The Nature of Order - Rambling Readers

English language

Published Feb. 11, 2002

ISBN:: 978-0-9726529-1-9

(1 review)

The Nature of Order: An Essay on the Art of Building and the Nature of the Universe (ISBN 0-9726529-0-6) is a four-volume work by the architect Christopher Alexander published in 2002–2004. In his earlier work, Alexander attempted to formulate the principles that lead to a good built environment as patterns, or recurring design solutions. However, he came to believe that patterns themselves are not enough to generate life in buildings and cities, and that one needs a "morphogenetic" understanding of the formation of the built environment as well as a deep understanding of how the makers get in touch with the creative process.

2 editions

zaratustra reviewed The Nature of Order by Delete me

Review of 'The Nature of Order' on 'Goodreads'

2 stars

At first I found this to be some infuriatingly vague verbiage in the same vein as The Secret, except instead of "good things happen if you think about them", the key phrase is "Everything is connected".

Then it hit me and now I'm impressed. This man has written a 500-page treatise on how he hates modern architecture. The exact line is somewhere in 1940, but halfway through the book, I could tell whether the dude liked or hated something purely based on when it was made.

Of course, he never uses the terms 'like' or 'hate'. He says these buildings lack 'life', but once you use the word 'life' to describe a quality, your bias is pretty well estabilished, isn't it? You're not going to tell someone their face lacks life and expect anything but your face to have more punches in it.

The author goes on to describe a …

At first I found this to be some infuriatingly vague verbiage in the same vein as The Secret, except instead of "good things happen if you think about them", the key phrase is "Everything is connected".

Then it hit me and now I'm impressed. This man has written a 500-page treatise on how he hates modern architecture. The exact line is somewhere in 1940, but halfway through the book, I could tell whether the dude liked or hated something purely based on when it was made.

Of course, he never uses the terms 'like' or 'hate'. He says these buildings lack 'life', but once you use the word 'life' to describe a quality, your bias is pretty well estabilished, isn't it? You're not going to tell someone their face lacks life and expect anything but your face to have more punches in it.

The author goes on to describe a list of loose rules that, when applied, will create 'life' in any architectural or otherwise endeavour you choose to pursue. Prepare for wonderful pearls of wisdom such as "Everything is composed by centers that are defined by their relationship to other centers".

If you really want to never design anything modern again, or if you're the sort of person that likes couching their ideas on generalized wise-sounding vagueness to sound like a genius, this is the book for you.