concept
active
concept:the-wholeThe whole
The overarching coherence and unity that must be enhanced at every step; the target of all living process.
Neighborhood — ranked by edge-count
Frameworks (1)
framework
- Fifteen Properties of Living Structureassociated_withThe set of geometric properties that appear in all living structure: levels of scale, strong centers, boundaries, echoes, gradients, deep interlock and ambiguity, local symmetries, roughness, inner calm, not separateness, and others.
Claims (2)
claim
- Each step in a living process enhances the whole.associated_withCore thesis of the chapter: all action in a living process aims at increasing the beauty, life, and coherence of the whole.
- First morphological ripple proposed for the canyon.
Methods (1)
method
- Morphological ripplesimplementsA notation/technique for representing emerging form as partially generated, fieldlike configurations that set global features of the whole without over-specification.
Concepts (2)
concept
- Living processassociated_withA generative process that repeatedly applies the fundamental process to create uniqueness and belonging in the environment
- Latent Centersassociated_withConfigurational entities existing implicitly in a structure; guide perception and generation of next morphogenetic step; exemplified in St Mark's square cycles.
Chapters (1)
chapter
- Chapter 9: **The WholeintroducesThis chapter argues that every step in a living process must enhance the whole, using examples from drawing, zoning, St. Mark's Square, canyon design, and painting.
Related by similarity (8)
cosine ≥ 0.65 · no typed edgeEntities in the same semantic neighborhood but without a typed relation to this one — candidates for new edges or unrecognized duplicates.
- Alexander's core concept rejecting the idea that a whole consists of parts; instead, a whole makes its parts (called 'centers').
- The broader field of centers that encompasses a given center; a successful center contributes to and is shaped by these larger wholes.
- The driving principle that in a living process the larger whole, even when only latent, always controls the shaping of the parts.
- The class of all possible building configurations, estimated at 10^2,000,000,000.
- Integrated, living structures that emerge from morphogenetic piecemeal growth.
- First principle of the unfolding vision.
- The act of seeing and feeling the entire field of centers at a place, which Alexander equates with love of life.
- Alexander’s term for a system of interactive forces; a parallel to the interpretation of form as a diagram of forces.