The Language of Architectural Diagrams

Authors Thora Tenbrink , Ruth C. Dalton , Anwen Jago Williams



PDF
Thumbnail PDF

File

LIPIcs.COSIT.2019.17.pdf
  • Filesize: 4.95 MB
  • 14 pages

Document Identifiers

Author Details

Thora Tenbrink
  • School of Languages, Literatures and Linguistics, Bangor University, Wales, UK
Ruth C. Dalton
  • The University of Northumbria at Newcastle, UK
Anwen Jago Williams
  • School of Languages, Literatures and Linguistics, Bangor University, Wales, UK

Acknowledgements

We thank the students at Bangor and Northumbria Universities who participated in this study, and the architects who gave us permission to use their diagrams.

Cite AsGet BibTex

Thora Tenbrink, Ruth C. Dalton, and Anwen Jago Williams. The Language of Architectural Diagrams. In 14th International Conference on Spatial Information Theory (COSIT 2019). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 142, pp. 17:1-17:14, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2019)
https://doi.org/10.4230/LIPIcs.COSIT.2019.17

Abstract

Complex buildings frequently present a challenge to users’ understanding, which may affect wayfinding as well as appreciation of the building’s structure. In this paper we focus on the building’s diagram, a representation by the building’s architect that captures its main ‘idea’. Motivated by the intuition that a building may be easier to understand if its conceptual diagram can be clearly and easily described, we explored perceivers’ descriptions of such diagrams' features. We asked students of Language and students of Architecture to write about the buildings represented in a variety of diagrams, and then repeated the task for photographs of the actual buildings. Using Cognitive Discourse Analysis, we aimed to create a first qualitative exploration of the linguistic and conceptual patterns that are associated with the perception of diagrams and images of complex buildings. Among other factors, results show how perception of the diagram’s meaning is fundamentally affected by subject expertise. Linguistic patterns demonstrate the ways in which written descriptions reflect observers’ understanding and concepts of building representations, providing a starting point for future studies which may address the possible relationship between the verbalisability of a diagram and the legibility of a building.

Subject Classification

ACM Subject Classification
  • General and reference → Empirical studies
Keywords
  • visualisation
  • Cognitive Discourse Analysis
  • linguistic representation
  • building legibility

Metrics

  • Access Statistics
  • Total Accesses (updated on a weekly basis)
    0
    PDF Downloads

References

  1. Richard Buchanan. Wicked problems in design thinking. Design issues, 8(2):5-21, 1992. Google Scholar
  2. Anthony Burke. Considering the diagram and design research. Revista Lusófona de Arquitectura e Educação, 11:345-355, 2014. Google Scholar
  3. Claudia Cialone, Thora Tenbrink, and Hugo J Spiers. Sculptors, architects, and painters conceive of depicted spaces differently. Cognitive Science, 42(2):524-553, 2018. Google Scholar
  4. Ellen Yi-Luen Do and Mark D Gross. Thinking with diagrams in architectural design. Artificial Intelligence Review, 15(1-2):135-149, 2001. Google Scholar
  5. K Anders Ericsson and Herbert A Simon. Protocol analysis: verbal reports as data. MIT Press Cambridge, Mass, 1984. Google Scholar
  6. Adrian Forty. Words and buildings: A vocabulary of modern architecture. Thames & Hudson London, 2000. Google Scholar
  7. Nelson Goodman. Languages of art: An approach to a theory of symbols. Hackett, 1968. Google Scholar
  8. Mary Hegarty, Patricia A Carpenter, and Marcel Adam Just. Diagrams in the comprehension of scientific texts, pages 641-668. Lawrence Erlbaum, Hillsdale, NJ, US, 1991. Google Scholar
  9. Daniel M Herbert. Architectural study drawings. John Wiley & Sons, 1993. Google Scholar
  10. Bill Hillier. Space is the machine: a configurational theory of architecture. Space Syntax, 2007. Google Scholar
  11. Christoph Hölscher and Ruth Conroy Dalton. Comprehension of layout complexity: Effects of architectural expertise and mode of presentation. In Design Computing and Cognition'08, pages 159-178. Springer, 2008. Google Scholar
  12. Kurt Koffka. Principles of Gestalt Psychology. Harcourt Brace Javanovich, 1935. Google Scholar
  13. Wolfgang Köhler. Gestalt Psychology. New York: Liveright, 1929. Google Scholar
  14. Jakub Krukar, Ruth Conroy Dalton, and Christoph Hölscher. Applying HCI Methods and Concepts to Architectural Design. In Architecture and Interaction, pages 17-35. Springer, 2016. Google Scholar
  15. Kevin Lynch. The Image of the City. Harvard University Press, 1960. Google Scholar
  16. Alexandre Menezes and Bryan Lawson. How designers perceive sketches. Design Studies, 27(5):571-585, 2006. Google Scholar
  17. Charles S Peirce. Logic as semiotic: The theory of signs. Philosophical writings of Peirce, page 100, 1902. Google Scholar
  18. Horst WJ Rittel and Melvin M Webber. Wicked problems. Man-made Futures, 26(1):272-280, 1974. Google Scholar
  19. Robert E Somol. Dummy text, or the diagrammatic basis of contemporary architecture. Diagram Diaries, pages 6-25, 1999. Google Scholar
  20. Dan Sperber and Deirdre Wilson. Relevance: Communication and cognition. Harvard University Press Cambridge, MA, 1986. Google Scholar
  21. Thora Tenbrink. Cognitive discourse analysis: Accessing cognitive representations and processes through language data. Language and Cognition, 7(1):98-137, 2015. Google Scholar
  22. Barbara Tversky. Visualizing Thought. TopiCS, 3(3):499-535, 2011. URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1756-8765.2010.01113.x.
  23. Barbara Tversky, Julie Heiser, Paul Lee, and Marie-Paule Daniel. Explanations in gesture, diagram, and word. In Kenny Coventry, Thora Tenbrink, and John Bateman, editors, Spatial language and dialogue, pages 119-131. Oxford University Press, 2009. Google Scholar
  24. Barbara Tversky, Masaki Suwa, Maneesh Agrawala, et al. Sketches for design and design of sketches. In Human behaviour in design, pages 79-86. Springer, 2003. Google Scholar
  25. Chris Van Uffelen. The book of drawings + sketches: architecture. Salenstein: Braun, 2014. Google Scholar
Questions / Remarks / Feedback
X

Feedback for Dagstuhl Publishing


Thanks for your feedback!

Feedback submitted

Could not send message

Please try again later or send an E-mail