From Altshuller to Alexander: Towards a Bridge between Architects and Engineers

Abstract

To help designers to be more inventive during their practice of engineering design, Genrich Altshuller (1926-1998), during the second half of 20th century, developed a set of novel methods, techniques and tools, known as TRIZ. Almost at the same time, Christopher Alexander (born 1936), pursuing a similar goal but in architecture, introduced new concepts, methods and tools for environmental design. If at first, the differences between the thought of Altshuller and the one of Alexander seem important, a thorough analysis shows striking similarities.In this paper, we first analyze two analogue concepts: the recurrent patterns of problem solving and the constant tendencies of evolution. This analysis will propose five axes to compare the two theoretical corpuses. And then, based on these axes, the differences in terms of goals, principles and outputs will be identified.One of the aims of such comparison is to analyze the potential cross-fertilization between these theories, built in two fields of design. While the similarities, pointing out the common basic concepts in architecture and engineering, might facilitate developing a knowledge base integrating the phenomena of both domains, their divergence could point out the research fields for researchers interested in improving the practice of design regardless of its domain of application.