View source for Christopher Alexander

{{short description|British-American architect (1936–2022)}}
{{For|other uses of the name|Christopher Alexander (disambiguation)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2022}}
{{Infobox architect
| name = Christopher Alexander
| image = ChristopherAlexander2012_cropped.jpg
| caption = Alexander in 2012
| parents = 
| nationality = American, British
| birth_name = Christopher Wolfgang Alexander
| birth_date = {{birth date|1936|10|04|df=y}}
| birth_place = [[Vienna]], [[Federal State of Austria|Austria]]
| death_date = {{death date and age|2022|03|17|1936|10|04|df=y}}
| death_place = Binsted, Sussex, United Kingdom
| significant_buildings =
| significant_projects = [[Pattern language]]s
| alma_mater = [[Oundle School]]<br/>[[Trinity College, Cambridge]]<br/>[[Harvard University]] (PhD)<br/>[[Massachusetts Institute of Technology]] 
| awards = [[Vincent Scully Prize]]<br/>[[Global Award for Sustainable Architecture]]
| signature = 
}}

'''Christopher Wolfgang John Alexander''' (4 October 1936 – 17 March 2022)<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.patternlanguage.com/ca/ca.html|title=PatternLanguage.com|website=www.patternlanguage.com}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.patternlanguage.com/leveltwo/caframe.htm?/../ca/whoswho.htm|title=CA FRAME|website=www.patternlanguage.com|access-date=10 February 2016|archive-date=19 March 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220319154126/http://www.patternlanguage.com/leveltwo/caframe.htm?/../ca/whoswho.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="Sustasis">{{Cite web|url=https://www.sustasis.org/media|title=Media|website=Sustasis|access-date=20 March 2022}}</ref> was an Austrian-born British-American [[architect]] and [[Design theory|design theorist]]. He was an [[Professors in the United States#Professor emeritus and emerita|emeritus professor]] at the [[University of California, Berkeley]]. His theories about the nature of human-centered design have affected fields beyond architecture, including [[urban design]], [[software design]], and [[sociology]].<ref name=AAAS>{{cite web|title=Book of Members, 1780–2010: Chapter A|url=http://www.amacad.org/publications/BookofMembers/ChapterA.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060618085753/http://amacad.org/publications/BookofMembers/ChapterA.pdf |archive-date=2006-06-18 |url-status=dead |publisher=American Academy of Arts and Sciences|access-date=14 April 2011}}</ref> Alexander designed and personally built over 100 buildings, both as an architect and a [[general contractor]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.pps.org/reference/calexander/|title=Christopher Alexander|website=www.pps.org}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nbm.org/support-us/awards_honors/scully-prize/christopher-alexander.html|title=2009 Scully Prize|website=nbm.org|access-date=12 February 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160216001841/http://www.nbm.org/support-us/awards_honors/scully-prize/christopher-alexander.html|archive-date=16 February 2016|url-status=dead}}</ref>

In software, Alexander is regarded as the father of the [[pattern language]] movement. According to creator [[Ward Cunningham]], the first [[wiki]]—the technology behind Wikipedia—led directly from Alexander's work.<ref name="C2 Wiki Front Page">{{cite web |title=C2 Wiki Front Page |url=https://wiki.c2.com/ |website=wiki.c2.com |access-date=10 June 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161024110012/http://wiki.c2.com/ |archive-date=24 October 2016 |language=en |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="c2.com">{{cite web |title=People Projects And Patterns |url=https://wiki.c2.com/?PeopleProjectsAndPatterns |website=wiki.c2.com |access-date=10 June 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161216210210/http://wiki.c2.com/?PeopleProjectsAndPatterns |archive-date=16 December 2016 |language=en |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Cunningham">{{cite book |last1=Cunningham |first1=Ward |author1-link=Ward Cunningham |last2=Mehaffy |first2=Michael W. |author2-link=Michael Mehaffy |date=2013 |chapter=Wiki as pattern language |title=Proceedings of the 20th Conference on Pattern Languages of Programs, October 23–26, 2013, Monticello, Illinois |series=PLoP '13 |location=Corryton, Tennessee |publisher=[[The Hillside Group]] |pages=32:1–32:14 |isbn=978-1-941652-00-8 |chapter-url=http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=2725669.2725707}}</ref> Alexander's work has also influenced the development of [[agile software development]].<ref name="Cunningham"/>

In architecture, Alexander's work is used by a number of different contemporary architectural communities of practice, including the [[New Urbanist]] movement, to help people to reclaim control over their own [[built environment]].<ref>{{cite news |last1=Rybczynski |first1=Witold |title=Do You See a Pattern? |url=https://slate.com/culture/2009/12/the-enduring-influence-of-architect-christopher-alexander-author-of-a-pattern-language.html |access-date=10 June 2025 |work=Slate |date=2 December 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200527091533/https://slate.com/culture/2009/12/the-enduring-influence-of-architect-christopher-alexander-author-of-a-pattern-language.html |archive-date=27 May 2020 |language=en |url-status=live}}</ref> However, Alexander was controversial among some mainstream architects and critics, in part because his work was often harshly critical of much of contemporary architectural theory and practice.<ref name="nikos">{{cite book |last1=Salingaros |first1=Nikos |date=2009 |title=[[A Theory of Architecture]] |publisher=Umbau-Verlag |place=Solingen}}</ref>{{Page needed|date=June 2025}}

Alexander is best known for his 1977 book ''[[A Pattern Language]],'' a perennial seller some four decades after publication.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Alexander |first1=Christopher |date=20 September 2018 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FTpxDwAAQBAJ&q=A+Pattern+Language:+Towns,+Buildings,+Construction |title=A Pattern Language: Towns, Buildings, Construction |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-005035-1 |language=en}}</ref> Reasoning that users are more sensitive to their needs than any architect could be,<ref>{{cite book |last1=Alexander |first1=Christopher |last2=Silverstein |first2=Murray |last3=Angel |first3=Shlomo |last4=Ishikawa |first4=Sara |last5=Abrams |first5=Danny |date=7 June 1975 |url=https://archive.org/details/oregonexperiment00alex |title=The Oregon Experiment |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-501824-0 |page=[https://archive.org/details/oregonexperiment00alex/page/42 42] |quote=Christopher Alexander users of a building know more. |url-access=registration |via=Internet Archive}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Gehl |first1=Jan |last2=Svarre |first2=Birgitte |date=1 October 2013 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DUGiAQAAQBAJ&q=%22christopher+alexander%22+%22users+know%22&pg=PA53 |title=How to Study Public Life |publisher=Island Press |isbn=978-1-61091-525-0 |via=Google Books}}</ref><ref name="OregonEx">{{cite news |last1=Bryant |first1=Greg |date=Spring 1991 |title=The Oregon Experiment after Twenty Years |url=http://www.rainmagazine.com/archive/1991-1/the-oregon-experiment-revisited |work=Rain Magazine}}</ref> he collaborated with his students [[Sara Ishikawa]], [[Murray Silverstein]], Max Jacobson, Ingrid King, and Shlomo Angel to produce a pattern language that would empower anyone to design and build at any scale.

His other books include ''[[Notes on the Synthesis of Form]], [[A City is Not a Tree]]'' (first published as a paper and re-published in book form in 2015), ''[[The Timeless Way of Building]], A New Theory of Urban Design,'' ''[[The Oregon Experiment]],'' the four-volume ''[[The Nature of Order: An Essay on the Art of Building and the Nature of the Universe]],'' about his theories of "morphogenetic" processes, and ''The Battle for the Life and Beauty of the Earth'', about the implementation of his theories in a large building project in Japan.

==Personal life==
Alexander was born in [[Vienna]], Austria to his Catholic father, Ferdinand Johann Alfred Alexander, and Jewish mother, Lilly Edith Elizabeth ([[née]] Deutsch) Alexander.<ref>{{cite web |title=Archives: Wendy Kohn Interview |url=https://www.patternlanguage.com/archive/kohn.html |website=www.patternlanguage.com |access-date=10 June 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170716205631/http://www.patternlanguage.com/archive/kohn.html |archive-date=16 July 2017 |language=en |date=2002 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Green-2022" /> As a young child, Alexander emigrated in fall 1938 with his parents from Austria to England, when his parents were forced to flee the [[Nazi regime]].<ref name="Green-2022">{{cite news |last1=Green |first1=Penelope |title=Christopher Alexander, Architect Who Humanized Urban Design, Dies at 85 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/29/arts/christopher-alexander-dead.html |access-date=10 June 2025 |agency=The New York Times |date=29 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220329201251/https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/29/arts/christopher-alexander-dead.html |archive-date=29 March 2022 |language=en |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Grabow">{{cite book |last1=Grabow |first1=Stephen |title=Christopher Alexander: The Search for a New Paradigm in Architecture |date=1983 |publisher=Oriel Press |location=Stocksfield ; Boston |isbn=9780853621997 |url=https://www.google.ca/books/edition/Christopher_Alexander/kQFQAAAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0&bsq=9780853621997 |archive-url=https://archive.org/details/christopheralexa00grab |archive-date=4 December 2015 |language=en |url-status=live}}</ref>{{Page needed|date=June 2025}} In England, his parents worked as German language teachers.<ref name="Green-2022" /> Alexander spent much of his childhood in [[Chichester]] and [[Oxford]], England, where he began his education in the sciences. He moved from England to the United States in 1958 to study at [[Harvard University]] and [[Massachusetts Institute of Technology]]. He moved to [[Berkeley, California]] in 1963 to accept an appointment as Professor of Architecture, a position he would hold for almost 40 years. In 2002, after his retirement, Alexander moved to [[Arundel]], England, where he continued to write, teach and build up to the time of his illness and death. Alexander was married to Margaret Moore Alexander, and he had two daughters, Sophie and Lily, by his former wife Pamela Patrick. Alexander held both British and American citizenship.{{citation needed|date=March 2022}}

On 17 March 2022, Alexander died of pneumonia in his home in [[Binsted]], England.<ref name="Sustasis"/><ref name="Green-2022"/>

==Education==
Alexander attended the [[Dragon School]] in Oxford and then [[Oundle School]].<ref name="Grabow"/> In 1954, he was awarded the top open scholarship to [[Trinity College, Cambridge]], in chemistry and physics, and went on to read mathematics. He earned a [[Bachelor's degree]] in Architecture and a master's degree in mathematics. He took his doctorate at Harvard (the first PhD in Architecture ever awarded at [[Harvard University]]). His dissertation "The Synthesis of Form: Some Notes on a Theory" was completed in 1962.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Alexander |first=Christopher Wolfgang John |date=1 April 2022 |title=Harvard University Library Catalog |url=http://id.lib.harvard.edu/alma/990037347430203941/catalog}}</ref> He was elected fellow at Harvard. During the same period he worked at [[MIT]] in transportation theory and computer science, and worked at Harvard in cognition and [[Cognitive science|cognitive studies]].<ref name="Alexander-1977">{{Cite book |last1=Alexander |first1=Christopher |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hwAHmktpk5IC |title=A Pattern Language: Towns, Buildings, Construction |last2=Ishikawa |first2=Sara |last3=Silverstein |first3=Murray |date=1977 |publisher=OUP USA |isbn=978-0-19-501919-3 |language=en}}</ref>

==Honors==
Alexander was elected to the [[Harvard Society of Fellows|Society of Fellows]], Harvard University 1961–64; awarded the First Medal for Research by the American Institute of Architects, 1972;<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.rainmagazine.com/archive/2014/reflections-on-puarl-01062014/christopher-alexander-aia-medal |title=AIA First Medal for Research |work=Rain |date=August 1972}}</ref> elected member of the Swedish Royal Academy of Arts, 1980; winner of the Best Building in Japan award, 1985; winner of the ACSA (Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture) Distinguished Professor Award, 1986 and 1987;<ref>*[http://acsa-arch.org/programs-events/awards/archives/DP ACSA Archives, Distinguished Professor Award winners.]</ref> invited to present the [[Louis Kahn]] Memorial Lecture, 1992; elected a Fellow of the [[American Academy of Arts and Sciences]], 1996;<ref name=AAAS/> one of the two inaugural recipients of the Athena Medal, given by the [[Congress for the New Urbanism]] (CNU), 2006;. awarded (''in absentia'') the [[Vincent Scully Prize]] by the [[National Building Museum]], 2009; awarded the lifetime achievement award by the [[Urban Design Group]], 2011; winner of the [[Global Award for Sustainable Architecture]], 2014<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.patternlanguage.com/bios/vitae.htm|title=Curriculum Vitae|website=www.patternlanguage.com}}</ref> and 1994 Seaside Prize recipient.<ref>{{cite web |title=Seaside Institute Board of Fellows |url=https://www.seasideinstitute.org/fellows |website=Seaside Institute|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210416094428/https://www.seasideinstitute.org/fellows |archive-date=16 April 2021}}</ref>

==Career==

===Author===
''[[The Timeless Way of Building]]'' (1979) described the perfection of use to which buildings could aspire:<ref>Alexander, C. (1979) ''[[The Timeless Way of Building]]'', Oxford University Press, p.7</ref> 
{{blockquote|There is one timeless way of building. It is a thousand years old, and the same today as it has ever been. The great traditional buildings of the past, the villages and tents and temples in which man feels at home, have always been made by people who were very close to the center of this way. It is not possible to make great buildings, or great towns, beautiful places, places where you feel yourself, places where you feel alive, except by following this way. And, as you will see, this way will lead anyone who looks for it to buildings which are themselves as ancient in their form, as the trees and hills, and as our faces are.}}

''[[A Pattern Language]]: Towns, Buildings, Construction'' (1977), co-authored with [[Sara Ishikawa]] and [[Murray Silverstein]], described a practical architectural system in a form that a theoretical mathematician or computer scientist might call a [[generative grammar]]. The work originated from an observation that many medieval cities are attractive and harmonious. The authors said that this occurs because they were built to local regulations that required specific features, but freed the architect to adapt them to particular situations.<ref name="Alexander-1977"/> The book had its beginnings with an early version of Alexander's PhD dissertation based on fieldwork in the Bavra village in Gujarat, India.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Davis |first=Howard |url=https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/9781003187516 |title=Early and Unpublished Writings of Christopher Alexander: Thinking, Building, Writing |date=2022-06-28 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-003-18751-6 |edition=1 |location=London |language=en |doi=10.4324/9781003187516-2}}</ref>

The book provides rules and pictures, and leaves decisions to be taken from the precise environment of the project. It describes exact methods for constructing practical, safe, and attractive designs at every scale, from entire regions, through cities, neighborhoods, gardens, buildings, rooms, built-in furniture, and fixtures down to the level of doorknobs. A notable value is that the architectural system consists only of classic patterns tested in the real world and reviewed by multiple architects for beauty and practicality.<ref name="Alexander-1977"/>

The book includes all needed surveying and structural calculations, and a novel simplified building system that copes with regional shortages of wood and steel, uses easily stored inexpensive materials, and produces long-lasting classic buildings with small amounts of materials, design and labor. It first has users prototype a structure on-site in temporary materials. Once accepted, these are finished by filling them with very-low-density concrete. It uses [[Vault (architecture)|vaulted]] construction to build as high as three stories, permitting very high densities.<ref name="Alexander-1977"/>

This book's method was adopted by the [[University of Oregon]] as described in ''[[The Oregon Experiment]]'' (1975), and remains the official planning instrument.<ref name="OregonEx"/> It has also been adopted in part by some cities as a building code.

The idea of a [[pattern language]] appears to apply to any complex engineering task, and has been applied to some of them. It has been especially influential in software engineering where [[Design pattern (computer science)|patterns]] have been used to document collective knowledge in the field.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Euro-Par 2000 parallel processing: 6th International Euro-Par Conference, Munich, Germany, August 29 - September 1, 2000 ; proceedings |date=2000 |publisher=Springer |isbn=978-3-540-67956-1 |editor-last=Bode |editor-first=Arndt |series=Lecture notes in computer science |location=Berlin Heidelberg}}</ref><ref>[http://parlab.eecs.berkeley.edu/wiki/patterns/patterns Our Pattern Language] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170824182610/http://parlab.eecs.berkeley.edu/wiki/patterns/patterns|date=2017-08-24}} An ongoing collaborative effort to construct a pattern language for parallel programming.</ref>

''A New Theory of Urban Design'' (1987) coincided with a renewal of interest in [[urbanism]] among architects, but stood apart from most other expressions of this by assuming a distinctly anti-masterplanning stance.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Dennis |first=Michael |date=2020-08-20 |title=A landmark work of architecture and urbanism |url=https://www.cnu.org/publicsquare/2020/08/20/landmark-work-architecture-and-urbanism |access-date=2023-06-29 |website=CNU |language=en}}</ref> An account of a design studio conducted with [[University of California Berkeley]] students on a site in San Francisco, it shows how convincing urban networks can be generated by requiring individual actors to respect only ''local'' rules, in relation to neighbours. A vastly undervalued part of the Alexander canon, ''A New Theory'' is important in understanding the generative processes which give rise to the [[shanty town]]s latterly championed by [[Stewart Brand]],<ref>See Chapter 2 of his ''Whole Earth Discipline'', 2009.</ref> [[Robert Neuwirth]],<ref>''Shadow Cities: a billion squatters, a new urban world'', 2004.</ref> and [[Charles III]], the then Prince of Wales (2001).<ref name="Hanson-Younés">See Brian Hanson & Samir Younés, "Reuniting Urban Form and Urban Process: The Prince of Wales's Urban Design Task Force", ''Journal of Urban Design'', v.6, no.2 (June 2001), pp.185–209; Charles, Prince of Wales, speech at the "Traditional Urbanism in Contemporary Practice" conference at The Prince's Foundation, London, 20 November 2003.</ref> There have been critical reconstructions of Alexander's design studio based on the theories put forward in ''A New Theory of Urban Design''.<ref name="Warped">{{cite journal |last1=Griffiths |first1=Gareth |date=2013 |url=https://www.academia.edu/7550339 |title=Warped educational strategies in simulation of practice |journal=Nordic Journal of Architectural Research |volume=1 |via=Academia.edu |access-date=6 February 2018}}</ref>

''[[The Nature of Order]]: An Essay on the Art of Building and the Nature of the Universe'' (2003–04), which includes The ''Phenomenon of Life'', ''The Process of Creating Life'', ''A Vision of a Living World'' and ''The Luminous Ground'', is Alexander's most comprehensive and elaborate work.{{citation needed|date=March 2022}} In it, he put forth a new theory about the nature of space and described how this theory influences thinking about architecture, building, planning, and the way in which we view the world in general. The mostly static patterns from ''A Pattern Language'' were amended by more dynamic sequences, which describe how to work towards patterns (which can roughly be seen as the result of sequences). Sequences, like [[pattern language|patterns]], promise to be tools of wider scope than building (just as his theory of space goes beyond architecture).<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Dawes |first1=Michael J. |last2=Ostwald |first2=Michael J. |title=Christopher Alexander's A Pattern Language: analysing, mapping and classifying the critical response |journal=City, Territory and Architecture |date=19 December 2017 |volume=4 |issue=1 |pages=17 |doi=10.1186/s40410-017-0073-1|s2cid=43774537 |doi-access=free}}</ref>

The online publication ''Katarxis 3'' (September 2004) includes several essays by Christopher Alexander, as well as a debate between Alexander and [[Peter Eisenman]] from 1982.<ref>{{Cite journal |url=http://www.katarxis3.com/Alexander_Eisenman_Debate.htm |title=Contrasting Concepts of Harmony in Architecture: The 1982 Debate Between Christopher Alexander and Peter Eisenman |journal=Kataraxis |volume=3 |access-date=2 December 2016}}</ref>

Alexander's final book published while he was alive, ''The Battle for the Life and Beauty of the Earth: A Struggle Between Two World-Systems'' (2012), is the story of the largest project he and his colleagues had ever tackled, the construction of a new High School/College campus in Japan. He also used the project to connect with themes in his four-volume series. He contrasted his approach, (System A) with the construction processes endemic in the U.S. and Japanese economies (System B). As Alexander describes it, System A is focused on enhancing the life/spirit of spaces within given constraints (land, budget, client needs, etc.) (drawings are sketches – decisions on placing buildings, materials used, finish and such are made in the field as construction proceeds, with adjustments as needed to meet overall budget); System B ignores, and tends to diminish or destroy that quality because there is an inherent flaw: System A is a generally a product of a different Economic System than we live in now.  When the architect is only responsible for concept and casual field drawings (which the builder uses to build structures at the lowest possible [competitive] cost), the builder finds that System A can not produce acceptable results at the lowest market cost. Except for a culture where land and material costs are low or first world clients who are sensitive, patient and wealthy. In most cases, the economically motivated builder must use a hybrid system. In the best case, System AB, the builder uses the processes of System A to differentiate, improve and inform his work. Or there are no economic considerations and the builder is the architect and is building for himself. In the last few chapters he described "centers" as a way of thinking about the connections among spaces, and about what brings more wholeness and life to a space.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Seamon |first1=David |last2=Stefanovic |first2=Ingrid |title=Christopher Alexander's "Battle for the Life and Beauty of the Earth" (2013) |url=https://www.academia.edu/2147246 |journal=Environmental & Architectural Phenomenology |volume=24 |date=Winter 2013}}</ref>

===Works of architecture===
[[File:Sala House front door.jpg|thumbnail|Entrance to the [[Sala House]]]]
Among Alexander's most notable built works are the Eishin Campus near Tokyo (the building process of which is outlined in his 2012 book ''The Battle for the Life and Beauty of the Earth''); the West Dean Visitors Centre<ref>''[http://www.livingneighborhoods.org/ht-0/westdean.htm England, The West Dean Visitors Centre]'' – Project History</ref> in [[West Sussex]], England; the Julian Street Inn (a homeless shelter) in [[San Jose, California]] (both described in ''Nature of Order''); the [[Sala House]] and the Martinez House (experimental houses in [[Albany, California|Albany]] and [[Martinez, California]] made of lightweight concrete); the low-cost housing in [[Mexicali|Mexicali, Mexico]] (described in ''The Production of Houses''); and several private houses (described and illustrated in ''The Nature of Order''). Alexander's built work is characterized by a special quality (which he used to call "the quality without a name", but named "wholeness" in ''Nature of Order'') that relates to human beings and induces feelings of belonging to the place and structure. This quality is found in the most loved traditional and historic buildings and urban spaces, and is precisely what Alexander has tried to capture with his sophisticated mathematical design theories. Paradoxically, achieving this connective human quality has also moved his buildings away from the abstract imageability valued in contemporary architecture, and this is one reason why his buildings are under-appreciated at present.<ref name="nikos"/>{{Page needed|date=June 2025}}

His former student and colleague [[Michael Mehaffy]] wrote an introductory essay on Alexander's built work in the online publication ''Katarxis 3'', which includes a gallery of Alexander's major built projects through September 2004.<ref>{{Cite journal |url=http://www.katarxis3.com/Gallery.htm |title=Gallery |journal=Kataraxis |volume=3 |access-date=2 December 2016}}</ref>

===Teaching===
In addition to his lengthy teaching career as a professor at [[UC Berkeley]] (during which a number of international students began to appreciate and apply his methods), Alexander was a key faculty member at both The Prince of Wales's Summer Schools in Civil Architecture (1990–1994) and [[The Prince's Foundation for the Built Environment]].<ref>[https://www.architectural-review.com/rethink/viewpoints/lessons-from-prince-charles/8636206.article Architectural Review, September 2012]</ref> He also initiated the process which led to the international [[Building Beauty]] post-graduate school for architecture, which launched in Sorrento, Italy for the 2017–18 academic year.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://buildingbeauty.org/|title=Building Beauty – First Level Master in Architecture|website=buildingbeauty.org}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.buildinggreen.com/newsbrief/architecture-hands-search-beauty|title=Architecture as a Hands-on Search for Beauty|date=27 December 2017|website=buildinggreen.com}}</ref>

==Influence==

Alexander has been influential both in architecture and in a wide variety of other areas of study.<ref name=Wania_citation_analysis>{{cite conference |last=Wania |first=Christine E. |date= |title=Investigating an author's influence using citation analyses: Christopher Alexander (1964-2014) |url=https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.5555/2857070.2857099|doi=((10.5555/2857070.2857099)) |work= |book-title=Proceedings of the 78th ASIS&T Annual Meeting: Information Science with Impact: Research in and for the Community |conference=ASIST '15|location=[[St. Louis, Missouri|St. Louis Missouri]] |publisher=[[Association for Information Science and Technology]]|pages=1-10 |article-number=29|isbn=087715547X|access-date=12 October 2025}}</ref>

===Architecture===
Alexander's work has widely influenced architects; among those who acknowledge his influence are [[Sarah Susanka]],<ref name="Sarah Susanka 2001">Sarah Susanka: ''Not So Big House'', Taunton Press, 2001, {{ISBN|1-56158-376-6}}</ref> [[Andres Duany]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.katarxis3.com/Duany.htm|title=Andres Duany, Architect and Urban Theorist|website=www.katarxis3.com}}</ref> and [[Witold Rybczynski]].<ref name="nbm.org">{{Cite web |url=http://www.nbm.org/support-us/awards_honors/scully-prize/christopher-alexander.html |title=Christopher Alexander |access-date=12 February 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160216001841/http://www.nbm.org/support-us/awards_honors/scully-prize/christopher-alexander.html |archive-date=16 February 2016 |url-status=dead}}</ref> [[Robert Campbell (journalist)|Robert Campbell]], the Pulitzer Prize-winning architecture critic for the ''Boston Globe'', stated that Alexander "has had an enormous critical influence on my life and work, and I think that's true of a whole generation of people."<ref name="nbm.org"/>

Architecture critic [[Peter Buchanan (architect)|Peter Buchanan]], in an essay for ''[[The Architectural Review]]''{{'}}s 2012 campaign ''The Big Rethink'', argues that Alexander's work as reflected in ''A Pattern Language'' is "thoroughly subversive and forward looking rather than regressive, as so many misunderstand it to be." He continues:
{{blockquote|Even architects not immune to the charms of the places depicted, are loath to pursue the folksy aesthetic they see as implied and do not want to engage with such primitive construction—although the systemic collapse now unfolding may force that upon them. The daunting challenge for architects then, if such a thing is even possible to realise, would be to recreate in a more contemporary idiom both the richness and quality of experience suggested by the pattern language.<ref>[http://www.architectural-review.com/the-big-rethink/the-big-rethink-transcend-and-include-the-past/8629373.article?blocktitle=Towards-a-Complete-Architecture&contentID=4950 The Big Rethink: Transcend And include The Past], 24 April 2012 (accessed 5 January 2012)</ref>}}

Many urban development projects continue to incorporate Alexander's ideas. Alexander is one of the biggest influencers of the Metamodernist movement in architecture, which is part of the broader Post-postmodern movement of the 21st century. In the UK the developers [[Living Villages]] have been highly influenced by Alexander's work and used ''A Pattern Language'' as the basis for the design of The Wintles in Bishops Castle, Shropshire.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://transitionculture.org/2009/02/24/a-wander-round-the-wintles/|title=A Wander Round the Wintles » Transition Culture|first=Rob|last=Hopkins|website=transitionculture.org}}</ref> [[Sarah Susanka]]'s "Not So Big House" movement adapts and popularizes Alexander's patterns and outlook.<ref name="Sarah Susanka 2001"/>

===Computer science===
Alexander's ''[[Notes on the Synthesis of Form]]'' has been cited by researchers in computer science since the late 1960s.<ref name=Benner_67_CS_ref>{{cite conference |last=Benner |first=Frank H. |date= |title=On designing generalized file records for management information systems |url=https://doi.org/10.1145/1465611.1465649|doi=10.1145/1465611.1465649 |work= |book-title=Proceedings of the November 14-16, 1967, Fall Joint Computer Conference |conference=1967 [[Fall Joint Computer Conference]] |location=[[Las Vegas|Las Vegas Nevada]] |publisher=Association for Computing Machinery|pages=575–580 |isbn=9781450378963|access-date=11 October 2025|quote=Paraphrasing Alexander, the difficulties attended upon third generation computer applications are much more subtle and complex than in the past.}}</ref><ref name=Haney_69_CS_ref>{{cite conference |last=Haney |first=F. M. |date= |title=ISDS: a program that designs computer instruction sets |url=https://doi.org/10.1145/1478559.1478630|doi=10.1145/1478559.1478630 |work= |book-title=Proceedings of the November 18-20, 1969, Fall Joint Computer Conference |conference=1969 [[Fall Joint Computer Conference]] |location=[[Anaheim, California|Anaheim, CA]] |publisher=Association for Computing Machinery|pages=575–580 |isbn=9781450379069|access-date=11 October 2025|quote=Before programs that simulate design process can be considered, the complex nature of this process must be understood. Many models of the design process have been proposed, but for the most part they are the same in content if not in detail. However, two men have adequately expressed the complexity of design process—[[Morris Asimow|Asimow]] and Alexander.}}</ref><ref name=Wania_citation_analysis /> It had an influence<ref name="naur">{{cite conference |first=H. |last=Kilov |title=Using RM-ODP to bridge communication gaps between stakeholders |book-title=Communications H Kilov |conference=Workshop on ODP for Enterprise Computing 2004 |citeseerx=10.1.1.161.553 |quote=Peter Naur proposed in 1968 to use Christopher Alexander's work…}}</ref> in the 1960s and 1970s on [[programming language design]], modular programming, [[object-oriented programming]], software engineering and other design methodologies. Alexander's mathematical concepts and orientation were similar to [[Edsger Dijkstra]]'s influential ''A Discipline of Programming''.<ref>{{Cite book
 |edition=Facsimile
 |publisher=Prentice Hall, Inc.
 |isbn=978-0-13-215871-8
 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/disciplineofprog0000dijk/page/217 217]
 |last1=Dijkstra
 |first1=E. |author1-link=Edsger Dijkstra
 |title=A Discipline of Programming
 |date=28 October 1976
 |url=https://archive.org/details/disciplineofprog0000dijk/page/217
}}</ref>

The greatest influence of ''[[A Pattern Language]]'' in computer science is the [[design patterns]] movement.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://zeta.math.utsa.edu/~yxk833/Chris.text.html#COMPUTER |title=Christopher's Alexander's influence on Computer Science |author=Nikos A. Salingaros |access-date=8 February 2014 |archive-date=15 April 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110415002236/http://zeta.math.utsa.edu/~yxk833/Chris.text.html#COMPUTER |url-status=dead}}</ref> Alexander's philosophy of incremental, organic, coherent design also influenced the [[extreme programming]] movement.<ref name="accu">{{cite web|url=http://accu.org/index.php/journals/509|title=ACCU :: eXtreme Programming An interview with Kent Beck|first=ACCU|last=Members|website=accu.org}}</ref> The [[Wiki]] was invented<ref name="C2 Wiki Front Page"/><ref name="c2.com"/> to allow the [[Hillside Group]] to work collaboratively on programming [[design patterns]]. More recently the "deep geometrical structures" as discussed in ''[[The Nature of Order]]'' have been cited as having importance for [[object-oriented programming]], particularly in C++.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cs.pitt.edu/~chang/budha/coplien.htm|title=Space: The Final Frontier|website=www.cs.pitt.edu}}</ref>

[[Will Wright (game designer)|Will Wright]] wrote that Alexander's work was influential in the origin of the ''[[SimCity]]'' computer games, and in his later game ''[[Spore (2008 video game)|Spore]]''.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.iconeye.com/architecture/features/item/3261-will-wright-interview|title=Will Wright interview|website=iconeye.com}}</ref>

Alexander often led his own software research, such as the 1996 Gatemaker project with [[Greg Bryant (computer scientist)|Greg Bryant]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://gatemaker.org|title=Aspen – early 1997|website=gatemaker.org}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |first1=Bryant |last1=Greg |date=2013 |url=http://www.rainmagazine.com/archive/2014/gatemaker |title=Gatemaker: Christopher Alexander's dialogue with the computer industry |website=Rain Magazine}}</ref>

Alexander discovered and conceived a recursive structure, so called wholeness, which is defined mathematically, exists in space and matter physically, and reflects in our minds and cognition psychologically. He had his idea of wholeness back to early 1980s when he finished his first version of ''The Nature of Order''. His idea of wholeness or degree of wholeness relying on a recursive structure of centers resemble aspects of Google's PageRank.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Jiang |first1=Bin |date=27 March 2015 |title=Wholeness as a Hierarchical Graph to Capture the Nature of Space |journal=International Journal of Geographical Information Science |volume=29 |issue=9 |pages=1632–1648 |doi=10.1080/13658816.2015.1038542 |bibcode=2015IJGIS..29.1632J |s2cid=8209848 |arxiv=1502.03554}}</ref>

===Religion===
The fourth volume of ''[[The Nature of Order]]'' approaches religious questions from a scientific and philosophical rather than mystical direction, focusing in human feelings, well-being and nature interaction rather than metaphysics. In it, Alexander describes deep ties between the nature of matter, [[human perception]] of the universe, and the geometries people construct in buildings, cities, and artifacts. He suggests a crucial link between traditional practices and [[belief]]s, and recent scientific advances.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.natureoforder.com/summarybk4.htm|title=Summary of Book Four of The Nature of Order|website=www.natureoforder.com}}</ref> Despite his leanings toward [[Deism]], and his naturalistic and anthropologic approach to religion, Alexander maintained that he was a practicing member of the [[Catholic Church]], which he believed to have accumulated, within its knowledge, a great deal of human truth.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Alexander |first1=Christopher |date=February 2016 |url=http://www.firstthings.com/article/2016/02/making-the-garden |title=Making the Garden |website=First Things}}</ref>

===Design science===
The life's work of Alexander is dedicated to turn design from unselfconscious behavior to selfconscious behavior, so called [[design science]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Jiang |first1=Bin |date=March 1, 2019 |title=Christopher Alexander and His Life's Work: The Nature of Order |journal=Urban Science |language=en |volume=3 |issue=1 |pages=30 |doi=10.3390/urbansci3010030 |issn=2413-8851|doi-access=free|bibcode=2019UrbSc...3...30J }}</ref> In his very first book ''Notes on the Synthesis of Forms'', he set what he wanted to do. He was inspired by traditional buildings, and tried to derive some 253 patterns for architectural design. Later on, he further distilled 15 geometric properties to characterize living structure in ''[[The Nature of Order]]''. The design principles are differentiation and adaptation.

==Published works==
Alexander's published works include: 
* ''Community and Privacy'', with [[Serge Chermayeff]] (1963)
* ''[[Notes on the Synthesis of Form]]'' (1964)
* ''A City is Not a Tree'' (1965)<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.rudi.net/books/200|title=Christopher Alexander: A City is not a Tree part 1 &#124; RUDI – Resource for Urban Development International|date=4 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304012726/http://www.rudi.net/books/200|archive-date=4 March 2016}}</ref>
* ''The Atoms of Environmental Structure'' (1967)
* ''A Pattern Language which Generates Multi-service Centers'', with Ishikawa and Silverstein (1968)
* ''Houses Generated by Patterns'' (1969)
* ''The Grass Roots Housing Process'' (1973)<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.livingneighborhoods.org/library/grassroots.htm |title=Grass Roots Housing Process |website=www.livingneighborhoods.org}}</ref>
*  The ''Center for Environmental Structure Series'', made up of: 
** ''[[The Oregon Experiment]]'' (1975)
** ''[[A Pattern Language]]'', with Ishikawa and Silverstein (1977)
** ''[[The Timeless Way of Building]]'' (1979)
** ''The Linz Cafe'' (1981)
** ''The Production of Houses'', with Davis, Martinez, and Corner (1985)
** ''A New Theory of Urban Design'', with Neis, Anninou, and King (1987)
** ''Foreshadowing of 21st Century Art: The Color and Geometry of Very Early Turkish Carpets'' (1993)
** ''The Mary Rose Museum'', with Black and Tsutsui (1995)
* ''[[The Nature of Order]] Book 1: The Phenomenon of Life'' (2002)
* ''[[The Nature of Order]] Book 2: The Process of Creating Life'' (2002)
* ''[[The Nature of Order]] Book 3: A Vision of a Living World'' (2005)
* ''[[The Nature of Order]] Book 4: The Luminous Ground'' (2004)
* ''The Battle for the Life and Beauty of the Earth: A Struggle between Two World-Systems, ''with Hans Joachim Neis and Maggie More Alexander (2012)

Unpublished:<ref>{{cite web|url=http://transitionculture.org/2010/12/23/exclusive-to-transition-culture-an-interview-with-christopher-alexander/|title=Exclusive to Transition Culture! An interview with Christopher Alexander » Transition Culture|first=Rob|last=Hopkins|website=transitionculture.org}}</ref> 
* ''Sustainability and Morphogenesis'' (working title)<ref>{{Cite web |last=Alexander |first=Christopher |date=30 October 2004 |title=Sustainability and Morphogenesis |url=https://www.livingneighborhoods.org/library/schumacher-pages-1-28.pdf |access-date=5 December 2022 |website=Building Living Neighborhoods}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[Pattern gardening]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
* Grabow, Stephen: ''Christopher Alexander: The Search for a New Paradigm in Architecture'', Routledge & Kegan Paul, London and Boston, 1983. {{ISBN|0-85362-199-3}}
* Leitner, Helmut: ''Pattern Theory: Introduction and Perspectives on the Tracks of Christopher Alexander'', Graz, 2015, {{ISBN|1-5056-3743-0}}.
* Mehaffy, Michael: ''Cities Alive: Jane Jacobs, Christopher Alexander, and the Roots of the New Urban Renaissance'', Sustasis Press, 2017, {{ISBN|0-9893469-9-4}}.

==External links==
{{Wikiquote}}
* [http://www.patternlanguage.com/ Official website for Alexander's ''Pattern Language'']
* [http://www.natureoforder.com/ Official website of Christopher Alexander, on his 4-volume book ''The Nature of Order'']
* [http://zeta.math.utsa.edu/~yxk833/Chris.text.html "Some Notes on Christopher Alexander"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110415002236/http://zeta.math.utsa.edu/~yxk833/Chris.text.html |date=15 April 2011}}, by [[Nikos Salingaros]]
* [http://www.pps.org/info/placemakingtools/placemakers/calexander Introduction to Christopher Alexander]
* [https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4469331 Radio interview with Christopher Alexander] by NPR's Jennifer Ludden
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20110306024503/http://www.nbm.org/about-us/national-building-museum-online/alexander-mehaffy-interview.html National Building Museum interviews Michael Mehaffy] on the occasion of Christopher Alexander receiving the 2009 Scully Prize
* {{OL author}}

{{Christopher Alexander|state=expanded}}
{{Design patterns}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Alexander, Christopher}}
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