I've just recently (and most happily) been acquainted with Christopher Alexander's four part work "The Nature of Order: The Art of Building and The Nature of the Universe." It's a work that reaches beyond the realm of architecture--Alexander describes with great beauty the phenomenology of the man-made world and it's relationship with our individual consciousness. He attempts to reconcile the sometimes ugliness of modernity to find a structure's living center, the illuminating inner light, what he names as the identifiable "I" in a thing--in a bit of carpet, a tile, a painting, a garden, a bridge. His profound humanism is refreshing and unapologetic, and makes for inspiring urban planning and architecture. Check out his Pattern Language website.
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