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...return to Book II: The Process Of Creating Life Christopher Alexander Book III - A Vision Of A Living World From a practical point of view, this is the most compelling of the four books. Hundreds of photographs and plans of new buildings that have living structure, and the processes which gave them life, demonstrate, for the first time, what the concept of living structure can mean in buildings of our time and of the future. The really good building. The really good space. Places that reach an archetypal level of human experience, reaching across centuries, across continents, across cultures, across technology, across building materials and climates. They connect us to ourselves. They connect us to our feelings. What is more, as we study them, we realize that they all share a similar geometry. How are they made? The practical task of making beauty is the principal subject of A Vision Of A Living World. In the four books of The Nature Of Order we have been given a new framework for perceiving and interacting with our world, a methodology for creating beautiful spaces, a cosmology where art, architecture, science, religion and secular life all work comfortably together. The third book shows us — visually, technically, and artistically — what world built in this cosmology and framework is likely to be: what it may look like and be like. Hundreds of examples of buildings and places are shown. New forms of large buildings, public spaces, communities, neighborhoods, lead to discussions about the equally important small scale of detail and ornament and color. Many of the examples are built by Alexander and his colleagues, other buildings explored take us around the world and through time. In all instances, it is the uniqueness and adaption of each place and its parts, and their comfort, which hold attention: uniqueness coupled with geometrical simplicity and beauty of form and color. With these examples, lay people, architects, builders, artists, and students are able to make this new framework real for themselves, understand how it works, understand its significance. The book is a feast for the eyes, and mind, and heart. Places created by living process (Book II) have living structure (Book I) — and they connect us to our essence as people (Book IV). The seven hundred pictures of Alexander's stunning buildings and works of art shown in this book demonstrate in detail what he means.
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