Christopher Alexander is one of those guys that gets called "
seminal" and not for reasons resembling
Bill Clinton's. No, in Alexander's case, it's because his books, especially A
Pattern Language and The Timeless Way of Building, started all kinds of movements. In software,
design patterns started in
object-oriented design and programming culture (mostly
Smalltalk and C++) and spread outward from there. In architecture, though Alexander's intended idea of enabling every person to design and build his own
home was not borne out, these books and his others still had a strong effect.
Alexander has his own website at patternlanguage.com. His newest hit book is The Nature of Order, which talks about centers instead of patterns.