Interpretation as a Research Method in Architectural Design

The architectural community, observing the negative consequences of its technocratic aspirations, reflexively comes to confusion. Architectural work is infected with search, languishes with a thirst for understanding the pressing problems of architecture, its humanistic purpose, the ability to embody and express thoughts and feelings in its inherent language, which only man, the creator and the organic component of the polysyllabic world of architecture is capable of. As a consequence, there is an interested penetration into his ideological, figurative, linguistic mysteries, involving a wide range of anthropological views. Interpretation of signs should be understood as an active process gradually approaching resolution. Various factors can influence this process: for example, contextual conditions, basic knowledge, empirical knowledge or learned practices should be mentioned. Nelson Goodman's approach has proved particularly fruitful for comparative research. Unlike the well-known previous models, Goodman can relate various sign systems to each other, since he works with a single basis, and not with special typologies. The dilemma of interpreting an architectural work without use, apparently, can only be solved by using a higher context of hidden applications that qualify an unused building as a work of architecture. Consequently, hidden contexts of use are found in areas defined by human existence. Interpretations represent only a small part of a large spectrum of the use of signs. The use of signs ranges from invention, discovery and creation through purposeful interpretation processes to everyday use. Understanding manifests itself as a continuous process, in a constant desire to master and penetrate the world, find your way and act. The results of these processes, which are a fleeting excerpt from an ongoing process, can be described as knowledge. This knowledge is now available for further attempts at understanding — provided that it is cultivated and preserved. It also explains how knowledge is lost. If there is no cognitive ability to understand, any written sign systems remain an accumulation of data or information.