Talking Architecture: Language and Its Roles in the Architectural Design Process
Architects use language intensively along the design process. Students are often asked to talk about their concepts, which sets the verbal language as the main tool used by students for communicating information, in spite of the fact that the architectura
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Abstract Architects use language intensively along the design process. Students are often asked to talk about their concepts, which sets the verbal language as the main tool used by students for communicating information, in spite of the fact that the architectural act is conceived as visual/spatial. The study challenges the notion that language is inferior compared to visual representation, and places the verbal expression as an essential part of the design process. The study follows architecture students, whose verbal concepts during one semester were mapped in terms of consistency, variability and development. A correlation was found between the percentage of evolving concepts in the process and the final studio grade. Analyzing semantic networks of design processes showed a higher number of links between concepts for students with higher grades, supporting the argument that language has an important role alongside graphic products in the architectural studio. Keywords Design process
Design education Language Verbal concepts
Y. Avidan (&) G. Goldschmidt Technion—Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa 32000, Israel e-mail: [email protected] G. Goldschmidt e-mail: [email protected]
A. Chakrabarti and R. V. Prakash (eds.), ICoRD’13, Lecture Notes in Mechanical Engineering, DOI: 10.1007/978-81-322-1050-4_91, Ó Springer India 2013
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Y. Avidan and G. Goldschmidt
1 Introduction 1.1 Language and Communication Language is a means of communication which is used to transfer knowledge, ideas, feelings and other information through different sounds and signals that give them meaning [1]. In the human language there is a limited number of vowels and constants, which constitute all the words and determine their pronunciation. In linguistics it is customary to attribute the term language to a system of signs and symbols that are subjected to syntax. The symbols themselves are meaningless; the syntax is what gives them meaning when they are in a certain context [2]. ‘‘The meaning of each expression does not constitute another simple projection of the author’s intent, instead it is comprehended in the relation between the creator of the expression, the language it is stated in, the discourse it takes part of, and the understandings of the readers/listeners who interpret it’’ [3, pp. 20–21]. According to the authors, between the subject of the expression and the recipient there are at least two mediating factors—the language as a collection of meaningful symbols and the discourse as a social action of exchange of words and the creating of meaning. This idea is identical in essence to the ideas of the philosopher and architect Wittgenstein [4] who sees the language as an assortment of tools which work in different ways. The meaning of a word is set according to the way it is used and its location in a sentence. Therefore, it is possible to sort a group of words in new ways according to new sets of rules, thus gaining new readings of the same words, which receive different meanings [5]. This concept is
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