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Architecture, Since Rain's beginnings in Portland in 1974, it has published articles about humane & natural architecture, energy use, community design and sensitive planning. When Rain revived in Eugene in 1991, we looked hard at the deep work of Christopher Alexander. His primary artifact in Eugene is The Oregon Experiment, a planning process he created for the University of Oregon, which he likes to describe as his first real job (he was a Berkeley Professor at the time). This planning process was the subject of Alexander's first major book based on building and planning experience in the real world. I'd been watching the Oregon Experiment since I came to Eugene in 1973. So in 1991, after a year of close examination of the existing process, I presented a long retrospective on the operation and effect of the planning experiment: The Oregon Experiment after Twenty Years. As a result of this article, and of difficulties he was having returning to the University of Oregon for a building project, Alexander and his colleagues contacted me, and I interviewed him at length about the experiment, and about his troubles with the University. The result was another retrospective, in 1994: Alexander Visits The Oregon Experiment. Ten years on, I don't entirely agree with my assessment of Alexander's difficulties with the U of O in the early 1990's. But my assessment of the degeneration of the Oregon Experiment is still spot on -- the heart is gone. Operationally speaking, people in the experiment are simply no longer using their feelings to stand at a place and ask themselves if something works, and if it makes them feel more alive. Alexander & I are both busy activists, and we've worked together, on various projects since we met. For example, a computer design tool, his website, and a film. More soon, |