The Oregon Experiment, begun on the University of Oregon campus in the early '70s, set out to prove that humane, sensitive architecture was possible through the deep participation ofthe campus community. Opposite page left, the art department's foundry, an early result ofthe Experiment, designed and built by students an4 faculty. book under this title. Patterns are something like rules, but not so authoritarian. As certain aspects of language can contribute to good sentences, patterns are meant to help people make good human space. For example, one pattern argues for mixed-use buildings: students should live in small clusters intimate with workshops, libraries, labs and· other activities. The resulting social brew is a natural. stimulant to education and research. Patterns keep this kind of insight active in community memory·. The Experiment encourages user discovery of useful patterns: "the collection of formally adopted patterns shall be reviewed annualJy at public hearings, where any member of the community can introduce new patterns, or revisions of old patterns, on the basis of explicitly stated observations and experiment~ . " In this way, the University could study itself. Alexander introduced another annual exercise . . known as diagnosis, a poll of people's feelings about nearly every piece of campus. The results were to be publicly reported, undergo community revision, and guide future change. In Alexander's experience, opinion based primarily on feeling is a perfectly good foundation for community planning. "The myth that's being propagated is that. everyone feels differently, that the communality is-on the order of 10% and the difference on the order of 90%." He believes that regarding environment, the opposite is the case. People working to improve the humanity of a given spot mostly agree. .But the harmony disappears, and the goals become elusive, when groups are bombarded with The Community made many sucessful planning and design decisions through Alexander's Experiment over the decades: above left, a well-used kiosk, above right, Richard Britz' Urban Farm, and below, a view from the scholars' walk ofthe Education School, d complex preserved, and carefully enlarged, under the plan's recommendations. tough-sounding technicalities. When these dominate, planners and development professionals usually win the ensuing arguments. Really, there needn't be such fear of citizen intuition since, says Alexander, "no·one is going to claim to have good feelings about a traffic hazard." If people's senses are given priority, a group can take into account "the emotional life of children, the feelings of an old person'. walking up and down a street, the atmosphere surrounding someone buying a pound of tomatoes", and in that context, necessary structural points can be discussed. This isn't difficult to do, as long as the process emphasizes making things better, not just fulfilling·dead requirements. Campus plart11ers took th~se ideas to heart, along with other material in the plan, and made some solid strides RAIN Summer 1994 Volume XIV, Number 4 Page 15
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