The building blocks of a language : an exposition of a view treating the built environment as a system of signs for communication

Abstract

All human beings have the same biological needs, but they have developed an immerse variety of social and individual demands. These demands differ so much from one nation or from one ethnic group to another, that no environment can be equally desirable for all human beings, even if their fundamental needs could be satisfied. Architecture which provides man with the required environment where he can live and work has therefore to cater for both of the aspects of mankind mentioned above i.e. man as a biological unit, and also the social aspect of man which underlines the diversities of his life. Architecture being, in turn, a product of man, is obviously rooted in the cultures of man and is intrinsically related to the ways in which man confronts and relates to nature. Eco's exposition, from trying to discuss the semeiological aspect of the built phenomenon in the human environment, considers architecture as a language, and while underlining the basic dual nature of man, he extracts an anthropological basis concerning any meaning that is to be found in saying something by doing something. Thus, the question of whether the built environment actually says anything is considered in terms of its saying something by doing it, and therefore factors such as 'force' are placed in focus and related to studies such as those concerned with proxemics (i.e. the significance of spacial distance between individuals, and thus of architectural space.) [...].