Christopher Alexander & the space we are shaping

[Zelle Nelson]

Hi Doug,

Wonderful questions!

For me the shape of opened space is fluid, inviting, comfortable,  
flexible - and at the same time, exciting, edgy and playful. - the  
bounds of passion and responsibility hold these. Circle is important  
to the space because it furnishes us with equality and gives everyone  
a voice who wants one.

In the invitation our goal is to collect the building materials, the  
architects, the builders. Then we set them loose to talk with each  
other to form the building.

Do we have a role to remind them about designing Open Space into  
whatever they've come together to build, or is that too much infusion  
of ourselves into the process?

with grace and love,

Zelle

Zelle Nelson
Know Place Like Home • Engaging the Soul at Work • State of Grace Document
www.knowplacelikehome.com
www.engagingthesoulatwork.com
www.stateofgracedocument.com
zelle at knowplacelikehome.com

work/home: (001) 828.693.0802
mobile: (001) 847.951.7030
Isle of Skye
2021 Greenville Hwy
Flat Rock, NC 28731
USA

On Sep 6, 2009, at 1:20 PM, douglas germann wrote:

> Hi--
>
> Still reading Christopher Alexander and finding lots of parallels to  
> OS:
>
>        Most important of all, it was the space (more than the  
> building)
>        which was being formed. That flies against 20th-century
>        awareness, which places too much emphasis on buildings. What
>        mattered about the building is the contribution it makes to the
>        formation of shaped, coherent, public space. That was where the
>        inspiration came from, and it was that—later—which made it
>        possible to make the building beautiful. Christopher Alexander,
>        The Nature of Order: An Essay on the Art of Building and The
>        Nature of the Universe, Book Three: A Vision of a Living World,
>        p 138
>
> In another instance, he says that in designing a home, it is best to
> design the garden first: when that is placed in the most health- 
> giving,
> nurturing spot, then the house is made that much better, that much  
> more
> wonderful. Garden first!
>
> The question this raises for me for OS is: most often the  
> communities in
> which we are opening space want to accomplish some *thing*. This thing
> is Alexander's building. But he does not look first at the building;
> rather he tries to shape public space--give it volume, life. What  
> are we
> trying to shape when we open space?
>
> It is easy for me to throw in a glib "we simply are there to open
> space," but I think the inquiry needs to go deeper than that. What is
> the shape of opened space? What makes it coherent? What are the  
> factors
> which give it shape?
>
> 			:- Doug.
>
> *
> *
> ==========================================================
> OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
> ------------------------------
> To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options,
> view the archives of oslist at listserv.boisestate.edu:
> http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html
>
> To learn about OpenSpaceEmailLists and OSLIST FAQs:
> http://www.openspaceworld.org/oslist


*
*
==========================================================
OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
------------------------------
To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options,
view the archives of oslist at listserv.boisestate.edu:
http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html

To learn about OpenSpaceEmailLists and OSLIST FAQs:
http://www.openspaceworld.org/oslist
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.openspacetech.org/pipermail/oslist-openspacetech.org/attachments/20091012/6afb50fb/attachment-0015.htm>