11/3/15, 7:09 PMUnified Architectural Theory: Chapter 9A | ArchDaily

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Unified Architectural Theory: Chapter 9A

We will be publishing Nikos Salingaros’ book, Unified Architectural Theory, in a series ofinstallments, making it digitally, freely available for students and architects around the world.The following chapter expands on the phenomenon of “life” in buildings introduced inChapter 3, and also introduces a simple test which can be used to determine the degree of“life” in a structure. If you missed them, make sure to read the previous installments here.

Approaching architecture from the entirely new perspective of organized coherence — whatChristopher Alexander calls “wholeness” — unifies many phenomena. The traditionaldistinctions between ornament and function, between buildings and ecology, and betweenbeauty and utilitarian structure are blurred. We can look for the “life” in artifacts andstructures, which explains our experience of them.

Later in this course we are going to count features, and measure parameters that contributeto our impression of “life” in an object. These measures will show that the phenomenon oflife is not idiosyncratic, but is, to a very large degree, shared among all people.

There is a problem with saying that we “like” something. This is not the same as theperceived degree of life. After all, even the most monstrous, inhuman building was likedsufficiently by both its architect and the client who commissioned it. We also know that thetrillion-dollar advertising industry exists principally to manipulate our opinion of what we like.

The perception of “life” in objects comes instead from a deep connection establishedbetween the observer or user, and the object. It comes from a physiological, intuitiveinterdependence, which we can choose to ignore but probably cannot change.Alexander lists some characteristics of this emotional connection to artifacts and structures:

1. We feel a sense of nourishment from them.

Casa Milà / Antoni Gaudí. "The perception of “life” in objects comes instead from a deepconnection established between the observer or user, and the object". Image © Samuel

Ludwig

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21 MAR2015

by Nikos Salingaros

News ArticlesUnified Architectural Theory

Christopher Alexander

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11/3/15, 7:09 PMUnified Architectural Theory: Chapter 9A | ArchDaily

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2. If we participate in actually making them, we also feel this sense of nourishment.

3. When we can identify this connection and distinguish it from media-influenced liking, thenwe find that we agree with many other people.

4. This is not merely an aesthetic judgment, but something that overlaps with deeperaspects of culture and life.

5. The connection can be checked empirically, and is not a simple matter of opinion.

Judging the relative degree of positive connection we experience personally betweenourselves and either of two objects is easy. It relies upon a psychological trick to give us theresult. The trick forces our brain to compute the organized complexity of the two objects in acomparative, though not absolute, manner.

Alexander’s “mirror of the self” test asks which of two objects that I experience provides abetter picture of myself. We have to imagine all of our personality, our strengths andweaknesses, our humanity, our emotions, our potential, and our life experiences assomehow encoded in the structure of these two objects. Then, which of the two objects is amore faithful representation of my self?

Alexander found that more than 80% of people choose the one object from the pairpresented that also has the higher degree of life, as computed by other objective measures.Therefore, we could dispense with any of those calculations and just ask this singlequestion about mirroring our self. The correlation is high enough to make it a very useful —though not infallible — test.

This test succeeds in drawing us away from preferences and opinions that we have learnedfrom the outside, but which do not necessarily correspond to what arises deeply from theinside of our being. It cuts through idiosyncratic and possibly biased ideas about beauty todraw from us what we honestly connect to.

It is regrettably true that our taste has been manipulated so as to manufacture out of us aperfect consumer of fashion and industrial goods. Using the “mirror of the self” testrepeatedly not only makes us more proficient in its application, but also helps to liberate usfrom opinion, images, and ideology. It makes us more astute in perceiving living structure.

Let us turn the topic around and inquire how, in a world that is already in touch with livingstructure through culture and education, people could be disconnected from their feelings.How does one deny an intuitive talent for recognizing “life” and make humans first ignore it,then forget it entirely? The method is to distract our attention, and use false authority tokeep us from rebuilding vital connections and cognitive maps.

There exist two totally distinct conceptions of a shared experience of the world. The firstoccurs as we use our perceptual systems to form an honest and direct worldview. Since ourbiology is shared with other humans, our experiences are also shared to a large extent. Thesecond scenario is when an entire population buys into a false worldview. In that case, whatis shared is not truthful, but exists only as an image.

If we are indeed caught inside an unreal world, reinforced because it is shared with others,these tools can help us to break out. A different way of describing the “mirror of the self” testis to feel how an object or specific environment affects our humanity. Ask yourself: “is my

Villa Capra (La Rotonda) / Andrea Palladio. "We have to imagine all of our personality, ourstrengths and weaknesses, our humanity, our emotions, our potential, and our life

experiences as somehow encoded in the structure of these two objects. Then, which of thetwo objects is a more faithful representation of my self?" . Image © Flickr CC user Sebastià

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11/3/15, 7:09 PMUnified Architectural Theory: Chapter 9A | ArchDaily

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Cite:Nikos Salingaros. "Unified Architectural Theory: Chapter 9A" 21 Mar 2015. ArchDaily. Accessed 3 Nov 2015.<http://www.archdaily.com/611788/unified-architectural-theory-chapter-9a/>

own sense of humanity increasing or decreasing by being exposed to this particularstructure?” Here we can forget our mechanical civilization and use only our intuition aboutour inner emotional states.

The “mirror of the self” test picks out what reminds us of nature, such as natural scalinghierarchies, the organized complexity of natural materials, and other geometrical featuresthat make an object feel more “alive”. When we connect to an environment because we feelpart of it, and comfortable in it, we can perform our lives and functions with more pleasureand less stress. This sense of wellbeing does not register consciously.

Often, we experience a high degree of life from objects and buildings with imperfections —semi-ruined buildings, antique artifacts with damaged parts, etc. That does not diminishtheir appeal. Tourists travel a long way to see and experience ruins, and collectors buyantique carpets with holes in them.

Using the “mirror of the self” test gives us a key tool for implementing evidence-baseddesign. There are two aspects to this methodology. The first one was derived in a medicalsetting, and measures the effects of built structures and environments upon human health.It is not difficult to compare alternative design choices according to their healing potential —hard data of patients healing faster in specific environments. Beginning with hospital design,evidence-based design is now applied to other, more general settings. The second aspect,relating to the use of feedback, will be discussed at length in Chapter 9B of this series.

Order the International edition of Unified Architectural Theory here, and the USedition here.

Further reading:

Christopher Alexander, The Phenomenon of Life, Chapter 8, “The Mirror of the Self” &Chapter 9, “Beyond Descartes: A New Form of Scientific Observation” (The Nature ofOrder, Book 1, Center for Environmental Structure, Berkeley, California, 2001).

Michael Mehaffy & Nikos Salingaros, Design for a Living Planet (Sustasis Press,Portland, Oregon, 2015).

Nikos Salingaros, Unified Architectural Theory: Form, Language, Complexity. ACompanion to Christopher Alexander’s “The Phenomenon of Life: The Nature of Order,Book 1” (Sustasis Press, Portland, Oregon, 2013).

The Erechtheion in Athens. "Often, we experience a high degree of life from objects andbuildings with imperfections — semi-ruined buildings, antique artifacts with damaged parts,

etc. That does not diminish their appeal". Image © Flickr CC user Marc (progressionuk)

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