THE MEANING OF MEANS: SEMIOLOGY IN ARCHITECTURE CASE STUDY: VILLA SAVOYE

As a sign system, architecture could be analyzed the way we examine a work of literature. While group of words arranged syntagmatic could establish an integrated meaning, elements in a building are systematically configured to form a meaningful work of architecture. Analogous to words, those architectural elements are symbols representing meaning which serves as a foundation for an architectural object. Therefore, as a system of signs, architecture serves as a medium which communicates relevant and contextual meaning. Occasionally, architects overlook meaning which lives among the cultural context of the society, or even worse, they neglect the meaning possessed by signs built in an architectural work. More or less, buildings subsequently turn into meaningless signs. With the semiology approach of Saussure and Jencks, we could decipher the formation of meaning possessed by architectural objects from various standpoints, both denotative and connotative, and through the lens of architect and user. Thus, we may understand architectural work as a whole, even to its most fundamental meaning.