Monday December 27, 2021; 12:24 PM EST
- Very sad news today that Edward O. Wilson passed away Sunday, December 26th. at the age of 92. Although I enjoyed many books by him, my favorite by far was Consilience.
I will never forget reading the last paragraph of the last chapter as my flight was descending into Portland Oregon- sitting in the window seat with Mt. Hood standing there in all of it's glory. In Conscilience, E.O. Wilson called for the unity of the Humanities and Sciences in order for us sapiens to achieve a sustainable future in this beautiful biosphere that gave birth to us, and all we have accomplished. Edward O. Wilson was a gift to humanity and science, and his absence is a black hole in our world. #
- Likewise, another call for Consilience comes from Christopher Alexander in his series on The Phenomena of Life. In this four volume set, he identifies a set of design principles that lead to the unfolding of human designed artifacts with the quality of Life- and demonstrates how these principles operate throughout all scales of our natural world.#
Most architects I know do not care for Christopher Alexander. I think this is largely because through his Pattern Language, he demonstrated that everyone has access to the tools that lead to good design- not just professionals. I think also that in his work they do not see Architecture- with an upper case "A." For my part I always appreciated C. Alexander, not only because Mary Ann and I utilized his pattern language in our design work, but also because of the deep influence his concept of "patterns" had on software development.#
- In The Phenomena of Life, C. Alexander identifies 15 fundamental properties and expounds upon them over the course of 4 volumes! It is quite a tome that I am happy to have in my library and review from time to time. I have returned to the 15 properties recently as I embark upon new design thinking- both for my home/yard remodel, and for the music I am learning to create. In order to fully appreciate them, you need to read the book(s,) but I think creative types will recognize a degree of truth in the following Fifteen Fundamental Properties of Life (and Design):#
- 1) Levels of Scale#
- 2) Strong Centers#
- 3) Boundaries#
- 4) Alternating Repetition#
- 5) Positive Space#
- 6) Good Shape#
- 7) Local Symmetries#
- 8) Deep Interlock and Ambiguity#
- 9) Contrast#
- 10) Gradients#
- 11) Roughness#
- 12) Echoes#
- 13) The Void#
- 14) Simplicity and Inner Calm#
- 15) Not Separateness#
- I plan to return to these Principles in future writing as I continue digging deeper into design and music, science and humanity.#
Monday December 27, 2021; 12:24 PM EST
- Very sad news today that Edward O. Wilson passed away Sunday, December 26th. at the age of 92. Although I enjoyed many books by him, my favorite by far was Consilience.
- Likewise, another call for Consilience comes from Christopher Alexander in his series on The Phenomena of Life. In this four volume set, he identifies a set of design principles that lead to the unfolding of human designed artifacts with the quality of Life- and demonstrates how these principles operate throughout all scales of our natural world.#
- In The Phenomena of Life, C. Alexander identifies 15 fundamental properties and expounds upon them over the course of 4 volumes! It is quite a tome that I am happy to have in my library and review from time to time. I have returned to the 15 properties recently as I embark upon new design thinking- both for my home/yard remodel, and for the music I am learning to create. In order to fully appreciate them, you need to read the book(s,) but I think creative types will recognize a degree of truth in the following Fifteen Fundamental Properties of Life (and Design):#
- 1) Levels of Scale#
- 2) Strong Centers#
- 3) Boundaries#
- 4) Alternating Repetition#
- 5) Positive Space#
- 6) Good Shape#
- 7) Local Symmetries#
- 8) Deep Interlock and Ambiguity#
- 9) Contrast#
- 10) Gradients#
- 11) Roughness#
- 12) Echoes#
- 13) The Void#
- 14) Simplicity and Inner Calm#
- 15) Not Separateness#
- I plan to return to these Principles in future writing as I continue digging deeper into design and music, science and humanity.#