Journal of Technology in Architecture, Design, and Planning

SUBMITINFORMATION
EnglishTürkçe

Research Article


DOI :10.26650/JTADP.25.003   IUP :10.26650/JTADP.25.003    Full Text (PDF)

The Meanings Attributed to Representation in Architecture

Pelin Işık

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

PDF View

References

  • Barthes, R. (1977). Image, music, and text. (S. Heath, Trans.). Fontana Press. google scholar
  • Berger, J. (1972). Ways of Seeing. Penguin Books. google scholar
  • Cook, P. (1999). Archigram: Architecture Without Architecture. Princeton Architectural Press. google scholar
  • Deleuze, G. (1994). Difference and Repetition. Columbia University Press. google scholar
  • Deleuze, G., & Guattari, F. (1987). Introduction: rhizome. A Thousand Plateaus: Capitalism and SchizophrenİA, 2, 3-25. google scholar
  • Denzin, N. K., & Lincoln, Y. S. (Eds.). (2018). Part V: The art and practices of interpretation, evaluation, and representation (pp. 1307-1319). google scholar
  • In The SAGE Handbook of Qualitative Research (5th ed.). SAGE Publications. google scholar
  • Evans, R. (1995). The Projective Cast: Architecture and Its Three Geometries. MIT Press. google scholar
  • Foucault, M. (1970). The Order of Things: An Archaeology of the Human Sciences. Pantheon Books. google scholar
  • Foucault, M. (1980). Power/Knowledge: Selected lnterviews and Other Writings, 1972-1977, edited by C. Gordon. & Trans.). Vintage. google scholar
  • Foucault, M. (1983). This Is Not a Pipe. (J. Harkness, Trans.). University of California Press. google scholar
  • Frampton, K. (2007). Modern Architecture: A Critical History (4th ed.). Thames and Hudson. google scholar
  • Geertz, C. (1973). Interpretation of Cultures: Selected Essays. Basic Books. google scholar
  • Gropius, W. (2002). The New Architecture and the Bauhaus. MIT Press. google scholar
  • Kester, G., & Rattenbury, K. (Eds.). (2002). This is Not Architecture: Media Constructions. Routledge. google scholar
  • Le Corbusier. (2013a). The Modulor. (Originally published 1961). Dover Publications. google scholar
  • Le Corbusier. (2013b). Towards a New Architecture. (Originally published 1923). Dover Publications. google scholar
  • Libeskind, D. (1991). End Space. Architectural Association. google scholar
  • Libeskind, D., & Crichton, S. (2004). Breaking Ground. Riverhead Books. google scholar
  • Oxford English Dictionary. (2023). Representation. Oxford University Press. google scholar
  • Panofsky, E. (1991). Perspective as a Symbolic Form (C. S. Wood, Trans.). New York, NY: Zone Books. (Original work published 1927) google scholar
  • Pawley, M. (1998). Archigram: The Book. Architectural Press. google scholar
  • Pink, S. (2007). Visual Ethnography (2nd ed.). SAGE Publications. https://doi.org/10.4135/9780857025029 google scholar
  • Perez-Gomez, A. (1983). Architecture and the Crisis of Modern Science. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press; 2007. google scholar
  • Ranciere, J. (2009). The Emancipated Spectator. Verso Books. google scholar
  • Robbins, E. (1994). Why Architects Draw. MIT Press; 2007. google scholar
  • Sadler, S. (2005). Archigram: Architecture Without Architecture. MIT Press. google scholar
  • Tanyeli, U. (1994). Mimarlık düşüncesi üzerine denemeler [Essays on architectural thought]. YEM Yayın. (In Turkish) google scholar
  • Tanyeli, U. (2001). Mimarisiz temsiliyetten temsiliyetin mimosine [From representation without architecture to the architecture of repre-sentation]. In M. Ekincioğlu (Ed.), Daniel Libeskind (pp. 7-16). İstanbul: Boyut Yayın. google scholar
  • Tanyeli, U. (2017). Yıkarak yapmak: Anarşist bir mimarlık kuramı için altlık [Building by destroying: A basis for an anarchist architectural theory].” Metis Yayınları. google scholar
  • Tanyeli, U., & Köksal, A. (Eds.). (2002). Walter Gropius ve Bauhaus [Walter Gropius and the Bauhaus]. Boyut Yayın Grubu. google scholar

Citations

Copy and paste a formatted citation or use one of the options to export in your chosen format


EXPORT



APA

Işık, P. (2025). The Meanings Attributed to Representation in Architecture. Journal of Technology in Architecture, Design, and Planning, 3(1), 51-69. https://doi.org/10.26650/JTADP.25.003


AMA

Işık P. The Meanings Attributed to Representation in Architecture. Journal of Technology in Architecture, Design, and Planning. 2025;3(1):51-69. https://doi.org/10.26650/JTADP.25.003


ABNT

Işık, P. The Meanings Attributed to Representation in Architecture. Journal of Technology in Architecture, Design, and Planning, [Publisher Location], v. 3, n. 1, p. 51-69, 2025.


Chicago: Author-Date Style

Işık, Pelin,. 2025. “The Meanings Attributed to Representation in Architecture.” Journal of Technology in Architecture, Design, and Planning 3, no. 1: 51-69. https://doi.org/10.26650/JTADP.25.003


Chicago: Humanities Style

Işık, Pelin,. “The Meanings Attributed to Representation in Architecture.” Journal of Technology in Architecture, Design, and Planning 3, no. 1 (Jul. 2025): 51-69. https://doi.org/10.26650/JTADP.25.003


Harvard: Australian Style

Işık, P 2025, 'The Meanings Attributed to Representation in Architecture', Journal of Technology in Architecture, Design, and Planning, vol. 3, no. 1, pp. 51-69, viewed 13 Jul. 2025, https://doi.org/10.26650/JTADP.25.003


Harvard: Author-Date Style

Işık, P. (2025) ‘The Meanings Attributed to Representation in Architecture’, Journal of Technology in Architecture, Design, and Planning, 3(1), pp. 51-69. https://doi.org/10.26650/JTADP.25.003 (13 Jul. 2025).


MLA

Işık, Pelin,. “The Meanings Attributed to Representation in Architecture.” Journal of Technology in Architecture, Design, and Planning, vol. 3, no. 1, 2025, pp. 51-69. [Database Container], https://doi.org/10.26650/JTADP.25.003


Vancouver

Işık P. The Meanings Attributed to Representation in Architecture. Journal of Technology in Architecture, Design, and Planning [Internet]. 13 Jul. 2025 [cited 13 Jul. 2025];3(1):51-69. Available from: https://doi.org/10.26650/JTADP.25.003 doi: 10.26650/JTADP.25.003


ISNAD

Işık, Pelin. “The Meanings Attributed to Representation in Architecture”. Journal of Technology in Architecture, Design, and Planning 3/1 (Jul. 2025): 51-69. https://doi.org/10.26650/JTADP.25.003



TIMELINE


Submitted07.04.2025
Accepted01.06.2025
Published Online11.06.2025

LICENCE


Attribution-NonCommercial (CC BY-NC)

This license lets others remix, tweak, and build upon your work non-commercially, and although their new works must also acknowledge you and be non-commercial, they don’t have to license their derivative works on the same terms.


SHARE



Istanbul University Press aims to contribute to the dissemination of ever growing scientific knowledge through publication of high quality scientific journals and books in accordance with the international publishing standards and ethics. Istanbul University Press follows an open access, non-commercial, scholarly publishing.