Christopher Alexander & the space we are shaping

[douglas germann]

Christine--

Can you say a bit more?

			:- Doug.

On Sun, 2009-09-06 at 17:26 -0700, Christine Whitney Sanchez wrote:
> Doug, to use language from my inner development world, I experience  
> open space as a container for evolution.
> 
> Christine
> 
> Christine Whitney Sanchez
> Collaborative Wisdom & Strategy
> 480.759.0262
> www.christinewhitneysanchez.com
> Skype: christinewhitneysanchez
> http://www.facebook.com/ChristineWhitneySanchez
> 
> On Sep 6, 2009, at 10:20 AM, 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.
> 
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