I.

CHRISTOPHER ALEXANDER “ A PATTERN LANGUAGE

Christopher Wolfgang Alexander (born 4 October 1936 in Vienna, Austria) is a widely

influential architect and design theorist, and currently emeritus professor at the University of California,
Berkeley. His theories about the nature of human-centered design have affected fields beyond architecture,
including urban design, software, sociology and others. Alexander has designed and personally built over 100
buildings, both as an architect and a general contractor.
In software, Alexander is regarded as the father of the pattern language movement.
A Pattern Language: Towns, Buildings, Construction is a 1977 book on architecture, urban design, and
community livability. It was authored by Christopher Alexander, Sara Ishikawa and Murray Silverstein of
the Center for Environmental Structure of Berkeley, California, with writing credits also to Max Jacobson,
Ingrid Fiksdahl-King and Shlomo Angel.
The book creates a new language, what the authors call a pattern language derived from timeless entities
called patterns. As they write on page xxxv of the introduction, "All 253 patterns together form a language."
Patterns describe a problem and then offer a solution. In doing so the authors intend to give ordinary people,
not only professionals, a way to work with their neighbors to improve a town or neighborhood, design a house
for them or work with colleagues to design an office, workshop or public building such as a school.

II. SAMUEL MOCKBEE “ ARCHITECTS ARE A HOUSEPET TO THE RICH”

Samuel "Sambo" Mockbee (December 23, 1944 – December 30, 2001) was an American architect and a
co-founder of the Auburn University Rural Studio program in Hale County, Alabama.
In 1993, Mockbee was awarded a grant from the Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine
Arts to work toward the publication of his book, The Nurturing of Culture in the Rural South An Architectonic
Documentary.
After years of teaching, Auburn's Samuel Mockbee wanted to be more than a "house pet for the rich". In
1993 he approached the architecture program at his alma mater with a proposal for a design/build program
with an explicit commitment to helping the financially disadvantaged of the surrounding rural community.
With a grant from the Alabama Power Company, Mockbee and Professor D. K. Ruth established the Rural
Studio.
Is custom-designed unique architecture only for the rich?
Someone who answered that question was Samuel Mockbee, an architect who believed that “Everyone,
rich or poor, deserves a shelter for the soul.” The best way to describe his ideas is to provide a few direct
quotes:

“Architecture is a social art…And as a social art, it is our social responsibility to make sure that we are
delivering architecture that meets not only functional and creature comforts, but also spiritual comfort.”

“As an artist or an architect, I have the opportunity to address wrongs and try to correct them.”

“All architects expect and hope that their work will act as a servant in some sense for humanity–to make a
better world. This is a search we should always be undertaking…architects should always be in position to
nudge and cajole and inspire.”
“It’s not about your greatness as an architect, but your compassion.”

http://infinitedictionary.com/blog/2016/06/22/samuel-mockbee-and-his-citizen-architects/
III. JAN GEHL “ MAN, TINY WALKING ANIMAL”

Jan Gehl Hon. FAIA (born 17 September 1936, Copenhagen) is a Danish architect and urban design consultant
based in Copenhagen whose career has focused on improving the quality of urban life by re-orienting city design
towards the pedestrian and cyclist. He is a founding partner of Gehl Architects.
Gehl first published his influential Life Between Buildings in Danish in 1971, with the first English translation
published in 1987. Gehl advocates a sensible, straightforward approach to improving urban form: systematically
documenting urban spaces, making gradual incremental improvements, and then documenting them again.
Gehl's book Public Spaces, Public Life describes how such incremental improvements have
transformed Copenhagen from a car-dominated city to a pedestrian-oriented city over 40 years.
Copenhagen's Strøget carfree zone, one of the longest pedestrian shopping areas in Europe, is primarily the result
of Gehl's work.
Gehl credits the "grandmother of humanistic planning" Jane Jacobs for drawing his attention to the
importance of human scale. “Fifty years ago she said – go out there and see what works and what doesn’t work,
and learn from reality. Look out of your windows, spend time in the streets and squares and see how people
actually use spaces, learn from that, and use it.
[Gehl has spent]…countless hours walking the streets of cities around the world, studying life beneath,
between and around buildings. “Man was made to walk…all our senses are made for being a walking animal – for
that speed, for that horizontal perception – and when we are in that natural environment that we are meant for,
then we can watch and talk and kiss as we were meant to as human beings”…the need for the city to be an
‘invitation’ to spend time, a welcoming and sustaining place for people to live. “A good city is like a good party –
you know it’s working when people stay for much longer than really necessary, because they are enjoying
themselves.”

According to Jan, and often quoted, the human does a “small, sensitive and slow creature with a speed of
5km/h”, need stimuli at eye level every 4 seconds. Distance between stimuli is key – public distance: 3.5 – 10m,
social distance: 1.3 – 3.5m, personal distance: 0.5 – 1-3m, intimate distance: 0 – 0-5m. The social field of vision:
0.5- 100m. What distance should city places strive for? A 5km/h environment is made for walking through; a
60km/h environment is made for driving through. And how do you accommodate a range of city preferences?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jan_Gehl
https://adriftindk.wordpress.com/2014/02/17/jan-gehl-and-the-human-scale/

IV. JON JERDE (OF GRAMERCY RESIDENCES – SHOPPING MALLS)

Jon Adams Jerde, FAIA (January 22, 1940 – February 9, 2015) was
an American architect based in Venice, Los Angeles, California, founder
and chairman of The Jerde Partnership, a design architecture and urban
planning firm specializing in the design of shopping malls that has
created a number of commercial developments around the globe.
Jerde became well known as an innovator in the design of malls and
related spaces. His firm has grown into a multi-disciplinary firm with
offices in Los Angeles, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Seoul, Amsterdam,
and Dubai.
The Gramercy Residences, also known as The Gramercy
Residences at Century City, is a residential high-rise condominium
in Makati, Philippines. As of 2016, it is the second tallest building in the
Philippines. It is the first of several buildings built at the new Century
City complex along Kalayaan Avenue by the Century City Development Corporation.
The building takes its name from Gramercy Park, a fenced-in private park in one of Manhattan, New York
City's prestigious neighborhoods. Originally planned to be a 65-storey building, it was announced to have 73 floors
above ground with a total height of 250 m (820 ft) from ground to its architectural top.
The Gramercy Residences was planned and designed by California-based architectural group Jerde Partnership
International, in collaboration with Philippine architectural firm Roger Villarosa Architects & Associates. Structural
design and engineering is provided by Hong Kong-based firm Ove Arup & Partners and Sy^2 + Associates Inc.
Project and construction management is being handled by local firm Nova Construction + Development.
The main attraction of the building is its Skypark. Located on the 36th floor, it has three-storey waterfalls,
multi-level infinity edge pools, lagoon pools, a designer restaurant, health club, café, spa, a garden island within a
reflecting pool, and a cantilevering walkway — a pathway suspended in mid-air with infinity pools on one side and
a glass handrail on the outside. The Skypark traverses the entire width of the building. There is also a Rooftop Bar/
Restaurant located at the 71rd floor, named 71 Gramercy.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Gramercy_Residences
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jon_Jerde

V. RALPH ERSKINE – BYKER WALL HOUSING SCHEME

Ralph Erskine ARIBA (24 February 1914 – 16 March 2005) was a
Scottish architect and planner who lived and worked in Sweden for most
of his life.
The Byker Wall is a long, unbroken block of 620 maisonettes in
the Byker district of Newcastle upon Tyne, England. They were designed
by architect Ralph Erskine and constructed in the 1970s. The wall is just
part of the estate, which, in total, covers 200 acres.
The Wall, along with the low rise dwellings built to its south, replaced
Victorian slum terraced housing. There were nearly 1200 houses on the
site at Byker. They had been condemned as unfit for human habitation in
1953, but demolition did not begin until 1966.
The new housing block was designed by the notable architect Ralph
Erskine assisted by executive architect Vernon Gracie. Design began in
1968 and construction took place between 1969 and 1982. The architects
opened an office on site to develop communication and trust between the
existing residents. Existing buildings were to be demolished as the new accommodation was built.
Its Functionalist Romantic styling with textured, complex facades, colorful brick, wood and plastic panels,
attention to context, and relatively low-rise construction represented a major break with the Brutalist high-
rise architectural orthodoxy of the time.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Byker_Wall
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ralph_Erskine_(architect)
VI. HASSAN FATHY (EGYPT)
Hassan Fathy (March 23, 1900 – November 30, 1989) was a
noted Egyptian architect who pioneered appropriate technology for building
in Egypt, especially by working to reestablish the use of adobe and traditional
as opposed to western building designs and lay-outs. Fathy was recognized
with the Aga Khan Chairman's Award for Architecture in 1980.
Hassan Fathy was a cosmopolitan trilingual professor-engineer-architect,
amateur musician, dramatist, and inventor. He designed nearly 160 separate
projects, from modest country retreats to fully planned communities
with police, fire, and medical services, markets, schools, theatres, and places
for worship and recreation. These communities included many functional
buildings such as laundry facilities, ovens, and wells. He utilized ancient design
methods and materials, as well as knowledge of the rural Egyptian economic
situation with a wide knowledge of ancient architectural and town design
techniques. He trained local inhabitants to make their own materials and build
their own buildings.

VII. BJARKE INGELS (BIG) – AR OF HEDONISTIC SUSTAINABILITY, ARCHITECT AS MIDWIVES OF SOCIETY

“The architect is more like a midwife, attending the permanent rebirth of a
city.”
Bjarke Bundgaard Ingels is a Danish architect, founder and creative
partner of Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG), widely known for buildings that defy
convention while incorporating sustainable development principles and bold
sociological concepts.
In Denmark, Ingels became well known after designing two housing
complexes in Ørestad: VM Houses and Mountain Dwellings. In 2006 he
founded Bjarke Ingels Group, which grew to a staff of 400 by 2015, with
noted projects including the 8 House housing complex, VIA 57
West in Manhattan, the Google North Bayshore headquarters (co-designed
with Thomas Heatherwick), the Superkilen park, and the Amager Resource
Center (ARC) waste-to-energy plant — the latter which incorporates both a
ski slope and climbing wall on the building exterior.
Since 2009, Ingels has won numerous architectural competitions. He
moved to New York City in 2012, where in addition to the VIA 57 West, BIG
won a design contest after Hurricane Sandy for improving Manhattan's flood
resistance, and are now designing the new Two World Trade Center building.
Ingels and his company are the subject of the 2017 documentary BIG Time.
What Hedonistic Sustainability does is transform the whole
sustainability movement into something very youthful, dynamic and
egalitarian. It proves that design and architecture can be economically
profitable as well as environmentally sustainable.
“hedonistic sustainability,” which is “sustainability that improves the
quality of life and human enjoyment.”