Goodbye to Christopher Alexander
Christopher Alexander has passed away. You may recognize his name even if you don’t know his face. He’s been a powerful influence in architecture and urban design for decades.
Alexander was an Austrian-born British-American architect, builder and professor - an emeritus professor at the University of California, Berkeley. He designed and built over 100 buildings though he was also known for software design.
He’s regarded as the father of the pattern language movement. The first wiki was a direct result of Alexander’s work - the wiki is the technology that makes sites like Wikipedia possible.
Alexander is best known for his 1977 book A Pattern Language, which remains an oft cited and influential work. It remains one of the best-selling books on architecture.
A Pattern Language spans more than 1,110 pages as it creates a system to empower design (by anyone) at any scale. It’s the result of his unique education: a Master’s in Mathematics, Bachelor’s in Architecture and PhD in Architecture. He was awarded the gold medal for research by the American Institute of Architects in 1970 and elected fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1996.
A Pattern Language is part of Alexander’s published works which he produced up to 2012. Other popular and thus influential titles include The Timeless Way of Building and A New Theory of Urban Design.
Consider reading Alexander’s work to better understand successful urban developments, including those in our region. Serenbe is an example as are many projects by members of the Congress for the New Urbanism (CNU). Alexander’s contributions will be celebrated at CNU’s annual conference CNU30 this coming week.
Christopher Alexander was 85 years old when he passed on March 17th of this year.
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