Theory

y of Architecture ll

“THE LANGUAGE OF SPACE”

SPACE & THE HUMAN DIMENTION
SPATIAL NEEDS

Phycology + Space Language + Spatial Need


 
 What do you think is the “LANGUAGE of SPACE

 “A bicycle shed is a building; Lincoln cathedral is architecture” –

What do u understand from this statement?

 “Where there is nothing to glorify there can be no

architecture” –
architecture
How about this one ?
The language of Space

• Reflection of our own makeup

• Mood + interaction + performance + phycology
• Human behavior
• Spatial Needs
 The language of Space
• Spatial Needs
 The language of Space
• STIMULATION
 DISCUSSION POINTS /QUESTIONS
THE LANGUAGE OF SPACE

 Explain the need for “STIMULATION” IN

THE DESIGNED ENVIRONMENT ?

 What is stimulation – performance curve?

 The language of Space
• SECURITY + Behavioral Settings

 The need for “SECURITY” IN THE

DESIGNED ENVIRONMENT ?

 How are Social Norms related to Security or

Stability ?
 DISCUSSION POINTS /QUESTIONS
THE LANGUAGE OF SPACE

“Whatever space and time mean, place and

occasion mean more. For space in the image of man is
place,
l and
d titime in
i th
the image
i off man is
i occasion”
i ”

 WHAT do yyou understand from this statement ?

 Support it with any examples in relation to

Behavioral Settings ?
 The language of Space
• IDENTITY
 The need for “IDENTITY”
IDENTITY IN THE DESIGNED ENVIRONMENT ?

 What is it mean byy PERSONALIZING a Space

p ?

 The need for “IDENTITY” might pave way to create some sort of
individuality in Building form
f treatments.

HOW do you justify this to be represented in Buildings? - Give

Examples
SEMANTIC EXPLANATIONS
IN ARCHITECTURE

Symbolism + Buildings as a Message

S i ti
Semiotics


The Taj Mahal - The symbol of
beauty and enduring love.
The Empire State building - symbol of New York,
+ strength and efficiency
Symbolism
• The Strongest symbols are derived from the
most elementary perceptual sensations, because
they are connected with such basic experiences
of the Human mind.
Analogy

• Similarity
• Parallel
• Comparison
• Resemblance
• Correlation
Types of Analogy

1 – Literal Analogy
Direct Imitation or Transfer of an idea / shape /
form
2 – Intellectual Analogy
Represent the idea / essence / theme / spirit of
something
 Metro entrances
Science Center Norman Foster, Bilbao, Spain
Amsterdam
Sails
Shells
Clouds
 Intellectual Analogy / Metaphors

• As visual language, architecture has its own grammatical

structure to state the mind. And metaphor is become one of
the most powerful Post Modern Architecture’s tool, to state
critic and p
parodyy of the Modern era.

• The complicated oppositional of architecture has to be

translated into material. The process of transformation of
abstract aspects into material is being called as the process
of “Metaphoric
Metaphoric Process
Process”
Intellectual Analogy

TWA Terminal JFK<

Eero Saarinen, Architect
Flight
Lightness
Pompidou Center, Paris, France
Architect : Renzo Piano & Richard Rogers
Notre
N t Dame
D Chapel,
Ch l
Ronchamp, France

Corbusier, Architect
Semiotics
• Semantics is the study of Meanings.

• In Linguistic It focuses on the relation between

signifiers

• Semantics is the subfield that is devoted to the study

of meaning,
g, as inherent at the levels of words,,
phrases, sentences, and larger units of Discourses
(termed texts, or narratives).
Semiotics/ Meaning in Architecture

• Any Study of Architecture and language dives into a

familiar but dangerous water
water. It touches
touches, first of all
all, on
the celebrated humanistic theory of the ‘Sister arts’
and the classical analogy between linguistic and
Visual Styles
Meaning in Architecture
• How can three‐dimensional objects and spaces such as buildings
carry an external reference or meaning?
• Perceptions can allow us to ‘Iconic’ & ‘Symbolic’ Representations
• In reality we have 3 ways of representing an event in our mind
• Buildings may carry meanings in similar ways
• Goodman suggests that Buildings can ‘denote’, ‘exemplify’,
‘express’,
p and offer
ff ‘mediated reference’
f (Goodman and Elgin 1988)