Committee on Design

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Who we are

The Committee on Design (COD) was founded to promote design excellence among members of the AIA, the broader design community, and the public at large, both nationally and internationally.

2024 COD Conferences

Arkansas

April 3-7 | 21c Hotel | Bentonville and Eureka Springs - Registration is sold out.

Brazil

Thu, Oct 17 - Sat, Oct 26, 2024
Sao Paulo > Brasilia > Rio de Janerio.  Registration will open in late April.

2024 Sponsorships

Download the prospectus for Arkansas and Brazil opportunities.


2023 COD Conferences

Last year, COD held two domestic design conferences investigating The Authenticity of Place.  The first conference was held in New Orleans, LA.  View the short video of the venue tours and download the conference program book. The second conference was held in Minneapolis/St. Paul, MN, September 21-24, 2023. Download the Minneapolis guidebook and view the conference video

Christopher Alexander's Quest for Eternal Truth and Beauty in Architecture: A Fools Errand or a Brilliant Solution?

  • 1.  Christopher Alexander's Quest for Eternal Truth and Beauty in Architecture: A Fools Errand or a Brilliant Solution?

    Posted 04-11-2022 02:14 PM

    Christopher Alexander's Quest for Eternal Truth and Beauty in Architecture: A Fools Errand? 

    "Making wholeness heals the maker…"
    (Christopher Alexander)

    The many contradictions of the man

    Christopher Alexander was for some a guru, for some a famous architect, for some a crank. Having reached a pinnacle of fame at the age of  40 when he published A Pattern Language he also had moved away from the limelight for some time. He could be self deprecating like an Englishman or the assuming know it all architect. Born in Vienna, exiled in Britain, English and US trained, teaching in the US, he incorporated in one mind the animus of a scientist and mathematician with that of a romantic who abhorred modernist architecture and searched for "living architecture" which uses and repeats patterns found in nature, so that humans could feel alive in it.

    Christopher Alexander, screenshot from a 2008 interview


    An academic who initially studied chemistry and physics and later mathematics and then changed to  architecture at Cambridge University to go on to Harvard getting a Ph.D. in architecture, who was elected fellow in 1961, worked at Harvard and MIT and was eventually appointed professor of architecture at the University of California in Berkeley where he taught for 38 years certainly has the chops to be of interest. Beyond being an architect he was also licensed as contractor who realized actual projects. Having earned the American Institute of Architects Gold Medal at age 30, he was nevertheless hated by some colleagues, a batch of honor of sorts... READ FULL ARTICLE HERE



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    [Klaus] Philipsen FAIA
    Archplan Inc. Philipsen Architects
    Baltimore MD
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    2024 HRC Taliesin West