Posted: September 13th, 2017

Nonverbal Communication in Architecture

Paper, Order, or Assignment Requirements

Please write an essay about the exterior designs of either of the following two pairs of buildings: 

a. The Griffith Observatory in Griffith Park (designed by John C. Austin) and the Pavilion of Japanese Art at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (designed by Bruce Goff); or
b. The Getty Center in Brentwood (designed by Richard Meier) and the Hollyhock House in Barnsdall  Park (designed by Frank Lloyd Wright.) 

For the pair you select, you must describe each building and the meanings each building seeks to convey. Explain why each building would convey such meanings and how it does it. In addition, you must compare and contrast the meanings and the methods of communication you find in each building with those in the other building, consider how and why they are the same and how and why they are different. Offer your judgment on how successfully each building conveys its meanings.

In finding meanings you should consider each building as a whole as well as the details of each building. You may include digital images in the paper, but you are not required to do so (provided you adequately describe the relevant elements of the buildings in your writing.) As always, you are free to offer any interpretations which you can defend by reasonable explanations. You are not required to do research. However, assertions of facts must be accurate. You should visit the buildings about which you write, so you will have seen them in person. Check in advance to be sure they are open to the public when you want to visit.

In analyzing these buildings, and in locating “meanings” that they communicate, the history we have discussed in class, the frameworks suggested in the writings by Preziosi, by Arnheim, and by the philosophers described in your readings from Hale, may prove useful to you. They should be used to the extent you find them supportive of your analyses. You do not have to reference every theory of semiotics, architectural dynamics, or philosophy included in our reading. However, where pertinent, you should use them.