A semiological analysis on mood visualization through architectural sketches

This thesis was motivated by an inquiry to systematically investigate the imagination thinking process in architecture using sketches and mood visualization. Three key themes, architecture, sketches and mood are outlined in framing the overall research framework. To date, there are little studies in architecture trying to investigate the relationships between sketches and the imagination of mood visualization. This thesis aims to fill the knowledge gap by conducting a semiological analysis on mood visualization through sketches produced by architectural students. To do so, the thesis outlines three main research objectives: first, on sketches as an analytical tool; second, on mood visualization, and; third, on the imagination thinking process in architecture. An in-class experiment was conducted on 90 architectural students from both the undergraduate academic programme, Bachelor of Science in Architecture (BSc. Arch) and the postgraduate Master of Architecture (M.Arch) at the Faculty of Design and Architecture, Universiti Putra Malaysia. Two sets of data derived from the experiment, visual sketches and textual interpretation, were analyzed using the semiological system developed by the semioticians Charles Sanders Peirce and Ferdinand de Saussure. In understanding the imagination thinking process among the architectural students, three analyses were conducted: on general mood idea and two semiological analyses of what we call, the mood sign analysis and mood signifier analysis. The findings showed that there was a preference among the students to problematize the visualization of moods within the design polemics of form and function. Some general commonalities on the students’ interpretation and representation about moods were also identified from the experiment which in turn reflect the issue of maturity in their design thinking. Besides, the findings open up more perspectives about the imagination thinking process when dealing with an abstract idea, in this case, mood. While there are certain limitations in this study, it is hoped that the thesis will become a basis for future exploration on the researches about sketches and imagination thinking process that may benefit designers, educators and researchers alike.

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