Progressive architecture : Christopher Alexander / interviewed by Greg Saatkamp (Part 1 of 2)

Christopher Alexander, a world-renowned progressive architect, discusses the directions of contemporary design at his home in Berkeley. His talk discusses the need for architects to take into consideration the needs of the people for whom they are building. Alexander believes that wholeness and beauty are not vague notions and that buildings should be relevant to their cultural as well as physical landscape. Alexander talks about how non-experts can take control of their own affairs and that the aim of architecture should be allowing things to grow slowly rather than by a top-down bureaucratic process. Design itself does not suffice, but design and process are both necessary to create inhabitable environments. He draws from numerous books he has authored: “The timeless way of building”, “A pattern language”, “The Linz Cafe”, “The production of houses”, and “Battle”.