---
product_id: 12807531
title: "The Oregon Experiment (Center for Environmental Structure Series)"
price: "€ 150.30"
currency: EUR
in_stock: true
reviews_count: 8
url: https://www.desertcart.nl/products/12807531-the-oregon-experiment-center-for-environmental-structure-series
store_origin: NL
region: Netherlands
---

# The Oregon Experiment (Center for Environmental Structure Series)

**Price:** € 150.30
**Availability:** ✅ In Stock

## Quick Answers

- **What is this?** The Oregon Experiment (Center for Environmental Structure Series)
- **How much does it cost?** € 150.30 with free shipping
- **Is it available?** Yes, in stock and ready to ship
- **Where can I buy it?** [www.desertcart.nl](https://www.desertcart.nl/products/12807531-the-oregon-experiment-center-for-environmental-structure-series)

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## Description

desertcart.com: The Oregon Experiment (Center for Environmental Structure Series): 9780195018240: Alexander, Christopher: Books

Review: Interesting practical book - An interesting book - nice addition to the series.
Review: Five Stars - excellent

## Technical Specifications

| Specification | Value |
|---------------|-------|
| Best Sellers Rank | #1,332,854 in Books ( See Top 100 in Books ) #663 in Urban & Land Use Planning (Books) #1,061 in Architectural Drafting & Presentation #39,270 in Schools & Teaching (Books) |
| Customer Reviews | 4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars (32) |
| Dimensions  | 5.52 x 0.69 x 8.03 inches |
| Edition  | 1st |
| ISBN-10  | 0195018249 |
| ISBN-13  | 978-0195018240 |
| Item Weight  | 11.2 ounces |
| Language  | English |
| Part of series  | Center for Environmental Structure |
| Print length  | 202 pages |
| Publication date  | December 11, 1975 |
| Publisher  | Oxford University Press |

## Images

![The Oregon Experiment (Center for Environmental Structure Series) - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/819-cVtzvBL.jpg)

## Customer Reviews

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Interesting practical book
*by A***T on July 17, 2022*

An interesting book - nice addition to the series.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Five Stars
*by H***S on June 26, 2015*

excellent

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Short summary of the important stuff, mistakes to learn from
*by J***N on August 28, 2004*

The good news is that this book is a short summary of what most people will find important when they apply patterns either in the field of architecture or in their own field of design. It provides insight into Alexander's theory of economics--a stance which caused him to be unfavorably labeled as a socialist when these ideas were taking form. Patterns, in this book, are almost a footnote to the broader ideas of design, of economics, and of socially coordinated construction that form the core of Alexander's exposition here. The economics form a compelling argument for a process of piecemeal growth. Alexander gives practical advice on how to administer the social process, including the creation of a community pattern board that oversees the introduction of new patterns into the community language, and the retirement of old ones. By putting the pattern mantra aside, this book helps the reader get beyond the point where they are looking for patterns in their own right to provide the answer to every design question, and pushes the reader to think at the level of the foundations. The bad news is that the book takes the reader into a couple of miscues. Alexander would later bitterly recant the role this book accords to the architect. Architects should be master builders rather than the font of design ideas. The architecture role emerged in the Oregon Experiment to lend the project an air of conventionality and credibility, a compromise that kept the project from achieving its goals. Current tidbits of retrospective literature try to make sense of the experiment; some claim it succeeded (in spite of those aspects Alexander felt were wrong-headed) and some claim it failed. Grabow's biography of Alexander (Christopher Alexander: The Search for a New Paradigm in Architecture) features some choice words about the miscues in this experiment. Taken with the retrospective Grabow brings us, this book provides a perspective on patterns that is completely absent from the other books in this series. Some of these, such as the foundations in economics, are there for the picking. To reap some of the other insights requires study that goes beyond casual reading, but such study is appropriate to the depth of insight it will afford, and you owe it to yourself to explore it. These insights are crucial for making patterns work in a practical way in a social setting. If you want to learn about patterns, and you want to start with an Alexandrian book, I think this is the one you start with. Get the big picture first, in the context of the underlying principles, and come back for the pattern details later in A Pattern Language, and for the artist's artistic exposition of his art in The Timeless Way of Building.

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*Product available on Desertcart Netherlands*
*Store origin: NL*
*Last updated: 2026-02-01*