← the founders library

A Pattern Language: Towns, Buildings, Construction

Christopher Alexander, Sara Ishikawa and Murray Silverstein; with Max Jacobson, Ingrid Fiksdahl-King and Shlomo Angel

Book content checked: . What this means

Buy a copy
Amazon USAmazon UKAmazon DE

These are Amazon affiliate links. I may earn a commission if you buy through them, at no extra cost to you. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Founder connections

  • Patrick CollisonRated particularly great on his bookshelf
    The dated original-HTML research records a top rating. The bookshelf is an owned-book catalog, only about half read; this does not prove completed reading or this exact edition.
    Source

Summary

This architectural sourcebook organizes more than 250 design patterns for towns, buildings and construction. Each pattern identifies a problem, discusses it and proposes a solution. The patterns can be combined to develop a design for a specific place.

The book concerns actual buildings, offices, workshops and public space. Its method should be read in that setting; it is not presented here as a universal software or startup formula.

  • SourceChecked publisher or author source · Description: 250-plus problem/illustration/solution patterns for buildings and construction; 1977 ISBN
  • SourceChecked publisher or author source · Licensed Oxford preview, PDF pp. 4–6 title/byline/copyright/contents; pp. 10–16 using a pattern language

Why read it Our view

Use the worked architectural problems to examine how design requirements and proposed solutions fit together. Its direct application is the built environment.