TheOregonExperiment

Great little book, third in the series TheTimelessWayOfBuilding and PatternLanguage by ChristopherAlexander e.a.

Oxford University Press, New York 1975

ISBN 0-19-501824-9

This book simply begs for implementation, and not only for buildings. It describes an alternative for master plans; in this case, for the University of Oregon.

The six principles that Alexander describes offer an alternative for master plans in software development.

The principles:

• PrincipleOfOrganicOrder
• PrincipleOfParticipation
• PiecemealGrowth
• PrincipleOfPatterns
• PrincipleOfDiagnosis
• PrincipleOfCoordination

---

A must read! -- MartineDevos

Unfortunately, it isn't really the case study of the ideas from TheTimelessWayOfBuilding that I expected, but instead more of a guide for how to implement some of them. It is however a really good complement to TWOB, since it gives some practical context. I just wish someone would make a follow-up about how the experiment turned out. -- AndersBengtsson

---

The book is a classic mission statement from the beginning of a social experiment. Some articles on the current state of the experiment, written in 1991 & 1994, can be reached from here:

http://www.rainmagazine.com/archive/1991-1/the-oregon-experiment-revisited http://www.rainmagazine.com/archive/1994/alexander-visits-the-oregon-experiment

---

CategoryBook