As Monty Python famously once said, “And now for something completely different”.
This series is my opportunity to explore my curiosity with the principles articulated in Christopher Alexander’s A Pattern Language and his latest work The Nature of Order: An Essay on the Art of Building and The Nature of the Universe. I intend to use the Disney theme parks as my lab to better understand those principles. So please indulge me as I think out loud. You bought the ticket; let’s go for the ride.
Why do some spaces touch you immediately while other spaces seem cold? It is just by pure chance or can spaces be designed with higher degree of life? How do you measure the degree of life within the context of the built environment? To start there is one simple test. When you enter a space that feels right, you know it when you feel it. You may not be able to articulate why you have these feelings. If asked to list specific objects within the space your words would be inadequate and it would be almost impossible to truly capture the experience in such a way that it can be shared. But this quality does exist. In Christopher Alexander’s book The Timeless Way of Building, he calls this the “quality without a name”.
He goes further to say that “there is a central quality which is the root criterion of life and spirit in a man, a town, a building or a wilderness. This quality is objective and precise, but it cannot be named.”
The Disney parks are filled with such places. Let me highlight one place in Disneyland that may illustrate my point.
Many people know of the “Wizard of Bras” store that used to be on Main Street USA. Wait, you didn’t know that lingerie was available for sale in such a family friendly place?
When the park opened in 1955 many of the shops along Main Street were franchisees. Walt didn’t have enough money for everything and leased off bits just to get things done. One of the vendors was Hollywood-Maxwell’s Intimate Apparel Shop. The store was the only place to buy lingerie, brassieres, and torsolettes in the park and to learn about the history of underwear in the museum. It closed in 1959.
What remains is a little Victorian porch on the east side of Main Street right next to the Silhouette Studio. There are two chairs and a bench that are bolted down. I feel this is one of the best spots to rest, take in the crowd, and just ‘be’. They have created a quasi-private space adjacent to a very public space.
I can list some of the elements or patterns that explain how it works. You are elevated above the passing crowd. The porch provides a framed view of Main Street. You are on soft textures like wood instead of the hard pavement or bricks that line the street. The way the sun moves across the sky and animates the articulation along the building facades.
But why does it work? That question is the heart of this journey. The best way I can describe it is to accept the concept of wholeness. How do we define “wholeness”? Alexander suggests that the “local parts exist chiefly in relation to the whole, and their behavior and character and structure are determined by the larger whole in which they exist and which they create”. Understanding wholeness will unlock the power of centers. Centers represent the elements, objects, or patterns that we understand, measure, and appreciate.
So you have landed at one of your favorite spots in your favorite park. You know it possesses that “quality without a name”. Your curiosity is driving you to understand why you have these feelings about that space. How can we measure those qualities and use that knowledge to see those patterns repeated in other places that we love?
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