Cosmogenic Pattern Language: Toward an Architectural Language Based on the Cosmogenic Patterns of Pre-Modernism

Abstract

Nowadays, architecture tends to follow the Modernist values that neglect the design languages inherited from the cultures of the past. This tendency leads to the separation of the present and the past that threatens the cultural continuity. This research aims to achieve cultural continuity in contemporary architecture by developing a new architectural language based on cosmogenic patterns of pre-Modernism to create buildings that preserve the inherited cultural ideas in contemporary architecture. The research used two combined analytical approaches to capture these patterns. The first was to identify the different cosmological models of pre-Modernism by adopting Edward Harrison’s classification of the developmental stages of human awareness of cosmic order. The second was to identify the cosmogenic patterns introduced by these models by adopting Christopher Alexander’s strategy for discovering and documenting patterns. This research captured the pre-Modernist cosmogenic patterns used in formulating a contemporary architectural language that reflects the inherited culture.