If we start with a geometrical attitude in which we try to make a field of centers everywhere, this establishes a kind of seed-bed for practical functions.

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

• To be making centers, our simplest path is to be making symmetries; we always try to get the maximum feeling from the thing as we design it.claim0.802
• In hundreds of examples, our ability to see the field of centers and to produce the centers indicated geometrically tends to produce an object which works better.claim0.800
  Empirical generalisation from built examples, with no counterexample found.
• The intuitive placing of members to create a field of centers produces results in which the forces are beautifully distributedclaim0.789
  Alexander's claim that aesthetic/structural intuition guided by living-center logic yields mechanically efficient designs, confirmed by FEA.
• At each step, doing the simplest thing that can be done to intensify existing centers will produce living structure.hypothesis0.785
  Operational hypothesis equating simplicity of step with emergence of life.
• The field of centers cannot be created as a by-product of some existing process; it comes about only when the entire process is organized and concentrated on creating a living field.claim0.782
  Focus on anything else yields something else.
• The key lesson in all this is simple and extreme. The field of centers cannot be created as a by-product of some existing process.quote0.782
  Emphasizes that creating living structure requires dedicated focus.
• Good shape arises in many natural systems such as leaves, bones, and Chladni patterns, where a strong center is intensified by minor centers.claim0.782
• The formation of centers is guided by generic patterns which play the role of genes.claim0.781
  Analogy to biology, placing pattern languages as the genetic code for living built environments.