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The study aims at understanding the design process explained by Christopher
Alexander through examples in Indian urban neighbourhoods and then applying it to
an urban design project. The case studies were done at Madurai, Tamil Nadu and Delhi.
A redevelopment proposal of the Market at Thiruparankundram, Madurai was done by
following the design process suggested by this theory.
About the work of Christopher Alexander
Christopher Alexander is an Architect and Mathematician who dedicated his entire
lifetime to understand architecture. He found spaces that had been built with care and
attention to the behaviour and feeling of people, were the places that people felt most
“alive” because they had no inner conflicts. This feeling of being free and having no
inner conflict is called as “life” by Christopher Alexander.
The spaces that were most alive were those that fit the context accommodating the
pattern of activities that occur there. He wrote “Notes on the Synthesis of Form” in
which he analysed the design problem and
understood that the variables in a design problem
were structured similar to a semi-lattice structure
explained in abstract algebra. The design problem is
a problem of several variables organized into
groups and sub-groups interacting at several levels
requiring a simultaneous solution best described by
the diagram shown here.
Solving the problem while retaining the complex
structure will give a solution that has deep
adaptation and this can be done only through a
process of generation by a series of structure
preserving transformations.
Christopher alexander formulated the theory of wholeness which correlates the
semi-lattice structure, life and the process that generates these complex structures.
Observations of incidences of Life
Several places were studied for instances of life. The streets of Thirunagar, a residential
colony at Kochadai and Green Park Market in Delhi.
From the case studies it was shown that spaces that were generated organically by a
piecemeal process were more whole than large scale planned places built within a
short period.
Example of application of the theory to design process
The Thiruparankundram market redevelopment project was a live project done in
college as an academic project that included an urban study followed by a design
proposal to redevelop the market that was once buzzing with life.
The extensive study aimed at understanding the essence of the life of the market. The
bus stand that once existed near the entrance of the market was responsible for the
large number of people visiting the market regularly. The economic performance of the
shops depended on the variety of the products they sold and this in turn depended on
the cooperation among the sellers. More variety in the products would make the
experience much richer for the customer. In order to bring cooperation among the
sellers, the system of management of the market had to be changed and the control
must be handed over to an association of the sellers so they could get a true sense of
belonging which would in turn help in maintaining and regularly adding more features
as needs arose.
The final design was an expression of deep adaption, life and sustainability. This was
achieved through systematic understanding of the design problem and following
structure preserving process for designing the market.