Christopher Alexander is the author of The Timeless Way of Building (Oxford University Press,  New York, 1979) and A Pattern Language: Towns, Buildings, Construction (Oxford University Press, New York, 1977): Christopher Alexander and his colleagues at the Center for Environmental Structure have published a major statement in the form of three books which, in their words, 'lays the basis for an entirely new approach to architecture, building and planning, which will replace existing ideas and practices entirely'. At the core of his books is the idea that people should design houses, streets, and communities for themselves. This idea may imply a radical transformation of the architectural profession, but it emerges quite simply from the observation that most of the wonderful places of the world were not made by architects but by the people.