The Meanings Attributed to Representation in Architecture

Year 2025, Volume: 3 Issue: 1, 51 - 69, 27.06.2025

Pelin Işık

https://doi.org/10.26650/JTADP.25.003

Abstract

Architectural representation has been an essential aspect of architecture throughout history. All the tools involved in design, project planning, and narration contribute to the creation of these representations. Architectural products are no longer defined solely as constructed buildings; instead, all drawings and narratives, whether realised or not, gain meaning through architectural representation.

With modernisation, the perception of a chaotic world led to the emergence of structured systems of order and representation-conceptual and visual frameworks rooted in Enlightenment rationalism and later formalised in architectural modernism. These systems aimed to universalise perception by standardising meaning, form, and spatial organisation, often based on the assumption of a shared human experience. This pursuit of coherence produced a trans-temporal design logic that claimed objective validity while also embedding ideological constraints within architectural thinking.

Beyond merely serving as tools for architects to materialise their ideas, architectural representation has evolved into a means of creating envisioned worlds-sometimes utopian, sometimes dystopian, and occasionally feared. Thus, the production of perception and representation in architecture has become a mechanism for establishing universal reality and asserting power.

However, power structures cannot fully suppress the diversity of meaning within perceptions and representations. This study critically examines the classical conception of representation in architecture, particularly how new meanings were added to representation during the 1960s. By exploring these shifts, this study seeks to understand the evolution of architectural representation and how contemporary practices have diverged from traditional models, embracing more diverse and individualised forms of expression.

Keywords

Architectural Representation , Perception and Power , Universalism in Architecture , Interpretive Frame works , Individual Expression

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