Semiotics of architectural: detail between rationalisation and representation

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to discuss the realm of values upon which thoughts on architecture have been conceived, through the drawings of architectural detail. Although modernism, which opposes technical detail and ornament, is still regarded as influential theoretical position, it neglects to address a broader meaning of a detail in architecture. The research disputes the opposition between an ornament and a technical detail, claiming that a detail in architecture is the more abstract term, which represents a certain level of design throught besides utility and embellishment. It is argued that both modern and traditional values from different aspects of societal and cultural activities, as for their changes were being referenced to the micro level of architecture, transforming the way of their presence through different visual representations of detail along the history and theory of profession. In this paper, the small-scale drawing are used as a medium a medium which reflects transdisciplinarity of the profession and its entanglement with the knowledge and dynamics of other fields of human activity such as philosophy, economy, religion, engineering, and arts.