Last revised: Friday, 7 September 18 09:03:51 Europe/London
From the book, ' A Pattern Language'
Volume 1 , The Timeless Way of Building, and Volume 2, A Pattern Language, are two halves of a single work.
This book provides a language, for building and planning - the other book provides the theory and instructions for the use of the language. This book describes the detailed patterns for towns and neighborhoods, houses, gardens, and rooms. The other book explains the discipline which makes it possible to use these patterns to create a building or a town. This book is the sourcebook of the timeless way- the other is its practice and its origin.
The two books have evolved very much in parallel. They have been growing over the last eight years, as we have worked on the one hand to understand the nature of the building process, and on the other hand to construct an actual, possible pattern language. We have been forced by practical considerations, to publish these two books under separate covers - but in fact, they form an indivisible whole. It is possible to read them separately. But to gain the insight which we have tried to communicate in them, it is essential that you read them both.
The Timeless Way of Building describes the fundamental nature of the task of making towns and buildings.
It is shown there, that towns and buildings will not be able to become alive, unless they are made by all the
people in society, and unless these people share a common pattern language, within which to make these
buildings, and unless this common pattern language is alive itself.
In this book, we present one possible pattern language, of the kind called for in The Timeless Way. This language is extremely practical. It is a language that we have distilled from our own building and planning efforts over the last eight years. You can use it to work with your neighbors, to improve your town and neighborhood. You can use it to design a house for yourself, with your family- or to work with other people to design an office or a workshop or a public building like a school. And you can use it to guide you in the actual process of construction.
The elements of this language are entities called patterns. Each pattern describes a problem which occurs
over and over again in our environment, and then describes the core of the solution to that problem, in such
a way that you can use this solution a million times over, without ever doing it the same way twice.
For convenience and clarity, each pattern has the same format. First, there is a picture, which shows an archetypal example of that pattern. Second, after the picture, each pattern has an introductory paragraph, which sets the context for the pattern, by explaining how it helps to complete certain larger patterns. Then there are three diamonds to mark the beginning of the problem. After the diamonds there is a headline, in bold type. This headline gives the essence of the problem in one or two sentences. After the headline comes the body of the problem. This is the longest section. It describes the empirical background of the pattern, the evidence for its validity, the range of different ways the pattern can be manifested in a building, and so on.
Then, again in bold type, like the headline, is the solution — the heart of the pattern — which describes the field of physical and social relationships which are required to solve the stated problem, in the stated context. This solution is always stated in the form of an instruction — so that you know exactly what you need to do, to build the pattern. Then, after the solution, there is a diagram, which shows the solution in the form of a diagram, with labels to indicate its main components.
After the diagram, another three diamonds, to show that the main body of the pattern is finished. And finally, after the diamonds there is a paragraph which ties the pattern to all those smaller patterns in the language, which are needed to complete this pattern, to embellish it, to fill it out.
There are two essential purposes behind this format. First, to present each pattern connected to other patterns, so that you grasp the collection of all 253 patterns as a whole, as a language, within which you can create an in- finite variety of combinations. Second, to present the problem and solution of each pattern in such a way that you can judge it for yourself, and modify it, without losing the essence that is central to it.
Let us next understand the nature of the connection between patterns.
The patterns are ordered, beginning with the very largest, for regions and towns, then working down
through neighborhoods, clusters of buildings, buildings, rooms and alcoves, ending finally with details of construction.
This order, which is presented as a straight linear sequence, is essential to the way the language works. It is
presented, and explained more fully, in the next section. What is most important about this sequence, is that it is based on the connections between the patterns. Each
pattern is connected to certain "larger" patterns which come above it in the language; and to certain "smaller" patterns which come below it in the language. The pattern helps to complete those larger patterns which are "above" it, and is itself completed by those smaller patterns which are "below" it.
Thus, for example, you will find that the pattern ACCESSIBLE GREEN (60), is connected first to certain larger patterns: SUBCULTURE BOUNDARY (13), IDENTIFIABLE NEIGHBORHOOD (14), WORK COMMUNITY (41), and QUIET BACKS (59). These appear on its first page. And it is also connected to certain smaller patterns: POSITIVE OUTDOOR SPACE (1O7), TREE PLACES (171), and GARDEN
WALL (173). These appear on its last page.
What this means, is that IDENTIFIABLE NEIGHBORHOOD, SUBCULTURE BOUNDARY, WORK COMMUNITY, and QUIET BACKS are incomplete, unless they contain an ACCESSIBLE GREEN; and that an ACCESSIBLE GREEN is itself incomplete, unless it contains POSITIVE OUTDOOR SPACE,
TREE PLACES, and a GARDEN WALL.
And what it means in practical terms is that, if you want to lay out a green according to this pattern, you
must not only follow the instructions which describe the pattern itself, but must also try to embed the green
within an identifiable neighborhood or in some subculture boundary, and in a way that helps to form
quiet backs; and then you must work to complete the green by building in some positive outdoor space,
tree places, and a garden wall.
In short, no pattern is an isolated entity. Each pattern can exist in the world, only to the extent that is supported by other patterns : the larger patterns in which it is embedded, the patterns of the same size that surround it, and the smaller patterns which are embedded in it.
This is a fundamental view of the world. It says that when you build a thing you cannot merely build that
thing in isolation, but must also repair the world around it, and within it, so that the larger world at that one
place becomes more coherent, and more whole; and the thing which you make takes its place in the web of nature, as you make it.
Now we explain the nature of the relation between problems and solutions, within the individual patterns.
Each solution is stated in such a way that it gives the essential field of relationships needed to solve the problem, but in a very general and abstract way — so that you can solve the problem for yourself, in your own way, by adapting it to your preferences, and the local conditions at the place where you are making it.
For this reason, we have tried to write each solution in a way which imposes nothing on you. It contains only those essentials which cannot be avoided if you really want to solve the problem. In this sense, we have tried, in each solution, to capture the invariant property common to all places which succeed in solving the problem.
But of course, we have not always succeeded. The solutions we have given to these problems vary in significance. Some are more true, more profound, more certain, than others. To show this clearly we have marked every pattern, in the text itself, with two asterisks, or one asterisk, or no asterisks.
In the patterns marked with two asterisks, we believe that we have succeeded in stating a true invariant: in
short, that the solution we have stated summarizes a property common to all possible ways of solving the
stated problem. In these two-asterisk cases we believe, in short, that it is not possible to solve the stated problem properly, without shaping the environment in one way or another according to the pattern that we have given — and that, in these cases, the pattern describes a deep and inescapable property of a well-formed environment.
In the patterns marked with one asterisk, we believe that we have made some progress towards identifying
such an invariant: but that with careful work it will certainly be possible to improve on the solution. In
these cases, we believe it would be wise for you to treat the pattern with a certain amount of disrespect — and that you seek out variants of the solution which we have given, since there are almost certainly possible ranges of solutions which are not covered by what we have written.
Finally, in the patterns without an asterisk, we are certain that we have not succeeded in defining a true invariant — that, on the contrary, there are certainly ways of solving the problem different from the one which we have given. In these cases we have still stated a solution, in order to be concrete — to provide the reader with at least one way of solving the problem — but the task of finding the true invariant, the true property which lies at the heart of all possible solutions to this problem, remains undone.
We hope, of course, that many of the people who read, and use this language, will try to improve these
patterns — will put their energy to work, in this task of finding more true, more profound invariants — and we hope that gradually these more true patterns, which are slowly discovered, as time goes on, will enter a common language, which all of us can share.
You see then that the patterns are very much alive and evolving. In fact, if you like, each pattern may be
looked upon as a hypothesis like one of the hypotheses of science. In this sense, each pattern represents our current best guess as to what arrangement of the physical environment will work to solve the problem presented. The empirical questions center on the problem — does it occur and is it felt in the way we have described it? — and the solution — does the arrangement we propose in fact resolve the problem? And the asterisks represent our degree of faith in these hypotheses. But of course, no matter what the asterisks say, the patterns are still hypotheses, all 253 of them — and are therefore all tentative, all free to evolve under the impact of new experience and observation.
Let us finally explain the status of this language, why we have called it a "A Pattern Language" with the emphasis on the word "A," and how we imagine this pattern language might be related to the countless thousands of other languages we hope that people will make for themselves, in the future.
The Timeless Way of Building says that every society which is alive and whole, will have its own unique and distinct pattern language; and further, that every individual in such a society will have a unique language, shared in part, but which as a totality is unique to the mind of the person who has it. In this sense, in a healthy society there will be as many pattern languages as there are people — even though these languages are shared and similar.
The question then arises: What exactly is the status of this published language? In what frame of mind, and
with what intention, are we publishing this language here? The fact that it is published as a book means that
many thousands of people can use it. Is it not true that there is a danger that people might come to rely on this one printed language, instead of developing their own languages, in their own minds?
The fact is, that we have written this book as a first step in the society-wide process by which people will
gradually become conscious of their own pattern languages, and work to improve them. We believe, and
have explained in The Timeless Way of Building, that the languages which people have today are so brutal, and so fragmented, that most people no longer have any language to speak of at all — and what they do have is not based on human, or natural considerations.
We have spent years trying to formulate this language, in the hope that when a person uses it, he will
be so impressed by its power, and so joyful in its use, that he will understand again, what it means to have a
living language of this kind. If we only succeed in that, it is possible that each person may once again embark on the construction and development of his own language — perhaps taking the language printed in this book, as a point of departure.
And yet, we do believe, of course, that this language which is printed here is something more than a manual, or a teacher, or a version of a possible pattern language.
Many of the patterns here are archetypal — so deep, so deeply rooted in the nature of things, that it seems likely that they will be a part of human nature, and human action, as much in five hundred years, as they are today. We doubt very much whether anyone could construct a valid pattern language, in his own mind, which did not include the PATTERN ARCADES (119) for example, or
the pattern alcoves (179).
In this sense, we have also tried to penetrate, as deep
as we are able, into the nature of things in the environ-
ment: and hope that a great part of this language, which
we print here, will be a core of any sensible human pat-
tern language, which any person constructs for himself,
in his own mind. In this sense, at least a part of the
language we have presented here, is the archetypal core
of all possible pattern languages, which can make people
feel alive and human.
XVII
SUMMARY OF THE LANGUAGE
A pattern language has the structure of a network. This
is explained fully in The Timeless Way of Building.
However, when we use the network of a language, we
always use it as a sequence ; going through the patterns,
moving always from the larger patterns to the smaller,
always from the ones which create structures, to the ones
which then embellish those structures, and then to those
which embellish the embellishments. . . .
Since the language is in truth a network, there is no
one sequence which perfectly captures it. But the se-
quence which follows, captures the broad sweep of the
full network j in doing so, it follows a line, dips down,
dips up again, and follows an irregular course, a little
like a needle following a tapestry.
The sequence of patterns is both a summary of the
language, and at the same time, an index to the patterns.
If you read through the sentences which connect the
groups of patterns to one another, you will get an over-
view of the whole language. And once you get this over-
view, you will then be able to find the patterns which
are relevant to your own project.
And finally, as we shall explain in the next section,
this sequence of patterns is also the "base map," from
XVlll
SUMMARY OF THE LANGUAGE
which you can make a language for your own project,
by choosing the patterns which are most useful to you,
and leaving them more or less in the order that you
find them printed here.
•5* •$*
We begin with that fart of the language which defines
a town or community. These fat terns can never be "de-
signed" or "built" in one jell swoof — but fatient fiece-
meal growth, designed in such a way that every indi-
vidual act is always helftng to create or generate these
larger global fatterns y will, slowly and surely, over the
years, make a community that has these global fat terns
in it.
1. INDEPENDENT REGIONS
within each region work toward those regional policies
which will protect the land and mark the limits of the
cities;
2. THE DISTRIBUTION OF TOWNS
3. CITY COUNTRY FINGERS
4. AGRICULTURAL VALLEYS
5. LACE OF COUNTRY STREETS
6. COUNTRY TOWNS
7. THE COUNTRYSIDE
xix
SUMMARY OF THE LANGUAGE
through city policies, encourage the piecemeal forma-
tion of those major structures which define the city;
8. MOSAIC OF SUBCULTURES
9. SCATTERED WORK
10. MAGIC OF THE CITY
11. LOCAL TRANSPORT AREAS
build up these larger city patterns from the grass roots,
through action essentially controlled by two levels of
self-governing communities, which exist as physically
identifiable places;
12. COMMUNITY OF 7000
13. SUBCULTURE BOUNDARY
14. IDENTIFIABLE NEIGHBORHOOD
If. NEIGHBORHOOD BOUNDARY
connect communities to one another by encouraging the
growth of the following networks;
16. WEB OF PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION
17. RING ROADS
18. NETWORK OF LEARNING
19. WEB OF SHOPPING
20. MINI-BUSES
establish community and neighborhood policy to con-
trol the character of the local environment according to
the following fundamental principles;
21. FOUR-STORY LIMIT
SUMMARY OF THE LANGUAGE
22. NINE PER CENT PARKING
23. PARALLEL ROADS
24. SACRED SITES
25. ACCESS TO WATER
26. LIFE CYCLE
27. MEN AND WOMEN
both in the neighborhoods and the communities, and in
between them, in the boundaries, encourage the forma-
tion of local centers 3
2 8. ECCENTRIC NUCLEUS
29. DENSITY RINGS
30. ACTIVITY NODES
31. PROMENADE
32. SHOPPING STREET
33. NIGHT LIFE
34. INTERCHANGE
around these centers, provide for the growth of housing
in the form of clusters, based on face-to-face human
groups J
35. HOUSEHOLD MIX
36. DEGREES OF PUBLICNESS
37. HOUSE CLUSTER
38. ROW HOUSES
39. HOUSING HILL
40. OLD PEOPLE EVERYWHERE
xxi
SUMMARY OF THE LANGUAGE
between the house clusters, around the centers, and
especially in the boundaries between neighborhoods, en-
courage the formation of work communities j
41. WORK COMMUNITY
42. INDUSTRIAL RIBBON
43. UNIVERSITY AS A MARKETPLACE
44. LOCAL TOWN HALL
45. NECKLACE OF COMMUNITY PROJECTS
46. MARKET OF MANY SHOPS
47. HEALTH CENTER
48. HOUSING IN BETWEEN
between the house clusters and work communities, allow
the local road and path network to grow informally,
piecemeal;
49. LOOPED LOCAL ROADS
50. T JUNCTIONS
51. GREEN STREETS
52. NETWORK OF PATHS AND CARS
53. MAIN GATEWAYS
54. ROAD CROSSING
55. RAISED WALK
56. BIKE PATHS AND RACKS
57. CHILDREN IN THE CITY
xxii
SUMMARY OF THE LANGUAGE
in the communities and neighborhoods, provide public
open land where people can relax, rub shoulders and
renew themselves 3
58. CARNIVAL
59. QUIET BACKS
60. ACCESSIBLE GREEN
61. SMALL PUBLIC SQUARES
62. HIGH PLACES
63. DANCING IN THE STREET
64. POOLS AND STREAMS
65. BIRTH PLACES
66. HOLY GROUND
in each house cluster and work community, provide the
smaller bits of common land, to provide for local ver-
sions of the same needs 3
67. COMMON LAND
68. CONNECTED PLAY
69. PUBLIC OUTDOOR ROOM
70. GRAVE SITES
71. STILL WATER
72. LOCAL SPORTS
73. ADVENTURE PLAYGROUND
74. ANIMALS
within the framework of the common land, the clusters,
and the work communities encourage transformation of
XXI 11
SUMMARY OF THE LANGUAGE
the smallest independent social institutions: the families,
workgroups, and gathering places. The family, in all its
forms 3
75. THE FAMILY
76. HOUSE FOR A SMALL FAMILY
77. HOUSE FOR A COUPLE
78. HOUSE FOR ONE PERSON
79. YOUR OWN HOME
the workgroups, including all kinds of workshops and
offices and even children's learning groups 3
80. SELF-GOVERNING WORKSHOPS
AND OFFICES
81. SMALL SERVICES WITHOUT RED TAPE
82. OFFICE CONNECTIONS
83. MASTER AND APPRENTICES
84. TEENAGE SOCIETY
85. SHOPFRONT SCHOOLS
86. CHILDREN^ HOME
the local shops and gathering places.
87. INDIVIDUALLY OWNED SHOPS
88. STREET CAFE
89. CORNER GROCERY
90. BEER HALL
91. traveler's INN
92. BUS STOP
xxiv
I
SUMMARY OF THE LANGUAGE
93. FOOD STANDS
94. SLEEPING IN PUBLIC
T/zij completes the global patterns which define a
town or a community. We now start that fart of the
language which gives shafe to groufs of buildings y and
individual buildings y on the land y in three dimensions.
These are the patterns which can be "designed" or
"built" — the patterns which define the individual build-
ings and the sface between buildings; where we are deal-
ing for the first time with patterns that are under the
control of individuals or small groufs of individuals y
who are able to build the patterns all at once.
The first group of patterns helps to lay out the overall
arrangement of a group of buildings: the height and
number of these buildings, the entrances to the site, main
parking areas, and lines of movement through the com-
plex j
95. BUILDING COMPLEX
96. NUMBER OF STORIES
97. SHIELDED PARKING
98. CIRCULATION REALMS
99. MAIN BUILDING
100. PEDESTRIAN STREET
101. BUILDING THOROUGHFARE
102. FAMILY OF ENTRANCES
103. SMALL PARKING LOTS
XXV
SUMMARY OF THE LANGUAGE
fix the position of individual buildings on the site, within
the complex, one by one, according to the nature of the
site, the trees, the sun: this is one of the most important
moments in the language 3
104. SITE REPAIR
105. SOUTH FACING OUTDOORS
106. POSITIVE OUTDOOR SPACE
107. WINGS OF LIGHT
108. CONNECTED BUILDINGS
109. LONG THIN HOUSE
within the buildings' wings, lay out the entrances, the
gardens, courtyards, roofs, and terraces: shape both the
volume of the buildings and the volume of the space be-
tween the buildings at the same time — remembering
that indoor space and outdoor space, yin and yang, must
always get their shape together 3
I 10. MAIN ENTRANCE
111. HALF-HIDDEN GARDEN
112. ENTRANCE TRANSITION
113. CAR CONNECTION
114. HIERARCHY OF OPEN SPACE
115. COURTYARDS WHICH LIVE
116. CASCADE OF ROOFS
117. SHELTERING ROOF
118. ROOF GARDEN
xxv "1
SUMMARY OF THE LANGUAGE
when the major parts of buildings and the outdoor areas
have been given their rough shape, it is the right time to
give more detailed attention to the paths and squares
between the buildings $
119. ARCADES
120. PATHS AND GOALS
121. PATH SHAPE
122. BUILDING FRONTS
123. PEDESTRIAN DENSITY
124. ACTIVITY POCKETS
125. STAIR SEATS
126. SOMETHING ROUGHLY IN THE
MIDDLE
now, with the paths fixed, we come back to the build-
ings: within the various wings of any one building, work
out the fundamental gradients of space, and decide how
the movement will connect the spaces in the gradients 3
127. INTIMACY GRADIENT
128. INDOOR SUNLIGHT
129. COMMON AREAS AT THE HEART
130. ENTRANCE ROOM
131. THE FLOW THROUGH ROOMS
132. SHORT PASSAGES
133. STAIRCASE AS A STAGE
134. ZEN VIEW
135. TAPESTRY OF LIGHT AND DARK
XXV 11
SUMMARY OF THE LANGUAGE
within the framework of the wings and their internal
gradients of space and movement, define the most im-
portant areas and rooms. First, for a house ;
136. couple's realm
137. children's realm
138. sleeping to the east
139. farmhouse kitchen
140. private terrace on the street
141. a room of one's own
142. sequence of sitting spaces
143. bed cluster
144. BATHING ROOM
145. BULK STORAGE
then the same for offices, workshops, and public build-
ings 5
146. FLEXIBLE OFFICE SPACE
147. COMMUNAL EATING
148. SMALL WORK GROUPS
149. RECEPTION WELCOMES YOU
150. A PLACE TO WAIT
151. SMALL MEETING ROOMS
152. HALF-PRIVATE OFFICE
add those small outbuildings which must be slightly in-
dependent from the main structure, and put in the access
from the upper stories to the street and gardens;
xxviii
SUMMARY OF THE LANGUAGE
153. ROOMS TO RENT
154. TEENAGER'S COTTAGE
155. OLD AGE COTTAGE
156. SETTLED WORK
157. HOME WORKSHOP
158. OPEN STAIRS
prepare to knit the inside of the building to the outside,
by treating the edge between the two as a place in its own
right, and making human details there ;
159. LIGHT ON TWO SIDES OF EVERY ROOM
160. BUILDING EDGE
161. SUNNY PLACE
162. NORTH FACE
163. OUTDOOR ROOM
164. STREET WINDOWS
165. OPENING TO THE STREET
166. GALLERY SURROUND
167. SIX-FOOT BALCONY
168. CONNECTION TO THE EARTH
decide on the arrangement of the gardens, and the places
in the gardens;
169. TERRACED SLOPE
170. FRUIT TREES
171. TREE PLACES
xxix
SUMMARY OF THE LANGUAGE
172. GARDEN GROWING WILD
173. GARDEN WALL
174. TRELLISED WALK
175. GREENHOUSE
176. GARDEN SEAT
177. VEGETABLE GARDEN
178. COMPOST
go back to the inside of the building and attach the neces-
sary minor rooms and alcoves to complete the main
rooms j
179. ALCOVES
180. WINDOW PLACE
181. THE FIRE
182. EATING ATMOSPHERE
183. WORKSPACE ENCLOSURE
184. COOKING LAYOUT
185. SITTING CIRCLE
186. COMMUNAL SLEEPING
187. MARRIAGE BED
188. BED ALCOVE
189. DRESSING ROOM
fine tune the shape and size of rooms and alcoves to
make them precise and buildable;
190. CEILING HEIGHT VARIETY
XXX
SUMMARY OF THE LANGUAGE
191. THE SHAPE OF INDOOR SPACE
192. WINDOWS OVERLOOKING LIFE
193. HALF-OPEN WALL
194. INTERIOR WINDOWS
195. STAIRCASE VOLUME
196. CORNER DOORS
give all the walls some depth, wherever there are to be
alcoves, windows, shelves, closets, or seats 3
197. THICK WALLS
198. CLOSETS BETWEEN ROOMS
199. SUNNY COUNTER
200. OPEN SHELVES
201. WAIST-HIGH SHELF
202. BUILT-IN SEATS
203. CHILD CAVES
204. SECRET PLACE
At this stage, you have a complete design for an in-
dividual building. If you have followed the patterns
given , you have a scheme of s faces, either marked on
the ground^ with stakes y or on a piece of paper, accurate
to the nearest foot or so. You know the height of rooms,
the rough size and position of windows and doors, and
you know roughly how the roofs of the building, and
the gardens are laid out.
The next, and last part of the language, tells how to
XXXI
SUMMARY OF THE LANGUAGE
make a buildable building directly from this rough
scheme of sfaces y and tells you how to build it y in detail.
Before you lay out structural details, establish a
philosophy of structure which will let the structure grow
directly from your plans and your conception of the
buildings 3
205. STRUCTURE FOLLOWS SOCIAL SPACES
206. EFFICIENT STRUCTURE
207. GOOD MATERIALS
208. GRADUAL STIFFENING
within this philosophy of structure, on the basis of the
plans which you have made, work out the complete
structural layout 5 this is the last thing you do on paper,
before you actually start to build;
209. ROOF LAYOUT
210. FLOOR AND CEILING LAYOUT
211. THICKENING THE OUTER WALLS
212. COLUMNS AT THE CORNERS
213. FINAL COLUMN DISTRIBUTION
put stakes in the ground to mark the columns on the site,
and start erecting the main frame of the building accord-
ing to the layout of these stakes;
214. ROOT FOUNDATIONS
215. GROUND FLOOR SLAB
216. BOX COLUMNS
xxxi 1
SUMMARY OF THE LANGUAGE
217. PERIMETER BEAMS
218. WALL MEMBRANES
219. FLOOR-CEILING VAULTS
220. ROOF VAULTS
within the main frame of the building, fix the exact po-
sitions for openings — the doors and windows — and frame
these openings;
221. NATURAL DOORS AND WINDOWS
222. LOW SILL
223. DEEP REVEALS
224. LOW DOORWAY
225. FRAMES AS THICKENED EDGES
as you build the main frame and its openings, put in the
following subsidiary patterns where they are appropriate;
226. COLUMN PLACE
227. COLUMN CONNECTION
228. STAIR VAULT
229. DUCT SPACE
230. RADIANT HEAT
231. DORMER WINDOWS
232. ROOF CAPS
put in the surfaces and indoor details;
233. FLOOR SURFACE
234. LAPPED OUTSIDE WALLS
XXXI 11
SUMMARY OF THE LANGUAGE
235. SOFT INSIDE WALLS
236. WINDOWS WHICH OPEN WIDE
237. SOLID DOORS WITH GLASS
238. FILTERED LIGHT
239. SMALL PANES
240. HALF-INCH TRIM
build outdoor details to finish the outdoors as fully as
the indoor spaces 3
241. SEAT SPOTS
242. FRONT DOOR BENCH
243. SITTING WALL
244. CANVAS ROOFS
245. RAISED FLOWERS
246. CLIMBING PLANTS
247. PAVING WITH CRACKS BETWEEN
THE STONES
248. SOFT TILE AND BRICK
complete the building with ornament and light and color
and your own things 3
249. ORNAMENT
250. WARM COLORS
251. DIFFERENT CHAIRS
252. POOLS OF LIGHT
253. THINGS FROM YOUR LIFE
xxx iv
CHOOSING A LANGUAGE
FOR YOUR PROJECT
All 253 patterns together form a language. They create
a coherent picture of an entire region, with the power
to generate such regions in a million forms, with in-
finite variety in all the details.
It is also true that any small sequence of patterns from
this language is itself a language for a smaller part of
the environment 3 and this small list of patterns is then
capable of generating a million parks, paths, houses,
workshops, or gardens.
For example, consider the following ten patterns:
PRIVATE TERRACE ON THE STREET (140)
SUNNY PLACE ( l6l)
OUTDOOR ROOM (163)
SIX-FOOT BALCONY (167)
PATHS AND GOALS (l20)
CEILING HEIGHT VARIETY (190)
COLUMNS AT THE CORNERS (2 12)
FRONT DOOR BENCH (242)
RAISED FLOWERS (245)
DIFFERENT CHAIRS (251)
This short list of patterns is itself a language: it is one
of a thousand possible languages for a porch, at the front
of a house. One of us chose this small language, to build
XXXV
CHOOSING A LANGUAGE FOR YOUR SUBJECT
a porch onto the front of his house. This is the way the
language,, and its patterns, helped to generate this porch.
I started with private terrace on the street (140). That
pattern calls for a terrace, slightly raised, connected to the house,
and on the street side, sunny place (161) suggests that a special
place on the sunny side of the yard should be intensified and
made into a place by the use of a patio, balcony, outdoor room,
etc. I used these two patterns to locate a raised platform on the
south side of the house.
To make this platform into an outdoor room (163), I put
it half under the existing roof overhang, and kept a mature
pyracanthus tree right smack in the middle of the platform. The
overhead foliage of the tree added to the roof-like enclosure of
the space. I put a wind screen of fixed glass on the west side of
the platform too, to give it even more enclosure.
I used six-foot balcony ( 1 67) to determine the size of the
platform. But this pattern had to be used judiciously and not
blindly — the reasoning for the pattern has to do with the mini-
mum space required for people to sit comfortably and carry on a
discussion around a small side-table. Since I wanted space for at
least two of these conversation areas — one under the roof for very
hot or rainy days, and one out under the sky for days when you
wanted to be full in the sun, the balcony had to be made 12x12
feet square.
Now paths and goals ( 1 20) Usually, this pattern deals with
large paths in a neighborhood, and comes much earlier in a lan-
guage. But I used it in a special way. It says that the paths which
naturally get formed by people's walking, on the land, should be
preserved and intensified. Since the path to our front door cut
right across the corner of the place where I had planned to put
the platform, I cut the corner of the platform off.
The height of the platform above the ground was determined
by ceiling height variety (190). By building the platform
approximately one foot above the ground line, the ceiling height
of the covered portion came out at between 6 and 7 feet — just
right for a space as small as this. Since this height above the
ground level is just about right for sitting, the pattern front
door bench (242) was automatically satisfied.
There were three columns standing, supporting the roof over
xxx vi
CHOOSING A LANGUAGE FOR YOUR SUBJECT
the old porch. They had to stay where they are, because they hold
the roof up. But, following columns at the corners (212),
the platform was very carefully tailored to their positions — so that
the columns help define the social spaces on either side of them.
Finally, we put a couple of flower boxes next to the "front door
bench" — it's nice to smell them when you sit there — according to
raised flowers (245). And the old chairs you can see in the
porch are different chairs (251).
You can see, from this short example, how powerful
and simple a pattern language is. And you are now,
perhaps ready to appreciate how careful you must be,
when you construct a language for yourself and your
own project.
The finished forch
The character of the porch is given by the ten patterns
in this short language. In just this way, each part of the
environment is given its character by the collection of
patterns which we choose to build into it. The character
of what you build, will be given to it by the language of
patterns you use, to generate it.
xxxv u
CHOOSING A LANGUAGE FOR YOUR SUBJECT
For this reason, of course, the task of choosing a lan-
guage for your project is fundamental. The pattern lan-
guage we have given here contains 253 patterns. You
can therefore use it to generate an almost unimaginably
large number of possible different smaller languages,
for all the different projects you may choose to do,
simply by picking patterns from it.
We shall now describe a rough procedure by which
you can choose a language for your own project, first by
taking patterns from this language we have printed here,
and then by adding patterns of your own.
1. First of all, make a copy of the master sequence
(pages xix-xxxiv) on which you can tick off the patterns
which will form the language for your project. If you
don't have access to a copying machine, you can tick off
patterns in the list printed in the book, use paper clips
to mark pages, write your own list, use paper markers —
whatever you like. But just for now, to explain it clearly,
we shall assume that you have a copy of the list in front
of you.
2. Scan down the list, and find the pattern which
best describes the overall scope of the project you have
in mind. This is the starting pattern for your project.
Tick it. (If there are two or three possible candidates,
don't worry: just pick the one which seems best: the
others will fall in place as you move forward.)
3. Turn to the starting pattern itself, in the book, and
read it through. Notice that the other patterns men-
tioned by name at the beginning and at the end, of the
pattern you are reading, are also possible candidates for
your language. The ones at the beginning will tend to be
"larger" than your project. Don't include them, unless
xxxviii
CHOOSING A LANGUAGE FOR YOUR SUBJECT
you have the power to help create these patterns, at least
in a small way, in the world around your project. The
ones at the end are "smaller." Almost all of them will
be important. Tick all of them, on your list, unless you
have some special reason for not wanting to include
them.
4. Now your list has some more ticks on it. Turn to
the next highest pattern on the list which is ticked, and
open the book to that pattern. Once again, it will lead
you to other patterns. Once again, tick those which are
relevant — especially the ones which are "smaller" that
come at the end. As a general rule, do not tick the ones
which are "larger" unless you can do something about
them, concretely, in your own project.
5. When in doubt about a pattern, don't include it.
Your list can easily get too long: and if it does, it will
become confusing. The list will be quite long enough,
even if you only include the patterns you especially like.
6. Keep going like this, until you have ticked all the
patterns you want for your project.
7. Now, adjust the sequence by adding your own ma-
terial. If there are things you want to include in your
project, but you have not been able to find patterns which
correspond to them, then write them in, at an appropri-
ate point in the sequence, near other patterns which are
of about the same size and importance. For example,
there is no pattern for a sauna. If you want to include
one, write it in somewhere near bathing room (144)
in your sequence.
8. And of course, if you want to change any patterns,
change them. There are often cases where you may have
a personal version of a pattern, which is more true, or
xxxix
CHOOSING A LANGUAGE FOR YOUR SUBJECT
more relevant for you. In this case, you will get the most
"power" over the language, and make it your own most
effectively, if you write the changes in, at the appropri-
ate places in the book. And, it will be most concrete of
all, if you change the name of the pattern too — so that
it captures your own changes clearly.
J?
Suppose now that you have a language for your proj-
ect. The way to use the language depends very much
on its scale. Patterns dealing with towns can only be
implemented gradually, by grass roots action- patterns
for a building can be built up in your mind, and marked
out on the ground; patterns for construction must be
built physically, on the site. For this reason we have
given three separate instructions, for these three different
scales. For towns, see page 3; for buildings, see page
463; for construction, see page 935.
The procedures for each of these three scales are de-
scribed in much more detail with extensive examples,
in the appropriate chapters of The Timeless Way of
Building. For the town — see chapters 24 and 25; for an
individual building — see chapters 20, 21, and 22; and for
the process of construction which describes the way a
building is actually built see chapter 23.
xl
THE POETRY OF THE LANGUAGE
Finally, a note of caution. This language, like English,
can be a medium for prose, or a medium for poetry. The
difference between prose and poetry is not that different
languages are used, but that the same language is used,
differently. In an ordinary English sentence, each word
has one meaning, and the sentence too, has one simple
meaning. In a poem, the meaning is far more dense.
Each word carries several meanings 3 and the sentence
as a whole carries an enormous density of interlocking
meanings, which together illuminate the whole.
The same is true for pattern languages. It is possible
to make buildings by stringing together patterns, in a
rather loose way. A building made like this, is an as-
sembly of patterns. It is not dense. It is not profound.
But it is also possible to put patterns together in such a
way that many many patterns overlap in the same
physical space: the building is very dense ; it has many
meanings captured in a small space j and through this
density, it becomes profound.
In a poem, this kind of density, creates illumination,
by making identities between words, and meanings,
whose identity we have not understood before. In "O
Rose thou art sick," the rose is identified with many
xJi
THE POETRY OF THE LANGUAGE
greater, and more personal things than any rose — and
the poem illuminates the person, and the rose, because of
this connection. The connection not only illuminates the
words, but also illuminates our actual lives.
O Rose thou art sick.
The invisible worni^
That flies in the night
In the howling storm:
Has found out thy bed
Of crimson joy:
And his dark secret love
Does thy life destroy.
WILLIAM BLAKE
The same exactly, happens in a building. Consider, for
example, the two patterns bathing room (144) and
still water (71). One defines a part of a house where
you can bathe yourself slowly, with pleasure, perhaps
in company j a place to rest your limbs, and to relax. The
other is a place in a neighborhood, where this is water
to gaze into, perhaps to swim in, where children can sail
boats, and splash about, which nourishes those parts of
ourselves which rely on water as one of the great
elements of the unconscious.
Suppose now, that we make a complex of buildings
where individual bathing rooms are somehow connected
to a common pond, or lake, or pool — where the bathing
room merges with this common place; where there is no
sharp distinction between the individual and family pro-
cesses of the bathing room, and the common pleasure
of the common pool. In this place, these two patterns
xlii
THE POETRY OF THE LANGUAGE
exist in the same space ; they are identified - } there is a
compression of the two, which requires less space, and
which is more profound than in a place where they are
merely side by side. The compression illuminates each
of the patterns, sheds light on its meaning- and also il-
luminates our lives, as we understand a little more about
the connections of our inner needs.
But this kind of compression is not only poetic and
profound. It is not only the stuff of poems and exotic
statements, but to some degree, the stuff of every English
sentence. To some degree, there is compression in every
single word we utter, just because each word carries the
whisper of the meanings of the words it is connected to.
Even "Please pass the butter, Fred" has some compres-
sion in it, because it carries overtones that lie in the con-
nections of these words to all the words which came be-
fore it.
Each of us, talking to our friends, or to our families,
makes use of these compressions, which are drawn out
from the connections between words which are given by
the language. The more we can feel all the connections
in the language, the more rich and subtle are the things
we say at the most ordinary times.
And once again, the same is true in building. The com-
pression of patterns into a single space, is not a poetic
and exotic thing, kept for special buildings which are
works of art. It is the most ordinary economy of space. It
is quite possible that all the patterns for a house might,
in some form be present, and overlapping, in a simple
one-room cabin. The patterns do not need to be strung
out, and kept separate. Every building, every room,
xliii
THE POETRY OF THE LANGUAGE
every garden is better, when all the patterns which it
needs are compressed as far as it is possible for them to
be. The building will be cheaper; and the meanings in it
will be denser.
It is essential then, once you have learned to use the
language, that you pay attention to the possibility of
compressing the many patterns which you put together,
in the smallest possible space. You may think of this
process of compressing patterns, as a way to make the
cheapest possible building which has the necessary pat-
terns in it. It is, also, the only way of using a pattern
language to make buildings which are poems.
SansSerif
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