ALEXANDER, Christopher,  M.A., PH.D., American architect and planner, university professor, author and consultant; b. 4 Oct 1936, Vienna, Austria; m. Pamela Patrick, 1978, two daughters Lily and Sophie; ed. Oundle, Trinity College Cambridge, Harvard University; went to USA 1958.

Positions: Joint Center for Urban Studies, Harvard & MIT 1959--63; Center for Cognitive Studies, Harvard; Professor of Architecture, University of California, Berkeley, 1963--; Research Professor in the Humanities, Berkeley; 1965; Visiting Fellow, Rockefeller Foundation, Villa Serbelloni 1965; founded The Center for Environmental Structure a non--profit corporation of planners, architects, engineers and contractors, 1967; Trustee of the Prince of Wales's Institute of Architecture 1991--97; President and Director, Center for Environmental Structure, 1967-- ; Professor in the Graduate School, University of California, Berkeley, 1998--.

Honors: Fellow of the Society of Fellows, Harvard University 1961--64; first recipient of the AIA gold medal for research 1972; member of the Swedish Royal Academy since 1980; Best Building in Japan Award 1985; the Distinguished Professor Award given by the American Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture 1987; Silver medal, Saitama prefecture, Tokyo  1987; Louis Kahn Memorial Lecture, Philadelphia 1992; The Seaside Prize, 1994; Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences 1996.

Major Works include:  Built works in four continents, including the 35 buildings of New Eishin University in Tokyo, the Linz Cafe, Linz, Austria, a village school in Gujarat, prototype low--cost housing in Mexicali, Mexico and low--cost housing, Lima, Peru, apartment buildings and public buildings in Japan and the United States, The Visitors Centre, West Dean, Sussex, and a museum gallery for his exhibition of early Anatolian carpets in the San Francisco Museum. Numerous private houses in California, Washington, Texas and Colorado. The Shelter for the Homeless in San Jose, California, was listed as one of the foremost American buildings of 1991. Under his direction The Center for Environmental Structure has undertaken some 200 projects, including town and community planning schemes, in many countries including Mexico, Japan, Austria, United Kingdom, Canada, Peru, Papua New Guinea, India, Colombia, Venezuela, Germany and the United States. Clients have included the United Nations, National governments (including Mexico, India and the UK), Cities (including Pasadena, California; Vancouver, British Columbia) and Industry (including Hoechst Pharmaceuticals and Sun Microsystems). Branch offices of CES have been maintained at different times in these different countries, and are currently active in the United States, Japan, Germany and the UK.

Publications: Sixteen books include Notes on the Synthesis of Form (1964), The Oregon Experiment 1975, A Pattern Language 1977,  The Timeless Way of Building  1979, The Linz Cafe 1981, The Production of Houses 1984, A New Theory of Urban Design 1984, A Foreshadowing of 21st Century Art 1992; The Mary Rose Museum 1994;  The Nature of Order (four volumes): The Phenomenon of Life 1998, The Process of Creating Life 1998, A Vision of a Living World 1998, The Luminous Ground, 1998; over 200 articles in technical journals.

Biography: His biography, Christopher Alexander The Evolution Of A New Paradigm In Architecture, by Stephen Grabow, was published in London and Boston in 1983 and in Japan in 1989. A film biography, Places for the Soul: The Architecture of Christopher Alexander, 1990. The most recent film of his community housing and planning work with Japanese families was made for Japanese television in 1992. Christopher Alexander and Contemporary Architecture, by Ingrid King, was publ. Tokyo, 1993.

Addresses: 2701 Shasta Road, Berkeley, California, 94708, USA; Meadow Lodge, Binsted near Arundel, West Sussex, BN18 0LQ, UK.