Narrative Language, Architecture and the City

Abstract

The contribution offers a new perspective on the topic of narratives, settling links between the city, cognitive theories and the history of Architecture. As it has been neglected from a historical perspective, the power of narratives in architecture is being investigated at its most intimate roots. The paper succeeds in this work by drawing on the theories of cognitive and semiotic psychology, shedding light on architecture through its users. The individual in society, its construction, and most intimate contamination are intrinsically linked to the milieu of his/her own communities, in a continuous interaction between actions and habits, between phenomena and consolidated, stored narratives. A new space for architecture emerges. A space that not only supports as a shelter but also influences these habits, actively participating in the urban storytelling training process. Thus, as part of a whole, the architect finds his own place in contemporary cultural narratives, abandoning the deterministic idea of a ‘creator’ capable of harnessing and synthesizing the city by parameters. The search for the join between language and architecture is then investigated in selected episodes of architecture history, highlighting the presence of this relationship that has been disregarded by modernity. Author’s conclusions claim a return of the language as the cultural territory on which settling new implications of architecture. Beyond its ethical dimension, beyond the sole expressive capacity of its forms, architecture can become contemporary as it rediscovers the power of its language.