I need a favour

[wolven7]

Who among you knows anything about the semiotics of architecture?

I need certain meanings intended by certain architectural styles. If you have any experience with the above, please contact me.

I'm putting a bit of a project together.

Comments

[mendori.livejournal.com]

i have some, but its entirely focused on a few particular styles. What type in particular?

[wolven.livejournal.com]

If i needed Architectural motifs to represent Intellect, Creativity, Emotion, and Practicality, what would you suggest I use?

[cailement.livejournal.com]

ditto mendori. I mostly know roman type thingies and a little japanese. show us a picture or two? their roots might lie in what we know . . .

[wolven.livejournal.com]

If i needed Architectural motifs to represent Intellect, Creativity, Emotion, and Practicality, what would you suggest I use?

[cailement.livejournal.com]

hmmmm, surprisingly enough most of what I know refers to sex or sex or sex (silly romans), and sex (silly dead japanese). No, seriously.

Intellect I would say would easily be embodied by the classic arch. It's technically a wonder, expecially with the, was it called the lynch pin? No, that wedge shaped thing in the middle. Very smart design that's still being used today, to show the lasting ingenuity.

Creativity; go be creative. There have been plenty of movements for creativity (they kinda went wild during the 70s), I'd just try to incorporate anything you want in this point. I personally lean towards swirlys, but that's just my sense of creative. I'd go with more organic forms that with geometric. Geometry you can see anywhere, you can only see a particular cloud once.

Emotion. This is difficult in architecture. While architecture can inspire emotion, stabby points to bring on the pain of christ's death, sweeping buttresses to promote a sense of majesty, smooth curves and non right angles to make our brains hurt while protecting us from the Great Sefilipod, it's very difficult to say what architecture would embody emotion itself. I guess you could use styles that give you an emotion(s), or provoke a certain emotion, but I'd be at a loss to be more specific.

Practicality. That one is simple. Make the space do what you want it to do. I would say with this you'd want to leave just function, and take out the form (all the pretty and unnecessary things, but it's rather difficult at that point to incorporate them all). But making the space into what it is is the embodiment of practicality.

It would be easier if I knew what the thing you were making was. I might be able to look more in the direction you're wishing to take these concepts. For example, blending emotion with practicality in a garden is easy, but blending it in a bathroom is . . . no, again, my bad, easy . . . a different example maybe . . . hmmmm, no, just tell me what you are trying to do and I can try again with more precision. Only if you want to, of course.

Architecture is a form of art, but very specific in it's design. If you wanted a space to do something or be an echo of something already made that gives you a feel of these things, you could do that (architectural motifs, as you will). But I think you'd be better just thinking the whole thing as a new piece of art and put in bits that are significant to you. They say that's what artists do anyway. Where they get their "inspiration" is what has been historically done, while their new work incorporates "motifs."

[wolven.livejournal.com]

You have e-mail.

[davidsfoley.livejournal.com]

I'd look at the works of Shigeru Ban. He's good at all of the things you've listed, although personally, buildings rarely inspire emotion in me.

[davidsfoley.livejournal.com]

Oh, and Friedensreich Hundertwasser too. Maybe some Paolo Soleri and Frank Lloyd Wright too.

[wolven.livejournal.com]

Thanks for those

A few responses...

[raidingparty.livejournal.com]

First, my uncle is an architect, in a family of the same. I can give you his contact, if interested. He alternately lives in a condo in Decatur and a house by Lake Lanier.

Second, my (non-professional or edumecated) thoughts on the motifs suggested:
Intellect - I'm struck by the idea of pillar representing intellect, it's in phrases here and there ("A pillar of thought"). It could also be sex, but those aren't mutually exclusive. Other than the jokes about 'one brain at a time'. And the studies about the inverse relationship between education and reproduction. Argh.
That being said, high things give me the impression of intellect.
Creativity - The ideas I have here are elaboration (friezes, windows, inlaid art, exlaid art like the cross shape of cathedrals) and the synthesis of rarely- or never-unified elements.
Emotion - That's a difficult one to say, really, 'emotion' on its own. Curves and points, circles and rectangles (damn you, Rambuss!), things that aren't inherent to the structure itself but, because of their presence elicit or express.
Practicality - Shelves and benches, ideal use.

Re: A few responses...

[wolven.livejournal.com]

Definitely good options. Thank you.

Dan is architect

[the-old-songs.livejournal.com]

he probably would frown on me giving out his email to the whole internet, so I am putting it friends-only on my journal. But I did ask and he said it's ok to email him. He will try to help.