Architecture as

Symbolic Form

ARCH 417

Fall 2015
Marcus VITRUVIUS 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
Vitruvius
Classical Orders
Book IV of De Architectura
20 BCE
orders

• system of proportions for a structure

• a symbolic system as well, with metaphorical

resonances
The Erechtheum, "Porch of the Maidens" on the Acropolis, Athens, Greece, 421-406 BCE
The original caryatids have been replaced with replicas.
Laugier, 'the primitive hut' in Essay on Architecture, new edition, 1755
David CHIPPERFIELD, "Sticks and Stones, An Intervention," Neue Nationalgalerie, 2014-15
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
Old State House
Boston, MA
1713
Independence Hall
Philadelphia, PA
1732
Thomas JEFFERSON, Virginia State Capitol, 1785-92
Maison Carrée
Nîmes, France
2 AD
analyzing the I mark

http://identitystandards.illinois.edu/graphicstandardsmanual/generalguidelines/ge
neralguidelines.html#illinoismarkversions

MORE INFORMATION AT THIS LINK

Charles Saunders PEIRCE (“purse”) (1839-1914)
American thinker, mathematics, science, logic, semiotics

http://www.iupui.edu/~peirce/
 three types of signs
types examples

• example of icon: smiley face,

• icon: represents the object
• example of index: fingerprint
through some similarity or
resemblance
• example of symbol:
• index: represents the object by
being a physical trace of it pretty much all of language, in
which words have no necessary
• symbol: represents the object by
relationship to the concept they
convention (social agreement)
represent
explanation of three of Peirce’s sign types
index: a type of sign that is physically connected
to its making
index: a type of sign physically connected to its making
 use of indexical marks in art

Robert RAUSCHENBERG, Automobile Tire 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 by VAGA, New York, NY
 Gabriel OROZCO
Chicotes (Whips)
2010
installed at the Tate Modern

use of
indexical
marks in art
Christoph NIEMANN, Coffee, New York Times blog, December 2, 2008
FERDINAND
FerdinandDE
deSAUSSURE
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.

COURSE IN GENERAL
LINGUISTICS

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.
Older conception
…gives way to the new.
 sign

• Sign=signifier + signified

• Signifier (discrete visual element)

• Signified (meaning)
Charles Moore, Piazza d'Italia, New Orleans, LA, 1978
detail of fountain
 Venice Biennale, 1980

"La Strada Novissima"

photographed for Domus magazine and

published in their April 1980 issue
Domus 605 / April 1980 1st International Architecture Exhibition, The Presence of the Past.
Left, a drawing by Robert A.M. Stern; right, a drawing by Michael Graves
Domus 605 / April 1980 1st International Architecture Exhibition, The Presence of the Past. Proposal by Rem Koolhaas (OMA)
Domus 605 / April 1980 1st International Architecture Exhibition, The Presence of the Past. Oswald Mathias Ungers' façade
Domus 605 / April 1980 1st International Architecture Exhibition, The Presence of the Past.
Left, façade by Thomas Gordon Smith; right, façade by Venturi, Rauch & Scott-Brown
Domus 605 / April 1980 1st International Architecture Exhibition, The Presence of the Past. Hans Hollein's façade
Domus 605 / April 1980 1st International Architecture Exhibition, The Presence of the Past.
Left, a drawing by Franco Purini and Laura Thermes; right, a drawing by Massimo Scolari
Domus 605 / April 1980 1st International Architecture Exhibition, The Presence of the Past.
Left, a drawing by Arata Isokazi; right, drawing by Frank O. Gehry
Domus 605 / April 1980
1st International Architecture
Exhibition, The Presence of the
Past.
Michael Graves' façade under
construction