As should be pretty obvious to any regular reader of this site, I’m pretty keen on the use of design patterns to ensure the goodness-of-fit between building plans and specifications and the requirements of the eventual end-users of a building. Patterns help inspire, guide and polish building design at all levels.

So, when I stumbled across the architypes site my interest was piqued.

architypes.net is a library of architectural design issues, solutions and ideas.

At the heart of architypes.net are two simple but powerful ideas:

Patterns: The principles and ideas are organized into “patterns”. Each pattern describes a solution for a specific problem or design goal. […]
Open Collaboration: architypes.net is a continuously evolving peer-reviewed project that you are invited to participate in.

In use I find the site and its patterns to be informative & inspirational, but perhaps a little light-weight. For example, the intriguing ‘Places of Quiet Refuge‘ pattern consists merely of the text:

The Japanese are often admired for their techniques used in creating private and quiet spaces. They are masters of separating the public spaces from the private spaces, and their techniques are rather simple.

…and a photo of an interesting mezzanine. Thanks, I’d like more… but it does start you thinking.

Worth a visit if you’re seeking inspiration. I’m off to develop some of my own meaty patterns…

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