claim

active

claim:the-issue-is-not-whether-the-process-will-produce-living-structure-if-done-faithfully-it-will-but-whether-the-maker-has-the-stamina-and-will-to-keep-rejecting-versions-that-lack-life

The issue is not whether the process will produce living structure if done faithfully — it will — but whether the maker has the stamina and will to keep rejecting versions that lack life.

Alexander's claim that the limiting factor in creating living structure is not method but the maker's persistence.

Neighborhood — ranked by edge-count

Concepts (1)

concept

living structure
associated_with
A built or natural form that possesses life, arising from morphogenetic adaptation, as opposed to blueprint designs.

Questions (1)

question

What is it like actually to do it? What is it like to make a building, or part of a building, which has the being nature, in an ordinary action?
answered_by
The opening question of the chapter that frames the entire practical inquiry into forging living centers.

Quotes (1)

quote

"What might be in doubt is whether you have the stamina, the sheer will, and stick-to-itiveness, to make sure this happens, because you keep rejecting every version where it doesn't happen, until it does happen."
supports
Alexander's characterization of the practical bottleneck in producing living structure: not method but persistence.

Related by similarity (8)

cosine ≥ 0.65 · no typed edge

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

If it is a living process, it will create beautiful geometric structure. If it does not create beautiful structure, it cannot truly be a living process.claim0.857
Beauty and geometry are the talisman by which a living process is known.
The creation of living structure cannot be done in any other way.claim0.839
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.hypothesis0.838
Predictive conditional summarizing the chapter's argument.
Living structure is enormously susceptible to minor changes, and accuracy of detail is necessary for success.claim0.837
Warning that the recursion of centers requires extreme precision.
Such a process will not—in general—create living structure.claim0.833
It is, ultimately, the process, not the design, which gives life to a building.claim0.830
Emphasizes process over blueprint.
Buildings made with an eye to the past will most often fail to have living structure, because the process of historical reproduction somehow turns vivid, living structure sour.claim0.826
Argues that copying historical forms does not produce living structure.
The living structure emerges, slowly, step by step, and as the process goes forward step by step there is continuous feedback which allows the process to guide the system towards greater wholeness, and coherence, and adaptation.quote0.825
Concise definition of the core dynamic of living process.