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Architecture & Visual Culture Study

The document discusses architecture as a form of visual culture and covers three critical approaches: 1) architecture as art, viewing the architect as an artist creating three-dimensional works, 2) architecture as sign or symbol where structures can represent ideas, and 3) architecture as urban and social experiences by how buildings shape the spaces people inhabit and socialize in cities.

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26 views7 pages

Architecture & Visual Culture Study

The document discusses architecture as a form of visual culture and covers three critical approaches: 1) architecture as art, viewing the architect as an artist creating three-dimensional works, 2) architecture as sign or symbol where structures can represent ideas, and 3) architecture as urban and social experiences by how buildings shape the spaces people inhabit and socialize in cities.

Uploaded by

moonwaince8
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Visual Culture

MCM 253

Chapter 7:
Architecture &
Visual Culture

Prof Marcella Janush


READ: Chapter 7
by Richard Williams

Architecture
& Visual
Culture
š For our purposes of study of architecture in
this course, we will view it as the discourse,
or what has been said about architecture,
not the technical field itself

1. Architecture as art
2. Architecture as sign or symbol
3. Architecture as urban and social
experiences

Looking at the
critical approaches
of architecture
Museum of Modern Art in Astana, Kazakhstan

1. Architecture as
a Form of Art

š An architect is an artist who creates in


three dimensions
š To enclose space, in space
š To be individual works of art
š Unique expressions of a creative mind
š Permanent, unchanging, expressions of
their time
š Architecture as art is only one aspect of
the complete definition
2. Architecture as
Sign or Symbol

š Looking at architecture as art


opens the work up for criticism
and interpretation as all artwork
endures

š Think of the Eiffel tower in


France-this piece of architecture
is a symbol , a symbol for a city,
for modernity, for communication,
of the 19th century, a lightening
rod or insect, dreams of love
3. Architecture as urban
and social experiences
š Architecture as experienced by the user, the inhabitor

š In the early 1900’s the idea of architecture


development in the cities created building spaces a
“metropolis” emerged

š Meaning a cluster of buildings in a downtown area


and how these developments were changing the social
experiences of those who inhabited the spaces

š Some have referred to the architects in these


situations as to just create the façades and the use of
the spaces is where the real visual culture is
experienced.
The influence of
architecture
š For those of us living in an urban society we are
surrounded by architecture

š It shapes our movements through a city with bridges,


tunnels, pathways around buildings

š Architecture is used in many ways to define a city, many


having iconic cityscapes recognizable by building
shapes

š Architecture has a huge social importance in our society


with their massive size, complexity

š More than any other practice of visual culture they


require community or society patronage (money and/or
support given to an organization)

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