Peircean Interpretation of Postmodern Architecture
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PEIRCEAN INTERPRETATION OF POSTMODERN ARCHITECTURE A Dissertation by IWAO TAKAHASHI Submitted to the Office of Graduate and Professional Studies of Texas A&M University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Chair of Committee, Robert Warden Committee Members, Frances E. Downing Robert W. Burch Gregory F. Pappas Head of Department, Ward V. Wells December 2013 Major Subject: Architecture Copyright 2013 Iwao Takahashi ABSTRACT The influence of philosophy on architectural theory contributes to the formulation of architectural theory in the history of architecture. This relationship created the oscillation of architectural theory between rationalism and romanticism reflecting the woven tendency of philosophy such as enlightenment and counter-enlightenment movement. This dissertation research focuses on architectural language theory which maintains a tight relationship with the philosophy of language. Postmodern architecture during the period of the 1970s through 1980s is examined to determine meanings of architecture, and the language theory of architecture. It followed the philosophy of language originated from Ferdinand de Saussure who influenced theorists, and explicitly sign theorists influenced by Charles Sanders Peirce. This theoretical underpinning of language theory is questionable because of an inappropriate application of the sign theory of Charles Sanders Peirce in terms of principal interpretation of language structure, dyadic and triadic type of language. This research re-interprets the meaning of architecture during postmodern period along with Peirce’s semeiotic theory, and American Pragmatism that Peirce originally invented. The collection of evidence from architectural history and the influence from philosophy provides a conceptual sketch that the oscillation of theoretical tendency is the source of architectural creation. This creative process is analyzable based on Peirce’s sign theory and his logic. The research applies current Peircean scholars’ development including ‘Peircean Algebraic Logic’ by Robert W. Burch to develop a conceptual model to frame Peircean interpretation. The multiple-case study (four architects with eight architectures) demonstrates the effectiveness of the conceptual model to facilitate a Peircean interpretation of postmodern scenographic architecture and contextual postmodern architecture. The results of this interpretation draws the limitation of some type of scenographic ii architecture that uses a proxy referential method, while Pragmatism provides the contents to Postmodernism’s needs that is parallel to architectural theory. iii DEDICATION I dedicate my dissertation to my father and my wife. My farther, Noboru Takahashi who is now in peace, who guided me, introduced to me the values, and the beauty of work in architecture, art, and construction during my early stage. His philosophy deeply influenced me. My wife, Brenda Takahashi supports my development beyond culture. Her insights assist me in finding solutions. iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The work I made in this dissertation became possible because of delightful and gracious guidance by my Ph.D. Dissertation Committee members. Professor Robert Warden, Committee Chair fully supported me from the very beginning when my research concept was still premature. He guided me from the basics how to understand Charles Sanders Peirce’s philosophy as well as architectural theory of postmodern age. His encouragement sustained my study, development of research on Peircean sign theory, and its relation to architectural theory. I am indebted to Dr. Frances E. Downing, a committee member. She provided me a chance to explore my thought about architecture and related philosophy, especially in the art philosophy and the study area of aesthetic experience of architecture. Dr. Robert W. Burch, a committee member (the Department of Philosophy), helped me to understand Charles Sanders Peirce’s semeiotic and logic. I received his intellectual guidance, Peircean Algebraic Logic (PAL) that clarified my theory development of Peircean interpretation of architecture. My knowledge of American Pragmatism was developed by the guidance of Dr. Gregory F. Pappas, a committee member (the Department of Philosophy). Especially, he taught me through Pragmatist John Dewey’s notion regarding Peircean semeiotics. This notion was critically important to determine the difference of theories between Peirce and Charles W. Morris. I would like to express thankfulness to Mario Botta and his office, which provided me and allows me to use the photography of Mario Botta’s architectures. Without these pictures my case studies on his work become less informative. Kindly, Indiana University Press allowed me to use figures of Peirce’s logic from ‘Peirce’s Reduction Thesis’ (Authored by Robert W. Burch) with gratis. In addition, Texas Tech University Press allowed me to use figures and quotations from passages of ‘A Peircean Reduction Thesis: The Foundation of Topographic Logic’ (Authored by Robert W. Burch) with gratis. These figures were extremely beneficial for me to understand the complex of v Peircean logic at conceptual level. Finally, I am thankful to my wife Brenda Takahashi who supported me during my research. vi NOMENCLATURE CMPL Conceptual Model of Peircean Logic CP Cartesian Product PAL Peircean Algebraic Logic QL Quantificational Logic vii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................... ii DEDICATION ..................................................................................................................iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................................... v NOMENCLATURE ........................................................................................................ vii TABLE OF CONTENTS ............................................................................................... viii LIST OF FIGURES ......................................................................................................... xii CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................ 1 I.1 Introduction .......................................................................................................... 1 I.2 Philosophy of Language and Theory of Architecture .......................................... 4 I.3 Oscillation of Architectural Style and Movement ............................................... 6 I.4 Language Theory between Postmodernism and Pragmatism ............................ 10 I.5 Approaching Language of Architecture via Peirce ............................................ 14 I.6 Architectural Formal System and Peircean Theory ........................................... 19 I.7 Scope of Dissertation and Hypotheses ............................................................... 22 CHAPTER II HISTORY AND THEORY IN ARCHITECTURE 19TH THROUGH 20TH CENTURY ..................................................................................... 24 II.1 Introduction ...................................................................................................... 24 II.2 Neoclassicism and Revivalism ......................................................................... 24 II.3 Arts and Crafts Movement and Bauhaus .......................................................... 26 II.4. Individualism Development in De Stijl Style .................................................. 30 II.5 Modernism Architecture Development ............................................................ 31 II.6 Late Modernism and Toward Postmodern Architecture .................................. 42 II.7 Modes of Architecture ...................................................................................... 51 CHAPTER III INFLUENCE OF PHILOSOPHY ON ARCHITECTURE IN THE 19TH THROUGH 20TH CENTURY ...................................................... 54 III.1 Introduction ..................................................................................................... 54 III.2 History of Philosophy in the 19th and 20th Century ......................................... 55 III.3 Enlightenment and Rationalism (Emmanuel Kant, John Lock) ...................... 57 III.4 Romanticism and Counter-Enlightenment (German Romanticism, Benjamin) ................................................................................ 61 III.5 Existentialism (Nietzsche, Heidegger) ............................................................ 67 III.6 Positivism (Logical Empiricism, Analytic linguistics, Wittgenstein, Quine, and Putman) ........................................................................................ 72 III.7 Phenomenology (Husserl, Heidegger, Merleau-Ponty) .................................. 78 viii Page III.8 Hermeneutics (Gadamer, Ricoeur, and Habermas) in the 20th Century .......... 82 III.9 Marxism (Walter Benjamin, Theodor Adorno, Frankfurt School) in the 20th Century, in Architecture (Tafuri and Venice School) ................... 90 III.10 Structuralism and Post-structuralism (Piaget, Lévi-Strauss, Roman Jakobson, Saussure, Barthes, Lacan, Derrida, and Deleuze) in the 20th Century........................................................................... 96 III.11 Philosophy of Language (Saussure, Jakobson, Peirce, Morris, Eco) in the 20th Century ............................................................................... 102