POSTCARD FROM PORTO-NOVO

Dear ArchitectureWeek,

Porto-Novo, the capital of Benin in West Africa, is searching for its lost identity as development presents conflicts between historic preservation and a quest for modernism. The city's urban heritage includes vernacular and colonial, but the most interesting buildings, according to Gérard Tognimassou, a teacher from the Ecole du Patrimoine Africain, a school for the preservation of the African cultural heritage, are those that reveal "a great craftsmanship in the fusion between the Brazilian and the African styles."

PANTHEON INSIDE

The Pantheon in Rome is an ideal case study for understanding classical space, orders, composition, light, and character. Despite having been compromised by additions and restorations over the years, the great domed temple remains today the most complete and best-preserved monumental interior to survive from Roman times. No better model will be found to illustrate the principles of classical interior architecture.

ALEXANDER CENTERING

From his early Notes of the Synthesis of Form, to the bestselling A Pattern Language, to the recent four-volume The Nature of Order, over several decades Christopher Alexander has pushed intellectual boundaries with integrative approaches to design theory. We are pleased to present this excerpt, formatted according to the original and unedited at the author's request, in which Alexander describes a design process from the 1980s using the terms of his own theoretical framework. — Editor

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