The Oregon Experiment

The Oregon Experiment
Author(s)	Christopher Alexander
Publisher	Oxford University Press
Publication date	1975
Pages	190
ISBN	ISBN 9780195018240
OCLC Number	1976594
Preceded by	The Timeless Way of Building

The Oregon Experiment is a 1975 book by Christopher Alexander and collaborators Murray Silverstein, Shlomo Angel, Sara Ishikawa, and Denny Abrams. It describes an experimental approach to campus community planning at the University of Oregon, in Eugene, Oregon which resulted in a theory of architecture and planning described in the group's later published and better-known volumes A Pattern Language and The Timeless Way of Building.

In the late 1960s and early 1970s, students and faculty at the University of Oregon protested against log trucks driving through campus; against the destruction of a 19th century cemetery; against the military draft and the invasions and occupations in Southeast Asia; and against the idea that the University was acting in loco parentis, in place of students' parents. On top of this, buildings created since the end of World War II were increasingly Brutalist and dystopian^{[citation needed]}.

The campus community wanted more control over their lives, and their environment. The University administration took the conciliatory measure of hiring an award-winning, radical, professor from University of California, Berkeley to design a process by which the community of the university could create its own space.

This process was Alexander's first journey into community-based design and construction. The University of Oregon became the experimental testbed for material that later became the bestselling book A Pattern Language.

The book prescribed that "feeling" should be the primary criteria used for making changes to any place. Improvements to the campus should be made first to those places that needed the most help. Patterns, or good solutions to generic problems, should be available in a community encyclopedia. Care should be taken to curb the economic and political power of large monolithic projects. Places should be shaped for people, to make them feel more whole, and to nourish them. And people should be involved in the construction of their community.

Today

Most new campus buildings at the University of Oregon reflect the influence of participation by user groups. Documentation related to the building of the University of Oregon science complex in the late 1980s describes 'pattern language' planning principles in process.

References

The three books in the series are:

• The Timeless Way of Building (volume 1)
• A Pattern Language (volume 2)
• The Oregon Experiment (volume 3)

Additional references:

• "New Science Complex: Into the Twenty-First Century." Inquiry; Special Issue of Old Oregon (January 1987): 33-35 il.
• "Interview with Charles Moore.." Places; A Quarterly Journal of Environmental Design 7 no. 4 (1992): 8-15.
• Bloomer, Kent. "The Confounding Issue of Collaboration Between Architects and Artists." Places; A Quarterly Journal of Environmental Design 7 no. 4 (1992): 8-15.
• Campbell, Robert. "Knight's Moves." Places; A Quarterly Journal of Environmental Design 7 no. 4 (1992): 8-15.
• Coffin, Christie Johnson. "Making Places for Scientists." Places; A Quarterly Journal of Environmental Design 7 no. 4 (1992): 8-15.
• Harby, Stephen. "Using New Buildings to Solve Old Problems." Places; A Quarterly Journal of Environmental Design 7 no. 4 (1992): 8-15.
• Mosely, John. "From Participation to Ownership: How Users Shape the Science Complex." Places; A Quarterly Journal of Environmental Design 7 no. 4 (1992): 16-21.
• Pally, Marc. "Finding a Place for Collaboration." Places; A Quarterly Journal of Environmental Design 7 no. 4 (1992): 8-15.
• Rowe, J. David. "The Roots of Oregon's Planning Tradition." Places; A Quarterly Journal of Environmental Design 7 no. 4 (1992): 8-15.
• Streisinger, Lotte. "People, Place and Public Art." Places; A Quarterly Journal of Environmental Design 7 no. 4 (1992): 8-15.
• Wingwall, Alice. "Cascade Charley." Places; A Quarterly Journal of Environmental Design 7 no. 4 (1992): 8-15.
• Yudell, Buzz. "Building Unity Through Participation" Places; A Quarterly Journal of Environmental Design 7 no. 4 (1992): 8-15.

External links

• University of Oregon 'Pattern Language FAQ'
• University of Oregon Planning Office
• "The Oregon Experiment after 20 years"
• "Alexander Visits the Oregon Experiment"
• Architecture of the University of Oregon