A language-driven reverse-engineering tool for the analysis of architectural precedents: A Palladian case study

Keywords: Visual Language, Morphogenesis, Geometric Language, Space Syntax, Design Morphology

Abstract

The analysis of precedents represents a significant point of departure for design processing. By applying a language/design analogy, this research introduces a reverse-engineering tool that helps guide the systematic analysis of architectural precedents. The visual tool consists of four main layers: the morphological, the semantic, the semiotic, and the pragmatic. To test the tool’s applicability, a prominent precedent from the Palladian designs is analyzed as a case study. By developing the tool and demonstrating its applicability for the analysis of the underlying regulatory and formative principles of the Palladian design, this paper aims to contribute to the knowledge of architectural design by introducing an analytical tool for decoding and externalizing the design language. This tool can be added to the existing toolbox of designers, and it can help reveal new insights into the multi-layered compositional language of precedents and their underlying architectonics. The findings related to the tool’s applicability and the compositional language of the Palladian design and its associative meanings and connotations are explained, discussed and illustrated by diagrams.

References

Ackerman, J. (1967). Palladio. Baltimore, Maryland: Penguin Books.

Agarwal, R., Poovaiah, R. (2015). Effectiveness of precedent based design pedagogy—A case for sustainability precedents. In A. Chakrabarti (Ed.) ICoRD’15 – Research into Design Across Boundaries 1: New Delhi: Springer, pp. 665-675.

Akin, O. (2002). Case-based instruction strategies in architecture, Design Studies, Vol. 23 No. 4, pp. 407-431.

Ali, S., Durupt, A., Adragna, P., Bosch-Mauchand, M. (2014). A reverse engineering for manufacturing approach, Computer- Aided Design and Applications, Vol. 11, No. 6, pp. 694-703.

Bauer, L. (2003). Introducing Linguistic Morphology. Washington, D.C.: Georgetown University Press.

Beltramini, G. (2009). Palladio. London: Royal Academy Publications.

Bermúdez, J. L. (2003). Thinking Without Words. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Breen, J. L. H. (2019). Patterns & Variations: Designerly Explorations in Architectural Composition and Perception. Delft: Delft University of Technology.

Chikofsky, E.J., Cross, J.H. (1990). Reverse engineering and design recovery: A taxonomy, IEEE Software, Vol. 7, pp. 13–17. https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/43044

Chomsky, N. (1965). Aspects of the Theory of Syntax. Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press.

Clark, R. H., Pause, M. (2012). Precedents in Architecture: Analytic Diagrams, Formative Ideas, and Partis. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.

Constant, C. (1993). The Palladio Guide. New York: Princeton Press.

Eilam, E. (2005). Reversing: Secrets of Reverse Engineering. New York: John Wiley and Sons.

Eilouti, B. (2008). A Formal Language for Palladian Palazzo Façades Represented by a String Recognition Device, Nexus Network Journal, Vol 10, No. 2, pp. 245-268.

Eilouti, B. (2009). Design knowledge recycling using precedent-based analysis and synthesis models. Design Studies, Vol. 30, No. 4, pp. 340–68.

Eilouti, B. (2012). Sinan and Palladio: Two Cultures and Nine Squares, International Journal of Architectural Heritage, Vol 6, No. 1, pp. 1-18.

Eilouti, B. (2017). Sinan and Palladio: A comparative morphological analysis of two sacred precedents, Frontiers of Architectural Research, Vol 6, No. 2, pp. 231-247. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foar.2017.03.003

Eilouti, B. (2018a). Concept evolution in architectural design: An octonary framework, Frontiers of Architectural Research, Vol. 7, No. 2, pp. 180–196. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foar.2018.01.003

Eilouti, B. (2018b). Scenario-based design: New applications in metamorphic architecture, Frontiers of Architectural Research, Vol. 7, No. 4, pp. 530–43. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foar.2018.07.003

Eilouti, B. (2019). Shape grammars as a reverse-engineering tool for the morphogenesis of architectural design, Frontiers of Architectural Research, Vol.8, No.2, pp. 191-200. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foar.2019.03.006

Eilouti, B. (2020a). Form follows users: A framework for system-based design, Architectural Engineering and Design Management, https://doi.org/10.1080/17452007.2020.1833831

Eilouti, B. (2020b). Reinventing the Wheel: A Tool for Design Quality Evaluation in Architecture, Frontiers of Architectural Research, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foar.2019.07.003

Eisenman, P. (1999). Diagram Diaries. New York, NY: Universe Publishing.

Eisenman, P., Roman, M. (2015). Palladio Virtuel. New Haven: Yale University Press.

Eisenman, P. (1983). House X. New York: Rizzoli.

Frampton, K., Simone, A. (eds.) (2015). A Genealogy of Modern Architecture: Comparative Critical Analysis of Built Form. Zürich: Lars Müller Publishers.

Gandelzonas, M. (1983). From structure to subject: The formation of an architectural language. In P. Eisenman (Ed.), House X. New York: Rizzoli, pp. 7–30.

García-Salgado, T. (2008). A perspective analysis of the proportions of Palladio’s Villa Rotonda: Making the invisible visible, Nexus Network Journal, Vol.10, No.2, pp. 269-282.

Harrison, M.A. (1978). Introduction to Formal Language Theory. Massachusetts: Addison-Wesley Publishing Company.

Hejduk, J. (1985). Mask of Medusa: Works 1947–1983. New York, NY: Rizzoli International Publications.

Hersey, G., Freeman, R. (1992). Possible Palladian Villas Plus a Few Instructively Impossible Ones. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Kalfazade, N. (2009). Diagrammatic Potency of the “Nine Square Grid” in Architecture. Saarbrücken, Germany: VDM Verlag.

Kiroff, L. (2002). Visual Language in Architectural Design. Thesis, School of Construction at UNITEC Institute of Technology, Auckland, New Zealand.

Losonsky, M. (2006). Linguistic Turns in Modern Philosophy: The Evolution of Modern Philosophy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511810220.002

Mauw, S., Wiersma, W., Willemse, T. (2004) Language-driven system design, International Journal of Software Engineering and Knowledge Engineering, Vol. 6, No.14, pp. 625–664.

Mitrovic, B. (2004). Learning from Palladio. New York: W.W. Norton and Company.

Murray, P. (1971). Architecture of the Renaissance. New York: Harry N. Abrams.

Natapov, A., Kuliga, S., Dalton, R.C., Hölscher. C. (2016). Building circulation typology and space syntax predictive measures. Proceedings of the 10th International Space Syntax Symposium, Vol. 30, pp. 1-30.

Niezabitowski, A. M. (2018). On the Spatial Structure of Architectonic Objects. Śląsk: Katowice.

Norberg-Schulz, C. (2000). Architecture: Presence, Language and Place. Milan, Italy: Skira.

Palladio, A. (1997). The Four Books of Architecture. Robert Tavernor and Richard Schofield, (trans). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Remizova, O. (2016). The Structure of The Architectural Language, Architectural Studies, Vol. 1, No. 2, pp. 81-86.

Rowe, C. (1977). The Mathematics of the Ideal Villa and Other Essays. Cambridge: MIT Press.

Salingaros, N. (2006). A Theory of Architecture. Solingen, Germany: Umbau-Verlag.

Simitch, A., Warke, V. (2014). The Language of Architecture: 26 Principles Every Architect Should Know. Beverly, MA: Rockport Publishers.

Sio, U., Kotovsky, K. (2015). Fixation or inspiration? A meta-analytic review of the role of examples on design processes, Design Studies, Vol. 39, pp. 70-99.

Somol, R. (1998). The Diagrams of Matter. ANY: Architecture New York, Vol. 23, pp. 23-26.

Stiny, G., Mitchell, W.J. (1978). The Palladian Grammar. Environment and Planning B: Planning and Design, Vol. 5, pp. 5-18.

Summerson, J. (1966). The Classical Language of Architecture. Cambridge: The MIT Press.

Tayyebi, S., Demir, Y. (2019). Architectural Composition: A Systematic Method to Define a List of Visual Attributes, Art and Design Review, Vol. 7, No. 3, pp. 131-144.

Varady, T., Martin, R., Cox, J. (1997). Reverse engineering of geometric models–An introduction, Computer-Aided Design, Vol.29, No. 4, pp. 255–268. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0010-4485(96)00054-1

Warden, R. (1992). Software Reuse and Reverse Engineering in Practice. London: Chapman and Hall.

Wittkower, R. (1971). Architectural Principles in the Age of Humanism. New York: W.W. Norton and Company.

Published
2021-07-02
Section
Original Scientific Paper