WHAT IS A PATTERN?
- Each pattern is a three-part rule, which expresses a relation between a certain context, a problem, and a
solution. [Alexander]
- A pattern is the abstraction from a concrete form which keeps recurring in specific non-arbitrary contexts.[Riehle and
Zullighoven]
- A pattern is where theory and practice meet to reinforce and complement one another, by showing that the structure it
describes is useful, useable, and used![community]
- A pattern is a named nugget of instructive information that captures the essential structure and insight of a successful
family of proven solutions to a recurring problem that arises within a certain context and system of forces. [community]
- A pattern is a named nugget of insight that conveys the essence of a proven solution to a recurring problem within a
certain context amidst competing concerns. [community]
- As an element in the world, each pattern is a relationship between a certain context, a certain system of forces which
occurs
repeatedly in that context, and a certain spatial configuration which allows these forces to resolve themselves.[Gabriel]
- As an element of language, a pattern is an instruction, which shows how this spatial configuration can be used, over and
over again, to resolve the given system of forces, wherever the context makes it relevant. [Gabriel]
- The pattern is, in short, at the same time a thing, which happens in the world, and the rule which tells us how to create
that thing, and
when we must create it. It is both a process and a thing; both a description of a thing which is alive, and a description of the process which
will generate that thing [Gabriel]
