VISUAL SEMIOLOGY IN ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN

Author(s):  
Fatma Nazlı Köksal ◽  
Hasan Doğan

Beyond being a shelter, houses are such structures which obtain meanings shaped by the influence of culture, particularly reflecting the society’s socio-cultural structure. As a time-khronos and space-topos pattern, the houses reflect the characteristics of the culture or ethnic group which they are part of, while on the other hand, they reflect the images of the individual’s essence as a communicative action. The effect of climate and typology, which are physical components of culture, as well as social components of culture, such as value systems, belief, lifestyle and habits, are cardinal factors in the formation of traditional houses. In this respect, traditional structures are visual representation spaces that narrates their own story, like verbal culture, and they convey their unique codes through visuality. This study, which discusses traditional architecture as a cultural text, aims to reveal traditional Urfa houses through analytical readings, within the context of visual semiology.. The samples selected within the scope of the study will be evaluated according to the context of stylistic features they are part of, such as plan and spatial perspective, the location of the houses, and detections regarding the visual culture will be discussed through the cultural and architectural design approach of Umberto Eco.

Author(s):  
Fatma Nazlı Köksal ◽  
Hasan Doğan

Beyond being a shelter, houses are such structures which obtain meanings shaped by the influence of culture, particularly reflecting the society’s socio-cultural structure. As a time-khronos and space-topos pattern, the houses reflect the characteristics of the culture or ethnic group which they are part of, while on the other hand, they reflect the images of the individual's essence as a communicative action. The effect of climate and typology, which are physical components of culture, as well as social components of culture, such as value systems, belief, lifestyle and habits, are cardinal factors in the formation of traditional houses. In this respect, traditional structures are visual representation spaces that narrates their own story, like verbal culture, and they convey their unique codes through visuality. This study, which discusses traditional architecture as a cultural text, aims to reveal traditional Urfa houses through analytical readings, within the context of visual semiology. The samples selected within the scope of the study will be evaluated according to the context of stylistic features they are part of, such as plan and spatial perspective, the location of the houses, and detections regarding the visual culture will be discussed through the cultural and architectural design approach of Umberto Eco.


2018 ◽  
Vol 11 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 63-89
Author(s):  
Mohammed El-Msaoui

Many debates between Islamists and secularists have taken place in the Arab political sphere with the aim of building bridges of communication between the two actors who contributed to the transformations that have taken place in the Arab world. Despite the multiple dialogues between Islamists and secularists, conflict and tension have prevailed on both sides, with conflict taking on all forms of material and moral violence. One of the most significant indicators of the crisis in communication is the emergence of violence. That being so, this study broaches the problem using Habermas’s basic idea, which focuses on violence as a disease of human discourse and communication. According to Habermas, violence is the result of distorted discourse between fundamentalists and others; it is a distorted discourse because it does not recognize the other as it is. The study employs the Habermas communicative action theory as a central concept. Accordingly, Habermas’s theory of communication is invoked to understand the causes of the escalation of violence in the Arab political sphere.


2021 ◽  
pp. 98-116
Author(s):  
Alicia Walker

Focusing on Early and Middle Byzantine (fourth-to-twelfth-century) objects, images, and texts, this essay explores the tension between, on the one hand, efforts of the Byzantine church and state to discourage and control bodily adornment and modification and, on the other hand, the extensive evidence of widespread and immoderate engagement with these practices. The enhancement and manipulation of Byzantine bodies is considered as both a real and a metaphoric phenomenon. Evidence culled from secular and sacred, written and material sources demonstrates the importance of bodily adornment and modification to our understanding of Byzantine material and visual culture.


2013 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 556-562 ◽  
Author(s):  
David R. Bassett ◽  
Ray Browning ◽  
Scott A. Conger ◽  
Dana L. Wolff ◽  
Jennifer I. Flynn

Background:The indoor built environment has the potential to influence levels of physical activity. However, the extent to which architectural design in commercial buildings can influence the percentage of people choosing to use the stairs versus elevators is unknown. The purpose of this study was to determine if buildings with centrally located, accessible, and aesthetically pleasing staircases result in a greater percentage of people taking the stairs.Methods:Direct observations of stair and elevator use were conducted in 3 buildings on a university campus. One of the buildings had a bank of 4 centrally located elevators and a fire escape stairwell behind a steel door. The other 2 buildings had centrally located staircases and out-of-the-way elevators.Results:The percentage of people who ascended the stairs was 8.1% in the elevator-centric building, compared with 72.8% and 81.1% in the 2 stair-centric buildings (P < .001). In addition, the percentage of people who descended the stairs was 10.8% in the first building, compared with 89.5% and 93.7% in the stair-centric buildings (P < .001).Conclusions:The results of the current study suggest that if buildings are constructed with centrally located, accessible, and aesthetically pleasing staircases, a greater percentage of people will choose to take the stairs.


2018 ◽  
Vol 193 ◽  
pp. 04002
Author(s):  
Anh Viet Vu ◽  
Thi Ai Thuy Pham ◽  
Tu Pham

The pop-up architecture (or landscape architecture) becomes popular nowadays. Some highlights include annual architecture program such as the Serpentine Gallery Pavilion at Hyde Park, London; MPavilion in Melbourne; MoMA PS1 and Heart Sculpture in New York. Many of these pop-up architectural works have been designed by world renowned architects, such as Zaha Hadid, Rem Koolhaas, Hezorg and de Meuron, Jean Nouvel, Toyo Ito, SANAA, Shigeru Ban, BIG, etc. And many of these designs reflect innovative thinking that changes the professional world of architectural design. But above all, these pop-up architectures were created in responsive manner to the urban community and the community controversially has good response to this type of architecture. In the other words, pop-up architecture is the way the architects touch the heartbeat of the cities, make them livable for all. Ho Chi Minh City has its own types of pop-up landscape architecture, whereas this paper intends to explore in two case studies: Nguyen Hue Floral Boulevard and Nguyen Van Binh Book Street. Nguyen Hue Floral Street is celebrating now its twelfth birthday in the city. Nguyen Van Binh Book Street has just passed its first anniversary in 2017. Both cases live its own story behind the scene about how livable a city could be through place-making by architecture and landscape design. Throughout these cases, we would like to find out how this type of pop-up landscape architecture being realized and become popular in Ho Chi Minh City, and how it is devoted to a livable city for all.


2015 ◽  
Vol 10 (Special-Issue1) ◽  
pp. 208-214
Author(s):  
Moeid Farsa ◽  
Mahdiye Jahri ◽  
Mehdi Alirezai

Architecture and light are to that extent dependent on each other which body and spirits are.One for living and the other for physical presence in this world needs the other and while light is flown on the body of the space both two perceptible worlds become “ existed “.Since long ago, bright and shimmering materials which remind something living in the mind of individual were respectable and adorable. Being aware of the process of exploitation of sunlight is of importance as much as the process of materials formation or different fundamental forms of construction in order to design. Almost in all religions, light is the symbol of Devine wisdom and the Essene of all beneficence and purities and mobility from darkness to light, was considered as the main objective. Islamic Mosques which are ornamented with light are perfectly able to transmit this divine and moral sense. In such spaces which are lighten up with a shimmering light and by observance of the imprecise shadows of substances and masses, individual starts to complete the pictures in his mind and by such an activity gets in to an ecstasy and as a result a feeling of getting close to the source of existence and reality wakens up inner inside him. The present survey by depending on descriptive-analytic methods, studies light in Islamic and traditional architecture. This paper by case study of Sheikh Lotfollah Mosque, aims to find out whether the presence of light and specifically natural light in architecture might have further meaning rather than brightness, and whether accessing an accurate pattern of application of light is possible or there is basically no compulsion in it ?


2013 ◽  
Vol 357-360 ◽  
pp. 278-281 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jia Sheng Liu

The paper focuses on the relationship between the architectural culture and architectural design, puts forward the concept of architectural culture, expounds architectural cultures influence on Chinese traditional architecture and the western traditional architectures, and summarizes the importance and influence of architectural culture in the modern architectural design. This paper provides reference and experience for architects to design the modern architecture that can embody the design and spirit more vividly.


Author(s):  
Hikari Hori

It is impossible to understand the media-scape of Japan from the 1920s through 1945 without analyzing the implications of representations of the emperor as well as the effects of state-led- and voluntary self-censorship on their production and reception. The emperor’s portrait photograph (goshin’ei) was too sacred to gaze upon, and citizens and soldiers even died to protect it. It was preserved with extreme care in public institutions and battleships. On the other hand, paradoxically, Hirohito was the first emperor whose public appearances were covered by multiple mass media, ranging from personalized collectible postcards to newsreels, which were readily available for viewers’ scrutiny. These contradictory viewing practices, one prohibited and another accessible, disrupted the visual culture of emperor-centered disciplined and nationalized imperial citizenship. (122 words)


1997 ◽  
Vol 56 (1) ◽  
pp. 64-88 ◽  
Author(s):  
Greg Wightman

Research in ancient Roman architectural design has come increasingly to the view that geometry was often as important as metrication and proportion. The present paper examines the contribution of both geometry and arithmetic to the design of the four imperial fora in Rome, as well as the closely related Temple of Peace. An analysis of the Forum of Augustus-the best-known of the imperial fora-shows that it was designed according to a geometric model with a particular size utilizing a "base dimension" of 146 Roman feet. Analyses of the other fora show that the same geometric model-but with a base dimension of 150 feet-can be used to generate their basic spatial divisions and dimensions. The model accounts not only for straightforward and integral dimensions or proportions, but also for irrational and nonintegral proportions hitherto unexplained. The article argues that the mixture of integral, nonintegral, and irrational metrication was a deliberate aspect of the design process, in line with the Early Imperial propensity to combine rectilinear and curvilinear architectural forms. The article concludes with a suggestion that the model originated in the Etruscan ritual division of space, which was adopted by the Romans and later applied to an increasingly broad range of building types. The model may thus have served as a kind of template or cosmogram whereby each building designed on it could embody essential features of cosmic order. It gave to each Roman building its uniquely "Italic" flavor quite separate from Greek "cosmetics." If the model's application proves to be sufficiently broad, then the possibility is raised of developing a "unified design theory" for Etruscan and Roman architecture. These issues will be broached in future articles.


2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 57-73
Author(s):  
Fumihiko Sueki ◽  
Anton Luis Sevilla

AbstractToday, the modern value systems that once held sway have fallen apart, and people throughout the world are wandering in an aimless state. Amidst this, we are pressed to ask, “What kind of a new ethics might we construct?” We need to consider the possibility of an ethics that focuses on the religious view of humankind (previously ignored by modernity), that goes beyond this life, and includes the next life. In this article, I examine the way of being of bodhisattvas in Mahāyāna Buddhism via the Lotus Sutra. According to the Lotus Sutra, human existence is one that necessarily relates with the other, and this relationship is not confined to this life, but continues from past lives to future lives. Here, I refer to this as “bodhisattva as existence.” On this basis, it is possible to think of an ethics of “bodhisattva as praxis” that considers the benefit of others even after death. This view of bodhisattvas in the Lotus Sutra lives on in Japanese Buddhism and can be said to point to a new possibility for ethics today.


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