Putrajaya Talk
Transcript of Putrajaya Talk
Putra’jaya’ or ‘tak berjaya’?
An Insight on the New Federal Territory
About Meaning
“A meaning is generated by sign”
About Sign?
“Anything that tells us about something other than itself
is a sign”
Before Going Into the Subject....
Types of Meaning
IntrinsicInherent or essential meaning (direct connection of ourself to the universe)
e.g. our physical substance and the universe & schemata
ExtrinsicMeaning based on convention (we are anything but passive receptors of
outside stimuli, but always perceive them according to a former expectation)e.g. Language shapes both our thought and knowledge of reality (Whorf)
“The limit of my language is the limit of my world” Wittgenstein
Meaning could be achieved through:Opposition or Association
Types of Signs
IndexPoints to something (indicators, the word ‘big’, arrow etc.)
SymbolStand in place of an object (flags, door signs etc.)
IconStand in place of an object (flags, door signs etc.)
Types of Signs
SignifierMaterial aspect of sign
Signified
The mental concept of a sign
There are two types of signified:
•Denotative-referent to the real object•Connotative-justification beyond the object
Sign: Area of Study?
SemanticsReferring to meaning of sign:
Relationship of sign to object they represent
SyntacticsHow things are arranged together:
Relationship of sign-vehicle within sign system
PragmaticsLanguage used and its context:
relationship of sign to interpreters
Areas of investigation (as identified by Charles Morris)
Semioticsthe study of signs and symbols and their use or
interpretation
Through semiotics, one could identify:
Mnemonic meaning
Relationships of signs
Production of signs
Functions of signs
System and process underlaying signification
Expression, representation and communication
Identity
Semiotics Triangle
ThoughtContentConceptSignified
SymbolFormWord
Signifier
ReferentPercept
DenotatumThing
Source:
Jenks, Charles, and George Baird ( 1969).
Architecture is not a language but works like one.This is manifested through the use of
metaphors, symbols and analogy
The new field of architecture which is based on the system of linguistics is known as
“Archististics”
A bit about Architecture...
Linguistics: Choice of reading is more influencedby context of sentence and subcode of reader
(setting and subcode)
Architecture: Choice of reading is of the opposite.It is influenced by subcode of reader and
context of sentence(Architectural subcode and setting)
The DifferenceBetween Architecture
And Linguistics...
Now, the juicy bit.......
Putrajaya: At a Glance•A new Garden and Eco City•An Intelligent City•A new administrative locus for Malaysia•A city designed by the locals•Vision of modern Malaysia•City of the 21st. Century•Employed state-of-the art facilities•Part of Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC)•Adapts Islamic Malay architecture•A city of bridges (8 nos.)•A fairyland of lights
Critique on Putrajaya
•New statement in Architecture-The Malays have arrived (or have we?)
•Hub for “New Islamic” consciousness and civilization?•The dilemma-Islamic or Malay? Which one?
•Multi-cultural values? One Malaysian Nation?
•Projected image onto the ‘other’-Mirror Stage (Lacan)-
Psychoanalysis
Identity
Critique on Putrajaya
•Opportunities to engage new expressionism in architecture-based on Modern architecture
•To suggest on “The New Modern Malaysia” •Too ambitious•Too many cooks spoils the soup•Broken conventional syntax (rules or arrangement) - from the perspective of adaptation of urban ‘language’
Narrative
Critique on Putrajaya
•Mediated Monument-inseparable from the media campaigns conducted construct (and constrict) their interpretation. new self-consciousness about building city symbols
(Examples: Sydney’s Opera House-( new Self Consciousness) and Chandigarh (India), Brasília (Brazil) and Three Gorges Dam (China)-(National Symbols such as national symbols of modernity and
arrival)
For most regimes, however, the challenge to construct forward-reaching symbols has been matched by an equally pressing need to build links to the past. This process of city-imaging (and nation-imaging) involves the construction of visually enhanced narratives of an idealised heritage designed to serve an equally idealised future
•Based on ‘authority defined social reality’-as opposing to “everyday defined” (See Ibrahim, Zawawi (1998)
Value
Critique on Putrajaya
•Aseana•Islamic interpretations•Irrelevant to the climatic and cultural factors of the country-Language games (Wittgenstein)
Design Context
Critique on Putrajaya
•Connotative approach•Mediated Malay-centric and Islam representations•Confused (too many interpretations) •An architectural ‘pastiche’ (spoof)
Symbolism
Critique on Putrajaya
•Being Malaysian or an ‘interpreted’ Malaysian•What is ‘Malay’ and what is ‘Islam’-give interpretation
•The irony of being the ‘other’- The case of a mistaken interpretation
“Visiting Putrajaya at night on a festive occasion and sometimes on weekend can be mistaken for a night- out in Dubai or any of the Gulf states in the Middle East” Mahmood, Zari (2005: 20)
Meaning
Suggested ReadingA.B., Shamsul, ed. Debating About Identity in Malaysia: A Discourse Analysis.
Edited by Zawawi Ibrahim, Cultural Contestations: Mediating Identities in a Changing Malaysian Society. London: ASEAN Acedemic Press Ltd., 1998.
Abel, Chris. Architecture and Identity: Responses to Cultural and Technological Change. 2nd. Edition ed. Oxford: Architectural Press, 2000.
Anderson, Benedict. Imagined Communities. Revised Edition ed. London: Verso, 1991.
Architecture, The Aga Khan Award for. "Architecture and Identity." Paper presented at the Exploring Architecture in Islamic Cultures 1, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 1983 July 25-27, 1983.
Barthes, Roland. Mythologies. London: Vintage, 2000.
———. Empire of Signs. Translated by Richard Howard. London: Jonathan Cape, 1970.
Bhabha, Homi K. "Interrogating Identity: The Post Colonial Prerogative." In Identity: A Reader, edited by Paul du Gay, Jessica Evans and Peter Redman, 94-101. London: SAGE Publications Ltd., 2000.
Broadbent, Geoffrey, Richard Bunt, and Charles Jencks. Signs, Symbols, and Architecture. Bath: John Wiley & Sons, 1980.
Cobley, Paul, and Litza Jansz. Introducing Semiotics. Cambridge: Icon Books Ltd., 1997.
Doshi, Balakrishna. "Cultural Continuum and Regional Identity in Architecture." Paper presented at the Regionalism in Architecture, Singapore 1985.
Suggested ReadingEco, Umberto. "Function and Sign: The Semiotics of Architecture." In
Rethinking Architecture: A Reader in Cultural Theory, edited by Neil Leach, 182-202. London: Routledge, 1997.
Hillenbrand, Robert. "Islamic Architecture: Form, Function and Meaning." (1994).
Ibrahim, Zawawi. "Cultural Contestations: Mediating Identities in a Changing Malaysian Society." (1998): 204.
Lim, Jimmy C.S. "The Rites of the Tropics." In Asian Architects 1, edited by Tan Kok Meng, 187-208. Singapore: Select Books, 2000.
Loomba, Ania. "Colonialism/Postcolonialism." (1998): 289.
Mohamad Rasdi, Mohamad Tajuddin. "Malaysian Architecture: Crisis Within." (2005).
Nasir, Abdul Halim. Seni Bina Masjid Di Dunia Melayu-Nusantara. Bangi, Selangor, Malaysia: Penerbitan Universiti Kebangsaan Malayia, 1995.
Preziosi, Donald. Architecture, Language, and Meaning. The Hague: Mouton Publishers, 1979.
Rose, Gillian. Visual Methodologies. London: SAGE Publications Ltd, 2001.
Rossi, Aldo. The Architecture of the City. New York: The MIT Press, 1982.
Where do you stand?Ask your construct and strengthen your epistemology
The End??