Reflection to the process

This period we work the book A Pattern Language written by Christopher Alexander. Although the book was published more than 40 years ago, it still describes very important models where a city is composed of. These models have been described as the patterns that every city and its inhabitants need. Most patterns are still very important in this time. I think this is because it is based on what people need. Because the need people have for example: accessible green clear places and cozy places in a city hasn't changed. However, I do not think that all the ideas from the book can be applied in the cities of today. For example the loose objects described in the pattern adventure playground, do not seem to be my practice in the cities of today.

The book is fun to read, I even laughed a few times about the text. Christopher Alexander gives advice on the patterns but does not say how something should look like. He concludes and allows people to continue with this. I appreciate this, thear is space for your own ideas here and you get and all kind of tips, that improve your design.

During the field research I noticed that you quickly recognize the patterns. I also saw that even though there were good patterns present, this does not mean that this was immediately a pleasant place. There must be a good combination of pedestrian density, hierarchy or open space, nice climate (so sunny places or shelter) and some patrons that give the place a function and life such as accessible green, local sports or street café. In my design I tried to use this combination.

With the patterns in my the back of the head, I started looking at the problems in the square and in the theater. By working from research into patterns I easily came up with ideas for the design. In combination with the lessons and reference images, there was more than enough inspiration. Of course, I had to delete many of these ideas later, to the benefit of my design. Here I again looked at what would work well in combination with the pattern that it would create.

The pattern high places was in my opinion not enough present in Rotterdam, too bad because this is just one of the best. And because I wanted to work with the pattern of high places I went to look at different options here. For example, I wanted to first combine it with arcades and connect the Doelen to the theater. There were a lot of diftent ideas but in the end I wanted to stick to the pattern of high places.

When I had formed the basis for the design for this, I started looking back at the patterns and started to consider if something was missing. So it became clear that an activity had to be put on top of the bridge and this became a café. The park also had to be accessible to the public on the roof, something I did not want at first.

Because I really working whit the book A Pattern Language I would use it again. I think this can also help a lot if you are stuck in the design process. And even though this was certainly not the case for me now, the book was very inspiring and put it on important points for a design that should not be forgotten.