NEW YORK
OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS
1977
A pattern language has the structure of a network.
This is explained fully in The Timeless Way of Building,
However, when we use the network of a language,
we always use it as a sequence,
going through the patterns,
moving always from the larger patterns to the smaller,
always from the ones which create structures,
to the ones which then embellish those structures,
and then to those which embellish the embellishments.
Since the language is in truth a network,
there is no one sequence which perfectly captures it.
But the se quence which follows,
captures the broad sweep of the full network;
in doing so, it follows a line,
dips down, dips up again,
and follows an irregular course,
a little like a needle following a tapestry.
The sequence of patterns is both a summary of the
language, and at the same time,
an index to the patterns.
If you read through the sentences which connect the groups of
patterns to one another,
you will get an over view of the whole language.
And once you get this over view,
you will then be able to find the patterns which are relevant to your own
project.
And finally,
as we shall explain in the next section,
this sequence of patterns is also the "base map,"
from which you can make a language for your own project,
by choosing the patterns which are most useful to you,
and leaving them more or less in the order that you find them printed here.
We begin with that part of the language which defines a town or community.
These patterns can never be "designed" or "built" in one fell swoop--but patient piece meal growth,
designed in such a way that every individual act is always helping to create or generate these larger global patterns,
will, slowly and surely,
over the years, make a community that has these global patterns in it.
Within each region work toward those regional policies which will protect the land and mark the limits of the cities;
INDEPENDENT REGIONS
THE DISTRIBUTION OF TOWNS
CITY COUNTRY FINGERS
AGRICULTURAL VALLEYS
LACE OF COUNTRY STREETS
COUNTRY TOWNS
THE COUNTRYSIDE
through city policies, encourage the piecemeal forma tion of those major structures which define the city;
MOSAIC OF SUBCULTURES
SCATTERED WORK
MAGIC OF THE CITY
LOCAL TRANSPORT AREAS
build up these larger city patterns from the grass roots, through action essentially controlled by two levels of self-governing communities, which exist as physically identifiable places;
COMMUNITY OF 7000
SUBCULTURE BOUNDARY
IDENTIFIABLE NEIGHBORHOOD
NEIGHBORHOOD BOUNDARY
connect communities to one another by encouraging the growth of the following networks;
WEB OF PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION
RING ROADS
NETWORK OF LEARNING
WEB OF SHOPPING
MINI-BUSES
establish community and neighborhood policy to con trol the character of the local environment according to the following fundamental principles;
FOUR-STORY LIMIT
NINE PER CENT PARKING
PARALLEL ROADS
SACRED SITES
ACCESS TO WATER
LIFE CYCLE
MEN AND WOMEN
both in the neighborhoods and the communities, and in between them, in the boundaries, encourage the forma tion of local centers;
ECCENTRIC NUCLEUS
DENSITY RINGS
ACTIVITY NODES
PROMENADE
SHOPPING STREET
NIGHT LIFE
INTERCHANGE
around these centers, provide for the growth of housing in the form of clusters, based on face-to-face human groups;
HOUSEHOLD MIX
DEGREES OF PUBLICNESS
HOUSE CLUSTER
ROW HOUSES
HOUSING HILL
OLD PEOPLE EVERYWHERE
between the house clusters, around the centers, and especially in the boundaries between neighborhoods, en courage the formation of work communities;
WORK COMMUNITY
INDUSTRIAL RIBBON
UNIVERSITY AS A MARKETPLACE
LOCAL TOWN HALL
NECKLACE OF COMMUNITY PROJECTS
MARKET OF MANY SHOPS
HEALTH CENTER
HOUSING IN BETWEEN
between the house clusters and work communities, allow the local road and path network to grow informally, piecemeal;
LOOPED LOCAL ROADS
T JUNCTIONS
GREEN STREETS
NETWORK OF PATHS AND CARS
MAIN GATEWAYS
ROAD CROSSING
RAISED WALK
BIKE PATHS AND RACKS
CHILDREN IN THE CITY
in the communities and neighborhoods, provide public open land where people can relax, rub shoulders and renew themselves;
CARNIVAL
QUIET BACKS
ACCESSIBLE GREEN
SMALL PUBLIC SQUARES
HIGH PLACES
DANCING IN THE STREET
POOLS AND STREAMS
BIRTH PLACES
HOLY GROUND
in each house cluster and work community, provide the smaller bits of common land, to provide for local ver sions of the same needs;
COMMON LAND
CONNECTED PLAY
PUBLIC OUTDOOR ROOM
GRAVE SITES
STILL WATER
LOCAL SPORTS
ADVENTURE PLAYGROUND
ANIMALS
within the framework of the common land, the clusters, and the work communities encourage transformation of the smallest independent social institutions: the families, workgroups, and gathering places. The family, in all its forms;
THE FAMILY
HOUSE FOR A SMALL FAMILY
HOUSE FOR A COUPLE
HOUSE FOR ONE PERSON
YOUR OWN HOME
the workgroups, including all kinds of workshops and offices and even children's learning groups;
SELF-GOVERNING WORKSHOPS
AND OFFICES
SMALL SERVICES WITHOUT RED TAPE
OFFICE CONNECTIONS
MASTER AND APPRENTICES
TEENAGE SOCIETY
SHOPFRONT SCHOOLS
CHILDREN'S HOME
the local shops and gathering places.
INDIVIDUALLY OWNED SHOPS
STREET CAFE
CORNER GROCERY
BEER HALL
TRAVELER'S ENN
BUS STOP
FOOD STANDS
SLEEPING IN PUBLIC
This completes the global patterns which define a town or a community. We now start that part of the language which gives shape to groups of buildings, and individual buildings, on the land, in three dimensions. These are the patterns which can be "designed" or "built”—the patterns which define the individual build ings and the space between buildings; where we are deal ing for the first time with patterns that are under the control of individuals or small groups of individuals, who are able to build the patterns all at once.
The first group of patterns helps to lay out the overall arrangement of a group of buildings: the height and number of these buildings, the entrances to the site, main parking areas, and lines of movement through the complex;
BUILDING COMPLEX
NUMBER OF STORIES
SHIELDED PARKING
CIRCULATION REALMS
MAIN BUILDING
PEDESTRIAN STREET
BUILDING THOROUGH FARE
FAMILY OF ENTRANCES
SMALL PARKING LOTS
fix the position of individual buildings on the site, within the complex, one by one, according to the nature of the site, the trees, the sun: this is one of the most important moments in the language;
SITE REPAIR
SOUTH FACING OUTDOORS
POSITIVE OUTDOOR SPACE
WINGS OF LIGHT
CONNECTED BUILDINGS
LONG THIN HOUSE
now, with the paths fixed, we come back to the build ings: within the various wings of any one building, work out the fundamental gradients of space, and decide how the movement will connect the spaces in the gradients;
INTIMACY GRADIENT
INDOOR SUNLIGHT
COMMON AREAS AT THE HEART
ENTRANCE ROOM
THE FLOW THROUGH ROOMS
SHORT PASSAGES
STAIRCASE AS A STAGE
ZEN VIEW
TAPESTRY OF LIGHT AND DARK
within the framework of the wings and their internal gradients of space and movement, define the most im portant areas and rooms. First, for a house;
COUPLE'S REALM
CHILDREN'S REALM
SLEEPING TO THE EAST
FARMHOUSE KITCHEN
PRIVATE TERRACE ON THE STREET
A ROOM OF ONE'S OWN
SEQUENCE OF SITTING SPACES
BED CLUSTER
BATHING ROOM
BULK STORAGE
add those small outbuildings which must be slightly in dependent from the main structure, and put in the access from the upper stories to the street and gardens;
ROOMS TO RENT
TEENAGER'S COTTAGE
OLD AGE COTTAGE
SETTLED WORK
HOME WORKSHOP
OPEN STAIRS
prepare to knit the inside of the building to the outside, by treating the edge between the two as a place in its own right, and making human details there;
LIGHT ON TWO SIDES OF EVERY ROOM
BUILDING EDGE
SUNNY PLACE
NORTH FACE
OUTDOOR ROOM
STREET WINDOWS
OPENING TO THE STREET
GALLERY SURROUND
SIX-FOOT BALCONY
CONNECTION TO THE EARTH
decide on the arrangement of the gardens, and the places in the gardens;
TERRACED SLOPE
FRUIT TREES
TREE PLACES
GARDEN GROWING WILD
GARDEN WALL
TRELLISED WALK
GREENHOUSE
GARDEN SEAT
VEGETABLE GARDEN
COMPOST
go back to the inside of the building and attach the neces sary minor rooms and alcoves to complete the main rooms;
ALCOVES
WINDOW PLACE
THE FIRE
EATING ATMOSPHERE
WORKSPACE ENCLOSURE
COOKING LAYOUT
SITTING CIRCLE
COMMUNAL SLEEPING
MARRIAGE BED
BED ALCOVE
DRESSING ROOM
fine tune the shape and size of rooms and alcoves to make them precise and buildable;
build outdoor details to finish the outdoors as fully as the indoor spaces;
SEAT SPOTS
FRONT DOOR BENCH
SITTING WALL
CANVAS ROOFS
RAISED FLOWERS
CLIMBING PLANTS
PAVING WITH CRACKS BETWEEN
THE STONES
SOFT TILE AND BRICK
complete the building with ornament and light and color and your own things;
ORNAMENT
WARM COLORS
DIFFERENT CHAIRS
POOLS OF LIGHT
THINGS FROM YOUR LIFE