This extract was originally published on Common Edge as "The Legacy of Christopher Alexander: Criteria for an Intelligent Architecture."

via Wikimedia. ImageSelgas Cano's Pavilion at the 2018 Brugge Triennale

This extract was originally published on Common Edge as "The Legacy of Christopher Alexander: Criteria for an Intelligent Architecture."In his monumental four-volume book, The Nature of Order, Christopher Alexander talks about an intelligent architecture, responsive to human needs and sensibilities through adaptation to existing buildings and nature. This is a new way of viewing the world?a way of connecting to it, and to ourselves?yet it is very much the same as the most ancient ways of connecting.Intelligent criteria provide a way of judging whether a building, or piece of urban environment, is good or bad for our emotional health. Yes, a building can be either good or bad to different degrees. People don?t need experts to tell them whether a building is good or bad; they are fully capable of judging for themselves [one of several ways of judging is to use Alexander?s ?Mirror of the Self? Test]. Here?s the method?just ask yourself this question:?Does this building make me feel more alive, or less alive"?Note the specific nature of the question. It does not ask: ?Do you like this building"? or ?Does this building make you feel excited"? since those answers lead to ambiguous conclusions. Likes and dislikes are due to...