole and Morgan, or of logic applied to the machines as in
the case of the mathematician Turing, the discovery and definition of the fractal
structure, and lastly the works of the Dutch painter Escher; all these have supplied the
cultural background from which Alexander has certainly started to give birth to his theory
about Patterns. Certainly it has been – and still is – a current of thought which belongs to
an élite, to those few that, according to the main culture, think nostalgically to past
realizations. This is a culture, as abovesaid, born from a reaction to the illuministic spirit;
yet I believe it is mainly an attempt to renew – certainly not in a trivial, or worse in a
merely imitative way, the primeval link from whose essence springs the element of
creation.
Here are then the attempts to reinforce the concept of Pattern as an architectonic
archetype, as an essence which is able to communicate, through the language of
patterned forms, i.e. of those symbolic structures which have imbued all the cultures,
throughout the world, patterns which have had not only architectural, but also musical,
theatrical and singing expressions and which have given form to the same mythology.
Salingaros has become a lover and a scholar of that theory, producing a great deal of
essays to demonstrate Alexander’s thesis.
According to Salingaros, the intimate connection that has always existed between
mathematics and architecture has been almost thoroughly broken during the 20 th century.
The greatest expressions of architecture had never broken off this link before.
In order to demonstrate this deep connection, Salingaros reports in his works the various
historical times characterized by it.
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PROGETTAZIONE ASSISTITA (Laurea Magistrale), Prof. Elena Mortola
“Introduzione al Pattern Language”, a cura di Antonio Caperna
As a matter of fact, since ancient times the architects were mathematicians and their
constructions – from Egyptian pyramids to the ziqqurat up to the projects of hydraulic
engineering – even now fill us with wonder and enchantment.
The same can be said about the works realized at the time of ancient Greece or Rome;
just think, for instance, that emperor Justinian commissioned two mathematicians to
build the Hagia Sophia, so that they would realize a sublime structure.
This tradition has maintained even in the Islamic world, where the architects have
created “a richness of bi-dimensional elements which have preceded by centuries the
classification worked out by Western mathematicians”.
This constructive process, linked to an “intimate need of mankind to generate patterns” is
not only valid for the great architectures, as the Pantheon of St. Peter’s Basilica – where
it is clearly “visible the mathematical element in the structure and its hierarchisation into
sub-elements characterized by symmetries that go perfectly well with the microscopic
structure of the material – but also for architectures that come out of popular traditions,
where the basic idea of re-employment of information and a strongly geometric vision end
by producing structures which are mathematical expressions and, therefore, evident
expression of patterns.
All this tradition has, however, undergone deep wrenchings during the 20th century;
according to Salingaros, this is due to two reasons:
i)
the achievements of the Modern Movement;
ii)
a socio-cultural structure that has a world vision centred on anti-pattern.
The author indicates the Modern Movement as the suppressor of pattern in architecture.
The works of modern masters show a vision of architecture based on anti-pattern.
Contrasting with the traditional works which are “intrinsecally mathematical, the works of
a Le Corbusier or of Loos result devoid of patterns, although many of these works recover
elements of geometry from the classics.
But then, what does Salingaros ask to this architecture in order to define it as
intrinsecally mathematical and therefore adhering to the principles of the Pattern
Language?
Well, according to Salingaros, architecture and town-planning from the Modern Movement
onwards have no fractal properties; on the contrary, nearly all of the architectural and
urbanistic realisation of the moderns have done nothing but remove the fractal structure
from our environment.
Besides, the fact that many moderns have employed elements of classical geometry does
not necessarily involve the compatibility of these realizations with fractals.
Even le Corbusier, though he had created the MODULOR – a system of modelling able to
create a link between architecture and mathematics – “has never applied” it to the design
of surfaces, since he preferred to realize empty and raw surfaces in concrete. This
happens also in the façade of the convent of Ste Marie de la Tourette – produced together
with the composer Xenakis – where “he has produced at random a merely ornamental
façade and not a pattern”.
The same principle is valid for town-planning. According to Salingaros, the Modern
Movement, though it has “regularized the roads and disposed the buildings in accurate
modular rows” has been merely able to generate an “oversimplified geometry in the town
form”, producing an environment in which the mathematical complexity – which was on
the contrary so present in the historical areas – has been strongly reduced, leading in this
way to a removal of spatial and dynamic pattens, which brought to the creation of empty
and deprived-of-life suburbs.
The methodology of the Pattern Language, instead, proposes itself as a method able to
guarantee a global order, a planning process able to produce a balanced development
between the needs of the various social groups and the whole, adapting, thanks to a light
bureaucratic structure, to the unpredictable environmental and social changes.
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PROGETTAZIONE ASSISTITA (Laurea Magistrale), Prof. Elena Mortola
“Introduzione al Pattern Language”, a cura di Antonio Caperna
This is a methodology that greatly strays from present planning procedures for two
reasons:
1. first of all, because it is not a “design method”, i.e. patterns are not graphic
representations, but elements which define a “philosophical” structure, deeply linked
with the socio-cultural processes that have always distinguished, in a clear and
coherent way, the history of a place and the relations of these elements with man; it
is on the basis of similar considerations that indications may originate in order to let a
place become the extension of man and of his activities; every act of urban “creation”
should then be consistent with some principles such as:
• ORGANIC UNITY, i.e. the constructive processes which can be considered as parts
of a whole;
• PARTICIPATION, i.e. citizens should be the protagonists of the planning process of
their environment; that is, a process of self-construction will be accomplished, the
only process being able to generate a superior urban quality that, though the result
of an unplanned operation, succeeds in defining a formal and cultural coherence
through the language of patterns.
• GROWTH BY PARTS, i.e. the ability to grow through small plans carried out in
short times, which will nevertheless allow a unitary growth through patterns;
• PATTERNS, i.e. the leading principles for the actual building of plans;
• DIAGNOSES, i.e. the creation of a light structure being able to preserve the wellbeing of the whole through a yearly diagnosis, aimed at the individuation within
the urban structure, of the spaces which remain dynamic from those that lose their
dynamism;
• COORDINATION, i.e. the ability to guarantee the organic unity of the interventions
through a regular financial flux;
2. the interventions, mainly when operating at the level of town planning, are no longer
characterized by a “vertical” methodology, i.e. by a methodology which excludes, or
at least takes into little account, the real contingencies of citizens.
That methodology, in Alexander’s opinion, does not end by being a limitation of
planning freedom, on the contrary, it offers a myriad of possibilities among the
directions offered by patterns. This “architecture” becomes then the only one able to
offer a “syntax” which allows qualitatively superior urban developments, because it
succeeds in conjugating all the different elements into a unique complex and coherent
creative act.
As suggested before, the Pattern Language differs from the classical methodology of
planning which is static and distant from the citizen’s needs. It aims at being a
methodology exalting an urban quality attained through an urbanising process highly
connected to local culture; where town-dwellers are the authors of that process, that –
even though self-constructing – is, in fact, the result of a careful choice, coherent with its
socio-cultural processes.
Therefore the Pattern Language becomes a sort of historical – philosophical planning trend
where various elements, through which one tries to give a “soul” to space, are interlaced.
Patterns are structured so that they can be containers and content at the same time.
Starting from a general pattern it is possible to go deeper and deeper inside it, thus
operating also on the single constructive details.
The formal link between Pattern Language and fractals comes out of this consideration,
and Salingaros individuates this link most of all in the geometry of the suburban parts of
the town.
According to Salingaros, a “fractal” urban geometry is the one which best defines,
through the methodology of patterns, an urban web able to encourage and promote those
socio-economical processes that also generate an ecologically satisfactory environment.
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PROGETTAZIONE ASSISTITA (Laurea Magistrale), Prof. Elena Mortola
“Introduzione al Pattern Language”, a cura di Antonio Caperna
All that said, it is interesting to see, even though very briefly, the way we proceed
operatively.
As we have previously seen, patterns individuate problems often present in planning
practice, analysing both the spatial and social context. From this point we can find out
the solutions to come to an agreement within the community, giving thus origin to a selfconstructing process of our plan.
The logical structure of each pattern is so organised:
• a drawing which defines an archetype;
• a brief text, that defines the context and the ways of introducing patterns on a larger
scale;
• the essential elements of the problem;
• a more closely examined description;
• the solutions, through a series of directions and possibly a sketch;
• links with other patterns.
Alexander in his work has individuated even 253 patterns, which articulate from town
planning to the planning of constructive details. If we consider, for instance, the patterns
in growing order, starting then from the urban context, we will proceed on a hierarchical
structure as follows:
1. Independent Regions.
2. The Distribution of Towns.
3. City country Fingers.
4. Agricultural Valleys.
.................
Then we start going deeper and deeper into detail, defining every time the guidelines, as
for example in the control of the features that have to be impressed into the town
development:
21. Four-Story Limit.
22. Nine percent Parking.
23. Parallel Roads.
24. Sacred Sites.
25. Access to Water.
26. Life Cycle.
27. Men and Women.
............
The process undergoes then a more detailed examination, such as in the definition of
gardens, roofs and terraces, of the volume of buildings and the spaces between them, of
open and enclosed spaces:
110. Main Entrance.
111. Half-Hidden Garden.
112. Entrance Transition.
113. Car Connection.
114. Hierarchy of Open Space.
115. Courtyards which Live.
116. Cascade of Roads.
117. Sheltering Roof.
118. Roof Garden.
................
As a conclusion, it is possible to assert that Pattern Language is the attempt to permit the
survival in the human language – be it in architectural or in other forms – of those complex
forms characterising both our biochemical development and the development of the
unconscious needs of man.
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PROGETTAZIONE ASSISTITA (Laurea Magistrale), Prof. Elena Mortola
“Introduzione al Pattern Language”, a cura di Antonio Caperna
Alexander tries to perpetrate an urban development based on free choices, yet at the
same time expression of an ancestral language and deeply rooted into the historical,
cultural and evolution processes.
A development which proceeds according to general guidelines supplied by patterns;
which allows man to feel he is the author of his own environment, re-appropriating of that
cultural entity that architecture and town-planning of the 20 th century have deprived him
of.
It will certainly be a hard task, on the account that never before the processes of
alphabetisation have produced on the one hand a middle culture that has much raised
than in past centuries, and on the other hand they have determined a disaffection
towards that cultural structure – the matrix of our culture – which has produced so many
masterpieces.
It is probably this cultural relaxation, this feeling orphans of our socio-cultural matrixes
that makes us feel the environment we have built more hostile than welcoming.
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PROGETTAZIONE ASSISTITA (Laurea Magistrale), Prof. Elena Mortola
“Introduzione al Pattern Language”, a cura di Antonio Caperna
NOTE
Escher M.C. Many Escher’s works are a sort of paradoxt. The mathematicians were first
admirer because in this work it’s possible to look at a fractal expression and the
representation of the flight between finite and infinite.
Two Intersecting Planes
1952
Concentric Rinds 1953
Sun and Moon 1948
Fractal. A fractal is a geometric object which is rough or irregular on all scales of length, and
therefore appears to be 'broken up' in a radical way. Fractals can be most simply defined as
images that can be divided into parts, each of which is similar to the original object. Fractals
are said to possess infinite detail, and some of them have a self-similar structure that occurs
at different scales, or levels of magnification. In many cases, a fractal can be generated by a
repeating pattern, in a typically recursive or iterative process. The term fractal was coined
in 1975 by Benoît Mandelbrot, from the Latin fractus, meaning "broken" or "fractured". Before
Mandelbrot coined his term, the common name for such structures (the Koch snowflake, for
example) was monster curve.
Fractal geometry is the branch of mathematics which studies the properties and behavior of
fractals. It describes many situations which cannot be explained easily by classical geometry,
and has often been applied in science, technology, and computer-generated art. The
conceptual roots of fractals can be traced to attempts to measure the size of objects for
which traditional definitions based on Euclidean geometry or calculus fail.
Fig. 1
Fig. 2
In fig.1, 2 and 3 Set of Montelbrot
15
Fig. 3
PROGETTAZIONE ASSISTITA (Laurea Magistrale), Prof. Elena Mortola
“Introduzione al Pattern Language”, a cura di Antonio Caperna
References
¾ Alexander, C., Ishikawa, S., Silverstein, M., Jacobson, M., Fiksdahl-King, I. and Angel,
S. (1977) A Pattern Language (Oxford University Press, New York).
¾ Spengler O., “Il Tramonto dell’Occidente”, Guanda, 1978
¾ Salingaros N., “Architecture, Patterns and Mathematics”, Nexus Network Journal,
vol.1 n.2, available online – http://www.nexusjournal.com
- “How the Pattern Language Defines a Geometry for Urban Interfaces”,
workshop Terza Università degli Studi di Roma – Facoltà di Architettura.
- “The Structure of Pattern Languages", Architectural Research Quarterly, volume
4, pages 149-161
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PROGETTAZIONE ASSISTITA (Laurea Magistrale), Prof. Elena Mortola
“Introduzione al Pattern Language”, a cura di Antonio Caperna
The Structure of Pattern Languages
By Nikos A. Salingaros
Published in arq -- Architectural Research Quarterly volume 4 (2000) pages 149-161. © Cambridge University
Press; posted by permission. The printed version includes additional diagrams of Alexandrine patterns for urban
interfaces taken from A Pattern Language, which are not shown here.
Abstract. Pattern languages help us to tackle the complexity of a wide variety of systems
ranging from computer software, to buildings and cities. Each "pattern" represents a rule
governing one working piece of a complex system, and the application of pattern languages
can be done systematically. Design that wishes to connect to human beings needs the
information contained in a pattern language. This paper describes how to validate existing
pattern languages, how to develop them, and how they evolve. The connective geometry of
urban interfaces is derived from the architectural patterns of Christopher Alexander.
CONTENTS
Introduction
What is a pattern?
Combining Alexandrine patterns
The connective geometry of urban interfaces
Reversing the order of the patterns
Validation of the patterns
Patterns and science
The nature of a pattern language
Hierarchical connections across scales
Finding patterns for new disciplines
Consistency and connectivity
Stylistic rules and the replication of viruses
Evolution and repair of pattern languages
The importance of detail
Conclusion
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Introduction
We observe the world around us and learn its structure by abstracting cause and effect, and
by documenting recurring solutions obtained under different conditions. Such empirical
rules, representing regularities of behavior, are called "patterns." Visual patterns are the
simplest expression of the pattern concept (Salingaros, 1999). Many patterns are hard-wired
into our mind: we inherit actions and reactions that guarantee our survival. Other patterns
have to be learned, and form an artificial extension of the human mind. The ability to
observe patterns gives us the human advantage of both adapting to, and changing our
environment. Of course, the complexity enveloping a pattern in each specific setting has to
be partially cleared so as to get at its basic mechanism.
The language of a group of patterns forms the groundwork for any discipline. Learned
pattern languages -- not intrinsic to the human mind -- were carefully preserved in the past.
Many patterns of human relations are codified into religions, myths, and literary epics. A
collective intelligence develops from pooling discoveries accumulated over generations. This
process is entirely general. The sciences rely on mathematics for the ability to organize data
and explain phenomena by means of regularities, or logical patterns (Steen, 1988).
Breakthroughs occur when patterns in one area link to patterns in other areas.
This paper discusses the language that links patterns together. A pattern language contains
useful connective information that helps both to validate the patterns, and to apply them.
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PROGETTAZIONE ASSISTITA (Laurea Magistrale), Prof. Elena Mortola
“Introduzione al Pattern Language”, a cura di Antonio Caperna
We are going to cast the structure of a pattern language in terms of the properties of
pattern combinations. Such an approach reveals the ordering of patterns in space, time, and
human dimensions. I will assume readers have a minimal familiarity with the architectural
patterns of Christopher Alexander as published in A Pattern Language (Alexander, Ishikawa
et al., 1977). Although introduced into architecture more than twenty years ago, their true
significance has been appreciated by only a few practitioners. Patterns are a powerful tool
for controlling complex processes, but because of misunderstandings, they have not played a
wide role in architectural design. Instead, patterns have found unexpected success in
computer science.
The audience for this paper is anyone interested in connecting their designs to human
beings. We will show that this cannot be done without incorporating patterns. After
describing in general terms what patterns are, and the ways they can combine, I will discuss
the relationship between patterns and science. Graph theory visually illustrates some key
aspects of pattern languages: how patterns combine to form higher-level patterns containing
new information; how linked patterns exist on different levels; how to find patterns in a new
language; and how a pattern language is validated through its connective structure
independently of each individual pattern's validity. A major concern is how a pattern
language is damaged through the imposition of arbitrary stylistic rules and anti-patterns,
which are often mistaken for patterns. All too often, people have tried to change a society
by changing its architectural pattern language. An application to the geometry of urban
interfaces is given from the patterns approach.
What is a pattern?
In A Pattern Language, Alexander and his colleagues extracted 253 solutions or design
"patterns" that recur in architecture, such as the need for SMALL PARKING LOTS (#103), or
SIX-FOOT BALCONY -- the minimum depth that makes it useful -- (#167) (Alexander, Ishikawa
et al., 1977). They argued that built designs violating the derived patterns were noticeably
less successful than those that followed them. The Alexandrine format fixing a pattern
consists of a statement summarizing the philosophy about a specific topic (i.e., for SMALL
PARKING LOTS): "Vast parking lots wreck the land for people."
They follow the pattern statement by an explanation that supports the pattern: statistical
data; a scientific analysis; discovering the simultaneous occurrence of this pattern in totally
different cultures; psychological, structural, or cultural reasons; etc. For example, the
discussion following the above pattern includes: "... the fabric of society is threatened by
the mere existence of cars, if areas for parked cars take up more than 9 or 10% of the land in
a community. ... tiny parking lots are far better for the environment than the large ones,
even when their total areas are the same. ... Large parking lots, suited for the cars, have all
the wrong properties for people."
A pattern ends with some sort of prescription in practical terms, to help incorporate the
pattern into an actual design. For example: "Make parking lots small, serving no more than 5
to 7 cars, each lot surrounded by garden walls, hedges, fences, slopes, and trees, so that
from outside the cars are almost invisible. ..."
Many criticisms of Alexander's Pattern Language are valid to some degree -- that it reflects
the philosophy of the 1960's, that it is too radical and not easily incorporated into
contemporary design and planning, that it ignores almost all of what is considered important
architecture in the twentieth century -- but these are trivial compared with the important
message it offers. This paper will attempt to show that any design that ignores patterns can
never hope to connect to human beings.
Combining Alexandrine patterns
You can combine design patterns in an infinite number of ways. However, the connective
rules -- i.e., the language -- were only briefly sketched out. To obtain an understanding of
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PROGETTAZIONE ASSISTITA (Laurea Magistrale), Prof. Elena Mortola
“Introduzione al Pattern Language”, a cura di Antonio Caperna
the relationship between patterns, you have to go back to Alexander's earlier work
(Alexander, 1964; Alexander, 1965). Other than Chapter 16 of The Timeless Way of Building
(Alexander, 1979), Alexander himself has not dwelled on the synthesis between patterns.
Any perceived weakness of patterns could lie in individual patterns, but it is more likely the
result of not understanding their combinatorial language. Although design patterns written in
Alexandrine form allude to their connectivity to other patterns (in the prelude and
postscript), it is difficult to visualize those without a connective map. Even architects who
use patterns tend to be unaware of how patterns link to each other, so the resulting design
frequently lacks large-scale coherence.
In an entirely unanticipated development, the Pattern Language format has found a basic
application in computer programming. Any programming solution that reappears in separate
instances may be identified as a "pattern," and be subsequently reused as a unit. Patterns
are now recognized as a powerful theoretical framework in which to assemble complex
computer programs (Coplien and Schmidt, 1995; Gabriel, 1996; Gamma, Helm et al., 1995).
The proponents of software patterns believe that patterns can help to solve a wide range of
practical problems that would otherwise be too cumbersome or time-consuming.
To give readers a better sense of what is meant by patterns connecting to each other, we
list some examples of coupling.
• One pattern contains or generalizes another smaller-scale pattern.
• Two patterns are complementary and one needs the other for completeness.
• Two patterns solve different problems that overlap and coexist on the same level.
• Two patterns solve the same problem in alternative, equally valid ways.
• Distinct patterns share a similar structure, thus implying a higher-level connection.
With connective rules, two different aspects of a pattern come into play. On one hand, a
pattern's internal components will determine its inclusion into a larger pattern. On the other
hand, it is the interface that determines overlap, or connection on the same level. Two
patterns on the same level may either compete, loosely coexist, or necessarily complement
of each other.
One criticism of Alexandrine patterns arises from their clash with existing economic practice
and construction process. The Pattern Language extends from the scale of surface detail, to
the scale of a large city, and covers Alexander's ideas on how to best implement a more
human built environment (Alexander, Ishikawa et al., 1977). Some of the urban patterns
flatly contradict land speculation and the erection of megatowers, while the building
patterns make obvious the need for more structural quality than today's contractors are used
to providing. Both of these points threaten a profit source in the construction industry. While
it is not yet clear how to reconcile those differences, Alexander's critics find in this an
excuse to dismiss all of the Pattern Language as impractical and unrealistic (Dovey, 1990).
That is very short-sighted.
A more serious concern comes from practitioners who attempt to apply Alexandrine patterns
to shape the built environment. The Pattern Language is not, and was never claimed to be a
design method and it is always a struggle to integrate patterns into an actual design project.
Architects, however, desperately need a self-contained design method, and, not finding it in
Alexander's theories, will adopt whatever design method is currently in fashion. The tools
that Alexander is proposing are thereby bypassed, appearing useful only in retrospective
analysis, which also explains the Pattern Language's relative lack of impact. Design is
tremendously hard work, and I would like to help show how to utilize patterns in practice.
A set of connected patterns provides a framework upon which any design can be anchored.
The patterns do not determine the design. By imposing constraints, they eliminate a large
number of possibilities while still allowing an infinite number of possible designs. The
narrowing of possibilities is, after all, an essential part of a practical design method. In this
case, the remaining choices are precisely those that connect to human beings either visually,
emotionally, functionally, or by facilitating their interactions and activities. People have
fundamental physical and emotional needs that should be satisfied by the built environment,
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PROGETTAZIONE ASSISTITA (Laurea Magistrale), Prof. Elena Mortola
“Introduzione al Pattern Language”, a cura di Antonio Caperna
though most of them are neglected nowadays. Architectural design that accommodates -- or,
better still, enhances -- a framework of Alexandrine patterns will be felt as more "natural"
than one which doesn't.
The connective geometry of urban interfaces
In a living city, boundaries define and connect different regions, and encourage many human
processes that make the city successful. Whether these functions take place is largely a
consequence of the geometry of the urban boundaries: it has to be both crinkly and
permeable. (In mathematical terms, it is accurate to call such a line a "fractal," since it is
neither continuous, nor perfectly smooth). The needed information for this already exists in
several Alexandrine patterns, which combine to give a definite urban geometry very
different from that found in contemporary cities.
In practice, it is very cumbersome to work from a complete catalogue of discovered patterns
to create a product. A simplified connective list can drastically improve the utility of any
pattern language. A procedure for generating such a map is based on the conceptual
"chunking" of information (Miller, 1956). The goal is to cluster patterns into groups of about
five or fewer on each level of scale. Suppose one needs to design something using available
patterns; pick those that are most relevant to the problem at hand, then choose not more
than about a dozen related patterns from an existing patterns catalogue. Identify a vertical
dimension (e.g., time, space, or group size) appropriate to the process that generates the
end product, and study how the generative process develops as one moves up the levels of
scale.
Once you assemble a group of patterns from a patterns catalogue, you can go back and
develop others for related processes, which will include patterns left out in the initial round.
Pattern groups for different results should be separate, and not confuse each other's clarity.
In the case of urban interfaces, several patterns are directly relevant. I have listed them
here, numbered as in the Pattern Language (Alexander, Ishikawa et al., 1977).
13. SUBCULTURE BOUNDARY
15. NEIGHBORHOOD BOUNDARY
42. INDUSTRIAL RIBBON
53. MAIN GATEWAYS
108. CONNECTED BUILDINGS
119. ARCADES
121. PATH SHAPE
122. BUILDING FRONTS
124. ACTIVITY POCKETS
160. BUILDING EDGE
165. OPENING TO THE STREET
166. GALLERY SURROUND
These dozen patterns serve as an empirical foundation for a geometry of urban interfaces.
Reversing the order of the patterns
Alexander numbered the patterns according to decreasing size, yet I will reverse the order in
the above list for our discussion. GALLERY SURROUND proposes that people should be able to
walk through a connecting zone such as a balcony to feel connected to the outside world.
OPENING TO THE STREET is the corollary: people on a sidewalk should feel connected to
functions inside a building, made possible by direct openings. BUILDING EDGE should be such
as to encourage life, creating pedestrian nodes and the necessarily crinkly, crenelated
geometry that they require. ACTIVITY POCKETS reveal that any public space is successful
only if its edge contains and accommodates successful pedestrian nodes. BUILDING FRONTS
define the life at the built edge of a street, while uniform set-backs "almost always destroy
the value of the open areas between the buildings." PATH SHAPE requires pedestrian nodes
along a path, and these will deform any straight edges into a more fractal form. ARCADES
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PROGETTAZIONE ASSISTITA (Laurea Magistrale), Prof. Elena Mortola
“Introduzione al Pattern Language”, a cura di Antonio Caperna
connect the inside of buildings with the world outside via an intermediate partially-enclosed
space; without them, the transition is too abrupt.
CONNECTED BUILDINGS create both a boundary and a path along it, which is destroyed by
having intermediate space between the buildings. MAIN GATEWAYS give significance -- by
defining access -- to what would otherwise be a useless space between buildings.
INDUSTRIAL RIBBON functions as one possible way to create a wide boundary for separating
regions containing other types of buildings. Finally, the two patterns NEIGHBORHOOD
BOUNDARY and SUBCULTURE BOUNDARY stress the necessity of containment in a living city,
and show how one zone can destroy an adjoining zone if the appropriate boundaries are
absent. Together, the above patterns combine to create the picture of a living city that
depends in large part on its convoluted, permeable interfaces. The information gathered by
Alexander and his colleagues in putting together the Pattern Language offers a conception of
the urban fabric as a highly connected structure, whose subdivisions are defined by complex
boundaries.
Some critics may wish to dismiss the first group of patterns as relevant only to a pedestrian
city, which in their estimation, no longer exists. Quite the opposite is true. The discussion of
this paper makes it clear that, since human beings are anatomically geared for walking as
their principal mode of transport, these patterns are timeless and relevant even if their
domain is restricted in today's car-dominated urban landscape. They still apply wherever we
walk, whether it be in parking lots, along storefronts, suburban sidewalks, or indoor
shopping malls. Decades of suppression by patterns for the automobile network has erased
most pedestrian patterns (Newman and Kenworthy, 1999). Whenever there is an
architectural opportunity, however, these patterns reemerge spontaneously to create a
living interface.
Validation of the patterns
Alexander presents the Pattern Language as a practical tool, and orders the patterns in
roughly decreasing size. That is the correct ordering when one is using them for design, since
decisions on the largest scale have to be made first. Nevertheless, that presupposes that the
patterns are understood to be true in a fundamental sense. The problem is that mainstream
architecture never entirely accepted Alexandrine patterns; it was the more sensitive and
spiritual fringe movements that did. In order to validate the above patterns, they have to be
read in the opposite order: small to large. The human mind can combine the smaller
patterns into groups; the larger patterns utilize these groupings and also generate new
properties that are not present in the component patterns. The mind is capable of validating
the patterns subconsciously when we read the patterns in an evolving (small-to-large) order.
Even now, more than twenty years after its publication, the fundamental significance of the
Pattern Language is hardly appreciated. Many people still think of it as a catalogue of
personal preferences, which is a total misconception (Dovey, 1990). Even those who realize
that each pattern is established either though empirical observation, or by scientific
reasoning, often fail to see its inevitability. I recommend, though, that you photocopy the
relevant patterns from A Pattern Language (Alexander, Ishikawa et al., 1977), and staple
them together in the reversed order. Reading them without the distractions of all other
patterns helps to connect them in the reader's mind, and the natural progression small to
large reveals the connections between successively larger scales. Doing this leads to the
conclusion that the type of urban boundary described is not simply our suggestion, but is
necessary for a living city.
Quite separate from the internal validation offered by their ability to combine, what
demonstrates the patterns' inevitability is their connection to fundamental patterns of
human behavior and movement. Many human functions and interactions are facilitated by
the proposed urban geometry, and we could graphically link behavioral patterns to these
architectural patterns directly. In most instances, this connection is revealed as an intuition
that the patterns for urban boundaries "feel right." Alexander based much of the validation
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PROGETTAZIONE ASSISTITA (Laurea Magistrale), Prof. Elena Mortola
“Introduzione al Pattern Language”, a cura di Antonio Caperna
for the Pattern Language on this intuitive assessment (Chapter 15 of The Timeless Way of
Building (Alexander, 1979)), which was dismissed as unscientific. But a graphic and
theoretical basis underlies this.
The smaller the scale on which a pattern acts, the more immediately it connects to human
beings. Architectural patterns on the human range of scales 1cm - 1m create a visceral
response because we can experience them with most of our senses. Larger patterns that
cannot be touched or felt require synthesis and recognition; they become more intellectual.
People who have not experienced them in person (in some region of the world where they
still exist) can rarely imagine their emotional impact. This is the reason why the sequence
small-to-large works in a validation process: it brings in the strongest personal connection at
the beginning, and successive patterns build upon an intuitively accepted base.
Patterns and science
In the remainder of this paper, I will discuss patterns in very general terms, with the
intention of demonstrating their inevitability. A pattern is a discovered solution that has
been tested for some time, and under varying conditions. For architectural and urban
patterns, the time-frame can be several millennia. A pattern is not usually invented, so
creativity is subordinated here to scientific inquiry and observation. Although you can find
novel ways to combine and relate patterns, creativity is reserved for the products arising
from an application of the pattern language, not the process. Since patterns are derived
empirically from observations, they differ from scientific theory, which derives solutions
starting from first principles. Nevertheless, discovered patterns provide a phenomenological
foundation out of which scientific theories can grow. Once established, those theories
explain why some patterns work.
Sometimes, a pattern may arise as an informed conjecture. It has to survive the intense
criticism and scrutiny that are part of the scientific method of validation. Although patterns
are prescientific, they are in fact much broader than science. A pattern may be the
intersection of separate scientific mechanisms. Many patterns do not yet have a scientific
explanation; for others that do, the explanations may be bulky and convoluted compared to
the simplicity of the pattern itself. Medicine, pharmacology, and psychology are based at
least partially on pattern languages, while their phenomenological foundation is slowly being
replaced by a biological/chemical basis. Morphological and scaling rules that apply broadly
across many different disciplines (West and Deering, 1995) are patterns that are useful
independently of the particular mechanisms that generate the observed phenomena.
Unfortunately, architecture as a discipline currently has no means of validating an
architectural pattern, so the basic mechanism for pattern formation doesn't exist. Architects
who are not also trained in the scientific method will not distinguish between a design
method or procedure that gives successful results and one that fails; the validation process
that should follow any proposed solution does not form part of architectural education
(Stringer, 1975). The reasons why some buildings fail -- in the sense of being unpleasant and
difficult to use -- are never seriously examined. Consequently, design mistakes tend to be
repeated indefinitely.
A philosophical reversal presents an even more serious impediment to the use of
architectural patterns. Architecture has changed in this century from being a trade serving
humanity with comfortable and useful structures, to an art that serves primarily as a vehicle
for self-expression for the architect. In the current architectural paradigm, the emotional
and physical comfort of the user are of only minor importance. Architects resist using the
Pattern Language because they erroneously believe it hinders artistic freedom. Declaring
that they wish to express their creativity freely, they nevertheless force themselves to work
within irrelevant stylistic constraints. Contemporary architecture has become selfreferential, validated only by how well it conforms to some currently accepted style, and
not by any objective external or scientific criteria (Stringer, 1975).
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PROGETTAZIONE ASSISTITA (Laurea Magistrale), Prof. Elena Mortola
“Introduzione al Pattern Language”, a cura di Antonio Caperna
The nature of a pattern language
In practice, pattern languages arise from two very different needs: (a) as a way of
understanding, and possibly controlling, a complex system; (b) as necessary design tools with
which to build something that is functionally and structurally coherent. To visualize patterns
and their interconnections, we use a graph representation. Patterns may be identified with
nodes in a graph, and the graph is connected by edges of different lengths (Figure 1). A
pattern is an encapsulation of forces; a general solution to a problem. The "language"
combines the nodes together into an organizational framework. A loose collection of
patterns is not a system, because it lacks connections.
Figure 1. Individual patterns group to form six higher-level patterns having additional
properties.
The rules by which the patterns (nodes) connect are just as important as the patterns
themselves. Words without connection rules cannot make up a language. A coherent
combination of patterns will form a new, higher-level pattern that possesses additional
properties (Figure 2). Not only does each original pattern work in combination as well as it
did individually, but the whole contains organizational information that is not present in any
of its constituent patterns. A higher-level pattern cannot be predicted from the lower-level
patterns alone. Sticking patterns together without proper ordering will not provide an
overall coherence. Each component might work individually, but the whole does not work,
precisely because it is not a whole.
Figure 2. Further connections organize the patterns in Figure 1 into a pattern on the next
higher level. New properties of the whole correspond to new symmetries.
A pattern language is more than just a patterns catalogue. Individual patterns are easier to
describe than their language, yet a catalogue is only a dictionary. It does not give a script; it
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PROGETTAZIONE ASSISTITA (Laurea Magistrale), Prof. Elena Mortola
“Introduzione al Pattern Language”, a cura di Antonio Caperna
has no rules for flow, internal connections, or ordered substructures. A patterns catalogue
lacks the essential validation that comes from recognizing the combinatorial properties in
the language. Some patterns will require other complementary patterns for completeness,
and the allowed combinations are usually infinite. A language tells you which of them can be
combined, and in what manner, in order to create a higher-level pattern. Drawing an
analogy with biological systems, the system works because of the connections between
subsystems (Passioura, 1979).
Hierarchical connections across scales
Every complex system has a hierarchical structure; i.e., different processes are occurring on
different scales or levels. Connections exist both on the same levels, and across levels
(Mesarovic, Macko et al., 1970). The same is true for a pattern language. The "language"
generates a connective network by which the ordering of nodes on one level creates nodes
at a higher level. This process goes on all the way up, and all the way down in levels (Figure
3). The cohesive framework provided by the language enables the upward transition to all
the higher levels. We can better understand a language if it has organization at different
levels, because each level is shielded from the complexity in all the other levels.
Figure 3. Hierarchical connections show how patterns on higher levels depend on those on
lower levels.
A pattern language does not have a strictly modular rule structure -- as would be the case if
the language were defined by only a few basic units -- but adds new rules as the scales grow.
Higher levels in a system are dependent on all lower levels, but not vice-versa (Passioura,
1979). Even though disconnected lower-level patterns can work without necessarily forming
a higher-level pattern, such a system is not cohesive, because it exists on only one level.
Each level in a complex hierarchical system is supported by the properties of the next-lower
level. The combination of patterns acting on a smaller level of scale acquires new and
unexpected properties not present in the constituent patterns, and these are expressed in a
higher-level pattern (Figure 4). Patterns on higher levels are therefore necessary because
they incorporate new information.
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PROGETTAZIONE ASSISTITA (Laurea Magistrale), Prof. Elena Mortola
“Introduzione al Pattern Language”, a cura di Antonio Caperna
Figure 4. Patterns on one level combine to help define a new pattern on a higher level.
Many failures in describing a complex system are due to not allowing for enough levels. A
gap between levels disconnects the pattern language, since the patterns on different levels
are then too far apart to be related (Figure 5). We tend to fall into this trap because of nonhierarchical thinking. Some urban patterns work on the scale of 100m and contain
architectural patterns that work on the scale of 1m, but what about the patterns on all the
intermediate scales? An even more serious problem is the widespread association of
importance with size in our culture. Working within that mind set, it is very easy to
concentrate only on the large-scale patterns (or anti-patterns), and ignore those on lower
levels. That makes it impossible to validate patterns through their vertical connections,
which are illustrated in Figures 3 and 4.
Figure 5. Two groups of patterns are too far apart in scale to connect effectively.
One of the principal methods of validating a pattern language is that every pattern be
connected vertically to patterns on both higher and lower levels. Damage to a pattern
language can be understood visually, by crossing out any single pattern in Figure 3. This will
remove the coordination of all the linked patterns below it; moreover, if a vertical relation
is one of inclusion, then obviously those patterns below are also eliminated. In addition, all
linked patterns above the crossed pattern are automatically eliminated. Therefore, removing
one pattern without understanding its connections damages a significant portion of the
pattern language because it also removes at least one vertical chain of patterns.
It is necessary to address a misunderstanding that identifies any multi-level structure with an
inverted tree-like hierarchical ordering. In a tree, everything is ordered from a single node
above, and nodes on the same level do not link directly. Although some authors use this
terminology, that is not what is meant here. Figure 3 shows that the hierarchy we propose
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PROGETTAZIONE ASSISTITA (Laurea Magistrale), Prof. Elena Mortola
“Introduzione al Pattern Language”, a cura di Antonio Caperna
for pattern languages is not an inverted tree, because it has multiple tops and horizontal
connections; i.e., several times more connections than a tree has. A hierarchical inverted
tree structure is too restrictive, since all communication has to pass through higher-level
nodes. Inverted tree-like hierarchies are associated with systems that exert top-down
control (Alexander, 1965).
Finding patterns for new disciplines
A new discipline needs to abstract its patterns as they appear. It is building its own
foundation and logical skeleton, upon which future growth can be supported. Knowing its
basic patterns early on will speed up the language's development, and guide it in the right
direction. You may obtain insight into a new field lacking a pattern language by studying
patterns from established disciplines. A universal high-level structure is inherent in all
pattern languages. The solution space, which is distinct from the parameter space, is rarely
one-dimensional, which means that knowing what doesn't work cannot give what works
simply by doing the opposite. There may be an infinity of different opposites. One needs to
exhaust the solution space by identifying many neighboring anti-patterns before zeroing in
on the pattern itself.
Here we need to warn against the destructive tendency in our times of judging patterns
prematurely using strict criteria such as efficiency, cost reduction, and streamlining. It is not
that these are inappropriate criteria, but rather that they tend to ignore the linkage
between patterns. In other words, patterns in a pattern language depend on each other is a
complex manner, and a hasty culling of what are erroneously deemed "superfluous" patterns
may damage the cohesion of the language. Many fundamental patterns have been discarded
in the false interest of economy, without realizing that they are essential to a system's
coherence and overall performance. The long-term consequences of this are negative, and
significant. You may attempt to streamline a process after its complexity is well understood,
but not before. Promising new patterns, and time-honored old ones, have been ruthlessly
scrapped by short-sighted thinking, borne out of the belief that complex systems have to
conform to some sort of "minimalist design." This comes from a superficial understanding of
how a system works.
The most elegant complex systems are nearly (but not perfectly) ordered. Having to
accommodate patterns on the smaller and intermediate scales -- indeed, actually growing
out of them -- the larger-scale patterns cannot be perfect in the sense of being pure or too
simple. Good design avoids unnecessary complication. It is balanced between arising out of
loosely organized small-scale patterns, which could lead to somewhat random forms or
processes, and patterns which might pay too much attention to the large scale. Going too far
in either extreme damages the coherence (and therefore the efficiency) of the system.
The general ideas offered here prove useful in extending urban patterns to the electronic
city. The notion of an "intelligent environment" defines the urban connectivity of the new
millennium. On top of the existing path structure governed by Alexandrine patterns
(Salingaros, 1998), we need to develop rules for electronic connectivity (Droege, 1997;
Graham and Marvin, 1996). To define a coherent, working urban fabric, the pattern language
of electronic connections (which is only now being developed) must tie in seamlessly to the
language for physical connections. Already, some authors misleadingly declare that the city
is made redundant by electronic connectivity. Such opinions ignore new observed patterns,
which correlate electronic nodes to physical nodes in the pedestrian urban fabric. The two
pattern languages will most likely complement and reinforce each other.
Consistency and connectivity
Of the two criteria: (a) internal consistency, and (b) external connectivity, the second is by
far the more important. A system's complexity -- the extent of which may not be known for
some time, if ever -- can prevent a new pattern language from having a smooth internal
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PROGETTAZIONE ASSISTITA (Laurea Magistrale), Prof. Elena Mortola
“Introduzione al Pattern Language”, a cura di Antonio Caperna
structure. It is essential, however, that any pattern language link to existing languages at its
boundaries (Figure 6). For example, a building that is internally inconsistent would be
unusable. Once a building has achieved a minimum degree of internal consistency, however,
external connectivity with other patterns becomes more important. The point is to avoid the
isolation of pathological systems, which then survive because they are not subject to
interactive checks and balances.
Figure 6. The enclosed pattern candidates are internally consistent but fundamentally
flawed, because they fail to connect to external patterns.
t is possible to define a set of anti-patterns that "clean up" complexity by imposing rigid,
one-dimensional ideas. Such a language could itself be perfectly consistent internally, but it
cannot coexist with other pattern languages that respect complexity. The best example
comes from government. Fascism and totalitarianism clean up the messiness of human
society, but clash with our most deeply-held patterns of human values. In the same way, any
organizational pattern language that attempts to create a positive work environment will
necessarily connect with and provide a transition to Alexander's architectural pattern
language, which determines built form on all levels of scale (Alexander, Ishikawa et al.,
1977).
The architectural pattern SIX-FOOT BALCONY helps to illustrate connectivity (Alexander,
Ishikawa et al., 1977). Many social patterns of family life, such as sitting around a table;
eating a meal; children playing with toys on the floor; growing plants in large pots; outdoor
cooking on a charcoal grill; etc., can occur on a balcony only if it is at least six feet (2m)
deep. When a balcony is made too narrow so as to follow some arbitrary design canon or
simply to be cheap (which satisfies internally consistent criteria), it fails to connect to the
above social patterns. Connection here means accommodation and inclusion among patterns
belonging to two different languages. Mathematical isolation, as in Figure 6, guarantees the
physical isolation of the balcony from potential users.
We don't appreciate how completely architectural patterns connect to social patterns; the
former make up a significant part of the traditional culture in any society. Losing them
irreparably damages the way a society functions, because architectural patterns help to
define all the higher-level social patterns (Figure 7). Especially among the rural poor,
tradition is the only way of safeguarding their culture. Tradition embodies solutions evolved
over countless generations, so design patterns are connected with and have become part of
a way of life. This point has been stressed by Alexander (Alexander, 1979), and is very
eloquently argued by Hassan Fathy (Fathy, 1973) (pp. 24-27). Sensitive architects pay
attention so that their designs accommodate and nurture social patterns.
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PROGETTAZIONE ASSISTITA (Laurea Magistrale), Prof. Elena Mortola
“Introduzione al Pattern Language”, a cura di Antonio Caperna
Figure 7. Architectural patterns that pair with social patterns (solid) further combine to
create a socio-architectural pattern on a higher level.
Sometimes, a pattern might have an unwanted secondary characteristic; the same way an
inherited trait in an organism may be essential for survival, but have a mildly negative sideeffect. The same pattern is expressed as two different features. Attempting to remove the
secondary, unwanted feature (for example, getting rid of every architectural element or
social pattern that "spoils" an overall perfect symmetry) without realizing what it connects
to can destroy the entire language. By condemning secondary features of human patterns
because they are not consistent with arbitrary ideas of style, or because of some antisocial
aversion, architects have succeeded in eliminating traditional pattern languages around the
world.
Stylistic rules and the replication of viruses
During a time of crisis, or in the desire to be totally innovative, established disciplines
sometimes willingly replace their pattern languages by stylistic rules. Those are entirely
arbitrary, however, coming either from fashion or dogma (someone in authority pronounces
a rule that is never questioned), or they refer to a very specific situation that does not apply
broadly. Stylistic rules are incompatible with complex patterns such as the one shown in
Figure 7. The mechanism by which stylistic rules propagate bears essential similarities to the
replication of viruses. A stylistic rule is usually given as a template, and proponents are
required to replicate it in the environment. Its success is measured not by how well it serves
any human activity, but rather by how many copies are produced.
Stylistic rules frequently have no connection to human needs: they are just images with a
superficial symbolic content. While some are benign, many are pathological. An information
code for built form -- for example, "flat, smooth, continuous walls at street level" -- enters
the mind of a designer either through teaching, or from seeing built examples. Otherwise
intelligent people are easily seduced by simplistic ideas in a design method, which is easy to
apply because it eliminates or suppresses natural complexity. That individual then becomes
an agent for replicating the virus. Every time this code is replicated, it destroys human
connections in that region of the city; the result is obvious because this particular virus
undoes all the patterns for connective urban interfaces discussed previously.
By contrast, a pattern is not dictated or forced, but arises out of use, and is accepted on its
benefits. It facilitates human life and interactions, and has to continually stand up to tests
of its efficacy in this respect. An essential difference is that, because of its underlying
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“Introduzione al Pattern Language”, a cura di Antonio Caperna
forces, no architectural pattern can be represented as a simple visual image. A pattern
solves a complex problem; it is not a template to be mindlessly copied. It is far easier to
reproduce a visual template than to solve a fundamental design problem, however, because
the former requires no reasoned thought; only intuitive matching. The intellect does not
need to work, and the designer can withdraw from the responsibility of making difficult
decisions about the complex interactions between built forms and human activities. Partly as
a result of this shift, architectural design is now heavily oriented towards visual templates
defined by design style.
Many stylistic rules are anti-patterns: they are neither accidental, nor the simple
preferences of an individual. They intentionally do the opposite of some traditional pattern
for the sake of novelty. By masquerading as "new" patterns, they misuse a pattern language's
natural process of repair to destroy it. Patterns work via cooperation to build up complex
wholes that coexist and compete in some dynamic balance. By contrast, stylistic rules tend
to be rigid and unaccommodating. Their replication in many cases fixes the geometry of built
form so as to exclude human patterns. Any single stylistic rule is capable of suppressing an
entire chain of linked patterns on many different scales (Figure 3). A destructive stylistic
rule, like a virus, is an informational code that dissolves the complexity of living systems.
Today's architects are trained to use a limited vocabulary of simple forms, materials, and
surfaces. Their possible combinations are insufficient to even approach the structure of a
language. This replaces an accumulated literature of patterns corresponding to words,
sentences, paragraphs, chapters, and books that encapsulates meaning from human
experience and life. Few people realize the enormous consequences on society of adopting a
particular design vocabulary. Decisions concerning architectural style affect the surrounding
culture; contrary to what is widely proclaimed, one person's visions are not restricted to a
building as a single art work. A single visual template can eventually destroy a culture just as
effectively as a deadly virus.
Evolution and repair of pattern languages
Validated patterns are more-or-less permanent, yet there exists a process of repair and
replacement. Now and then, we may play Devil's Advocate and ignore old solutions so as to
see new, innovative ones in an old discipline. A new pattern is superior if it increases the
connectivity with the majority of established patterns compared to the old pattern it is
replacing. It could have a broader context, or supersede several older patterns, thus
tightening the language. This is a process whose goal is to strengthen an existing pattern
language by repair and evolution, so as to preserve accumulated wisdom by keeping it
relevant to changing needs.
Much less frequently, a paradigm shift occurs to make an entire pattern language irrelevant:
e.g., horse-drawn vehicles are replaced by automobiles. That does not invalidate the pattern
language showing how to create the former; it just makes that end product less desirable.
While the technology and materials changed, however, many patterns were saved almost
intact in going from carriages to cars. In general, the adoption of innovation is greatly
facilitated by minimizing the perception of change; and consequently the number of
patterns that need to be replaced. It is wasteful to throw out a repository of patterns, some
of which may have been established over millennia.
The introduction of a new pattern language need not displace an older one entirely.
Coexistence of competing or complementary patterns is often desirable and even necessary,
especially if the new patterns occupy different positions in the hierarchy (by acting on
different scales). If properly connected, they will lead to a richer and more stable complex
system. Patterns for the automobile transportation network were falsely believed to be
threatened by patterns for pedestrian and mass-transit networks. On the basis of this
misunderstanding, urban planners and car manufacturers simply suppressed the latter
(Newman and Kenworthy, 1999). Nowadays, we are beginning to understand that a balanced
coexistence of all three languages -- describing pedestrian, automobile, and mass-transit
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PROGETTAZIONE ASSISTITA (Laurea Magistrale), Prof. Elena Mortola
“Introduzione al Pattern Language”, a cura di Antonio Caperna
movement, respectively -- is a necessary prerequisite for a comprehensive transportation
system (Salingaros, 1998).
A few patterns might work equally well on different levels, though most patterns' context
establishes their place in a particular scale of the pattern language. Some patterns can be
moved up or down vertically within a language. Such a property leads to economy in a
pattern language through self-similar scaling, which means that one scale looks the same as
another scale when magnified. A pattern language that develops coherence over time may
also develop a degree of self-similar scaling as a result of the connections across levels. As
the ensemble of patterns evolves a cooperative structure, driven by the alignment of
patterns (or anti-patterns) on different levels, it creates unexpected similarities. Thus, each
level of a coherent structure expresses a property that is characteristic of the whole.
The importance of detail
A language requires patterns on as many levels as it takes to connect to natural processes.
Every level is important by itself. In any complex system, detail is part of the lower scales in
a hierarchy. If these are unconnected, or missing, then the system is not coherent, and
cannot work (Mesarovic, Macko et al., 1970). Neglecting a pattern because it is on a lower
level handicaps the entire structure. It is not always obvious what the lowest level of a
system is upon which all the higher levels depend. Detail that is part of a scaling hierarchy
will be connected to all higher levels of complexity, and is not just "added on." Physical
forms have structural features on different scales as a result of internal and external forces.
From the microscopic to the macroscopic through all intermediate scales, different levels of
scale cooperate.
In the design of buildings, there are several scales -- corresponding to the human range of
scales, 1cm to 1m -- that are difficult to justify purely on structural grounds. Yet, in order to
define a connected hierarchy of scales, those scales have to be present in the structure
(Salingaros, 2000). Therefore, either the design should allow the emergence of structure and
subdivisions on those scales, or substructure has to be intentionally generated on those
scales. This need creates traditional "ornament" and all the patterns that generate it
(Alexander, Ishikawa et al., 1977; Salingaros, 1999). The appropriate ornament is essential
for a large form to be coherent (Salingaros, 2000). An analysis of structural coherence arising
from a linked hierarchy of scales reveals the necessity for ornament, though nowadays,
ornament is discordant because it is unrelated to the larger form.
Detail is a separate question. The smallest perceivable detail at arm's length goes down to
0.25mm, which relates to a visual system such as a textile or a computer display. While such
detail is available in richly-textured materials, it is usually the scales between texture and
ornament (1mm - 1cm) that are missing from contemporary buildings. Our minimalist design
tradition removes the intermediate and smaller scales from built form. After half a century
of training in this idiom, we tend to forget that the best-loved architecture (Modernist
included) works especially well on these scales. People need to connect to structure on
every scale.
Conclusion
Pattern languages encapsulate human experience, and help us cope with complexity in our
environment. They apply to everything from computer programs, to buildings, to
organizations, to cities. A civilization's pattern languages are often synonymous with its
technical and cultural heritage. New spheres of human endeavor develop their own pattern
language, which must link to existing pattern languages in related fields. Individual patterns
are validated empirically over time. The language itself will be on the right track if it
evolves a connective structure that incorporates scaling and hierarchy. Architecture and
urban design in the twentieth century rely on a set of stylistic rules that fail to connect to
patterns of human life. People have been taught by schools, critics, television, and
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PROGETTAZIONE ASSISTITA (Laurea Magistrale), Prof. Elena Mortola
“Introduzione al Pattern Language”, a cura di Antonio Caperna
magazines to prefer abstract visual forms, and to ignore the fact that environments
generated by such templates cannot accommodate their own behavioral patterns. An
example of this was traced to a fundamental misunderstanding about urban geometry. It is
believed that the removal of urban interfaces would help to create the contemporary city,
but it has seriously damaged it instead.
This paper argued that patterns provide a necessary foundation for any design solution to
connect with human beings. Contradicting them disconnects the built form from people. This
conclusion has profound consequences for architectural practice. It drastically shifts the
position of pattern languages in contemporary architecture. From the peripheral position at
the fringes they have occupied for more than two decades, they jump to a central point of
architectural relevance. Pattern languages were revealed as the "taproot" of all
architecture, from which design draws its life by virtue of satisfying human needs. This is
true even if one disagrees with one or more of Alexander's patterns. Our results imply that
design styles which cut themselves off from this source of life are condemned to remain
forever sterile. Those that intentionally do so have to admit from now on that this is indeed
their aim.
Acknowledgments
The author's research is supported in part by a grant from the Alfred P. Sloan foundation. I
am grateful to G. Arbon, P. L. Briggs, J. O. Coplien, C. L. Jeffery, R. Johnson, J. Tidwell, M.
Waddington, and S. Woo for helpful comments.
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PROGETTAZIONE ASSISTITA (Laurea Magistrale), Prof. Elena Mortola
“Introduzione al Pattern Language”, a cura di Antonio Caperna
References
¾ Alexander, C. (1964). Notes on the Synthesis of Form, Harvard University Press,
Cambridge, Massachusetts.
¾ Alexander, C. (1965). "A City is Not a Tree" Architectural Forum vol. 122 April . No. 1,
pages 58-61 and No. 2, pages 58-62. [Reprinted in: "Design After Modernism", Edited
by John Thackara, Thames and Hudson, London, 1988, pp. 67-84]
¾ Alexander, C. (1979). The Timeless Way of Building, Oxford University Press, New
York.
¾ Alexander, C., Ishikawa, S., Silverstein, M., Jacobson, M., Fiksdahl-King, I. and Angel,
S. (1977). A Pattern Language, Oxford University Press, New York.
¾ Coplien, J. O. and Schmidt, D., Ed. (1995). Pattern Languages of Program Design,
Addison-Wesley, Reading, Massachusetts.
¾ Dovey, K. (1990). "The Pattern Language and its Enemies", Design Studies vol. 11 pp.
3-9.
¾ Droege, P., Ed. (1997). Intelligent Environments, Elsevier, Amsterdam.
¾ Fathy, H. (1973). Architecture for the Poor, University of Chicago Press, Chicago.
¾ Gabriel, R. (1996). Patterns of Software, Oxford University Press, New York.
¾ Gamma, E., Helm, R., Johnson, R. and Vlissides, J. (1995). Design Patterns, AddisonWesley, Reading, Massachusetts.
¾ Graham, S. and Marvin, S. (1996) Telecommunications and the City, Routledge,
London.
¾ Mesarovic, M. D., Macko, D. and Takahara, Y. (1970) Theory of Hierarchical Multilevel
Systems, Academic Press, New York.
¾ Miller, G. A. (1956). "The Magical Number Seven Plus or Minus Two: Some Limits on
Our Capacity for Processing Information", The Psychological Review vol. 63 pp. 81-97.
¾ Newman, P. and Kenworthy, J. (1999). Sustainability and Cities, Island Press,
Washington D.C.
¾ Passioura, J. B. (1979). "Accountability, Philosophy, and Plant Physiology", Search
(Australian Journal of Science) vol. 10 No. 10 pp. 347-350.
¾ Salingaros, N. A. (1998). "Theory of the Urban Web" Journal of Urban Design vol. 3
pp. 53-71. [Earlier version published electronically by Resource for Urban Design
Information in 1997 <http://rudi.herts.ac.uk/rudiments/urbanweb/urbanweb.htm>]
¾ Salingaros, Nikos (1999) "Architecture, Patterns, and Mathematics", Nexus Network
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1
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75-85.
Electronic
version
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from
http://www.math.utsa.edu/sphere/salingar/ArchMath.html
¾ Salingaros, N. A. (2000). "Hierarchical Cooperation in Architecture, and the
Mathematical Necessity for Ornament", Journal of Architectural and Planning
Research vol. 17 pp. [to appear]
¾ Steen, L. A. (1988). "The Science of Patterns", Science vol. 240 pp. 611-616.
¾ Stringer, P. (1975). "The Myths of Architectural Creativity", Architectural Design vol.
45 pp. 634-635.
¾ West, B. J. and Deering, B. (1995). The Lure of Modern Science, World Scientific,
Singapore.
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PROGETTAZIONE ASSISTITA (Laurea Magistrale), Prof. Elena Mortola
“Introduzione al Pattern Language”, a cura di Antonio Caperna
summary of a book by Christoper Alexander, Sara Ishikawa, Murray Silverstein, with Max
Jacobson, Ingrid Fiksdahl-King and Shlomo Angel. Published by Oxford University Press
The original book contains much essential detail behind each of the following patterns and is
recommended reading.
We begin with that part of the language which defines a town or community. These patterns
can never be "designed" or "built" in one fell swoop- but patient piecemeal growth, designed
in such a way that every individual act is always helping to create or generate these larger
global patterns, will, slowly and surely, over the years, make a community that has these
global patterns in it.
Do what you can to establish a world government, with a thousand independent regions,
instead of countries.
1 Independent Regions
With each region work toward those regional policies which will protect the land and mark
the limits of the cities.
2
3
4
5
6
7
The Distribution of Towns
City Country Fingers
Agricultural Valleys
Lace of Country Streets
Country Towns
The Countryside
Through city policies, encourage the piecemeal formation of those major structures which
define the city.
8 Mosaic of Subcultures
9 Scattered Work
10 Magic of the City
11 Local Transport Areas
Build up these larger city patterns from the grass roots, through action essentially controled
by two levels of self-governing communities, which exist as physica;;y identifiable places.
12 Community of 7000
13 Subculture Boundary
14 Identifiable Neighbourhood
15 Neighbourhood Boundary
Connect communities to one another by encouraging the growth of networks. 16 Web of
Public Transportation
17 Ring Roads
18 Network of Learning
19 Web of Shopping
20 Mini-Buses
Establish community and neighborhood policy to control the character of the local
environment according to the following fundamental principles.
21 Four-Story Limit
22 Nine Percent Parking
23 Parallel Roads
24 Sacred Sites
25 Access to Water
26 Life Cycle
27 Men and Women
Both in the neighborhoods and the communities, and in between them, in the boundaries,
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PROGETTAZIONE ASSISTITA (Laurea Magistrale), Prof. Elena Mortola
“Introduzione al Pattern Language”, a cura di Antonio Caperna
encourage the formation of local centers.
28 Eccentric Nucleus
29 Density Rings
30 Activity Nodes
31 Promenade
32 Shopping Street
33 Night Life
34 Interchange
Around these centers, provide for the growth of housing in the form of clusters, based on
face-to-face human groups.
35 Household Mix
36 Degrees of Publicness
37 House Cluster
38 Row Houses
39 Housing Hill
40 Old People Everywhere
Between the house clusters, around the centers, and especially in the boundaries between
neighborhoods, encourage the formation of work communities;
41 Work Community
42 Industrial Ribbon
43 University as a marketplace
44 Local Town Hall
45 Necklace of Community Projects
46 Market of Many Shops
47 Health Center
48 Housing Inbetween
Between the house clusters and work communities, allow the local road and path network to
grow informally, piecemeal.
49 Looped Local Roads
50 T Junctions
51 Green Streets
52 Network of Paths and Cars
53 Main Gateways
54 Road Crossing
55 Raised Walk
56 Bike Paths and Racks
57 Children in the City
In the communities and neighborhoods, provide public open land where people can relax, run
shoulders and renew themselves.
58 Carnival
59 Quiet Backs
60 Accessible Green
61 Small Public Squares
62 High Places
63 Dancing in the Street
64 Pools and Streams
65 Birth Places
66 Holy Ground
In each house cluster and work community, provide the smaller bits of common land, to
provide for local versions of the same needs.
67 Common Land
68 Connected Play
69 Public Outdoor Room
70 Grave Sites
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PROGETTAZIONE ASSISTITA (Laurea Magistrale), Prof. Elena Mortola
“Introduzione al Pattern Language”, a cura di Antonio Caperna
71 Still Water
72 Local Sports
73 Adventure Playground
74 Animals
Within the framework of the common land, the clusters, and the work communities
encourage transformation of the smallest independent social institutions: the families,
workgroups, and gathering places. the family, in all its forms.
75 The Family
76 House for a Small Family
77 House for a Couple
78 House for One Person
79 Your Own Home
The workgroups, including all kinds of workshops and offices and even children's learning
groups.
80 Self-Governing Workshops and Offices
81 Small Services without Red Tape
82 Office Connections
83 Master and Apprentices
84 Teenage Society
85 Shopfront Schools
86 Children's Home
The local shops and gathering places.
87 Individually Owned Shops
88 Street Café
89 Corner Grocery
90 Beer Hall
91 Traveller's Inn
92 Bus Stop
93 Food Stands
94 Sleeping in Public
We now start that part of the language which gives shape to groups of buildings, and
individual buildings, on the land, in three dimensions. These are the patterns which can be
"desiged" or "built"- the patterns which define the indivual buildings and the space between
buildings; where we are dealing for the first time with patterns that are under the control of
individuals or small groups of individuals, who are able to build the patterns all at once.
Layout the overall arrangement of a group of buildings: the height and nuber of these
buildings, the enterances to the site, main parking areas, and lines of movement through the
complex.
95 Building Complex
96 Number of Stories
97 Shielded Parking
98 Circulation Realms
99 Main Building
100 Pedestrian Street
101 Building Thoroughfare
102 Family of Entrances
103 Small Parking Lots
Fix the position of individual buildings on the site, within the complex, one by one, according
to the nature of the site, the trees, the sun: this is oneof the most important moments in the
language.
35
PROGETTAZIONE ASSISTITA (Laurea Magistrale), Prof. Elena Mortola
“Introduzione al Pattern Language”, a cura di Antonio Caperna
104 Site Repair
105 South Facing Outdoors
106 Positive Outdoor Space
107 Wings of Light
108 Connected Buildings
109 Long Thin House
Within the buildings' wings, lay out the entrances, the gardens, courtyards, roofs, and
terraces: shape both the volume of the buildings and the volume of the space between the
buildings at the same time- remembering that indoor space and outdoor space, yin and yang,
must always get their shape together.
110 Main Entrance
111 Half-hidden Garden
112 Entrance Transition
113 Car Connection
114 Hierarchy of Open Space
115 Courtyards which Live
116 Cascade of Roofs
117 Sheltering Roof
118 Roof Garden
When the major parts of buildings and the outdoor areas have been given their rough shape,
it is the right time to give more detailed attention to the paths and squares between the
buildings.
119 Arcades
120 Paths and goals
121 Path Shape
122 Building Fronts
123 Pedestrian Density
124 Activity Pockets
125 Stair Seats
126 Something roughly in the Middle
Now, with the paths fixed, we come back to the buildings: within the various wings of any
onebuilding, work out the fundamental gradients of space, and decide how the movement
will connect the spaces in the gradients.
127 Intimacy Gradient
128 Indoor Sunlight
129 Common Areas at the Heart
130 Entrance Room
131 The Flow through Rooms
132 Short Passages
133 Staircase as a Stage
134 Zen View
135 Tapestry of Light and Dark
Within the framwork of the wings and their internal gradients of space and movement, define
the most important areas and rooms. First, for a house. 136 Couple's Realm
137 Childrens Realm
138 Sleeping to the East
139 Farmhouse Kitchen
36
PROGETTAZIONE ASSISTITA (Laurea Magistrale), Prof. Elena Mortola
“Introduzione al Pattern Language”, a cura di Antonio Caperna
140 Private Terrace on the Street
141 A Room of One's Own
142 Sequence of Sitting Spaces
143 Bed Cluster
144 Bathing Room
145 Bulk Storage
Then the same for offices, workshops, and public buildings. 146 Flexible Office Space
147 Communal Eating
148 Small Work Groups
149 Reception Welcomes You
150 A place to Wait
151 Small Meeting Rooms
152 Half-Private Office
Add those small outbuildings which must be slightly independent from the main structure, and
put in the access from the upper stories to the street and gardens.
153 Rooms to Rent
154 Teenager's Cottage
155 Old Age Cottage
156 Settled Work
157 Home Workshop
158 Open Stairs
Prepare to knit the inside of the building to the outside, by treating the edge between the
two as a place in its own right, and making human details there.
159 Light on two sides of every Room
160 Building Edge
161 Sunny Place
162 North Face
163 Outdoor Room
164 Street Windows
165 Opening to the Street
166 Gallery Surround
167 Six-Foot Balcony
168 Connection to the Earth
Decide on the arrangement of the gardens, and the places in the gardens. 169 Terraced Slope
170 Fruit Trees
171 Tree Places
172 Garden Growing Wild
173 Garden Wall
174 Trellised Walk
175 Greenhouse
176 Garden Seat
177 Vegetable Garden
178 Compost
Go back inside the building and attatch the necessary minor rooms and alcoves to complete
the main rooms.
37
PROGETTAZIONE ASSISTITA (Laurea Magistrale), Prof. Elena Mortola
“Introduzione al Pattern Language”, a cura di Antonio Caperna
179 Alcoves
180 Window Place
181 The Fire
182 Eating Atmosphere
183 Workspace Enclosures
184 Cooking Layout
185 Sitting Circle
186 Communal Sleeping
187 Marriage Bed
188 Bed Alcove
189 Dressing Room
Fine tune the shape and size of rooms and alcoves to make them precise and buildable.
190 Ceiling Height Variety
191 The Shape of Indoor Space
192 Windows Overlooking Life
193 Half-Open Wall
194 Interior Windows
195 Staircase Volume
196 Corner Doors
Give all the walls some depth, wherever there are to be alcoves, windows, shelves, closets or
seats.
197 Thick Walls
198 Closets Between Rooms
199 Sunny Counter
200 Open Shelves
201 Waist-High Shelf
202 Built-In Seats
203 Child Caves
204 Secret Places
The last part of the language, tells how to make a buildable building, directly from this rough
scheme of space, and tells you how to build it, in detail.
Before you lay out structural details, establish a philosphy of structure which will let the
structure grow directly from your plans and your conception of the buildings.
205 Structure Follows Social Spaces
206 Efficient Structure
207 Good Materials
208 Gradual Stiffening
Within this philosphy of structure, on the basis of the plans which you have made, work out
the complete strutural layout; this is the last thing you do on paper, before you actually start
to build.
209 Roof Layout
210 Floor and Ceiling Layout
211 Thickening the Outer Walls
212 Columns at the Corners
213 Final Column Distribution
Put the stakes in the ground to mark the columns on the site, and start erecting the main
frame of the building according to the layout of these stakes.
38
PROGETTAZIONE ASSISTITA (Laurea Magistrale), Prof. Elena Mortola
“Introduzione al Pattern Language”, a cura di Antonio Caperna
214 Root Foundations
215 Ground Floor Slab
216 Box Columns
217 Perimeter Beams
218 Wall Membranes
219 Floor-Ceiling Vaults
220 Roof Vaults
Within the main frame of the building, fix the exact positions for openings-the doors and
windows- and frame these openings.
221 Natural Doors and Windows
222 Low Sill
223 Deep Reveals
224 Low Doorway
225 Frames as Thickened Edges
As you build the main frame and its openings, put in the following subsidiary patterns where
they are appropriate.
226 Column Place
227 Column Connection
228 Stair Vault
229 Duct Space
230 Radiant Heat
231 Dormer Windows
232 Roof Caps
Put in the surfaces and indoor details
233 Floor Surface
234 Lapped Outside Walls
235 Soft Inside Walls
236 Windows which Open Wide
237 Solid Doors with Glass
238 Filtered Light
239 Small Panes
240 Half-inch Trim
Build outdoor details to finish the outdoors as fully as the indoor spaces. 241 Seat Spots
242 Front Door Bench
243 Sitting Wall
244 Canvas Roofs
245 Raised Flowers
246 Climbing Plants
247 Paving with Cracks between the Stones
248 Soft Tile and Brick
Complete the buildings with ornament and light and color and your own things.
249 Ornament
250 Warm Colors
251 Different Chairs
252 Pools of Light
253 Things from Your Life
39
PROGETTAZIONE ASSISTITA (Laurea Magistrale), Prof. Elena Mortola
“Introduzione al Pattern Language”, a cura di Antonio Caperna
Alcune considerazioni preliminari in merito a
"A Pattern Language " di C. Alexander
Alessandro Giangrande
Laboratorio CAAD 'Università di Roma Tre
via della Madonna dei Monti 40
00184 Roma
Email: [email protected]
Alcune frasi tratte dai testi di C. Alexander ci aiutano a capire meglio il significato di "A
Pattern Language"
"Gli elementi di questo linguaggio sono entità chiamate pattern. Ogni pattern riguarda un
problema che si presenta in modo ricorrente nel nostro ambiente e ne descrive il nucleo della
soluzione in modo tale che sia possibile usare questa stessa soluzione un milione di volte
senza mai realizzarla allo stesso modo.
Per convenienza e chiarezza, ogni pattern ha lo stesso "formato". Innanzi tutto c'è
un'immagine che mostra un esempio archetipico (realizzato) di quel pattern. Dopo
l'immagine, ogni pattern contiene uno scritto introduttivo, che colloca il pattern stesso nel
contesto e spiega come sia possibile utilizzarlo per completare alcuni specifici pattern di
scala superiore. Poi compaiono tre asterischi che identificano l'inizio della descrizione del
problema. Dopo gli asterischi c'è un titolo in grassetto che illustra in sintesi il problema, con
una o due frasi. Dopo il titolo segue il testo che descrive in dettaglio il contenuto del
problema. Questa è la sezione più lunga. Essa illustra la base empirica del pattern, ne
dimostra la validità, elenca la gamma dei modi differenti in cui il pattern può manifestarsi in
un sito o un edificio, e così via. Quindi, ancora in grassetto come il titolo, è descritta la
soluzione - il cuore del pattern - che illustra il campo delle relazioni fisiche e sociali che
intervengono nella soluzione del problema dato, nel contesto stabilito. Questa soluzione è
sempre posta sotto forma d'istruzione, così che sappiate esattamente cosa occorre fare per
costruire il pattern. A seguito della soluzione è riportato un diagramma che mostra la
soluzione stessa sotto forma di schema, con scritte che ne identificano le componenti
principali.
Dopo il diagramma, altri tre asterischi indicano che il testo principale del pattern è finito.
Infine, dopo gli asterischi, c'è un paragrafo che collega il pattern a tutti gli altri pattern
inferiori del linguaggio e che sono necessari per completare il pattern, per arricchirlo"
()
"I pattern sono ordinati, a partire da quelli di ordine superiore, che riguardano regioni e città,
fino a quelli che riguardano quartieri, gruppi di edifici, singoli edifici, ambienti, spazi interni
e dettagli costruttivi. {} Quello che più importa di questa sequenza è che si basa sui
collegamenti tra pattern. Ogni pattern è collegato ad alcuni pattern "superiori" che lo
precedono nel linguaggio, e a certi pattern "inferiori" che lo seguono. Un pattern aiuta a
completare i pattern superiori che lo precedono, ed è completato dai pattern inferiori che lo
seguono.
Così, per esempio, troverete che il pattern VERDE ACCESSIBILE (Accessible green) (60),
innanzi tutto è collegato ad alcuni pattern superiori: CONFINE DI CULTURA LOCALE
(Subculture boundary) (13), VICINATO RICONOSCIBILE (identifiable neighborhood) (14),
COMUNITA' DI LAVORO (Work community) (41), e LUOGHI TRANQUILLI SUL RETRO (Quiet
backs) (59). Questi appaiono nella sua prima pagina. Ed è anche collegato ad alcuni pattern
inferiori: SPAZIO ESTERNO POSITIVO (Positive outdoor space) (106), LUOGHI ALBERATI (Tree
places) (171) e PARETE GIARDINO (Garden wall) (173). Questi appaiono nell'ultima pagina.
40
PROGETTAZIONE ASSISTITA (Laurea Magistrale), Prof. Elena Mortola
“Introduzione al Pattern Language”, a cura di Antonio Caperna
Ciò significa che VICINATO RICONOSCIBILE, CONFINE DI CULTURA LOCALE, COMUNITA' DI
LAVORO, e LUOGHI TRANQUILLI SUL RETRO sono incompleti, a meno che non contengano un
VERDE ACCESSIBILE; e che un VERDE ACCESSIBILE è esso stesso incompleto, a meno che non
contenga SPAZIO ESTERNO POSITIVO, POSTI ALBERATI e PARETE GIARDINO.
In pratica ciò significa che se volete progettare un prato secondo i principi illustrati in questo
pattern, dovete non solo seguire le istruzioni che descrivono il pattern stesso, ma anche
cercare di collocare il prato entro un VICINATO RICONOSCIBILE o nell'ambito di un CONFINE DI
CULTURA LOCALE, in modo che contribuisca a formare LUOGHI TRANQUILLI SUL RETRO (degli
edifici); inoltre dovete operare in modo da completare il prato costruendovi uno SPAZIO
ESTERNO POSITIVO, dei LUOGHI ALBERATI e una PARETE GIARDINO.
In breve, nessun pattern è un'entità isolata. Ogni pattern può esistere solo nella misura in cui
è supportato da altri pattern: i pattern superiori in cui é incluso, i pattern della stessa
dimensione che lo circondano e i pattern inferiori che sono inclusi al suo interno"
()
"I pattern {} sono elementi molto vitali ed in evoluzione. Se si vuole, ogni pattern può essere
considerato come un'ipotesi, come un'ipotesi scientifica. In questo senso, ogni pattern
rappresenta la nostra migliore supposizione attuale in merito a quale trasformazione
dell'ambiente fisico potrà funzionare al fine di risolvere il problema che abbiamo di fronte. Le
domande empiriche che riguardano questo problema sono: si presenta spesso ed è "sentito"
nel modo in cui lo abbiamo descritto? la soluzione, cioè la sistemazione che proponiamo,
risolve il problema? {}
Tutti i 253 pattern sono ancora ipotesi; sono tutti dei tentativi e tutti in grado di evolvere
sotto l'impulso di nuove esperienze ed osservazioni"
()
"{} ogni società vitale e coesa avrà un suo linguaggio di pattern specifico e distinto; inoltre,
ogni individuo, nell'ambito di ogni società, avrà un linguaggio specifico, articolato in parti ma
di fatto unico per colui che lo possiede. In questo senso, in una società vitale esisteranno
tanti linguaggi dei pattern quante sono le persone, anche se questi linguaggi saranno simili e
condivisi.
Sorge allora spontanea la domanda: Qual è esattamente il ruolo del linguaggio qui illustrato?
In quale quadro mentale, e con quali intenzioni, abbiamo descritto questo specifico
linguaggio? Il fatto che sia stato pubblicato in un libro vuol dire che molte migliaia di persone
potranno usarlo: ma non c'è il rischio che queste stesse persone finiscano con l'affidarsi
esclusivamente a questo solo linguaggio (pubblicato), invece di cercare di sviluppare i loro
linguaggi specifici, nella loro mente?
Il fatto è che noi abbiamo inteso scrivere questo libro come primo passo di un ampio processo
sociale che consentirà alle persone di acquisire gradualmente consapevolezza dei loro
specifici linguaggi dei pattern e di lavorare per migliorarli. Crediamo {} che i linguaggi che le
persone hanno oggi siano molto brutali e così frammentari che la maggior parte delle persone
non posseggono di fatto più alcun linguaggio: ciò che possiedono è un linguaggio che non è
fondato sulle esigenze dell'uomo e della natura"
L'elenco dei pattern
"Cominciamo dagli elementi del linguaggio che definiscono una città o una comunità. Questi
pattern non possono essere "disegnati" o "costruiti" in un colpo solo: una paziente crescita
attuata per parti, progettata in modo che ogni singola scelta contribuisca sempre a creare o
generare questi stessi pattern potrà, lentamente ma fermamente, attraverso gli anni,
costruire una comunità che contenga al suo interno questi pattern globali.
1. REGIONI INDIPENDENTI
41
PROGETTAZIONE ASSISTITA (Laurea Magistrale), Prof. Elena Mortola
“Introduzione al Pattern Language”, a cura di Antonio Caperna
All'interno di ogni regione lavorate per attuare quelle politiche regionali che intendono
proteggere il territorio e segnare i confini delle città;
2. LA DISTRIBUZIONE DELLE CITTA'
3. CUNEI DI VERDE IN CITTA'
4. VALLATE AGRICOLE
5. BORDURA DI STRADE DI CAMPAGNA
6. CITTA' DI CAMPAGNA
7. LA CAMPAGNA
Attraverso politiche cittadine, incoraggiate gradualmente la formazione di quelle strutture
primarie che definiscono la città;
8. MOSAICO DI CULTURE LOCALI
9. LUOGHI DI LAVORO SPARSI
10. MAGIA DELLA CITTA'
11. AREE DI TRASPORTO LOCALE
Sviluppate questi ampi pattern della città a partire dalle radici, per mezzo di un'azione
essenzialmente controllata ai due livelli delle comunità autogovernate, che esistono come
luoghi fisicamente riconoscibili;
12. COMUNITA' DI 7000 PERSONE
13. CONFINE DI CULTURA LOCALE
14. VICINATO RICONOSCIBILE
15. CONFINE DI VICINATO
Collegate le comunità l'una all'altra incoraggiando la crescita delle reti seguenti;
16. RETE DEL TRASPORTO PUBBLICO
17. CIRCONVALLAZIONI
18. RETI DI APPRENDIMENTO
19. RETE DI NEGOZI
20. MINI-BUSES
Stabilite la politica comunitaria e di vicinato per controllare il carattere dell'ambiente locale
secondo i principi fondamentali che seguono;
21. LIMITE DI QUATTRO PIANI
(D'ALTEZZA)
22. PARCHEGGI AL NOVE PER CENTO
23. STRADE PARALLELE
24. LUOGHI SACRALIZZATI
25. ACCESSO ALL'ACQUA
26. CICLO DI VITA
27. UOMINI E DONNE
Nei vicinati, nelle comunità, negli spazi interclusi e nei margini, incoraggiate la formazione di
centri locali;
28. NUCLEO ECCENTRICO
29. ANELLI DI DENSITA'
30. NODI DI ATTIVITA'
42
PROGETTAZIONE ASSISTITA (Laurea Magistrale), Prof. Elena Mortola
“Introduzione al Pattern Language”, a cura di Antonio Caperna
31. PASSEGGIATA (PROMENADE)
32. STRADA COMMERCIALE
33. VITA NOTTURNA
34. NODI DI INTERSCAMBIO
Attorno a questi centri, favorite la crescita della residenza sotto forma di corti basate sul
rapporto tra gruppi umani prospicienti;
35. MIX DI FAMIGLIE
36. GRADI D'USO PUBBLICO
37. AGGREGATI RESIDENZIALI
38. CASE A SCHIERA
39. COLLINA DI RESIDENZE
40. ANZIANI OVUNQUE
Tra i caseggiati a corte, intorno ai centri e specialmente nei margini dei vicinati, incoraggiate
la formazione di comunità di lavoro;
41. COMUNITA' DI LAVORO
42. FASCIA INDUSTRIALE
43. UNIVERSITA' COME PIAZZA DEL
MERCATO
44. MUNICIPIO LOCALE
45. COLLANA DI PROGETTI COMUNITARI
46. MERCATO CON MOLTI NEGOZI
47. CENTRO PER LA SALUTE
48. CASE NEGLI INTERSPAZI
Tra le residenze a corte e le comunità di lavoro consentite alla rete di strade locali e percorsi
di crescere informalmente, in modo incrementale;
49. CIRCUITI DI STRADE LOCALI
50. INTERSEZIONI A "T"
51. STRADE VERDI
52. RETE DI PERCORSI ED AUTOMOBILI
53. PORTALI PRINCIPALI
54. ATTRAVERSAMENTI PEDONALI
55. CAMMINAMENTI RIALZATI
56. PISTE CICLABILI E RASTRELLIERE
57. BAMBINI IN CITTA'
Nelle comunita' e nei vicinati prevedete spazi aperti pubblici dove le persone possano
rilassarsi, distendersi e rigenerarsi;
58. CELEBRAZIONI PUBBLICHE
59. LUOGHI TRANQUILLI SUL RETRO
60. AREE VERDI ACCESSIBILI
61. PICCOLE PIAZZE PUBBLICHE
62. POSTI SOPRAELEVATI
63. DANZARE IN STRADA
64. SPECCHI E CORSI D'ACQUA
65. LUOGHI DOVE PARTORIRE
66. TERRA CONSACRATA
43
PROGETTAZIONE ASSISTITA (Laurea Magistrale), Prof. Elena Mortola
“Introduzione al Pattern Language”, a cura di Antonio Caperna
In ogni cortile e comunità di lavoro, prevedete porzioni più piccole di spazio pubblico, per
provvedere agli stessi bisogni in versione locale;
67. TERRENO COMUNE
68. SPAZI DI GIOCO COLLEGATI
69. STANZA PUBBLICA ALL'APERTO
70. CIMITERI
71. ACQUE TRANQUILLE
72. SPORT LOCALI
73. GIOCHI D'AVVENTURA
74. ANIMALI
Nell'ambito degli spazi comuni, dei cortili e delle comunità di lavoro, incoraggiate l'evoluzione
delle più piccole istituzioni sociali indipendenti: le famiglie, i gruppi di lavoro e i luoghi di
raduno.
La famiglia, in tutte le sue forme;
75. LA FAMIGLIA
76. CASA PER UNA FAMIGLIA PICCOLA
77. CASA PER UNA COPPIA
78. CASA PER UNA PERSONA
79. LA VOSTRA CASA
I gruppi di lavoro, includendo tutti i tipi di gruppi di lavoro ed uffici, e anche gruppi di
bambini che apprendono;
80. LABORATORI AUTONOMI E UFFICI
81. PICCOLI SERVIZI SENZA TAPPETO
ROSSO
82. COLLEGAMENTI TRA UFFICI
83. MAESTRO E APPRENDISTI
84. SOCIETA' DEI TEENAGERS
85. SCUOLE DAVANTI AI NEGOZI
86. LA CASA DEI BAMBINI
I negozi locali ed i luoghi di raduno;
87. NEGOZI DI UN SINGOLO
PROPRIETARIO
88. CAFFE' SULLA STRADA
89. PICCOLI NEGOZI ALIMENTARI
90. BIRRERIA
91. LOCANDA
92. FERMATA D'AUTOBUS
93. CHIOSCHI DI GENERI ALIMENTARI
94. DORMIRE IN PUBBLICO
Questo primo elenco completa i pattern globali che definiscono una città o una comunità.
Iniziamo ora a trattare quella parte del linguaggio che dà forma a gruppi di edifici, a singoli
edifici in pianta e in tre dimensioni. I pattern che seguono sono quelli che possono essere
"progettati" o "costruiti", che definiscono edifici singoli e lo spazio tra gli edifici; tratteremo
per la prima volta i pattern che sono controllabili da singoli individui o da piccoli gruppi che
sono capaci di costruire tali pattern come 'atto' unico.
44
PROGETTAZIONE ASSISTITA (Laurea Magistrale), Prof. Elena Mortola
“Introduzione al Pattern Language”, a cura di Antonio Caperna
Un primo gruppo di pattern aiuta a disegnare l'assetto complessivo di un gruppo di edifici: la
loro altezza, il loro numero, l'ingresso al sito, le principali aree di parcheggio e i percorsi che
attraversano il complesso;
95. COMPLESSO DI EDIFICI
96. NUMERO DI PIANI
97. PARCHEGGI SCHERMATI
98. SPAZI DI CIRCOLAZIONE
99. EDIFICIO PRINCIPALE
100. STRADA PEDONALE
101. PERCORSO NEL COSTRUITO
102. FAMILIARITA' DEGLI INGRESSI
103. PICCOLI SPAZI DI PARCHEGGIO
Fissate la posizione dei singoli edifici nel sito, uno per uno, rispettando le caratteristiche del
sito stesso, gli alberi, il soleggiamento: questo è uno dei momenti più importanti nell'uso del
linguaggio;
104. RECUPERO DEL SITO
105. ESTERNI CHE AFFACCIANO A SUD
106. SPAZIO ESTERNO POSITIVO
107. ILLUMINAZIONE NATURALE DEI
CORPI DI FABBRICA
108. EDIFICI COLLEGATI
109. CASE LUNGHE E SOTTILI
All'interno dei corpi di fabbrica degli edifici, disegnate gli ingressi, i giardini, le corti, i tetti e
le terrazze. Delineate sia il volume degli edifici sia il volume dello spazio tra gli edifici,
ricordando al tempo stesso che spazi interni e spazi esterni, yin e yang, devono sempre
trovare forma insieme;
110. ENTRATA PRINCIPALE
111. GIARDINO SEMINASCOSTO
112. PASSAGGIO D'INGRESSO
113. SPAZIO DI ACCESSO PER
L'AUTOMOBILE
114. GERARCHIA DI SPAZI APERTI
115. CORTI CHE VIVONO
116. TETTI IN CASCATA
117. TETTO CHE PROTEGGE
118. TETTO GIARDINO
Quando la forma delle parti principali degli edifici e degli spazi esterni è stata
approssimativamente definita, viene il momento di prestare maggiore attenzione al dettaglio
ai percorsi e alle piazze tra gli edifici;
119. PORTICI
120. PERCORSI E METE
121. FORMA DEL PERCORSO
122. FRONTI DEGLI EDIFICI
123. DENSITA' PEDONALE
124. PICCOLE ATTIVITA'
125. GRADINI PER SEDERSI
126. QUALCOSA CHE STA NEL MEZZO
45
PROGETTAZIONE ASSISTITA (Laurea Magistrale), Prof. Elena Mortola
“Introduzione al Pattern Language”, a cura di Antonio Caperna
Ora, con i percorsi fissati, torniamo agli edifici: all'interno dei vari corpi di fabbrica di ogni
edificio, risolvete le transizioni fondamentali dello spazio, e decidete in che modo il
movimento collegherà gli spazi nelle aree di transizione;
127. GRADI DI PRIVACY
128. ILLUMINAZIONE NATURALE NEGLI
SPAZI INTERNI
129. AREE COMUNI NEL CUORE (DELL'
EDIFICIO)
130. STANZA D'INGRESSO
131. IL MOVIMENTO ATTRAVERSO LE
STANZE
132. DISIMPEGNI CORTI
133. SCALA COME PALCOSCENICO
134. VISTA ZEN
135. ARAZZO DI LUCE ED OMBRA
All'interno della struttura dei corpi di fabbrica e dei loro passaggi interni di movimento e
spazio, definite le aree e le stanze più importanti. Innanzi tutto, per l'abitazione;
136. SPAZIO PER LA COPPIA
137. SPAZIO PER I BAMBINI
138. DORMIRE A EST
139. GRANDE CUCINA ACCESSIBILE E
CONFORTEVOLE
140.SPAZIO PRIVATO D'INTERFACCIA
CON LA STRADA
141. SPAZIO D'USO INDIVIDUALE
142. SEQUENZA DI SPAZI DI SEDUTA
143. LETTI DEI BAMBINI
144. STANZA DA BAGNO
145. RIPOSTIGLIO
poi fate lo stesso per gli uffici, i laboratori, e gli edifici pubblici;
146.SPAZIO FLESSIBILE PER UFFICIO
147. MANGIARE ASSIEME
148. PICCOLI GRUPPI DI LAVORO
149. LA RECEPTION VI DA IL
BENVENUTO
150. UN POSTO PER L'ATTESA
151. PICCOLE STANZE DI RIUNIONE
152. UFFICIO SEMIPRIVATO
Aggiungete delle piccole strutture che sono parzialmente indipendenti dall'organismo
principale e collocatele agli ingressi dei piani superiori, sulla strada e nel giardino;
153.
154.
155.
156.
STANZE DA AFFITTARE
COTTAGE PER I RAGAZZI
COTTAGE PER GLI ANZIANI
POSTO PER LAVORARE
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PROGETTAZIONE ASSISTITA (Laurea Magistrale), Prof. Elena Mortola
“Introduzione al Pattern Language”, a cura di Antonio Caperna
157. LABORATORIO DOMESTICO
158. SCALE ESTERNE
Preparatevi ad unire l'interno dell'edificio con l'esterno, trattando il bordo tra interno ed
esterno come un luogo con caratteristiche proprie, e definendo per esso i dettagli alla scala
dell'uomo;
159. LUCE SUI DUE LATI DI OGNI STANZA
160. BORDO DELL'EDIFICIO
161. POSTO SOLEGGIATO
162. FACCIATA NORD
163. STANZA ALL'APERTO
164. FINESTRE SULLA STRADA
165. APERTURA VERSO LA STRADA
166. LOGGIATI INTORNO
167. TERRAZZA DI DUE METRI
168. ATTACCO AL SUOLO
Decidete in merito alla sistemazione del giardino e degli spazi interni al giardino stesso;
169. PENDII A TERRAZZE
170. ALBERI DA FRUTTO
171. POSTI ALBERATI
172. GIARDINO SELVATICO
173. PARETE GIARDINO
174. PERCORSO PERGOLATO
175. SERRA
176. PANCA NEL GIARDINO
177. ORTO
178. COMPOST
Tornate all'interno dell'edificio ed aggiungete le 'alcove' (spazi protetti ai bordi delle stanze) e
le stanze minori necessarie a completare le stanze principali;
179. ALCOVE
180. SEDILE DELLA FINESTRA
181. IL FUOCO
182. ATMOSFERA PER PRANZARE
183. SPAZIO DI LAVORO SEPARATO
184. DISPOSIZIONE DELLA CUCINA
185. SEDERE IN CIRCOLO
186. DORMIRE INSIEME
187. LETTO MATRIMONIALE
188. IL LETTO-ALCOVA
189. SPOGLIARSI E VESTIRSI
Scegliete bene la forma e dimensione delle stanze e delle 'alcove' per renderle costruibili e
adatte ad essere abitate;
190. SOFFITTO DI ALTEZZA VARIATA
191. LA FORMA DELLO SPAZIO INTERNO
192. FINESTRE CHE DANNO
SULL'ESTERNO
193. PARETE SEMIAPERTA
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PROGETTAZIONE ASSISTITA (Laurea Magistrale), Prof. Elena Mortola
“Introduzione al Pattern Language”, a cura di Antonio Caperna
194. FINESTRE INTERNE
195. IL VANO DELLA SCALA
196. PORTE D'ANGOLO
Date profondità a tutte le pareti, dovunque ci debbano essere 'alcove', finestre, scaffali,
ripostigli o sedute;
197. PARETI DI MATTONI
198. ARMADI TRA LE STANZE
199. PIANO DI CUCINA ILLUMINATO DA
LUCE NATURALE
200. SCAFFALI A GIORNO
201. PIANO ALL'ALTEZZA DELLA VITA
202. POLTRONE
203. NASCONDIGLI DEI BAMBINI
204. LUOGO SEGRETO
A questo punto, avete un disegno completo di un singolo edificio. Se avete utilizzato i
pattern indicati, avrete uno schema degli spazi, disegnato a terra con picchetti o su di un
pezzo di carta, precisi al decimetro o meglio. Conoscete l'altezza delle stanze, la dimensione
approssimata e la posizione delle finestre e porte, e sapete pressappoco come impostare i
tetti dell'edificio e i giardini.
L'ultima parte del linguaggio riguarda come rendere un edificio costruibile direttamente a
partire da questo schema approssimato di spazi, e spiega come costruirlo nel dettaglio.
Prima di disegnare i dettagli strutturali, scegliete uno schema generale per la struttura che
permetterà alla struttura stessa di svilupparsi direttamente a partire dalle vostre planimetrie
e dalla vostra concezione dell'edificio;
205. STRUTTURA CHE RISPECCHIA GLI
SPAZI SOCIALI
206. STRUTTURA EFFICACE
207. MATERIALI DI BUONA QUALITA'
208. 'IRRIGIDIMENTO' GRADUALE
Nell'ambito di questa filosofia di costruzione della struttura, sulla base delle planimetrie che
avete disegnato, completate l'intero schema strutturale; questa sarà l'ultima cosa che fate
sulla carta, prima di cominciare veramente a costruire;
209. PIANTA DELLA COPERTURA
210. PIANTA DELLE PAVIMENTAZIONI E
DEI SOFFITTI
211. SPESSORE ALLE PARETI ESTERNE
212. PILASTRI NEGLI ANGOLI
213. POSIZIONE FINALE DEI PILASTRI
Piantate i picchetti in terra per segnare la posizione dei pilastri, e cominciate a costruire in
alzato la struttura principale dell'edificio secondo il disegno delineato da questi picchetti;
214. PLINTI DI FONDAZIONE
215. SOLAIO AL PIANO TERRA
216. CASSEFORME DEI PILASTRI
217. TRAVI PERIMETRALI
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PROGETTAZIONE ASSISTITA (Laurea Magistrale), Prof. Elena Mortola
“Introduzione al Pattern Language”, a cura di Antonio Caperna
218. MURA "A SACCO"
219. SOLAI A VOLTA
220. COPERTURE A VOLTA
All'interno della struttura principale dell'edificio fissate l'esatta posizione delle aperture - le
porte e le finestre - ed intelaiate queste aperture;
221. PORTE E FINESTRE NATURALI
222. DAVANZALE BASSO
223. IMBOTTE PROFONDO
224. VANO DELLA PORTA RIBASSATO
225. TELAI INSPESSITI AI BORDI
Appena avrete costruita la struttura principale e le aperture, introducete alcuni pattern
sussidiari, quando occorra, scegliendoli tra i seguenti;
226. COLONNATO
227. GIUNTI DELLE COLONNE
228. SCALE A VOLTA
229. SPAZIO PER GLI IMPIANTI
230. CALORE RADIANTE
231. FINESTRE DELL'ABBAINO
232. CORONAMENTI DEL TETTO
Arricchite le superfici e gli interni con alcuni dettagli;
233. SUPERFICIE DEL PAVIMENTO
234. DOPPIE PARETI ESTERNE
235. PARETI INTERNE 'SOFT'
236. FINESTRE CHE SI APRONO
COMPLETAMENTE
237. PORTE VETRATE RESISTENTI
238. LUCE FILTRATA
239. TASSELLI DA VETRO ALLE FINESTRE
240. LISTELLO DA MEZZO POLLICE
Costruite i dettagli esterni per rifinire completamente l'esterno, e fate lo stesso con quelli
interni;
241. PICCOLE SEDUTE
242. PANCA SUL FRONTE DI CASA
243. MURETTO PER SEDERSI
244. TENDE
245. AIUOLE PROTETTE
246. RAMPICANTI
247. PAVIMENTI CON FESSURE TRA LE
PIETRE
248. MATTONI E PIASTRELLE
Completate l'edificio con ornamenti, luce, colore e con i vostri oggetti personali;
249. ORNAMENTO
250. COLORI CALDI
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PROGETTAZIONE ASSISTITA (Laurea Magistrale), Prof. Elena Mortola
“Introduzione al Pattern Language”, a cura di Antonio Caperna
251. SEDIE DIFFERENTI
252. CONI DI LUCE
253. COSE DELLA TUA VITA"
Una procedura per l'uso dei pattern
"Descriveremo ora una semplice procedura per scegliere i pattern più adatti al vostro
progetto, selezionandone prima alcuni tra quelli pubblicati in questo libro e aggiungendone
poi di vostri.
(1) Innanzi tutto fate una copia dell'elenco-base per 'spuntare' i pattern che costituiranno il
linguaggio 'ridotto' da utilizzare per il vostro progetto. Se non avete accesso ad una
fotocopiatrice, potete 'spuntare' i pattern direttamente sull'elenco stampato in questo libro
{}. Supporremo che abbiate a disposizione una copia personale dell'elenco.
(2) Scorrete tutto l'elenco, e individuate il pattern che meglio corrisponde complessivamente
all'oggetto che avete in mente di progettare. Questo è il pattern di partenza. Segnatelo (se ci
sono due o tre alternative possibili, non preoccupatevi: segnate solo quella che vi sembra più
rilevante; le altre vi capiterà di considerarle in seguito).
(3) Tornate al pattern di partenza e leggetelo. Tenete presente che i pattern riportati
all'inizio ed alla fine della descrizione del pattern considerato sono dei candidati potenziali
del vostro linguaggio. Quelli elencati all'inizio riguarderanno in genere una scala più alta di
quella del vostro progetto. Non includeteli nell'elenco, a meno che non abbiate la possibilità
di contribuire a realizzare questi pattern, quantomeno per una piccola parte, nelle zone più
vicine a quelle del vostro progetto. Quelli elencati alla fine si riferiscono alle scale inferiori.
Questi pattern sono tutti importanti: metteteli tutti sulla vostra lista, a meno che non
abbiate qualche motivo particolare per non volerli includere.
(4) Il vostro elenco si è così arricchito di alcuni segni di spunta in più. Tornate al pattern più
alto della lista dopo il primo e aprite il libro alla pagina che lo descrive. Questo pattern vi
indirizzerà a sua volta ad altri pattern. Segnate quelli che ritenete importanti specialmente
quelli che si riferiscono alle scale inferiori, che sono elencati alla fine. Come regola generale,
non segnate quelli che sono relativi alle scale superiori, a meno che non possiate fare
concretamente qualcosa per realizzarli nell'ambito del vostro intervento.
(5) Se siete in dubbio circa un pattern, non includetelo. La vostra lista potrebbe diventare
troppo lunga e dunque caotica. L'elenco sarà di per sé alquanto lungo, anche se includerete
soltanto i pattern che vi interessano maggiormente.
(6) Continuate così, finché non avrete segnato tutti i pattern che desiderate per il vostro
progetto.
(7) Completate ora la sequenza aggiungendo il vostro materiale. Se ci sono cose che volete
includere nel vostro progetto ma che non siete stati capaci di ritrovare nei pattern,
annotatele in un punto appropriato della sequenza, vicino ai pattern che riguardano cose
all'incirca della stessa dimensione ed importanza. Ad esempio, non esiste un pattern specifico
per la sauna. Se volete includerla, scrivete "sauna" in qualche posto, vicino al pattern STANZA
DA BAGNO (144) che è già presente nella vostra sequenza.
(8) Se volete cambiare qualche pattern, ovviamente cambiatelo. Ci sono spesso dei casi in cui
desiderereste una versione personale, più realistica e secondo voi più adatta del pattern
considerato. In questo caso eserciterete il massimo del "potere" sul linguaggio, rendendolo
efficacemente vostro, apportando le necessarie modifiche nei punti più appropriati della sua
descrizione. Queste modifiche saranno più chiare ed evidenti se cambierete anche il nome del
pattern.
Supponete che abbiate costruito un linguaggio adatto al vostro progetto. Il modo di usare il
linguaggio dipende moltissimo dalla sua scala. I pattern che trattano della città possono
50
PROGETTAZIONE ASSISTITA (Laurea Magistrale), Prof. Elena Mortola
“Introduzione al Pattern Language”, a cura di Antonio Caperna
essere realizzati solo gradualmente, grazie all'azione della gente comune; i pattern per un
edificio possono essere costruiti col pensiero e disegnati sul terreno; i pattern per la
costruzione devono essere realizzati fisicamente, sul posto"
La partecipazione secondo Alexander
"Il principio della partecipazione: tutte le decisioni riguardo a cosa costruire e come
costruire, saranno affidate agli utenti. A questo scopo varrà istituita una squadra di
progettazione formata di utenti per la progettazione di ogni edificio che si vuole costruire;
ogni gruppo di utenti può ideare un progetto, e solo i progetti ideati dagli utenti saranno presi
in considerazione per il finanziamento; lo staff di pianificazione offrirà ai membri della
squadra di progettazione tutti i pattern, le diagnosi e gli aiuti supplementari che
occorreranno loro per i progetti; il tempo che gli utenti impiegheranno per realizzare un
progetto, sarà considerato parte legittima ed essenziale della loro attività; la squadra di
progettazione completerà i suoi progetti schematici prima che gli architetti o i costruttori
inizino ad avere un'importanza maggiore"
()
"anche se il linguaggio dei pattern dà agli utenti la capacità di assumersi in prima persona la
direzione del progetto, essi hanno bisogno nondimeno di un qualche tipo di direzione e
d'incoraggiamento. Ma in che modo saranno diretti?
Prevediamo che ogni anno verranno iniziati centinaia di progetti, da parte dei più svariati
gruppi di utenti. La maggior parte di questi gruppi non avrà accesso ai fondi di finanziamento;
è necessario allora che il processo di pianificazione generico non preveda fondi per il
finanziamento di professionisti esterni. Al contrario, i gruppi di utenti devono essere messi in
grado di ottenere quest'aiuto di cui hanno bisogno dallo staff di pianificazione interno. Nei
casi in cui una squadra di progettazione sia in grado di ottenere un aiuto professionale
esterno all'inizio del processo di pianificazione, è essenziale che essa e non i professionisti
conservi la responsabilità della progettazione fino a quando non raggiunga la fase di progetto
schematico.
Una volta che il progetto schematico sia stato sottoposto al giudizio per il finanziamento e sia
stato approvato , a questo punto si renderà necessario assumere un architetto che sia in
grado di preparare una serie di disegni esecutivi per la costruzione. Per garantire che
l'architetto interpreti correttamente i disegni schematici, è essenziale che anche in questa
fase gli utenti, che hanno eseguito il progetto, abbiano il potere di assumere l'architetto, e
che egli sia disposto ad accettare il progetto che loro hanno fatto Il tipo di partecipazione che
noi auspichiamo non potrà funzionare se i progetti delle singole costruzioni saranno troppo
grandi. Le persone possono essere coinvolte nell'esecuzione di piccoli progetti un'aula, degli
spazi aperti, un piccolo edificio, lo spazio tra due edifici, ecc. Ma non possono essere
coinvolti nell'esecuzione di grandi progetti grattacieli, complessi di edifici, progetti di nuovo
sviluppo {} Nella misura in cui un progetto diventa più grande, anche la rappresentanza degli
utenti diventa sempre meno rispondente e l'edificio stesso tende ad essere impersonale. {}
Quando si passa ad un progetto gigantesco, {gli utenti} non possono sentirsi personalmente
compartecipi: in tal modo ne discutono in termini estremamente astratti e prendono decisioni
avventate. In breve, anche ai più alti livelli decisionali le persone si sentono estranee alla
progettazione d'imprese immense. Sono i piccoli progetti locali che stimolano la loro
immaginazione e le loro emozioni, e li rendono compartecipi {} Vediamo allora che la
partecipazione dipende dalle dimensioni dei progetti edilizi. Se i progetti sono troppo vasti, la
partecipazione viene compromessa. Avremmo potuto metter una clausola sulle dimensioni dei
progetti nel principio della partecipazione. Tuttavia esistono tante altre ed importanti ragioni
del perché i progetti edilizi debbano essere di piccole dimensioni {}. Il principio della crescita
per parti assicura che i progetti edilizi siano sufficientemente piccoli da consentire agli utenti
di prendere parte alla progettazione"
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PROGETTAZIONE ASSISTITA (Laurea Magistrale), Prof. Elena Mortola
“Introduzione al Pattern Language”, a cura di Antonio Caperna
La crescita per parti
"Il principio della crescita per parti: le costruzioni realizzate in ogni periodo di bilancio
saranno indirizzate prevalentemente verso i piccoli progetti. A questo fine, in ogni
determinato periodo di bilancio, somme uguali saranno stanziate per i progetti di costruzione
grandi, medie e piccole, in modo tale da generare la prevalenza numerica dell'incremento
delle costruzioni piccole; nel caso in cui i finanziamenti vengano dal di fuori della comunità,
il governo che si fa carico di questi finanziamenti deve promuovere questo principio,
assegnando i fondi in eguali proporzioni per i progetti grandi medi e piccoli; per la categoria
dei progetti piccoli, il governo deve assegnare i suoi fondi come somma globale, senza tener
conto dei dettagli specifici dei singoli progetti"
()
"Lo sviluppo per blocchi {intensivi e concentrati} si basa su una concezione secondo la quale
l'ambiente viene considerato statico e discontinuo; lo sviluppo per parti si basa invece su una
concezione secondo la quale l'ambiente viene considerato dinamico e continuo"
()
"Lo sviluppo per blocchi intensivi e concentrati si basa sul concetto di sostituzione. La crescita
per parti si basa, invece, sul concetto di riparazione. {} Ma esistono differenze ancora più
significative. Lo sviluppo per blocchi intensivi e concentrati si basa sulla falsa convinzione che
è possibile costruire edifici perfetti. La crescita per parti si basa sulla convinzione più
corretta e realistica che gli errori sono inevitabili. Naturalmente nessun edificio è perfetto,
una volta costruito. Avrà sempre delle imperfezioni, che si riveleranno gradualmente nel
corso dei primi anni della sua utilizzazione. Se non sono disponibili i capitali per correggere
queste imperfezioni, ogni edificio, una volta costruito, è destinato a rimanere in una certa
misura inefficiente"
()
"I piccoli progetti del processo di crescita per parti non verranno a costare di più per unità di
superficie utile, e forse potranno costare meno dei progetti creati dallo sviluppo per blocchi
intensivi e concentrati"
52