Chapter 6 - Architecture as a Vehicle of Meanings

Summary

LIKE ALL ART forms, architecture is a text that can be read. The narrative it offers always refers to the moment it was created and the people contributing to its creation. In order to comprehend the “text” of architecture, one has to identify codes concealed in the form, shape, and spatial arrangement of the given building. If widely used, these codes will be recognized and “read” beyond the viewer's conscious awareness. However, in time and under the influence of social, cultural, and political change, these codes can evolve, others may be lost or deemed useless. Though secondary to codes of meaning, the aesthetic aspect of any art form, including architectural ones, is an important factor which we do not underestimate today: even if unaware of these implicit codes, contemporary viewers can communicate with premodern art through their sense of aesthetics.

Anyone interested in plunging beneath the stratum of aesthetics can try to comprehend a work of art in two other ways. One can employ everyday cognitive criteria and codes of signification or semiotics, most probably only some of which are discernible. The main function of a building (particularly if it is a church or a palace) will most certainly be recognisable. Yet other aspects—whether the church served as a cathedral or as a religious community; whether it was used by members of an abbey or the inhabitants of a stronghold; its liturgical aspects; and whether the building was a ducal residence (palatium) or an episcopal one (episcopium) —will in all probability escape most viewers.

The onlooker might also attempt to recognize and comprehend the needs of the community for whom specific artefacts (buildings, liturgical vessels) were created. Such an approach will allow a better understanding of old codes of meaning, and the artefact to be set into its appropriate historical, cultural, and intellectual context.Deciphering codes enables viewers to “read” and interpret unique artistic texts.In the case of architecture, appropriate interpretation is essential: identical or similar forms were applied in buildings intended for completely different purposes. The chief difficulty here involves the viewer's capacity for defining and discerning detailed architectural forms and codes.