The Timeless Way of Building

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The Timeless Way of Building is a 1979 book that ties life and architecture together, written by Christopher Alexander.

It is considered by many to be one of the major, seminal texts of the twentieth century. ^{[citation needed]} It has had a huge influence on creative thinking, especially in the areas of architecture and software design. It could be classified as one of what the Estonian researcher of the Orient Linnart Mäll calls the humanistic base texts.

In the book, Alexander introduces the concept of the "quality without a name", and argues that we should seek to include this nameless quality in our buildings. This quality is hard to pin down in words. Alexander uses the technique of surrounding it with existing concepts that reflect a part of the quality with no name but are not sufficient to define it individually.

One central concept in The Timeless Way of Building is that of creative unfolding. Alexander uses the extended metaphor of the growth of a human embryo - with illustratrions - to take the reader through a creative complexification process. This starts with a single orientation (in building, say, where the new building will be and which way it will face; in the embryo metaphor a single fertilised cell) and gradually unfolds (in building through the thoughful addition of new features - where the entrance will be, what sort of root it will have; in the embryo metaphor how the spine forms and where the arms and legs will be) into a fully featured, complex yet somehow naturally appropriate design. A completed building; a new born child.

This book popularised the concept of the pattern language. It can be noted that Wiki has itself grown out of the pattern language movement that has spread to many disciplines.

The other two books in the series are: