In theory you could think it out when you were at the drawing stage. But I must emphasize “in theory”: at least I’m not smart enough to do it, I know that, and none of the people in our organization is smart enough to do it, because it is the thing itself which speaks to you, and tells you what to do, not to speak of the family themselves, and their feelings. And they were very very happy with this place, I think.

— Christopher Alexander, Lecture at the Institute of Architecture in London, 1995