אדריכלות ישראלית

Design Patterns

Architecture of Israel #

109

May

2017

page

english

The main importance of Alexander’s work,

which merely recycled Aristotle, Plato and

Pythagoras’ ideas, was that it contributed

to the reinforcement of the connection

between architecture and mathematics, thus

enabling the development of CAD software,

and later on – the associated parametric

design software - Revit and its ancestors -

all of which are based on recurring design

patterns in different systems of constraints

(AI # 79).

Today, every Psychometric examinee knows

that the answer to an enigmatic problem

lies in some repeated pattern. The idea is

to define a concept through conditions and

constraints, in order to create a formula

that can be “logically” explained, even if it

seems to be meaningless, as long as it fits

into the specific logic of whoever defined the

premises.

This essay doesn’t deal with the weak

spots in Alexander’s findings, which are

in fact based on the Aristotelian pattern

of definition, whereby the validity of the

definition is determined by generalization

or differentiation. That is, by testing whether

something complies with the minimal

boundaries of a category. One might say

that in architecture, as in any other field -

definition is the heart of the problem, and not

design patterns

from the greek orders through

christopher alexander

to a basement with

an lllegal separate entrance

Dr. Hi llit Mazor

The termDesignPatterns isusuallyattributed toChristopherAlexander - anarchitect

and mathematician, who in 1977 completed his PhD in the Faculty for Architecture

at Harvard, titled “The Language of Patterns”. Alexander’s main conclusion was

that architects, like any other designers, don’t “invent the wheel”, but rather use

common design patterns adapted to circumstances. Sometimes, they manage to

advance the pattern with a successful, one-time combination; but more often than

not, consciously or unconsciously, they repeat previous “brain waves” that have

managed to survive the test of time. Alexander, who published his conclusions

in 1979 in his book The Timeless Way of Building, swiftly concluded that design

patterns actually exist in every natural detail (live or not ), and soon after came out

with a new book “The Nature of Order: An Essay on the Art of Building and the

Nature of the Universe”.

for nothing does each subject in the Planning

and Building Law start with a chapter on

“Definitions”, which later constitutes a basis

for interpretation and reference.

The subject of definition is naturally debated

in Plato’s Theaetetus dialogue and, in fact,

by every other philosopher who respects

himself, when asking: what makes a table

a “table”, what is an animal, and why is

something that flies not necessarily a bird,

as it might also be an airplane.

This logical problem is well expressed in

“The Black Raven Paradox” presented by

Carl Hempel during the 40s’, striving to

undermine the inductive method, according

to which science determines the laws of

nature through generalization, based on

observation alone. The paradox derives

from the premise - “all ravens are black”

implying that everything that isn’t black is

not necessarily a raven, since there is no

binding relation between the two.

However, whether logically valid or not, it

was (and still is) the design patterns which

constituted the basis for mass production

during the Industrial Revolution - whether a

fork or a hospital ward.

The observation whereby design patterns in

תבניות עיצוב - גורם מפתח בייצור המוני המבטא

את קידמת הטכנולוגיה.