Architectural Culture as a System of Signs: A Semiotic Reading of Space Design

Architecture, as a manifestation of cultural production, exhibits both diversity and commonality in the creation of design images and the interpretation of design meanings across various historical contexts. Each era has generated its own design signs, and architectural culture has formally and functionally shaped them into spatial expressions. This article proposes a methodological framework for analyzing and comprehending the similarities and differences in architectural culture. By correlating the fundamental architectural terms, form and function, with the semiological concepts of the signifier and the signified, it aims to establish a foundation for deciphering the cultural codes that generate the design patterns across various contexts. As the historical reading of architecture inherently involves cultural interpretation by being influenced by the imaginative and semantic framework of its context, this article undertakes a semiotic analysis to promote an objective understanding and coherent development of architectural culture.