but thanks everyone for being here I
just wanted to share a couple of ideas
that can help reshape help you relate to
your environments both the built
environments as well as the social
environment get you to think about space
differently and I think this topic is
important because more and more of these
days we find ourselves living in built
environments we are substituting a human
built world for the natural world in
fact about a decade ago we passed the
tipping point more than half of the
world’s population now lives in cities
and other urban environments that
proportion is predicted to rise to 66
percent nearly two thirds of the world’s
entire population by 2050 but they
taking some time to reflect on and how
we relate to the built environments the
architecture that surrounds us in the
cities that increasingly surround us is
more important than ever
not just reflecting about technical
details mechanical details for instance
provision of water and electricity or
the pollution problem that the previous
video talked about inter steps to
address not these issues of
sustainability not just these dishes but
more deeper deeper more fundamental
questions of how we as people relate to
the built environment how the human
spirit is or is not affected by this new
human built world and I found us Hong
Kong actually offered many perfect
examples of the ideas and themes that I
wanted to convey in this talk and so I’m
gonna be using a lot of photographs from
my time here both to elucidate explain
my idea and also as a kind of seem
they’ll honor it appreciate the time
that I’ve been here so let’s take a look
at this first photo this is one of the
first things that I saw coming Hong Kong
I think I actually took this a couple
days after I landed and I was just on
the bus you know I was on the top deck
you know taking in the sights and this
isn’t anything special by Hong Kong
standards they’re comparatively few
people the traffic’s not that bad but
coming from a small college in under for
the rural parts of the United States
this still astonished me with the sheer
amount of activities the sheer amount of
human activity it seemed a never-ending
stream of business something’s always
this also exposed me but for different
reasons
this was taking them more recently about
a month ago in Hong Kong spot chi lin
nunnery and it astonished me because
after six or seven months of living in
hong kong i was really surprised to find
a place that had such quiets such calm
and peace it was a welcome change of
pace from the kind of frantic frantic
pace of everyday life in Hong Kong that
was really appreciated looking’s but
what to do now is compare these two
photos to try and give you in a sense of
the idea that walkabout so I would argue
that in a way these photos the set of
the scenes depicted in his photos our
difference and in deeper more
fundamental way then you might initially
think in fact I’m going to argue that
objectively speaking the scene depicted
here has more life than the scene
depicted here it’s more alive it’s more
vibrance I can envision different
activities taking a walk talking with a
friend writing in my journal reading the
clock taking some time just to observe a
particular tree or rock that catches my
eye I have a fundamentally different
sensation in places like these as
opposed to places like these and much of
much of the other places in Hong Kong
different activities in this one
I don’t envision to see my communities I
can’t really imagine stop them somewhere
having a chat with my friends I feel
rushed
even Channel four funnels this isn’t a
place for stopping and doing meaningful
things or reflecting on something this
is a place where you go because you’re
going somewhere else right you’re going
to the ball or you’re going to the MTR
station but you’re not stopping there
you’re going somewhere else so it’s
fundamentally different in this one as I
say I think this is more alive and
obviously I am not using life in the
mechanicals biological definition
necessarily or strictly I am going
beyond that mechanical definition I’m
arguing in fact that life is a
fundamental attribute of a space all
space everywhere cities forests lakes
you know other planets everywhere every
bit of space has a greater or lesser
degree of length objectively and that
may seem ridiculous to go so far beyond
the mechanical definition of life as you
and I are some sort of self-replicating
patterns of particular elements in a
particular configuration so let me ask
you this when you think of your own
lives do you think of it in mechanical
terms like they’re describing them you
go well I ate today and I you know drink
some liquids so my eyes feeling pretty
good I tried to reproduce successfully
or unsuccessfully you know and then yeah
I think I’m just going to get up
tomorrow I keep doing that until my
eventually wears out and I die but as
long as I can you know have some
offspring and future generations that I
kind of compliment I’ll – do you think
of it in terms of these like mechanical
things is kind of checklist or do you
think sometimes about things that you
call hopes or dreams or wishes visions
of a future doesn’t exist I’m longing a
desire for something that you can’t even
give a name to necessarily but you feel
drawn to
if you do that I am sorry to say that
you two have strained beyond the purely
mechanical definition of life and I’m
simply asking you to imagine with me
that that intangible definition of life
doesn’t just extend to yourself but he
sends outside of yourself to other
people it’s a living matter and
nonliving matter that particular
configuration through space whether they
be living organisms such as you and I in
this room or the cities that surround us
the buildings that surround us in Hong
Kong but these different configurations
have an objective measure of life and
that changes the way we see things so
how can we get a better handle on this
how can you get a better understanding
how exactly space creates life well a
lot of what I’m discussing here today
was inspired by a very great architect
by the name of Christopher Alexander and
you know I work here at this university
as an English tutor and sometimes
students tell me I’m having difficulty
with my reading assignments is taking me
forever how many of you have had world
history class ends up taking world
history you find it the readings they’re
a lot of readings weren’t there it takes
you a long time well the book that I’ve
been reading that with the idea that in
wrestling with Don presented here before
you today it took me about eight years
to finish that book I actually just
finished it a couple of weeks ago in
preparation for this event
anyway Christopher Alexander said that
we can understand space in a different
way by thinking in terms of centers and
may be difficult to define centers
necessarily it’s not necessarily like
the middle of something but every bit of
space is composed of centers centers you
can think of as kind of bits of
organized space they have some coherence
to them they are separate from the rest
of the space around it and these centers
combine in differently
to produce some whole the whole of the
greater than the sum of its parts
these centers interact meaningfully to
create some organization in space which
prisoner Alexander argue resulted in a
greater or lesser degree of life centers
can be anything could be chairs could be
these doors behind you it could be this
window he’ll be you and I living things
are also centers you want an example
take people individuals interact with
each other in meaningful ways and by
themselves would not be able to produce
anything necessarily but our interaction
is collectively creates a whole that we
call society and if individuals that not
interact with each other at all
there would be no such thing as a
society and if the elements that make
you and I living organisms we’re
separated equally and did not interact
with each other there may be no
possibility for life so the notion
they’re trying to connect life to space
and not be as strange is immediately
apparent anyway let’s look at some
centers Tommy look at this photo on the
right what’s the center and you see it
what draws your eye the most is that the
buildings is it the boat in foreground
what do you think it’s a center here the
Sun yes exactly look at it it dominates
the picture the eye is drawn towards it
indefinitely the building’s banished
into the distance arriving at the Sun
even the posts draw your eye the post in
the foreground here draw your eye has to
focus the Sun Sun Tom Mason picture the
Sun is the center but the posts their
centers – they interact with each other
they attract the eye and then move on to
the greater sin curve the silence but
doesn’t need to be anything that’s
dramatic to STATS these lanterns to
active centers their bits of organized
space they have a pleasing color they
interact with each other they interact
with the purple lights and so your eye
goes to the lantern one two two three
or five and as you see the light up
above and a bamboo scaffolding and then
maybe your eye goes down a little bit to
see the blue light over there with the
people in the light that’s another
century
all spaces compose of centers and when
you start looking for them you’ll find
them everywhere and they change how you
think how you look at the world around
you there’s a building in the khalasar
but the struck really struck me with
accounts of my intention so many centers
in this photo these windows or these
archways right the light coming through
them each one of these in the center
they strengthen each other they repeat
in a similar pattern even these drapes
down here each one of these little lines
as a center that interact with each
other in form something greater
these clover patterns in between I hope
you can see them but they’re up there
between the edge points those are also
centers and look at how they’re
interacting with each other they’re not
just drawing your eye horizontally but
they draw your eyes up vertically so the
region of the blue sky outlined above
in contrast the flanks the sky itself is
a center the tree off to the left is a
center the building the tree and the sky
are also interacting with each other
centers don’t need to be necessarily
explicitly designed but the building
certainly is even something like a blank
sheet of paper a blank white space by
itself perfectly flat no length but put
a few black marks in the middle and
suddenly get a totally different
sensation how could that be you may or
may not agree with the definition of
life that I’m giving here plus the space
does how black at least at the extent
that it is reflected in the meaning that
you and I difference for us we have a
fundamentally different sensation
looking at this than mere blank white
space living things like I said can also
be centers including cats sometimes
these organisms are so particularly
astoundingly lazy
one may mistake them for nonliving
material don’t be fooled
Casca dissenters – now you may think
isn’t this all subjective like saying
one thing or another one scene or
another is more alive or less alive that
one building is more beautiful than
another perhaps in part it is subjective
we all come from different backgrounds
with different experiences different
ideas they’ll have a unique way of
looking at things
but discounting this kind of individual
experience or measurements of life comes
from a mechanical point of view that if
it’s not completely independent of what
we think and we can allow the some
objective measurement events outside of
ourselves then it’s not value it’s
useless
but I would say that that’s not true I
would say that there is a largely
objective measurements that we can
arrive at in trying to understands the
degree of life and one scene or another
Christopher Alexander had a test called
the mirror of the self test that you use
to try and get people to see which thing
had more length than another he put in
something like this which one makes you
feel more alive which one makes you feel
more human which one
looking at these scenes that we have
here this is the grand millennium Plaza
and this is a seminarian Church in Macau
which one makes you feel your humanity
expand or contract if I need to feel
that this one with the skyscraper is
surrounding everything Italian people
too for gravity force at this simple
church with the length on the included
doors let’s do a quick measure if you
think that them yeah the right photo
this one with the skyscrapers makes you
feel more alive more human raise your
hand if you think the left hand photo
was light coming in through the door you
can see out you think that one makes you
feel more alive more human raise your
hands
okay we’ve got a pretty good consensus
there I’d say maybe that’s a 80/20 split
something like that
but no that’s just one sampling but it
goes to show you that perhaps talking
about the life of space it’s not so
entirely subjective after all all right
I think these questions are more
important than ever like I said because
we’re living in more and more urban
environments cities and since we are
increasingly substituting this human
since we’re substituting in for the
natural one more and more
the built environment becomes a
reflection of who we are learning to
think in sentences importance because
fundamentally there’s no difference
between us and the external environments
you as a person do not exist entirely
without defining yourself in relation to
other people by yourself you are weak
but together with other people you are
stronger than you could be on your own
or it’s the same thing with architecture
the building by itself this week one
Center by itself is weak but centers
interacting with each other can create
something much stronger but technology
modern technology that we’ve used to
build these cities seems to have a
weakening effects on these centers look
at this this is the casino from Macau
for one of them anyway a bunch of
centers here maybe but they’re
interacting with each other in a weird
way it’s all flat it’s more homogeneous
it’s less seems less a lot technology
allows us to create unnatural forms and
that’s not a bad thing it’s enabled us
to do wonderful great things but is this
the kind of environment that we want or
do we want some other kind of
environment that makes us feel more
alive and gives us more potential for
meaningful human action that’s why I’m
trying to get you to think in terms of
centers to reshape how you think about
the external environment because it can
tell you something important about
yourself technology has also made us
weaker as centers perhaps we and we are
more connected to each other than ever
before in some ways we can communicate
with each other instantaneously anywhere
at anytime
but do you really think that the quality
of those connections has increased with
technology or decline look at these
people they’re all looking at the same
thing but how many of them are really
genuinely sharing that experience with
each other technology too may have had a
weakening effect on us as centers that’s
why I want to leave you with this
message that trying to think in terms of
centers is important because it
redefines our relationship not just at
the built environment not just at
architecture but seeing each other as
well because you cannot consider
yourself isolated from the external
environment the more that you do that
the more cut off you feel the weaker you
are as a center but by learning to
observe sensors around us where it is
everywhere in life are looking at space
and the fundamentally different way
you’re not just reflecting on buildings
or cities not just reflecting on how
that make things prettier it’s more
fundamental than that you’re also
thinking about life itself and you’re
thinking about the kind of world that
you want to live in by strengthening
centers both in our buildings and in
ourselves by strengthening those
connections we can create an
architecture of built environments more
conducive to human life
it’s a meaningful human action and in so
doing we also reflect on ourselves and
how we can connect more strongly with
each other to build a stronger Society
and so I leave you with these words look
at the centers around you and you may find centers in yourself again thank you
just wanted to share a couple of ideas
that can help reshape help you relate to
your environments both the built
environments as well as the social
environment get you to think about space
differently and I think this topic is
important because more and more of these
days we find ourselves living in built
environments we are substituting a human
built world for the natural world in
fact about a decade ago we passed the
tipping point more than half of the
world’s population now lives in cities
and other urban environments that
proportion is predicted to rise to 66
percent nearly two thirds of the world’s
entire population by 2050 but they
taking some time to reflect on and how
we relate to the built environments the
architecture that surrounds us in the
cities that increasingly surround us is
more important than ever
not just reflecting about technical
details mechanical details for instance
provision of water and electricity or
the pollution problem that the previous
video talked about inter steps to
address not these issues of
sustainability not just these dishes but
more deeper deeper more fundamental
questions of how we as people relate to
the built environment how the human
spirit is or is not affected by this new
human built world and I found us Hong
Kong actually offered many perfect
examples of the ideas and themes that I
wanted to convey in this talk and so I’m
gonna be using a lot of photographs from
my time here both to elucidate explain
my idea and also as a kind of seem
they’ll honor it appreciate the time
that I’ve been here so let’s take a look
at this first photo this is one of the
first things that I saw coming Hong Kong
I think I actually took this a couple
days after I landed and I was just on
the bus you know I was on the top deck
you know taking in the sights and this
isn’t anything special by Hong Kong
standards they’re comparatively few
people the traffic’s not that bad but
coming from a small college in under for
the rural parts of the United States
this still astonished me with the sheer
amount of activities the sheer amount of
human activity it seemed a never-ending
stream of business something’s always
this also exposed me but for different
reasons
this was taking them more recently about
a month ago in Hong Kong spot chi lin
nunnery and it astonished me because
after six or seven months of living in
hong kong i was really surprised to find
a place that had such quiets such calm
and peace it was a welcome change of
pace from the kind of frantic frantic
pace of everyday life in Hong Kong that
was really appreciated looking’s but
what to do now is compare these two
photos to try and give you in a sense of
the idea that walkabout so I would argue
that in a way these photos the set of
the scenes depicted in his photos our
difference and in deeper more
fundamental way then you might initially
think in fact I’m going to argue that
objectively speaking the scene depicted
here has more life than the scene
depicted here it’s more alive it’s more
vibrance I can envision different
activities taking a walk talking with a
friend writing in my journal reading the
clock taking some time just to observe a
particular tree or rock that catches my
eye I have a fundamentally different
sensation in places like these as
opposed to places like these and much of
much of the other places in Hong Kong
different activities in this one
I don’t envision to see my communities I
can’t really imagine stop them somewhere
having a chat with my friends I feel
rushed
even Channel four funnels this isn’t a
place for stopping and doing meaningful
things or reflecting on something this
is a place where you go because you’re
going somewhere else right you’re going
to the ball or you’re going to the MTR
station but you’re not stopping there
you’re going somewhere else so it’s
fundamentally different in this one as I
say I think this is more alive and
obviously I am not using life in the
mechanicals biological definition
necessarily or strictly I am going
beyond that mechanical definition I’m
arguing in fact that life is a
fundamental attribute of a space all
space everywhere cities forests lakes
you know other planets everywhere every
bit of space has a greater or lesser
degree of length objectively and that
may seem ridiculous to go so far beyond
the mechanical definition of life as you
and I are some sort of self-replicating
patterns of particular elements in a
particular configuration so let me ask
you this when you think of your own
lives do you think of it in mechanical
terms like they’re describing them you
go well I ate today and I you know drink
some liquids so my eyes feeling pretty
good I tried to reproduce successfully
or unsuccessfully you know and then yeah
I think I’m just going to get up
tomorrow I keep doing that until my
eventually wears out and I die but as
long as I can you know have some
offspring and future generations that I
kind of compliment I’ll – do you think
of it in terms of these like mechanical
things is kind of checklist or do you
think sometimes about things that you
call hopes or dreams or wishes visions
of a future doesn’t exist I’m longing a
desire for something that you can’t even
give a name to necessarily but you feel
drawn to
if you do that I am sorry to say that
you two have strained beyond the purely
mechanical definition of life and I’m
simply asking you to imagine with me
that that intangible definition of life
doesn’t just extend to yourself but he
sends outside of yourself to other
people it’s a living matter and
nonliving matter that particular
configuration through space whether they
be living organisms such as you and I in
this room or the cities that surround us
the buildings that surround us in Hong
Kong but these different configurations
have an objective measure of life and
that changes the way we see things so
how can we get a better handle on this
how can you get a better understanding
how exactly space creates life well a
lot of what I’m discussing here today
was inspired by a very great architect
by the name of Christopher Alexander and
you know I work here at this university
as an English tutor and sometimes
students tell me I’m having difficulty
with my reading assignments is taking me
forever how many of you have had world
history class ends up taking world
history you find it the readings they’re
a lot of readings weren’t there it takes
you a long time well the book that I’ve
been reading that with the idea that in
wrestling with Don presented here before
you today it took me about eight years
to finish that book I actually just
finished it a couple of weeks ago in
preparation for this event
anyway Christopher Alexander said that
we can understand space in a different
way by thinking in terms of centers and
may be difficult to define centers
necessarily it’s not necessarily like
the middle of something but every bit of
space is composed of centers centers you
can think of as kind of bits of
organized space they have some coherence
to them they are separate from the rest
of the space around it and these centers
combine in differently
to produce some whole the whole of the
greater than the sum of its parts
these centers interact meaningfully to
create some organization in space which
prisoner Alexander argue resulted in a
greater or lesser degree of life centers
can be anything could be chairs could be
these doors behind you it could be this
window he’ll be you and I living things
are also centers you want an example
take people individuals interact with
each other in meaningful ways and by
themselves would not be able to produce
anything necessarily but our interaction
is collectively creates a whole that we
call society and if individuals that not
interact with each other at all
there would be no such thing as a
society and if the elements that make
you and I living organisms we’re
separated equally and did not interact
with each other there may be no
possibility for life so the notion
they’re trying to connect life to space
and not be as strange is immediately
apparent anyway let’s look at some
centers Tommy look at this photo on the
right what’s the center and you see it
what draws your eye the most is that the
buildings is it the boat in foreground
what do you think it’s a center here the
Sun yes exactly look at it it dominates
the picture the eye is drawn towards it
indefinitely the building’s banished
into the distance arriving at the Sun
even the posts draw your eye the post in
the foreground here draw your eye has to
focus the Sun Sun Tom Mason picture the
Sun is the center but the posts their
centers – they interact with each other
they attract the eye and then move on to
the greater sin curve the silence but
doesn’t need to be anything that’s
dramatic to STATS these lanterns to
active centers their bits of organized
space they have a pleasing color they
interact with each other they interact
with the purple lights and so your eye
goes to the lantern one two two three
or five and as you see the light up
above and a bamboo scaffolding and then
maybe your eye goes down a little bit to
see the blue light over there with the
people in the light that’s another
century
all spaces compose of centers and when
you start looking for them you’ll find
them everywhere and they change how you
think how you look at the world around
you there’s a building in the khalasar
but the struck really struck me with
accounts of my intention so many centers
in this photo these windows or these
archways right the light coming through
them each one of these in the center
they strengthen each other they repeat
in a similar pattern even these drapes
down here each one of these little lines
as a center that interact with each
other in form something greater
these clover patterns in between I hope
you can see them but they’re up there
between the edge points those are also
centers and look at how they’re
interacting with each other they’re not
just drawing your eye horizontally but
they draw your eyes up vertically so the
region of the blue sky outlined above
in contrast the flanks the sky itself is
a center the tree off to the left is a
center the building the tree and the sky
are also interacting with each other
centers don’t need to be necessarily
explicitly designed but the building
certainly is even something like a blank
sheet of paper a blank white space by
itself perfectly flat no length but put
a few black marks in the middle and
suddenly get a totally different
sensation how could that be you may or
may not agree with the definition of
life that I’m giving here plus the space
does how black at least at the extent
that it is reflected in the meaning that
you and I difference for us we have a
fundamentally different sensation
looking at this than mere blank white
space living things like I said can also
be centers including cats sometimes
these organisms are so particularly
astoundingly lazy
one may mistake them for nonliving
material don’t be fooled
Casca dissenters – now you may think
isn’t this all subjective like saying
one thing or another one scene or
another is more alive or less alive that
one building is more beautiful than
another perhaps in part it is subjective
we all come from different backgrounds
with different experiences different
ideas they’ll have a unique way of
looking at things
but discounting this kind of individual
experience or measurements of life comes
from a mechanical point of view that if
it’s not completely independent of what
we think and we can allow the some
objective measurement events outside of
ourselves then it’s not value it’s
useless
but I would say that that’s not true I
would say that there is a largely
objective measurements that we can
arrive at in trying to understands the
degree of life and one scene or another
Christopher Alexander had a test called
the mirror of the self test that you use
to try and get people to see which thing
had more length than another he put in
something like this which one makes you
feel more alive which one makes you feel
more human which one
looking at these scenes that we have
here this is the grand millennium Plaza
and this is a seminarian Church in Macau
which one makes you feel your humanity
expand or contract if I need to feel
that this one with the skyscraper is
surrounding everything Italian people
too for gravity force at this simple
church with the length on the included
doors let’s do a quick measure if you
think that them yeah the right photo
this one with the skyscrapers makes you
feel more alive more human raise your
hand if you think the left hand photo
was light coming in through the door you
can see out you think that one makes you
feel more alive more human raise your
hands
okay we’ve got a pretty good consensus
there I’d say maybe that’s a 80/20 split
something like that
but no that’s just one sampling but it
goes to show you that perhaps talking
about the life of space it’s not so
entirely subjective after all all right
I think these questions are more
important than ever like I said because
we’re living in more and more urban
environments cities and since we are
increasingly substituting this human
since we’re substituting in for the
natural one more and more
the built environment becomes a
reflection of who we are learning to
think in sentences importance because
fundamentally there’s no difference
between us and the external environments
you as a person do not exist entirely
without defining yourself in relation to
other people by yourself you are weak
but together with other people you are
stronger than you could be on your own
or it’s the same thing with architecture
the building by itself this week one
Center by itself is weak but centers
interacting with each other can create
something much stronger but technology
modern technology that we’ve used to
build these cities seems to have a
weakening effects on these centers look
at this this is the casino from Macau
for one of them anyway a bunch of
centers here maybe but they’re
interacting with each other in a weird
way it’s all flat it’s more homogeneous
it’s less seems less a lot technology
allows us to create unnatural forms and
that’s not a bad thing it’s enabled us
to do wonderful great things but is this
the kind of environment that we want or
do we want some other kind of
environment that makes us feel more
alive and gives us more potential for
meaningful human action that’s why I’m
trying to get you to think in terms of
centers to reshape how you think about
the external environment because it can
tell you something important about
yourself technology has also made us
weaker as centers perhaps we and we are
more connected to each other than ever
before in some ways we can communicate
with each other instantaneously anywhere
at anytime
but do you really think that the quality
of those connections has increased with
technology or decline look at these
people they’re all looking at the same
thing but how many of them are really
genuinely sharing that experience with
each other technology too may have had a
weakening effect on us as centers that’s
why I want to leave you with this
message that trying to think in terms of
centers is important because it
redefines our relationship not just at
the built environment not just at
architecture but seeing each other as
well because you cannot consider
yourself isolated from the external
environment the more that you do that
the more cut off you feel the weaker you
are as a center but by learning to
observe sensors around us where it is
everywhere in life are looking at space
and the fundamentally different way
you’re not just reflecting on buildings
or cities not just reflecting on how
that make things prettier it’s more
fundamental than that you’re also
thinking about life itself and you’re
thinking about the kind of world that
you want to live in by strengthening
centers both in our buildings and in
ourselves by strengthening those
connections we can create an
architecture of built environments more
conducive to human life
it’s a meaningful human action and in so
doing we also reflect on ourselves and
how we can connect more strongly with
each other to build a stronger Society
and so I leave you with these words look
at the centers around you and you may find centers in yourself again thank you
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