Architecture as a Social Interface

The intermingling of innate human senses with the encounter of built environment is highly redolent. Often referred to as ‘Semiotics’ of architecture, the ability of buildings to communicate meaning either through form, function, color or their intrinsic aura, is highly eclectic. Several theorists including De Saussure and Charles pierce’s epistemological beliefs to decode the science behind this social intercourse, certainly provides some firm basis for a further anatomy of this phenomenon. While the perception of meaning could be highly subjective, it would be fair to concur that this intoxication of architectural paraphernalia with meaning should base on a widely agreeable social contract, of plurality of its end users. (Broadbent)

The contents of this essay endeavors to explicate the communicative ability of architecture by critically analyzing three powerful pieces of contemporary architecture that employ distinctive tools for evocation of a certain sensory meaning. The first piece of architecture in focus is the ‘National Holocaust Museum at Ottawa, Canada (2017) by Daniel Libeskind, where he employs ‘experiential phenomenology’ of space to evoke and resurrect the predicaments of the troubled past and reinstitute a faith towards a bright future. (Rollings) The design of this museum emanates signals of meaning at various symbolic and abstract levels to interact with its visitors and virtually reconstruct images of the troubled past. These visitors which include the younger generations of Canada along with the peculiarly curious visitors become the audience of this dissemination through an omnipresent spatial stimulus inherent in this museum.

To begin with, the building plan crystallizing six triangular spaces to form a coherent star, wherein these shapes are explicitly suggestive of the human codification for death under Nazism. (Rollings) The next inherent symbolism is evident in the highly stimulating spatial quality exhibited through iffy, angulated walls in bare concrete, hidden spaces and dark corners completely immersing the visitor’s soul. These lead them to an expedition through precariously evocative spaces such as the ‘hollow triangular void’ with high peripheral walls, only allowing a limited view of the sky, as a symbol of hope. (hume)The concrete walls along the journey are adorned with visuals of the holocaust further intensifying on the gravity of the massacre. ‘Broadbent’ in his essay ‘A Plain Man’s Guide to the Theory of Signs in Architecture’ while explicating Pierre’s epistemology, mentions “But the building itself may be an icon – if it reminds us of something else” (Broadbent), The National Holocaust Museum can certainly be interpreted as an icon of the sufferings through its innate ability to a evoke powerful nostalgia of the past.

Nevertheless, the journey through the museum culminates on an optimistic note through a lone, linear stairway from the ground, opening into a wide panoramic terrace with a direct line of sight connecting the peace tower and the skyline of Ottawa.The second contemporary piece of architecture is Santiago Calatrava’s World Trade Centre – Oculus Memorial at Broadway, New York (2015). As against the use of ‘spatial stimulis’ as a primary tool for communication, this building employs more of a ‘visual allegory’ to convey its purpose. Set in a, once traumatized parcel of land, of 9/11 terrorist attacks, this building was meant to compliment the virtual tranquility of the space by instituting a structural configuration that allowed its elements to extend upwards like wide spread wings, to mimic the action of a ‘bird in flight’ – set to freedom, as an insignia of hope and reverence for the victims of 9/11.

Broadbent while elucidating Charles Jencks’s example of decoding ‘Casa Battlo’ reckons,” This is a metaphor, and we should do well to reserve a word for such deep and subtle meanings, rather than applying it, indiscriminately, to simple visual analogy”. Clearly, Jencks firmly believes in the deep embedded meaning of architectural paraphernalia apart from its direct visual analogy. (Broadbent) Similarly, The Oculus, apart from an abstraction of a ‘free bird’ is also suggestive of ‘optimism’ and ‘life’ through its distinctive iconicity in the context it sits in, through its distinctive iconicity in the context it sits in, the use of innocent while color and the surreal linear sky light that illuminates the interior for hundreds of people in the transit station. Such symbols are highly suggestive of sheer optimism and eternal life-ness post the unfortunate catastrophe. (Rice). Interestingly, since the neighborhood also happens to be one of the most up-scale CBD’s of the world, the memorial, in way hesitates to encapsulate an even wider variety of end-users by accommodating offices and shopping center in the lower levels, which I firmly believe is another signal of an ‘equipoise’ between the functional value and the nostalgic significance of the space.

The third piece of architecture shifts ground into a relatively divergent, function-oriented typology of a pediatric healthcare building. The edifice in focus is the ‘New Lady Cilento Children’s hospital’ (NLCCH) by Lyons + Conrad Gargett at Brisbane, Australia (2014). Hospitals, in general are meant to respond to people who are ill and require specialized care for a return to a better wellbeing. The least that a building could do is probably augment to expedite this ‘healing’ process and psychologically elevate the patients with optimism. Ironically, most of the contemporary hospitals today, barely make an honest endeavor to accomplish this. The NLCCH as an Avant Garde to this prevalent approach carefully analyze their end-users i.e. children and accordingly came up with a concept of a ‘living tree’ to devise an organically inspired built typology that emanates the experience of traversing through a tree, yet being able to render uncompromised, highest quality of healthcare possible.

The hospital undeniably qualifies as an icon since it exhibits strong visual and experiential affinity with a tree in assorted ways such as the predominant use of bright green color on the façade along with vibrant purple and orange to symbolize ‘garden and tree’. This is complimented by the stepped built form that further encapsulates the surrounding greenery onto its podium to virtually diminish the extents between the building and the surrounding landscape. (Broadbent) This experience seamlessly extends into the interior planning, through creation of a double height atria intersected by various canted corridors that extend beyond the building on to the streets, pointing towards picturesque vista’s in the surroundings. Such an expedient stimulation, virtually recreates the feeling of being inside a ‘tree’, which is certainly one of the triumphs in the design of this hospital and causes to meaningfully intermingle with the possibly weakened psychology of unwell child patients.