The Timeless Way of Building

The Timeless Way of Building(en.wikipedia.org)

1 points by gradus_ad 33 days ago | 4 comments

Unical-A 33 days ago |

Alexander argues that great design is a 'living' thing. Looking at modern UI/UX for sports apps, do you think we've lost that 'Timeless Way' by chasing trends instead of building things that feel inherently human?

TimorousBestie 33 days ago | |

The ‘Timeless Way’ was itself a trend. It’s the poster child for Clarke’s ‘Tao of the West’ style of mid-century Orientalism.

Late Alexander (The Nature of Order) is slightly less blatant and aims at a higher level of abstraction, but the effect is similar.

Unical-A 33 days ago | | |

Fair point on the mid-century Orientalism. Alexander’s aesthetic was definitely a product of its time.

But even if we strip away the 'Tao of the West' style, there's a functional core that feels neglected today: the idea that systems (whether a building or a dashboard) should adapt to their users' organic behavior rather than forcing users into a rigid UI grid.

In 'The Nature of Order', he moves toward more abstract 'living structures'. Do you think that abstraction is actually more applicable to modern software architecture than his earlier pattern languages? Or are we just doomed to cycle through different flavors of aesthetic trends?