Christopher Alexander´s concept of the Pattern Language is used at the KOEN Institute in the design principles course and during the excursion as a method for learning to recognize the architectonic significant. The students are assigned a text on an urban or architectural pattern such as a small square, a viewpoint, a main entrance, an arcade or something else. The texts are discussed with the lecturers during a joint walk in the city. In a final step the students have to find and sketch high-quality examples of their assigned patterns on their own. The sketch acts as a tool for analysis, only the most important things are noted down. Searching is used in these tasks as a method to find something that was simply not noticed before.
Christopher Alexander´s concept of the Pattern Language is used at the KOEN Institute in the design principles course and during the excursion as a method for learning to recognize the architectonic significant. The students are assigned a text on an urban or architectural pattern such as a small square, a viewpoint, a main entrance, an arcade or something else. The texts are discussed with the lecturers during a joint walk in the city. In a final step the students have to find and sketch high-quality examples of their assigned patterns on their own. The sketch acts as a tool for analysis, only the most important things are noted down. Searching is used in these tasks as a method to find something that was simply not noticed before.