“One begins to think with that new building block, rather than with littler pieces. And finally, the things which seem like elements dissolve, and leave a fabric of relationships behind, which is the stuff that actually repeats itself, and gives the structure to a building or a town.”

— Christopher Alexander, book The Timeless Way of Building

Cited in: Peter Coad (1992, p. 152) About what happens when one finds a pattern?
The Timeless Way of Building (1979)

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Christopher Alexander6

architect 1936

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“On the geometric level, we see certain physical elements repeated endlessly, combined in an almost endless variety of combinations… It is puzzling to realize that the elements, which seem like elementary building blocks, keep varying, and are different every time that they occur …. If the elements are different every time that they occur, evidently then, it cannot be the elements themselves which are repeating in a building or town; these so-called elements cannot be the ultimate "atomic" constituents of space.”

Christopher Alexander book The Timeless Way of Building

Cited in: Peter Coad (1992, p. 152)
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“Look more carefully…to find out what it really is that is repeating there …. Beyond its elements, each building [or town] is defined by certain patterns of relationships among the elements…. These relationships are not extra, but necessary to the elements… The elements themselves are patterns of relationships.”

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Context: It did seem sounder to build houses which he could build than to teach children a gospel which he did not altogether understand in a Sioux language which he could not quite speak. He reflected, 'If I could put over some kind of equality for Mark Shadrock and Black Wolf, that would be enough heavenly progress for me.' ~ Ch. 53

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“One begins to think with that new building block, rather than with littler pieces. And finally, the things which seem like elements dissolve, and leave a fabric of relationships behind, which is the stuff that actually repeats itself, and gives the structure to a building or a town.”

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Christopher Alexander6

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