As we are living in information city, how can we transform the architectural language to response to such major cultural change? At the same time we have to maintain our traditional continuity of architecture and culture.
As any language it shoud be used to be mastered, "reading" and "writing" would be the best ways, and we may also observe how other domains are reacting to those transformations, as there will be an equivalent of their strategies to be "translated" to architecture.
But maybe, as we are the the middle of the transformation itself, ald therefore it is a blurry point of view, the most important questions to observe is how architecture, city and society reacted to the previous major transformations, it could help us to predict some patterns.
Dear Tales:
Architectural traditions and rules are alway under transformation. what do you think if we break these traditions and rules, and systems? I am taking a bout the syntactic rules in order to get unlimited meaning.
Dear Akram,
Yes they are always under transformation, but, despite the radical changes it could be identifyable, at least to a certain degree, a continuity in our architecture and culture (as you pointed out). So I don't know if we can think about an unlimited meaning, as it will always will be strongly attached to some internal, and historical built, meaning or understanding.
What I proposed it to see how it usually behaves in major changes to find you if it is possible to think abou a pattern (maybe not).
I agree, but traditions also change over time and respond to the cultural changes of the moment.
Every traditional architecture has its own form language. It has evolved from many different influences of lifestyle, traditions, and practical concerns acting together to define the geometry that structures take as the most natural visual expressions of a particular culture. A form language is a set of evolved geometries on many different scales (i.e., ornamental, building, urban) that people of a particular culture identify with, and are comfortable with. It is highly dependent on traditional and local materials — at least that was the case before the global introduction of nonspecific industrial materials.
Design in architecture and urbanism is guided by two distinct complementary languages: a pattern language, and a form language. The pattern language contains rules for how human beings interact with built forms — a pattern language codifies practical solutions developed over millennia, which are appropriate to local customs, society, and climate.
A form language, on the other hand, consists of geometrical rules for putting matter together. It is visual and tectonic, traditionally arising from available materials and their human uses rather than from images. Different form languages correspond to different architectural traditions, or styles. The problem is that not all form languages are adaptive to human sensibilities. Those that are not adaptive can never connect to a pattern language. Every adaptive design method combines a pattern language with a viable form language, otherwise it inevitably creates alien environments.
Architectural design is a highly complex undertaking. Heretofore, the processes at its base have not been made clear. There have been many attempts to clarify the design process, yet we still don’t have a design method that can be used by students and novices to achieve practical, meaningful, nourishing, human results.
In the absence of a design method and accompanying criteria for judging a design, things have become very subjective, and therefore what is built today appears to be influenced largely by fashion, forced tastes, and an individual’s desire to garner attention through novel and sometimes shocking expressions.
Dear Akram J. Al-Akkam ,
I am a nurse and a farmer, so I am answering your question from that perspective. Buildings, towns, populated areas create a history because they fill a function, feed a sense of identity, are too difficult to destroy or not significant enough to alter. The fire in Notre Dame brought out thousands of people to repair it, not because it was a Catholic church but because it is also part of the fabric that is Paris. Cities that have existed for hundreds of years follow paths that allow for shopping and community identity. Planned cities such as Canberra Australia reflect the need for green spaces, commerce and housing concepts that developed as humans fought to blend a need for space with the financial advantages of city living. Now, addicted to our technology, humans have to find a language and physical expression for these new changes. But, the old traditions and patterned uses need to be respected too.
brigid
Architectural language can be develop through use of our very own traditional sustainable resources
Really an interesting discussion.. Architectural language is something I was unaware of..
I think we can develop architectural language either by extending the traditional modes of language for example the approach of Venturi, or by extending the traditional modes of generated meaning in architecture for example the approach of Eisenmans.
Very stimulating question that provoked several interesting informative comments from our RG colleagues
The two major approaches can be a Rationalist (Futurist) and Empiricist (Contextual). Both have been successful in their own ways. Under these two major paradigms, I can think a lot has already developed and continue to do so from the Pyramids to modern contemporary buildings. The attempt to develop various styles is essentially the architectural vocabulary or language development. While I agree that we need to conserve various styles that had been copied, analyze, critique, deconstructed and became part of architectural curriculum in various countries around the world there's a need to bring in new spirits or renew spirits in architectural profession and pedagogy. The houses and public buildings should try to reflect more of the current praxis and needs of the society. For instances, the idea of climate responsiveness in response to global warming or the need to conserve water especially in cities that are drying up. The vernacular houses people live in the 19th or 20th century were a manifestation of the era's material and other resources availability, skills of the people, socio-culture and lifestyles, etc. In these thatch houses, the owners used to collect rain water and store it for future use, even when they had plenty of portable water from the streams. Today, connectivity by travel or internet media and subsequent spread of information DATA, and these should enriched the vocabulary of architecture significantly to address pertinent issues of the social, economic, and environment. In other words, we should not limit architectural languages and its practice should not be limited to classicism, modernism, post-modernism, vernacularism, revivalism, neo-modernism, and so on.
In contrast with conventional languages that deal with letters and words, architectural language comprises proportions, scale, rhythm, patterns of shapes, spatial tectonics, concepts, forms and relations of functions, etc. As information technology develops and cultures mix up and new forms become popular worldwide, architectural languages also enter new dimensions of local and global expressions which are both novel and understandable for large groups of international audiences. We as architects need not worry about the language itself but should focus more on our spatial, cultural and architectural messages in this era that sustainability and especially its environmental sphere is of great concern for current and future generations.
Architectural language is a sign language. It is the same as natural language as it based on three Axes: morphology( which is studying the sign shapes), syntax( which is studying the rule that connect these shapes) and semantics( wich is how to convey meaning)
If the architects has the ability to develope new morphology and syntactics to reach a semantics suits a certain context, and if they were able to share and popularize what they had done. So this is thr language.
Hi dear Akram.
Discussions focus on these two categories:
1) What perceptions, what perceptions can we have of our past architecture.
2) What can we do for the future?
I think studying the history of architecture is very valuable. But it can not be turned into theory. Architecture has a very specific language that is not personal, personalizations happen in detail. For example, even if we go to the countryside today, we see a building that works in the old style, changing from one house to another only in detail, and that is why this architecture looks integrated and harmonious. This architecture has a clear language that can be understood, whether in the desert, by the sea, etc.
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