Heads Up/Heads Down: A Pattern Language for Fostering Thinking in the Workplace
Blass, Jill
Citations
Abstract
Heads Up/Heads Down: A Pattern Language for Fostering Thinking in the Workplace is a handbook presenting architectural design strategies for how to best support thinking in the workplace. It follows the concept of a pattern language, a theory originated by architect Christopher Alexander in his 1977 book A Pattern Language: Towns, Buildings, Construction, where each pattern describes a problem and offers a generic solution that can be customized to suit the reader’s project. While Alexander uses experience to inform his patterns, my work is generated from current scientific and social science research. Alexander’s work spans scales, from the organization of cities down to the thickness of an interior wall, while my work focuses solely on the interior scale in the context of an office. My goal is to add upon Alexander’s vast work by narrowing down the patterns to address the modern workplace and its demand for creative knowledge work.