NEW YORK

OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS
1977

SUMMARY
OF
THE
LANGUAGE































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

within the buildings' wings, lay out the entrances, the gardens, courtyards, roofs, and terraces: shape both the volume of the buildings and the volume of the space be tween the buildings at the same time--remembering that indoor space and outdoor space, yin and yang, must always get their shape together;

MAIN ENTRANCE
HALF-HIDDEN GARDEN
ENTRANCE TRANSITION
CAR CONNECTION
HIERARCHY OF OPEN SPACE
COURTYARDS WHICH LIVE
CASCADE OF ROOFS
SHELTERING ROOF
ROOF GARDEN

when the major parts of buildings and the outdoor areas have been given their rough shape, it is the right time to give more detailed attention to the paths and squares between the buildings;

ARCADES
PATHS AND GOALS
PATH SHAPE
BUILDING FRONTS
PEDESTRIAN DENSITY
ACTIVITY POCKETS
STAIR SEATS
SOMETHING ROUGHLY IN THE MIDDLE

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

then the same for offices, workshops, and public build ings;

FLEXIBLE OFFICE SPACE
COMMUNAL EATING
SMALL WORK GROUPS
RECEPTION WELCOMES YOU
A PLACE TO WAIT
SMALL MEETING ROOMS
HALF-PRIVATE OFFICE

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
COM POST

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;

CEILING HEIGHT VARIETY
THE SHAPE OF INDOOR SPACE
WINDOWS OVERLOOKING LIFE
HALF-OPEN WALL
INTERIOR WINDOWS
STAIRCASE VOLUME
CORNER DOORS

give all the walls some depth, wherever there are to be alcoves, windows, shelves, closets, or seats;

THICK WALLS
CLOSETS BETWEEN ROOMS
SUNNY COUNTER
OPEN SHELVES
WAIST-HIGH SHELF
BUILT-IN SEATS
CHILD CAVES
SECRET PLACE

At this stage, you have a complete design for an in dividual building. If you have followed the patterns given, you have a scheme of spaces, either marked on the ground, with stakes, or on a piece of paper, accurate to the nearest foot or so. You know the heighi of rooms, the rough size and position of windows and doors, and you know roughly how the roofs of the building, and the gardens are laid out.

The next, and last part of the language, tells how to make a buildable building directly from this rough scheme of spaces, and tells you how to build it, in detail. Before you lay out structural details, establish a philosophy of structure which will let the structure grow directly from your plans and your conception of the buildings;

STRUCTURE FOLLOWS SOCIAL SPACES
EFFICIENT STRUCTURE
GOOD MATERIALS
GRADUAL STIFFENING

within this philosophy of structure, on the basis of the plans which you have made, work out the complete structural layout; this is the last thing you do on paper, before you actually start to build;

ROOF LAYOUT
FLOOR AND CEILING LAYOUT
THICKENING THE OUTER WALLS
COLUMNS AT THE CORNERS
FINAL COLUMN DISTRIBUTION

put stakes in the ground to mark the columns on the site, and start erecting the main frame of the building accord ing to the layout of these stakes;

ROOT FOUNDATIONS
GROUND FLOOR SLAB
BOX COLUMNS
PERIMETER BEAMS
WALL MEMBRANES
FLOOR-CEILING VAULTS
ROOF VAULTS

within the main frame of the building, fix the exact po sitions for openings—the doors and windows—and frame these openings;

NATURAL DOORS AND WINDOWS
LOW SILL
DEEP REVEALS
LOW DOORWAY
FRAMES AS THICKENED EDGES

as you build the main frame and its openings, put in the following subsidiary patterns where they are appropriate;

COLUMN PLACE
COLUMN CONNECTION
STAIR VAULT
DUCT SPACE
RADIANT HEAT
DORMER WINDOWS
ROOF CAPS

put in the surfaces and indoor details;

FLOOR SURFACE
LAPPED OUTSIDE WALLS
SOFT INSIDE WALLS
WINDOWS WHICH OPEN WIDE
SOLID DOORS WITH GLASS
FILTERED LIGHT
SMALL PANES
HALF-INCH TRIM

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