Abstract

In view of a renewed interest in notationality as central concept in design theory, the aim of this paper is to rethink of the concept of notationality as developed by Nelson Goodman in order to conceptualize the link between notational practices and their role as epistemic procedures in architectural design in a way that is tailored to the discipline. In-between the radical ambiguity of early sketches and the determined, anatomical character of the final drawings of an architectural design process exists a conceptual twilight zone in which various types of visuals overlap and interact, and in which the practice of drawing plays a pivotal, developmental role. The epistemic potentials of these practices are dependent on purposive notation. We develop two concise themes here: first, the relation between notation, iterability and signs; second, notation and the experimental ‘space of formalization’ it provides.

Keywords

architectural drawing; notationality; design process; inscription

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License

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Jun 25th, 12:00 AM

Drawing as Notational Thinking in Architectural Design

In view of a renewed interest in notationality as central concept in design theory, the aim of this paper is to rethink of the concept of notationality as developed by Nelson Goodman in order to conceptualize the link between notational practices and their role as epistemic procedures in architectural design in a way that is tailored to the discipline. In-between the radical ambiguity of early sketches and the determined, anatomical character of the final drawings of an architectural design process exists a conceptual twilight zone in which various types of visuals overlap and interact, and in which the practice of drawing plays a pivotal, developmental role. The epistemic potentials of these practices are dependent on purposive notation. We develop two concise themes here: first, the relation between notation, iterability and signs; second, notation and the experimental ‘space of formalization’ it provides.

 

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