Complexity, Patterns & Biophilia

When asked to suggest contributors for and edit a special issue of IJAR, I tried to think in terms of having maximal positive impact on the direction of architecture today. How could one group of writings really turn people’s heads and inspire architects, students, and citizens towards a more human built environment? My long-term association with the work of Christopher Alexander naturally led me to try and educate people who are not yet familiar with his groundbreaking work. At the same time, those of us who have been inspired by Alexander have contributed our own body of results to the discipline. The present collection describes Alexander’s work and related developments based on his human, sensitive, and scientific approach to architecture. And yet, much of it remains curiously outside the architectural and academic mainstream.