In this class we briefly go over semiotic theory, applying its insights to the communicative function of buildings. We close by discussing Charles Moore's Piazza d'Italia of 1978 and La Strada Novissima at the Venice Biennale of 1980.

1. Architecture as
Symbolic Form
ARCH 417
Fall 2015

2. MarcusVITRUVIUS Pollio
(c. 90 - c. 20 BCE)
• military engineer and ballistics expert for Julius Caesar between 58 and 51
BCE, which allowed him to visit Greece, North Africa and Gaul (France)
• one constructed work that we know of, a basilica in 29 BCE in Umbria
• De Architectura (On Architecture), written 30-20 BCE combines the history
of ancient architecture and engineering with the author's experimental
work on various subjects In De Architectura , written 30-20 BCE

3. Vitruvius
Classical Orders
Book IV of De Architectura
20 BCE

5. orders
• system of proportions for a structure
• a symbolic system as well, with metaphorical
resonances

6. The Erechtheum, "Porch of the Maidens" on the Acropolis,Athens, Greece, 421-406 BCE
The original caryatids have been replaced with replicas.

7. Laugier, 'the primitive hut' in Essay on Architecture, new edition, 1755

8. David CHIPPERFIELD, "Sticks and Stones, An Intervention," Neue Nationalgalerie, 2014-15

9. one could argue...
• that it is the ability of the architect to manipulate
the formal language that distinguishes the learned
from the amateur product
• vernaculars [tend to follow methods of construction]
• architects tend to use a self-conscious vocabulary of
forms

10. Old State House
Boston, MA
1713

11. Independence Hall
Philadelphia, PA
1732

12. Thomas JEFFERSON,Virginia State Capitol, 1785-92

13. Maison Carrée
Nîmes, France
2 AD

14. analyzing the I mark
http://identitystandards.illinois.edu/graphicstandardsmanual/generalguidelines/ge
neralguidelines.html#illinoismarkversions
MORE INFORMATIONATTHIS LINK

15. Charles Saunders PEIRCE (“purse”) (1839-1914)
American thinker, mathematics, science, logic, semiotics
http://www.iupui.edu/~peirce/

16. three types of signs
types
• icon: represents the object
through some similarity or
resemblance
• index: represents the object by
being a physical trace of it
• symbol: represents the object by
convention (social agreement)
examples
• example of icon: smiley face,
• example of index: fingerprint
• example of symbol:
pretty much all of language, in
which words have no necessary
relationship to the concept they
represent

17. explanation of three of Peirce’s sign types

18. index: a type of sign that is physically connected
to its making

19. index: a type of sign physically connected to its making

20. Robert RAUSCHENBERG, AutomobileTire Print, 1953
paint on 20 sheets of paper mounted on fabric, 16 1/2 in. x 264 1/2 inches, SFMOMA,
© Robert Rauschenberg Foundation / Licensed byVAGA, NewYork, NY
use of indexical marks in art

21. GabrielOROZCO
Chicotes (Whips)
2010
installed at theTate Modern
use of
indexical
marks in art

22. Christoph NIEMANN, Coffee, NewYorkTimes blog, December 2, 2008

23. Ferdinand de Saussure
Born Geneva, Switzerland, 1857
Trained in ancient and modern languages at the University of Geneva and later, the University of
Leipzig.
Taught in Paris and Geneva.
FERDINAND DE SAUSSURE

24. Taught at University of Geneva, during
academic years 1906-7, 1908-9, 1910-
11.
First published 1916 by a team of
students who carefully collated their
lecture notes.
COURSE IN GENERAL
LINGUISTICS

25. Older conception

26. …gives way to the new.

27. sign
• Sign=signifier + signified
• Signifier (discrete visual element)
• Signified (meaning)

28. Charles Moore, Piazza d'Italia, New Orleans, LA, 1978

30. detail of fountain

34. Venice Biennale, 1980
"La Strada Novissima"
photographed for Domus magazine and
published in their April 1980 issue

35. Domus 605 / April 1980 1st InternationalArchitecture Exhibition, The Presence of the Past.
Left, a drawing by RobertA.M. Stern; right, a drawing by Michael Graves

36. Domus 605 / April 1980 1st InternationalArchitecture Exhibition, The Presence of the Past. Proposal by Rem Koolhaas (OMA)

37. Domus 605 / April 1980 1st InternationalArchitecture Exhibition, The Presence of the Past. Oswald Mathias Ungers' façade

38. Domus 605 / April 1980 1st InternationalArchitecture Exhibition, The Presence of the Past.
Left, façade byThomas Gordon Smith; right, façade byVenturi, Rauch & Scott-Brown

39. Domus 605 / April 1980 1st InternationalArchitecture Exhibition, The Presence of the Past. Hans Hollein's façade

40. Domus 605 / April 1980 1st InternationalArchitecture Exhibition, The Presence of the Past.
Left, a drawing by Franco Purini and LauraThermes; right, a drawing by Massimo Scolari

41. Domus 605 / April 1980 1st InternationalArchitecture Exhibition, The Presence of the Past.
Left, a drawing byArata Isokazi; right, drawing by Frank O. Gehry

42. Domus 605 / April 1980
1st International Architecture
Exhibition, The Presence of the
Past.
Michael Graves' façade under
construction