Wholeness creates parts

The idea that centers are not built from pre-existing parts; instead, parts are generated by the wholeness, like a whirlpool in a stream.

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chapter

Wholeness And The Theory Of Centers
introduces
The chapter that introduces the fundamental concepts of wholeness and centers, laying the groundwork for understanding life in buildings.

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A whole makes its parts, rather than the idea that a whole consists of parts.claim0.847
Alexander's foundational assertion inverting conventional understanding of composition; central to understanding centers and the Fifteen Properties.
Wholenessconcept0.833
Alexander's core concept rejecting the idea that a whole consists of parts; instead, a whole makes its parts (called 'centers').
the center is not made from parts. Rather, it would be more true to say that most of the parts are created by the wholeness.quote0.832
Key reversal of the Cartesian parts-to-whole assumption: the whole generates the parts.
People are deeply nourished by the process of creating wholeness.claim0.826
The creation of wholeness in the world is like food; it makes a person's own self mobilized, liberated, made more strong.claim0.822
Almost every person experiences the making of wholeness, like food.claim0.818
Generalization from personal and student experience.
What exactly, then, is wholeness?question0.817
Central question of the chapter, answered by defining wholeness as the structure of nested centers.
Food-like Character of Making Wholenessconcept0.813
The phenomenon that making something alive nourishes the maker like food.