Christopher Alexander is famous, at least in the Systems Architecture world, for his concepts around design patterns. For those unfamiliar with the concept, a design pattern can be thought of as a “mini architecture” and it is by combining these patterns that you come up with a complete architecture. Alexander’s purpose was to identify reusable concepts and build up learnings and corresponding experience. As we walked around the hotel, I observed a number of design elements, as shown in the photographs below. It struck me that while individually each possessed a certain character, there were so many of them it became a little overwhelming; no single, coherent character came through. I think they forgot to deploy a foundation pattern to weave everything together: simplicity.
Note: click on pictures to expand them to their full size
Arches: They were everywhere, even in little tucked away corners like this one or around stairs
Cute landscaping elements were everywhere, even under buildings.
Clay pots in fields (need I say more):
Leave a Reply