Ideas inspired by The Nature of Order

Unfinished inklings which I don’t yet know where to put exactly, so I just collect them here for now. Many of these originate from Inspiring threads from Unfold Chat, our Telegram group.

Applying his theory in other domains

Cultural and sociological consequences of his theory

Notes mentioning this note

Todo
What are the technical features (centers) which add the most value to how this site works?

Here are all the notes in this garden, along with their links, visualized as a graph.

A foundation for all of architectureA more general class of tests for lifeA new view of natureA world which enhances human lifeAbout the nature of the universeAbout the Nature of OrderAlexander and CyberneticsAlexander and LakoffChristopher Alexander and ReligionAlexander in contextAlexander's foreword to Patterns of SoftwareAlternating repetitionAlways look one level above and below your current...An empirical test for comparing the degree of life...Andre Kertesz’s ParisAre peoples’ wishes really universal?Arrangement in space (and time) is fundamental to...Attempt of a summary of Alexander’s theoryAuthentic architecture with deep feeling has...The mirror of the selfA dynamic view of orderOrder as becomingOur mechanized processPossibility of a new view of architectural processProcess, the key to making life in thingsThe concept of living structureThe necessary role of processA final comment on architectureA principle of unfolding wholenessAppearance of the fifteen propertiesCreation of structure as it occurs in natureEmergence of living structureNote for the scientific readerPreviously offered explanations of emergence from...The fifteen properties emerge directly from the...The need for a general explanation of the way that...The principle of unfolding wholeness in natureA power station made to help a valleyA snow block in an iglooAn operational basis: How each center, as it is...Differentiation of an imaginary building...Emergence of strong centers at fine scale in the...Emergence of the fifteen propertiesEmerging centers which help the wholeSuccessful adaptationThe Julian street innThe pervasive generality of the center-making...The playful core of the matterWhy is it so difficult to form centers by...A generative sequence for apartment buildings in...ConclusionExample of a larger generative sequence: a...Further insight into the real nature of living...Generative sequences are the key to the success of...Generative sequences in traditional societySequences of unfolding in architectureThe mathematical scarcity of good sequencesThe mental change needed to allow yourself the...The role of sequence in preserving structureThe vital interplay of form and sequenceUniqueness of different apartment buildings...Vital importance of the “right” sequenceEvery living process is — at its core — a process...Geometry: uniqueness, regularity, differentiationRegularity: fact and fictionRespect for what existsThe surprising character of what unfoldsUniqueness arises naturally from sequence from...A new language for houses in PeruDiscovering new pattern-languages: how to draw a...Essential centers not gimmicksGeneric rules for making centers or “making life...Human culture as a part of physicsLooking for glimpses of eternal lifePattern languagesPatterns as generic centers and the evolution of...Structure-preserving transformations as the origin...The deep nature of patterns and pattern languagesThe Eishin school pattern languageThe process of finding a good centerThe system of patterns emanates as a wholeThe type of observation which leads to discovery...A new whole emerges: life v. mechanism — the...A panel of yellow blossomsAppendix: the hard work of creating an engine that...Choosing among doors according to degree of...Classrooms in the rainDeep feeling must be the core of living processDesigning a music cabinetFeeling as the origin of the artistic wholeGrasping the feeling of a fishpond as a wholeThe aim of every living process is, at each step,...The black columnsThe formless but specific feeling of the wholeWholeness and feelingWill deep feeling really be possible? In...A further structural exampleA generative process for middle-range order in the...A glimpse of the idea of a generating sequence for...Formation of brutal and massive chunks in the...Geometric orderOutward simplicity of form and packing of formReasons for brutal geometric order to evolveThe aperiodic gridThe Sapporo buildingWhat is really happening in such a caseWhat seems like an imposition of geometry is...Building a form-language from theoryEnsor’s masks: the form language of an ultramodern...Historically, what kind of thing did a form...How can human beings implement a geometrical...Possibility of a form language for all future timeThe form of future buildings — sketches to...The format of our artThe modern theory of languageThe style needed for unfolded, living formTwentieth-century struggles to invent a...Why twentieth-century form languages were not...All there isAt each step get rid of everything that is not...Doing the simplest thing: the basis of all...Final section on simplicityHow is the simple to be achieved? A spiritual...Japanese asymmetriesNatural symmetriesNothingnessSymmetry, simplicity, and just what is requiredThe drive to simplicityThe idea of a natural system of symmetriesWhat is simple?Improving computer-aided design (CAD) processesImproving processesImproving streets to enhance neighborhoodsImproving zoning rulesIntroduction: What do processes actually look like...Morphogenetic processesSlow improvement of *all* social processesThe breadth of processes that can be improvedThe primary function of societyDifficulties of sequence caused by separating...Difficulties of sequence which originate in...Elements of society in which changes must be madeExcessive rigidity of rulesFurther difficulties of inappropriate sequence:...Further difficulties of sequence caused by the...Inappropriate sequence caused by administrative...Intentional rigidity of rules — the influence of...Long-in-tooth difficulties of insufficient freedom...The biggest source of monsters — profit-based...The death of beauty: a huge system effect which...The footsteps of Thomas Kuhn — A vital need to...The generation of monstersThe need for a true shift of paradigmA new view of the natural worldFifteen transformationsHow the fifteen properties appear in nature from...In buildings, too, all living structure grows...Minimum symmetry breakingRepeated application of structure-preserving...Structure-preserving transformations further...Structure-preserving transformationsThe objectivity of structure-preserving...Criteria for evolution — Sequences as a medium of...Forty thousand morphogenetic processesInterdependence of sequencesMore on the length of sequencesMore snippable short sequences — Construction...Morphogenetic processes — a piecemeal approach to...Other recent steps in the evolution of society...Snippable genes — the optimum size of sequences...The emergence of sequences that consecrate our...The gene pool: further process of improvement and...The Grameen bank sequence: a single sniffable gene...The linkages stimulate evolution of further...The network evolvesThe network of sequencesThe spread of one, small, “snippable” gene which...What is it that will allow this sequence to be...A new definition of architectureA vision of the futureFirst major problem: the very large — How to...Larger and deeperMy assumption about our professionSecond major problem: the very small — How to...The architectThe architect’s dreamWhat place, then, for us architects?Deep feeling as the guiding principleRepairing the wholeThe biology of our future worldThe far-distant futureA deeper conception of the living roomA first sketchA radical new processAnalysis of costChecking the neighbors’ viewsCommon sense: an overview of the processConcrete wall detailsDeeper questions about the feeling of the planEstablishing roomsExtension of the lot: the little plum treeFinding a siteFirst analysis of the site with rough twisted...First emergence of an interior planFull-size tests of volume and position on the siteLaying the house out on the landManagement agreement that feeling must guide even...Plasterwork experimentsSetting the main-floor levelStart of constructionStarting to get a general idea of constructionThe retaining wallUpstairs roomsLove of lifeSmooth unfolding as the origin of life in...Smooth unfolding in the traditional world of...Inspiring modern cases where unfolding did occurConclusionExamples of structure-destroying transformations...Interior structure of buildingsMass-produced building and city formOther examples of structure-destroying...Some sympathy for the architects who made these...The advent of structure-destroying transformations...The thrall of imagesWhy all processes do not create lifeA wide range of structure-preserving processes and...Living processesThe underlying processes whose traces we hav seenThe wondrous character of life in modern timesA thousand trillion possible mistakes in a human...Analysis of a few generated structures by means of...ComplexityConclusion of the discussion on generated...Creating highly complex objectsDifferentiationHow to count mistakesIn individual buildings, too, we may ask what is...One million possible mistakes in a communityStructures that have unfolded in timeThe complexity that was generated in ShilnathThe five-thousand possible mistakes in a typical...The geometry of complexityThe greek marble horseThe significance of generated structureThe social and monetary cost of the one million...A process of creating meadowsDefinitionDifferentiationEmergence of beautiful geometryExtreme generality of the concept of living...Necessary features of all living processOverview: The fundamental differentiating processPractical manifestations of living processSummary so farThe class of living processesThe fundamental differentiating processThe fundamental processThe hierarchy of individual and accretive...The naturalness of living processThe secretArchitectural implicationsBack to generated structure once againFeedbackGetting things rightGradual progress toward living structureOverall implicationsStep-by-step adaptationThe result must be unpredictableUnfolding of a painting by MatisseAt each step decide only what you know with...Common senseEach step is always helping to enhance the wholeIn summaryMicrocosm of a process which is guided by the...The modern problem of designThe process of capturing the wholeThe whole then emerges from these transformationsThe wholeTo be guided by the whole, we must pay attention...Living processesHow many possible living structures are there?Freshness and deep adaptation — the class of...My intention in book 3Repeated application of living process in city and...A historical example of a living processExamples of life-creating processes from our eraThe continuous flow of creation in a region of the...Widely spread life-creating processesConclusion1 Who, today, can truly enjoy belonging to the...2 The uniqueness of individuals, families, and...3 The living room of society4 Interlock of private and public, and continuous...5 The impact of living process on belonging6 An invariant morphology which will be generated...1 A question2 A vital comment about people’s wishes3 A direct sequence of logical steps leading from...4 Shiratori: a new form of high-density housing at...5 Chikusasai: 40 families per acre6 Evaluation of the Shiratori and Chikusadai plans7 A possible world-wide archetype8 Some invariants for high-density housingImportant note: simulation and reality1 The stuff of life2 The essential reason for dynamic thinking3 Santa Rosa de Cabal, Columbia4 Feedback, diagnosis and repair5 Laying out a larger neighborhood by a dynamic...6 Moshav Shorashim in the Galilee7 The Fort Mason bench8 Doing work together9 Some morphological invariants that will...1 Every place will be unique10 Office layout process11 Mass-housing where each family make their own...12 How symmetries and asymmetries get created13 Morphological invariants likely to appear in...2 Three houses by telephone3 A house for Geoffrey and Linda Gioja4 A house for Jim and Sylvia Heisey5 A house for Mike and Patricia Goddu6 Overview of the unfolding process for the three...7 A paradox about uniqueness8 Mass-housing with unique apartments9 A factory and its individual workspacesA few invariants of rooms that have been shaped by...1 What makes a good room?10 Tranquility even in the huge2 Position: How living process may be used to...3 Position: Starting with the most important room4 Position: The living room of the Medlock House5 The main centers of a room: internal elements...6 The main centers of the carpet gallery at the...7 Fine structure which determines the internal...8 Fine structure: the Berryessa staircase9 Tranquility1 The most decisive, most telling aspect2 Physical substance itself3 Microstructure of a building4 Microstructure as a necessary part of all...5 Mirrors of the self in every building detail6 Unfolding building details from the fundamental...7 For living elements like these, a new form of...8 A letter to the reader9 Some invariants which will emerge when the...1 A personal note10 Working on integrated wholes11 Matura as an example12 Wabi-to-sabi: the balance of rough and smooth13 Summary14 Morphological invariants created when making...2 Making3 Technical definition of “making”4 The most basic feature of living structure5 The technology of making6 The social philosophy of making7 The nearest tenth of an inch8 Detailed shape and size of capitals at...9 Money and contracts1 The search for new materials10 The paradigm of smooth unfolding as a target...11 Monocoque construction — new forms of hollow,...12 Concrete monocoque construction — a currently...13 Features of new building methods that are...2 Green materials and adaptation3 What matters is that we have techniques of...4 An innovation for village construction — stacked...5 Cheap and beautiful ways of forming concrete5A Wood and concrete combinations6 Heavy wood construction7 New forms of brick and block construction8 Sophisticated may mean advanced or it may mean...9 Smooth unfolding of construction1 How may we approach truly gigantic construction...10 Fabrication of luminous glass ceilings11 Extension of ultra-modern techniques to all...2 High-speed adaptive production: technical...3 Slowly created harmony in a massive project: the...4 The core of the solution: a combination of large...5 Adaptive design emerging within the whole6 The water-jet cutter7 Prefabrication of marble on fiberglass mats...8 Repetition and variation9 Human beings and technology: personal feeling...1 Ornament as products of unfolding10 In a living building, everything is ultimately...11 Everything is joyful ornament2 Ornament as detail which emerges directly from...3 Black-and-white marble floors and surfaces4 Making a colored, ornamented, floor5 Other kinds of ornament6 Hand-glazed tilework7 Making lifelike animals and plants in the fabric...8 Simplicity of ornamental human figures9 Structural qualities created by the fundamental...1 The unfolding which produces inner light2 The painted kitchen3 Paint and color materials4 The surprising nature of the color that unfolds5 The blue of the Kaiser house6 Another case of the surprising nature of color...7 How can it really be that color and design come...8 Color is so effortless9 Morphological invariants which appear as living...1 The link of human happiness with the environment10 Paintings and photographs of the blissful state11 Geometrical consequences: structural effects of...12 Conclusion2 Belonging and true comfort3 The fifteen properties4 Dependence of the blissful state of our...5 The sense of belonging6 More on the blissful state8 The true landscape of architecture9 Attaining the blissful state1 Emergence of an archetypal core2 A collection of examples3 Process and geometry: the origin of archetypal...4 Centers and symmetries5 The feeling-symmetry principle within these...6 The archetype underlying all7 Weak archetype, strong archetype8 A last remark1 Architecture as the continuation and completion...2 All urban building viewed as part of nature3 The world originating from its people4 Our birthright1 The unfolding of public space10 Summary of the effects11 Morphological features of public space created...2 Positive space3 How hulls of public space come naturally from...4 Shaped public space forming living centers5 The spine structure of the Eishin campus6 The hulls of public space for a community of...7 Shaping the hulls for part of a new town in...8 A new approach to urban space: first forming a...9 Implementation1 How large buildings may be created by the...10 Emergence of new multi-level contracts for...11 The intricacy of detail in a living process —...12 Conceptual vision of a still larger process13 Setting up a design management construction...14 Conclusion — Geometric features which follow...2 The Great Hall: a multitude of living centers3 Intimacy of design within the huge4 Mountain View Civic Center: differentiation of a...5 Tokyo Forum: unfolding of a massive building6 Eurostar7 Introduction to discussion of process for a...8 Even in the biggest building, people must be the...9 The contracting problem1 The all-important relationship between buildings...10 The most vital step in any building process11 Remember that each building exists mainly to...2 Every building is placed and shaped to form a...3 A lock-and-key process4 The Millennium Church5 Emergence of complex space and volume on a small...6 Building a five-story building in Tokyo to make...7 Laying out a very large building complex: the...7a Completion of design and construction of the...8 A secondary structure-enhancing process which...9 Emergence of building volumes in a more...1 Beauty of structure and positive space10 Each step uses the fundamental process to...11 Appropriate structural order for a large...12 Morphological invariants that are likely to...2 Interlocking elements of mass and elements of...3 Positive space and positive structure — a...4 The seeming miracle: why beauty of space and...5 Three-dimensional formation of positive and...6 The great hall at Eishin7 A new kind of engineering design process based...8 Using the fundamental process to get the design...9 Going on with the unfolding process for the...1 The partial, built shell that lets a garden grow10 Small and large centers contribute to unfolding11 Centers in your own garden, created by your...12 The wild and cultivated garden13 Splendor in ordinariness14 I don’t care kind of caring15 The structure likely to appear in gardens...2 A sequence of adaptive acts3 Thus the living aspect of gardens comes about,...4 It unfolds directly from people’s ordinary...5 A comment from the heart of zen6 The built support that natural gardens need7 Twenty percent of the construction money for...8 Positive space in gardens9 Preserve the structure of what is there1 A shared vision10 The vital need for a collective vision11 The archetypal character of the collective...12 Bologna13 The special character of each community created...2 The psychiatrists of Letterman Hospital3 Unfolding as a source of unanimity4 Start of a collective vision in Fort Lauderdale5 Design charettes6 A collective vision growing in Chikusadai7 The visionary process8 A collective vision achieved at Eishin9 We created: they created1 A growing city10 Yellow: growing the pedestrian hull11 Gray: Splitting lots and multiplication of...12 Green: the growth of positive green space13 Red: cars are given last place14 Overview of all four processes together15 Structure-preserving unfolding of the four-fold...16 Repairing blight17 Highly complex order — the key invariants in a...2 Addressing the problem of blight3 A new kind of zoning law, helping to generate...4 A profound contrast between two very different...5 The pattern of yellow, green, gray, and red6 What should be the pattern of yellow, green,...7 Making a start in the existing Progresso...8 Density interactions and the density threshold9 The key idea: within an optimum density...Part 1Part 2Author’s notePreface — IntroductionPreface — BackgroundPreface — The personalChanges in our idea of matterThat exists in me, and before me, and after meCosmologyA fusion of self and matterThe effort it took to get the stark geometry of...The strength of the present scientific...The weakness of the present world-pictureThe needs of architectureScientific efforts to build an improved...The continuing lack of a unifying cosmologyTen tacit assumptions which underlie our present...Inspiration for a future physicsThe confrontation of art and scienceIntroductionEmil Nolde's sunset and Paul Gauguin's cowA significantly large structureBeing modern and being trueThe childlikeThere is nothing greaterPure innocence and deep order — the message of St....Recapitulation of books 1 to 4 as "pleasing...Veronica's blue chairThe heart-stopping qualityThe thought policeNot pleasing yourselfA group of architecture students who were not...A Mexicali story about the thought policePleasing yourselfThis is GodSpirit made manifestThe practical results of this knowledgeA necessary state of mindThe world beyond a given thingNot-separatenessMaking a gift for GodThe face of GodIntroductionA new method of observation at the core of the...The nature of space and matterEnduring skepticism as a source of certaintyWholeness as a physical structure in the universeConsciousness as a physical feature of the...A modified physicsSummary of the modified physicsA new picture of the worldA physical basis for religious aweEssential aweAn extension of the scientific idea of what can be...IntroductionAn observationRelatednessA possible explanationA connection to the selfWhat of our modern works?More on the problem of our eraThe black plasterFootnoteA dewdropThe I of our experience originating with the I in...A HypothesisMobilizing the stormRelatednessThe mirror-of-the-self experimentsThe real relatedness existing underneath the skinThe ancient and eternal truth of the relatednessThe numinous experienceTrue meaning of relatednessA jump to speaking about the existence of an IAn experiment to determine the extension of the IIntroductionThe fundamental processThe difficulty of the taskInnocenceThe vision of Matisse and BonnardIn our own eraA new vision of building — making living structure...The life of the environmentConsider the possibility of viewing all living...The jewel net of IndraWhat it means for a center to be being-likeA corner of a farmer’s fieldA shipyardLooking at ChartresEach living center is a beingPure unityIntensifying shapeUnity achieved in a great blossomEmergence of a being from the field of centersBeings in arches, spaces, and columns: the example...Emergence of the archesDetailed design of the structural columnsA wallCatching a being in colorThe haunting melodyIntroductionThe possibility of a coherent verifiable theoryThe argument from verifiable detailsThe argument from coherenceThe unity that speaks of IThe faintly glowing quality which can be seen in a...A psychological explanationPossible existence of a single underlying...The blazing oneWhat, then, is a center?Though a strange model, it provides a viable...Which I-hypothesis is true?A non-material view of matterIntroduction: A direct glimpse of the ISequence of linked color pairsBoundaries and hairlinesFamilies of colorColor variationIntensity and clarity of individual colorsSubdued brillianceColor depends on geometryColor and the field of centersInner light as a glimpse of the I which lies...The hint of a transcendent unityColor as an essential feature of realityTranscendent wholeness as a kind of lightConclusionInner lightThe unfolding which produces inner lightThe eleven color propertiesHierarchy of colorsColors create light togetherContrast of dark and lightMutual embeddingWhy unity and sadness are connectedSadnessGetting sadness in the flesh of the buildingSadness of color and geometryUnity and sadness in a group of buildingsUnity and sadness of life in a back yardThe groundConcluding sectionIntroductionDo not ask for whom the bell tollsThe impact of making beauty on the maker's lifeThe healing processMaking wholeness heals the makerLife made creates life in the makerThe source of the healing effectHuman growth: the movement of the self towards its...Towards full knowledge of the self which can arise...Drawing sadness from your most vulnerable selfBook 4 — Part 1Beauty in codeBeyond cognitionBeyond preserving natural life towards creating itBook 2 Cliff NotesBook 3 Cliff NotesBook 4 cliff notesBoundariesBuilding is an essential order-creation processCan we talk about “feeling”…?CenterCenters and designCenters help one anotherCharacter vs. featuresComparisonsConsequences of the mechanistic viewContemporary architecture avoids the 15 propertiesContrastCreating lifeCultural variation of wholenessDeep interlock and ambiguity🛠 Development tools for this digital gardenWhere software and architecture are differentDigital GardenDigital gardening is a living processEach center has its lifeEchoesEleatic philosophersEmergence of this new form of observation from...Experiments in our timeFeeling as the inward aspect of lifeFeeling life15 fundamental propertiesFreedom and loss of freedomFreedom of the spiritBinary vs. gradual perspectives — from boundaries...From ecology to a broader conception of lifeFunction arising out of ornamentFunction vs. ornamentFunctional Completeness And ErgodicityGeneral and repurposable toolsGeometry in musicGeometry in softwareGood shapeGradientsGrowing a LISP with structure-preserving...Growing this siteHelpful foundational ideasHow a chisel worksHow a living room worksHow centers work togetherHow does the world have its effect on us?Human feeling is 90% the same across peopleDichotomy between process and structureIn software we avoid requiring proper order in a...Increasing the number and speed of iteration by...Ideas inspired by The Nature of OrderInspiring threads from Unfold ChatInterplay of the propertiesAn introduction to The Nature of OrderJudgement and the pursuit of architectureKey concepts in The Nature of OrderLearning to recognize and apply the 15 propertiesLevels of scaleLife and imperfectionLife as an attribute of space and matterLife and living structureLiking something from the heartLocal symmetriesLoosing the sense of true connectionMake God appear in the middle of a fieldMaps of MatterMath and programmingMathematical and physical existence of centersMechanical-rationalist world viewMechanism vs. harmonyMechanization in architecture and softwareMetaphorical structure in the two arches exampleMetaphors we believe byNot-separatenessNowObjective vs. subjective — a new worldviewOntology as grammarOrder is difficult to describeOrderOrdinary realityOrnament and functionSuccessively adding detail — over-specification...Interactive places discussing Christopher...Pluralist view of valuePositive spaceProject ObjectivesRecursion and towers of abstractionRecursive definition of a centerRoughnessRules for identifying centersSearch for real beautySeeing centersSend a program, not a data structureSeparation from realityShared understanding is needed to have meaningful...Simplicity and inner calmSpace itself carries the attribute of lifeStrong centersStructure of the booksSymmetry and recursion as repetition1. What is true, is only the body of those facts...10. The instinct that there is some kind of deeper...2. Matters of value in architecture are...3. Modern conceptions of human liberty require...4. The basic matter of the world is neutral with...5. Matter and mind, the objective outer world and...6. Art is an intense and powerful social...7. Ornament and function in a building are...8. At a profound level, architecture is...9. The intuition that something profound is...Techniques of measurementTelegram GroupThe appeal to shared experienceThe Architecture of ComplexityThe awakening of spaceThe concept of living structureThe core of the new method of observationThe expanding and contracting of our humanityThe fundamental processThe hypothesis of Denis DiderotThe Long Path that Leads from the Making of Our...The mirror of the selfThe recursive character of lifeThe relation to DescartesThe stress reservoirThe unity of ornament and functionThe voidThrow out all functional explanations in your mind...TodoTop-down vs. bottom-up — whole vs. partsUnfolding a LISPUnfolding the Nature of OrderWhat does it mean for something to be personal?Wholeness and feelingWholeness and real likingWholeness changes over timeWholeness in physicsWholenessWhy 15 fundamental properties?Why do the 15 properties occur in nature?