Planet: pattern language network

patterns

• represent successful practice

• abstract the factors that are shared between different successful solutions to a given problem

• have accessible form to allow reuse in new situations

originated in architecture….Christopher Alexander

Light on two sides of every room

Problem: When they have a choice, people will always gravitate to those rooms which have light on two sides, and leave the rooms which are lit only from one side unused and empty.

Solution: Locate each room so that it has outdoor space outside it on at least two sides, and then place windows in these outdoor walls so that natural light falls into every room from more than one direction.

express the invariant quality not how it is interpreted….

…therefore do not stifle creativity

light on twosides…

photos from www.patternlanguage.com

• note not immediately obvious - e.g. not “put windows in the room”

• pattern is “a rule which describes what you have to do to generate the entity which it defines” (Alexander TW p 182)

pattern language

• ordered collection of connected patterns• following sequence through the pattern

language helps generate complete design

• each pattern has patterns “above” it that it contributes to and patterns “below” it that complete it

mined/harvested from practice

rule of 3