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Title: The Oregon Experiment by Christopher Alexander ISBN: 0-19-501824-9 Publisher: Oxford Press Pub. Date: July, 1988 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $45.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.5 (2 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Building an educational community
Comment: The Oregon Experiment is one of a series of influential volumes on architecture and social design published by Christopher Alexander and his colleagues in the 1970s. While the most well-known volume in the series, A Pattern Language: Towns, Buildings, and Construction, develops general principles for the design of social spaces at all scales, The Oregon Experiment applies those principles to a specific case: the campus of the University of Oregon.
If you are looking for an example of a specific campus plan, however, you will not find it here. Central to Alexander's approach is the notion that communities should not create fixed master plans, but rather should develop a common pattern language, and then apply it organically, in a piecemeal fashion, as needs arise. The book talks as much about this process of planning as it does about individual construction projects. Whenever a need arises (expansion of a building, addition of a door, creation of a green) people consult their pattern language and build something to suit the space and satisfy the need. Because everyone follows the agreed-upon language, the new parts harmonize with those that already exist (or replace earlier, poorly-designed structures).
If you have enjoyed studying Alexander's patterns in A Pattern Language, you will find here a collection of new ones that are specific to a university setting, including "University Population," "University Shape and Diameter," "Departments of 400," "Local Administration," "Classroom Distribution," and about a dozen more. Although he clearly draws on ideas from British universities in many cases, he unaccountably does not include one of the fundamental features of the British model, namely the residential college of 500 (or so) within the larger institution. (Although he does include aspects of this pattern under the heading "Small Student Unions.") As always, Alexander's pattern descriptions are clear, blunt, and thought-provoking.
The question that most readers will want to have answered is, "Does all this really work?" When the volume was written, of course, the process was just getting under way, and so we cannot know from this book alone whether everything described was successful or has been sustained over the long term. From what I've seen of campus master planning in public universities, it often turns out in the end to have less to do with creating good educational environments than it does with kowtowing to the local chamber of commerce and lining the pockets of already-rich trustees. But just because something is difficult doesn't mean it shouldn't be made the goal. If Alexander or someone at the University of Oregon were to produce a sequel, "The Oregon Experiment 25 Years On," I'm sure it would meet with a warm reception.
Rating: 2
Summary: A frustrating piece of vapourware
Comment: As a software designer and as somebody who lives and works in buildings in cities, I find the ideas in some of Alexander's other books on architecture and design - The Timeless Way of Building and A Pattern Language - very interesting and appealing. They are a brave attempt to point to a more human, community-oriented way of doing things.
I had high hopes that The Oregon Experiment would describe a concrete example of whether these ideas worked when they were put into practice. It does nothing of the kind. It describes an interesting thought experiment in participatory design and tries to present this as a vindication of the Pattern Language concepts. But nowhere does it even mention whether the design it describes was ever actually implemented, much less whether it worked from the inhabitants' point of view.
It is very easy for a design team to get carried away with what a great design they have on paper. I've done it loads of times. That enthusiasm tells us nothing about whether a design is actually going to be a success.
I know Alexander later moved from academia and started trying to put his ideas into practice on actual building projects. A book on his real experiences and how well the original ideas stood up to the cold light of reality would be fascinating and important. The Oregon Experiment isn't that book.
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Title: The Timeless Way of Building by Christopher Alexander ISBN: 0195024028 Publisher: Oxford University Press Pub. Date: 1979 List Price(USD): $55.00 |
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Title: A Pattern Language: Towns, Buildings, Construction by Christopher Alexander, Sara Ishikawa, Murray Silverstein ISBN: 0195019199 Publisher: Oxford University Press Pub. Date: 1977 List Price(USD): $65.00 |
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Title: The Production of Houses by Christopher Alexander, Howard Davis, Julio Martinez ISBN: 0195032233 Publisher: Oxford Press Pub. Date: June, 1985 List Price(USD): $50.00 |
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Title: A New Theory of Urban Design (Center for Environmental Structure Series, Vol 6) by Christopher Alexander, Hajo Neis, Artemis Anninou, Ingrid King ISBN: 0195037537 Publisher: Oxford Press Pub. Date: November, 1987 List Price(USD): $45.00 |
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Title: The Phenomenon of Life: The Nature of Order, Book 1 by Christopher Alexander ISBN: 0972652914 Publisher: Center For Environmental Structure Pub. Date: June, 2003 List Price(USD): $75.00 |
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