Barie
Fez-Barringten
bariefezbarringten@gmail.com
www.bariefez-barringten.com
 |
| Axonometric drawn freehand by Barie Fez-Barringten |
What
beyond the probability that it may be possible that urges us to believe the
truth that architecture is not only the making of metaphors; not
only an art because it too makes metaphors; but, that it is a metaphor. Architecture is a metaphor. Why is this true? Not metaphorically, inference,
nor deduction but a self evident reality.
The following discussion about identity, cues, mnemonics, vernacularism,
archetypes, symbols, ii, reification and alienation define the metaphors
in architectural terms. Architecture
explains the metaphor and metaphor
architecture. They are synonyms on the
plain of organized ideas. They each
enhance each other and at best explain art.
As art, the metaphor identifies the archetype and as long
as we think we exude metaphors.
These metaphors are an applied art that become what we
were, where conceived and who we'd hope we'd be when "read".
Settlement patterns may be more important than the
dwelling (Bedouin, Navaho, Jews): (1.1)"Scruffy"
landscape identifies the higher‑status group (Westchester
England). The (1.1)House
as a symbol of self : is where individual identity is
paramount so that the psychological concept of self‑identity and self‑esteem
are linked (Western). The (1.1)Iroquois
longhouse is the symbol of the league not the individual. The Iroquois were the "people of
the longhouse" where the dwelling was metaphoric for
the group but not the individual. Even
today when they live in separated houses they refer their identity back to the longhouse.
(1.1) A. Rapoport, "Identity and
Environment: A cross‑Cultural Perspective" J.S. Duncan, "Housing and Identity"
(1.1)Australian Aborigines communicate their difference and
therefore establish boundaries through language, dress, hairstyles, etc. but
not necessarily territory. Distinctiveness (identity) must be communicated.
(1.1)U.S.
public housing projects is where often identification to place carries a Stigma. They can carry with them a negative identity
and can be stereotyped leading to a process of stigmatization. (1.1)Groups may identify themselves
from others as: Nomads vs farmers; M'Buti pygmies vs. Bantu farmers; Jews vs
Gentiles; Christians vs. Moslems; etc. (1.1)Sub‑groups may also identify
themselves at various scales as: people of the black tent; Bedouin of tribe A,
clan B; Iroquois ‑ the people of the longhouse; sex groups, for example men vs.
women in traditional cultures; extended family; nuclear family; clans; work or
residential groups. (1.1)Individuals
also do identify themselves in terms of roles as: priests, kings,
architects, dentists, teachers, writers, etc.
Architecture
is a metaphor for who we are
even if it is just a building or has very little thought connected to the form,
shape, space and scale. Its' very
existence communicates and identifies us to ourselves, others or amongst our
own group.
(1.1)The ethnocentric social comparison in a metaphor
is based on one's own group (and its' standards) are taken as
a point of reference as: "The people" (as human vs. other sub‑humans);
Greeks vs. Barbarians, etc. These are
all internal vs. external comparisons establishing metaphors as
barriers, boundaries and distinctions.
Environments communicate
meanings through the use of materials, vacant lots, litter and a low degree of
maintenance. These can all be read
negatively and have a stigmatic effect. These are all to give examples that
buildings, sitting, locations and the general environment in which a work is
placed is a metaphor.
(1.1) A. Rapoport,"Identity and
Environment: A Cross‑Cultural Perspective" J.S. Duncan,
The Significance of Architecture As The
Making of Metaphors
 |
| Artwork by Barie Fez-Barringten |
(1.1)Identity
is communicated :
1.1.1. Internally to oneself or group; or to
1.1.2. Others
The first often relies upon scale
but can be expressed in other subtle environmental or non‑environmental
ways. The second establishes boundaries
between them and others and warrants greater clarity and legibility. In these the strength and redundancy of the
message is paramount. There is a
distinction between the two where the first asserts specific identity
internally which to others may seem disorderly and have negative
connotations. Metaphors
utilize contextual components exhibiting their character through composers whom
we can know by perceiving the internal identity.
If the identity of a
group is known by outsiders who one can communicate membership by known cues. If the identity is unknown then "place-
identity" communicates
"social-identity" and becomes vitally important. Cues and metaphors
communicate because they are experienced directly and can be translated by the
urge to be as placing something in the center, on the periphery
or askew can draw attention to a building.
This unique placement with our attention to it makes something be.
(1.1) A. Rapoport,"Identity and
Environment: A Cross‑Cultural Perspective
"J.S.
Duncan, "Housing and Identity"
The Significance of Architecture As The
Making of Metaphors
Environmental cues act as 1mnemonics,
reminding both us and them about the nature of the
settings; their meanings; the behavior
appropriate to them; and, hence about the identity of the occupants of such
settings. (Rapoport, "Definition of the situation";
Rapoport, Cultural origins of settlements. Rapoport, "Vernacular
architecture") Metaphors are mnemonical instantly
linking the common experience of its assembler with its reader. The reader
remembers commonalities with the metaphor maker's experience of
the past and the time in which he perceived the cues.
Environmental cues expressed as metaphors
are culture‑specific which is why communicating identity to oneself,
internally, is much easier than doing so to others, externally. The built environment is an agent to transmit
culture. Culture being that which has
already been cultured or grown in us.
Communicating becomes a confirmation process by which identity is
stabilized and co‑dependency nurtured.
It is people communicating to each other what they already know. Not new information but existing
information. The alien in a metaphor
is introduced in terms of the familiar.
One takes on the identity of the other: the essence common to both is
the common understanding of readers and composers. The metaphor exudes their
common identity because of both its' strange and familiar components.
1. mnemonics : mimneskes thai : to remember; intended to assist memory
The Significance of Architecture As The
Making of Metaphors
(1.2)The successful use of environmental elements in
communicating the intended identity (the metaphor
intended) depends on the cues being noticed (depending on the media, materials,
scale, etc.) and on the intended receivers being able first to notice and then
to decode and understand the codes. The metaphor
talks about one thing (that is strange) in terms of another (that is familiar).
(1.2)In social circles, status for one may be achieved
through group‑oriented consumption such as by attending parties;
while for another individualistic consumption of consumer goods through "fancy
housing". One may tout
tradition, antiques, and heirlooms while the other modernity, uniqueness and
power. To both, architecture is a metaphor
of their place in society. The house
for the modern group takes on greater importance because it is a
fixed object where new people enter in what is otherwise a changing world. (1.2)"The house, its' address
and its' facade, as well as its' interior, affirm one's status in the eyes of
strangers. Such objects which can be regularly displayed but not consumed are
the most useful".
(1.2)"In collective groups, status is achieved primarily
through group‑oriented consumption and display.
The house as a private, non‑group object which cannot fulfil this role:
hence it is rare in such groups to see much architectural or artistic
elaboration of the private house. Such
elaboration is common, however, in collective men's houses, for here the
elaboration is for the benefit of the group.
(1.2) J.S. Duncan
"From containers of women to status symbol : The impact of social
structure on the meaning of the house".
The Significance of Architecture As The
Making of Metaphors
 |
| Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia |
(1.3)Objectivism is considered to be anthropologically necessary and refers
to the process by which man embodies his subjectivity in objects. It is inevitable that men and women will
invest objects of their making with qualities of themselves and consider them
to be expressive of themselves".
(1.2) J.S. Duncan
"From containers of women to status symbol: The impact of social
structure on the meaning of the house".
(1.3) G. (Gerry)
Pratt, "The house as an expression of social worlds" in J.S.
Duncan, "Housing and Identity"
The Significance of Architecture As The
Making of Metaphors
They
are the metaphors of their metaphoric experience
with the components of their context.
They are endowed with what man has become. The metaphor as an expression is concrete and incarnates
man's accomplishments. The person can
know what he or she is because of the material they project into their
world. Without this material certainty
what they know remains obscure, private and fleeting : just a thought that
comes and goes depending upon the person's own effort to perpetuate. But once manifested the person can change
his or her mind while the object of their earlier thought monumentalizes their
nature and the complexity of their history.
On the other hand the person can
forget what he or she has created and allow it to act back upon them. They then become separated from the world as
it's alien : they are alienated.
1Reification is linked to alienation,
for it is the process by which man, having forgotten the human sources of
products such as ideas, values or concrete objects, views them as objective
things (outside of themselves) and allows them to dominate. The created rules the creator. Absurd but true. Metaphors can be our link with
creativity or obscurity depending on the composer. If the composer utilizes symbols, icons, language, forms, shapes,
space and scale impersonally and out of the person's own context the metaphors
they create are imitations and as "empty tin cans" communicate noise and dissonance. Empty experiences yield meaningless
metaphors.
(1.2) J.S. Duncan "From containers of
women to status symbol: the impact of social structure on the meaning of the
house".
(1.3) G.Pratt
"The house as an expression of social world"
in J.S. Duncan, "Housing and
Identity"
1. res
: thing ‑ more at real : to regard (something abstract) as material or concrete
thing.
The Significance of Architecture As The
Making of Metaphors
"Reifications occurs when an object is no longer
considered to be a specific expression of another's or one's own life but
becomes instead a quality that seems to characterize the other's or oneself in
a typical and anonymous manner".
The metaphor transforms,changes, carries‑over, bridges and
transfers. "No longer is the object an expression of the person; the
person is defined as the embodiment of an abstract quality of which the object
is a symbol. "Metametaphor changes the metaphor
to apply it broadly to wide and varied contexts. The concept whereby the external world can be
transformed into a personal archetype. The archetype then is the model
which can exude variations and be the residue of person's experience. The metaphors the person
creates are the remnants of their affair with the instruments, systems and
subjects they orchestrates.
Bibliography:
1. James S. Duncan, "Housing and
Identity" (Cross-Cultural Perspectives) Groom Haln Ltd 2-10 St.
John's Road, London SW11; ISBN 0-7099-0322-7.
(1.1) AMOS
Rapoport,"Identity and Environment: A Cross‑Cultural Perspective".
(1.2) J.S.
Duncan "From containers of women to status symbol : The impact of
social structure on the meaning of the house".
(1.3) Gerry Pratt, "The house as an expression of
social worlds".
The Significance of Architecture As The
Making of Metaphors
 |
| Photo by Barie Fez-Barringten of Two Friends |
Barie Fez-Barringten; Associate
professor Global University
1. "Architecture the making of metaphors"
Main Currents in Modern Thought/Center for Integrative Education;
Sep.-Oct. 1971, Vol. 28 No.1, New Rochelle, New York.
2."Schools and metaphors"
Main Currents in Modern Thought/Center for Integrative Education
Sep.-Oct. 1971, Vol. 28 No.1, New Rochelle, New York.
3."User's metametaphoric phenomena of architecture and Music":
“METU” (Middle East Technical University: Ankara,
Turkey): May 1995"
Journal of the Faculty of Architecture
4."Metametaphors and Mondrian:
Neo-plasticism and its' influences in architecture" 1993 Available on Academia.edu since 2008
5. "The Metametaphor of architectural education",
North Cypress, Turkish University. December, 1997
6."Mosques and metaphors" Unpublished,1993
7."The basis of the metaphor of Arabia" Unpublished, 1994
8."The conditions of Arabia in metaphor" Unpublished, 1994
9. "The metametaphor theorem"
Architectural Scientific Journal, Vol. No. 8; 1994 Beirut
Arab University.
10. "Arabia’s metaphoric images" Unpublished, 1995
11."The context of Arabia in metaphor" Unpublished, 1995
12. "A partial metaphoric vocabulary of Arabia"
“Architecture: University of Technology in Datutop;
February 1995 Finland
13."The Aesthetics of the Arab architectural metaphor"
“International Journal for Housing Science and its applications”
Coral Gables, Florida.1993
14."Multi-dimensional metaphoric thinking"
Open House, September 1997: Vol. 22; No. 3, United
Kingdom: Newcastle uponTyne
15."Teaching the techniques of making architectural metaphors in
the twenty-first century.”
Journal of King Abdul Aziz University Engg...Sciences;
Jeddah: Code: BAR/223/0615:OCT.2.1421 H. 12TH
EDITION; VOL. I and
“Transactions” of
Cardiff University,
UK. April 2010
16. “Word
Gram #9” Permafrost: Vol.31
Summer 2009 University of Alaska Fairbanks; ISSN: 0740-7890; page 197
17. "Metaphors and Architecture."
ArchNet.org. October, 2009.at MIT
18. “Metaphor as an inference from sign”;
University of Syracuse
Journal of Enterprise Architecture;
November 2009: and nomnated architect of the year in speical issue of Journal
of Enterprise Architecture.Explainging the unique relationship between
enterprise and classic building architecture.
19.
“Framing the art vs. architecture
argument”; Brunel University (West London); BST: Vol. 9 no. 1: Body, Space & Technology Journal: Perspectives
Section
20.
“Urban Passion”: October 2010; Reconstruction
& “Creation”; June 2010; by C. Fez-Barringten; http://reconstruction.eserver.org/;
21.
“An architectural history of metaphors”:
AI & Society: (Journal of human-centered and machine intelligence) Journal
of Knowledge, Culture and Communication: Pub: Springer; London; AI &
Society located in University of Brighton, UK;
AI &
Society. ISSN (Print) 1435-5655 - ISSN
(Online) 0951-5666 : Published by
Springer-Verlag;; 6 May 2010 http://www.springerlink.com/content/j2632623064r5ljk/
Paper copy: AIS Vol. 26.1. Feb. 2011; Online ISSN 1435-5655; Print ISSN
0951-5666;
DOI 10.1007/s00146-010-0280-8; : Volume 26, Issue 1 (2011), Page
103.
22.
“Does Architecture Create Metaphors?; G.Malek;
Cambridge; August 8,2009
Pgs
3-12 (4/24/2010)
23.
“Imagery or Imagination”:the role of
metaphor in architecture:Ami Ran (based on Architecture:the making of
metaphors); :and Illustration:”A Metaphor of Passion”:Architecture oif Israel
82.AI;August2010pgs.83-87.
24.
“The soverign built metaphor”: monograph
converted to Power Point for presentation to Southwest Florida Chapter of the
American Institute of Architects. 2011
25.“Architecture:the making of metaphors”:The
Book;
Cambridge Scholars
Publishing
12 Back Chapman Street
Newcastle upon Tyne
NE6 2XX
United Kingdom
Newcastle upon Tyne
NE6 2XX
United Kingdom
Edited by
Edward Richard Hart,
0/2 249 Bearsden Road
Glasgow
G13 1DH
UK
Lecture:
 |
| Author teaching in Saudi Arabia at KFU |
architecture, Architecture:the making of metaphors, Architecture is a metaphor, ethnocentric, metaphor, metaphorically, Significance of Architecture As The Making of Metaphors, Barie Fez-Barringten, Global University
http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2433463466927232250#editor/target=post;postID=5747774170892605672
<script type="text/javascript">
(function() {
var li = document.createElement('script'); li.type = 'text/javascript'; li.async = true;
li.src = ('https:' == document.location.protocol ? 'https:' : 'http:') + '//platform.stumbleupon.com/1/widgets.js';
var s = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(li, s);
})();
</script>
1 comment:
Great Blog!! That was amazing. Your thought processing is wonderful. The way you tell the thing is awesome. You are really a master. ..Dentist in Sw11
Post a Comment