"These notes are about the process of design: the process of inventing things which display new physical order, organization, form, in response to function." This book, opening with these words, presents an entirely new theory of the process of design. In the first part of the book, Christopher Alexander discusses the process by which a form is adapted to the context of human needs and demands that has called it into being. He shows that such an adaptive process will be successful only if it proceeds piecemeal instead of all at once. It is for this reason that forms from traditional un-self-conscious cultures, molded not by designers but by the slow pattern of changes within tradition, are so beautifully organized and adapted. When the designer, in our own self-conscious culture, is called on to create a form that is adapted to its context he is unsuccessful, because the preconceived categories out of which he builds his picture of the problem do not correspond to the inherent components of the problem, and therefore lead only to the arbitrariness, willfulness, and lack of understanding which plague the design of modern buildings and modern cities. In the second part, Mr. Alexander presents a method by which the designer may bring his full creative imagination into play, and yet avoid the traps of irrelevant preconception. He shows that, whenever a problem is stated, it is possible to ignore existing concepts and to create new concepts, out of the structure of the problem itself, which do correspond correctly to what he calls the subsystems of the adaptive process. By treating each of these subsystems as a separate subproblem, the designer can translate the new concepts into form. The form, because of the process, will be well-adapted to its context, non-arbitrary, and correct. The mathematics underlying this method, based mainly on set theory, is fully developed in a long appendix. Another appendix demonstrates the application of the method to the design of an Indian village.

Sissi's World offers a transdisciplinary approach to the study of the Habsburg Empress Elisabeth of Austria. It investigates the myths, legends, and representations across literature, art, film, and other media of one of the most popular, revered, and misunderstood female figures in European cultural history. Sissi's World explores the cultural foundations for the endurance of the Sissi legends and the continuing fascination with the beautiful empress: a Bavarian duchess born in 1837, the longest-serving Austrian empress, and the queen of Hungary who died in 1898 at the hands of a crazed anarchist. Despite the continuing fascination with “the beloved Sissi," the Habsburg empress, her impact, and legacy have received scant attention from scholars. This collection will go beyond the popular biographical accounts, recountings of her mythic beauty, and scattered studies of her well-known eccentricities to offer transdisciplinary cultural perspectives across art, film, fashion, history, literature, and media.

Helsinki is both small and large, young and old. Although founded as long ago as 1550, it did not begin its urban development until the 18th century, and burst into life as a city only after it was proclaimed capital of Finland in 1912. Helsinki: A Literary Companion charts the history and life of the world's most northerly metropolis -- a vibrant maritime city whose story, like its architecture, has always been far grander than its size suggests. The writings selected for this book range from the beginning of the 19th century to the present day. Richly illustrated with archive material from Helsinki City Museum, Helsinki: A Literary Companion is the first anthology of Helsinki literature to be published in English. It includes fiction, memoirs, poetry, letters and travel writing -- translated from Finnish, Swedish, German, French and Russian, and original texts in English.

This thoroughly revised third edition of Finnish: An Essential Grammar is grounded in fundamental insights of modern linguistics and incorporates some of the latest achievements in the description of written and spoken Finnish. It gives a systematic account of the structures of the written language and offers increased attention to the key characteristics of present-day colloquial Finnish. No prior knowledge is assumed on the part of the reader and grammatical rules are clearly explained without jargon. Features of this new edition include: • pronunciation guide, including the tendencies in present-day colloquial Finnish • thorough descriptions of morphology (word structure) and syntax (sentence structure) • clear rules and an abundance of concrete examples, from both written and colloquial Finnish • updated vocabulary in the examples • an effective new scheme for detecting the morphological structure of any word form • subject index. This is the ideal reference source both for those studying Finnish independently and for students in schools, colleges, universities and adult classes of all types.

A renowned French architect provides an analysis of the sources, elements, and significance of design. Bibliogs.