Loving & Hating Christopher Alexander

LOVING AND HATING CHRISTOPHERALEXANDER molly@girlwonder.com girlwonder.com activesocialplastic.com twitter: @mollysteenson

CHRISTOPHERALEXANDER IS DIFFICULT

INTERACTION DESIGNERS AND COMPUTER SCIENTISTS

INTERACTION DESIGNERS AND COMPUTER SCIENTISTS LOVE

INTERACTION DESIGNERS AND COMPUTER SCIENTISTS LOVE CHRISTOPHERALEXANDER

ARCHITECTS?

ARCHITECTS? NOT SO MUCH.

ARCHITECTS KIND OF HATE CHRISTOPHERALEXANDER.

ALAN COOPER LOVES CHRISTOPHERA LEXANDER.

HE IS, AFTER ALL, AN INTERACTION DESIGNER.

PETER EISENMAN? NOT WHATSOEVER.

(HE’S AN ARCHITECT.)

ALAN COOPER PETER LOVES EISENMAN? CHRISTOPHERA NOT LEXANDER. WHATSOEVER.

ALEXANDER AND EISENMAN HAVE A COMMON LINEAGE

ALEXANDER EISENMAN

•Studied architecture at Cambridge •Formal logic & generative systems •Moving to the US in the same time •Eisenman hated Alexander’s dissertation •A vicious debate at Harvard in 1983

―Design today has reached the stage where sheer inventiveness can no longer sustain it.‖ —Christopher Alexander, 1963

(A FAMILIAR INTERACTIONDESIGN TOOL?)

Christopher Alexander and artificial intelligence (AI)?

MARVIN MINSKY

―I believe…that we are on the threshold of an era that will be strongly influence, and quite possibly dominated, by intelligent problem-solving

SO WHY DO ARCHITECTS HATE CHRISTOPHERALEXANDER?

―The biggest obstacle to improved design standards is the obsolescence of designers themselves.‖ –Christopher Alexander & Serge Chermayeff

―Monument and doghouse alike bear the dreadful imprint of self-appointed genius or just plain incompetence.‖ –Christopher Alexander & Serge Chermayeff

IT’S ALSO APPARENT WHY INTERACTION AND SYSTEM DESIGNERS REALLY LIKE HIM

I’M NOT SURE WHERE I STAND, TO BE HONEST

CHRISTOPHERALEXANDER IS DIFFICULT

…BUT HIS DESIGN SYSTEMS STILL FASCINATE ME

AND THAT’S WHY I’M UNTANGLING HIS INFLUENCES AND ARCHITECTURE’S LOVE- HATE RELATIONSHIP WITH HIM

molly wrightsteenson molly@girlwonder.com girlwonder.com activesocialplastic.com twitter: @mollysteenson

http://www.activesocialplastic.com	1482
http://activesocialplastic.com	437
http://www.slideshare.net	12
http://translate.googleusercontent.com	8
http://web.archive.org	5
http://lavendergarage.blogspot.com	3
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com	2
http://74.125.95.132	2
http://www.e-presentations.us	1
http://blekko-webcache.com	1

Loving & Hating Christopher Alexander

by Molly Steenson

Accessibility

Categories

Upload Details

Usage Rights

10 Embeds 1,953

Statistics

Loving & Hating Christopher Alexander Presentation Transcript