Meaning And Aesthetics In Architecture

We experience meaning in architecture when we derive - as observers - impressions from it and when we give - as designers - expressions to it. This implies that meaning in architecture, like in all other fields, is process and result. The related decision making involves judgments based on theoretical and practical issues, driven by purpose, context and realization. This book proceeds from explaining the philosophical foundations of meaning to interpreting physical designs of architecture. At the center of discussion is design thinking with rational and emotional components. Because of the latter, the results are profoundly aesthetic, that is, pleasure or displeasure arises from the form of the object. The concept of design narratives is developed as the dialog between the content and the form of projects. The text is profusely supported by illustrations in color and by extensive bibliographic references. "Meaning and Aesthetics in Architecture" - while being a rather personal account - provides a comprehensive basis for readers to develop their own thoughts and views.

Every thing we encounter has for us meaning. It is what we infer as a particular understanding of the thing. But we also provide meaning by how we live and what we produce. This implies process and result, also in architecture. Decision making is involved with judgments on theoretical and practical issues. The activities are driven by factors of purpose, context and realization. This text proceeds from explaining philosophical foundations of meaning to interpreting physical designs of architecture. At the center is design thinking which has rational and emotional components, making it profoundly aesthetic. The concept of design narratives is developed as the dialog between the content and the form of projects. The text is profusely supported by illustrations in color and hyperlinked with extensive references.

How do people react to the visual character of their surroundings? What can planners do to improve the aesthetic quality of these surroundings? Too often in environmental design, visual quality--aesthetics--is misunderstood as only a minor concern, dependent on volatile taste and thus undefinable. Yet a substantial body of research indicates the importance of visual quality in the environment to the public and has uncovered systematic patterns of human response to visual attributes of the built environment. Efforts to understand environmental aesthetics have been undertaken by investigators from such diverse fields as landscape architecture, environmental psychology, geography, philosophy, architecture, and city planning. As a result the relevant information is scattered and not readily available to professionals and policy makers. The book brings together classic and new contributions by distinguished workers in different disciplines. It explores theory and data on preferences in the visual environment, and also addresses the practical application of aesthetic criteria in design, planning and public policy. Promising directions for future research are identified.

Every thing we encounter has for us more or less meaning. It is what we infer as a particular understanding of the thing. But we also provide meaning by how we live and by what we produce. In architecture we experience this duality as deriving impressions from it and as giving expressions to it. This implies that meaning in architecture, like in all other fields, is process and result. Decision making is involved with judgments based on theoretical and practical issues. The activities are driven by the design factors of purpose, context and realization. This text proceeds from explaining philosophical foundations of meaning to interpreting physical designs of architecture. At the center of discussion is design thinking which has rational and emotional components, making it profoundly aesthetic. The concept of design narratives is developed as the dialog between the content and the form of projects. The text is profusely supported by illustrations in color and by extensive references. Meaning and Aesthetics in Architecture is a book for all who are interested to understand our built environments.

By analyzing ten examples of buildings that embody the human experience at an extraordinary level, this book clarifies the central importance of the role of function in architecture as a generative force in determining built form. Using familiar twentieth-century buildings as case studies, the authors present these from a new perspective, based on their functional design concepts. Here Grabow and Spreckelmeyer expand the definition of human use to that of an art form by re-evaluating these buildings from an aesthetic and ecological view of function. Each building is described from the point of view of a major functional concept or idea of human use which then spreads out and influences the spatial organization, built form and structure. In doing so each building is presented as an exemplar that reaches beyond the pragmatic concerns of a narrow program and demonstrates how functional concepts can inspire great design, evoke archetypal human experience and help us to understand how architecture embodies the deeper purposes and meanings of everyday life.

Reality Modeled After Images: Architecture and Aesthetics after the Digital Image explores architecture’s entanglement with contemporary image culture. It looks closely at how changes produced through technologies of mediation alter disciplinary concepts and produce political effects. Through both historical and contemporary examples, it focuses on how conventions of representation are established, maintained, challenged, and transformed. Critical investigations are conjoined with inquiries into aesthetics and technology in the hope that the tensions between them can aid an exploration into how architectural images are produced, disseminated, and valued; how images alter assumptions regarding the appearances of architecture and the environment. For students and academics in architecture, design and media studies, architectural and art history, and related fields, this book shows how design is impacted and changed by shifts in image culture, representational conventions and technologies.

By analyzing ten examples of buildings that embody the human experience at an extraordinary level, this book clarifies the central importance of the role of function in architecture as a generative force in determining built form. Using familiar twentieth-century buildings as case studies, the authors present these from a new perspective, based on their functional design concepts. Here Grabow and Spreckelmeyer expand the definition of human use to that of an art form by re-evaluating these buildings from an aesthetic and ecological view of function. Each building is described from the point of view of a major functional concept or idea of human use which then spreads out and influences the spatial organization, built form and structure. In doing so each building is presented as an exemplar that reaches beyond the pragmatic concerns of a narrow program and demonstrates how functional concepts can inspire great design, evoke archetypal human experience and help us to understand how architecture embodies the deeper purposes and meanings of everyday life.

"Paperback reissue, with a new introduction by the author."