Reviews
I have encountered this book while reading about design patterns in software world, initial pattern language approach is inspired from Christopher's ideas.
Architecture is the pioneer in engineering area, so it is not that surprising to have this patterns are emerged from there. Also instead of highly top-down approach, the book indicates to have gradual improvements over and over which is a blink to agile world.
Although the concepts are repeated over the chapters, it gives an idea to think about systems with patterns which are emerged from the usage. Quality is the overall reflection of the given gradual effort on understanding the needs and bringing together solutions
Great thoughts on architecture and industrial design. Mostly explained as poetic absolute truths without much proof, but the parts of it I recognise from my own work seem to hold true.
He's pretty obsessed with the idea of a "living" building vs. a building that is not living. He attributes this to "the quality without a name" and goes into finding patterns that give this quality to make it more tangible. It's a bit hard to distinguish if he's just a romantic that wants the modernists to drop their tools, truly believing that this is a universal expression of quality or if he is a bit blind to his own preference.
Regardless, would recommend.
