There is a central quality which is the root criterion of life and spirit in a man, a town, a building, or a wilderness. This quality is objective and precise, but it cannot be named. —CHRISTOPHER ALEXANDER, THE TIMELESS WAY OF BUILDING THE QUOTATION IN THE EPIGRAPH ABOVE comes from Christopher Alexander’s award-winning approach to architecture, which he says centers on a quality that “cannot be named.” We think, however, that there are good reasons to identify
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