A building has too many variables; we cannot get each aspect right unless it is possible to work out one aspect at a time, step by step.

Entities in the same semantic neighborhood but without a typed relation to this one — candidates for new edges or unrecognized duplicates.

• It is theoretically impossible to build a successful building from a set of drawings specifying every detail.claim0.824
  Because feedback is needed to shape elements during construction.
• The great majority of modern buildings are awkward assemblies of unrelated components, lacking the coherence necessary to be living designs.claim0.816
  Aesthetic judgment on modern buildings.
• Big buildings overwhelm us not because of size but because the LEVELS OF SCALE are missing; in nature, they always preserve scale in relation to us.claim0.801
  Interpretation that the absence of hierarchical scaling is the reason modern buildings feel inhuman.
• Given two versions of a building, A and B, can we tell empirically which one has more life, in a way which allows people to reach agreement — that is to say, objectively?question0.799
  Opening question of the chapter that the entire methodological argument is designed to answer
• If a building is made by a process that allows fine adaptation through feedback, it will have life; if built from fixed drawings, it will not.hypothesis0.798
  Predictive conditional summarizing the chapter's argument.
• In modern architecture, neither design nor construction typically works step by step; instead there is a fixed end-state produced without realistic feedback.claim0.798
  Contrast between living process and current architectural practice.
• No building is ever really complete – inhabitants' requirements change, environment changes. Repair should lose sense of 'incorrectness' and become redesign opportunity.concept0.797
  Alexander's foundational insight about iterative system improvement that motivates the piecemeal growth approach.
• It is inherently impossible to make a successful building by mass production or prefabrication without possibility of modification.claim0.796
  Necessary minute adaptations cannot be achieved with standardized components.