Lexiconic: Reading the Edifice

Authors

Amanda L. Mejstrik, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow

Date of this Version

Spring 5-4-2013

Document Type

Article

Citation

Mejstrik, Amanda L. "Lexiconic: Reading the Edifice" Master of Architecture Thesis, The University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2013

Comments

A THESIS Presented to the Architecture Faculty of The College of Architecture at the University of Nebraska In Partial Fulfillment of Requirements For the Degree of Master of Architecture, Major: Architecture, Under the Supervision of Professor Brian Kelly. Lincoln, Nebraska: May, 2013

Copyright (c) 2013 Amanda L. Mejstrik

Abstract

Language has undergone an evolution similar to architecture. Both have been defined through multiple styles which have a tendency to change and reestablish themselves based on popular culture, eventually permeating through society, while subsequently losing momentum and necessity. In the same way that architecture has transitioned through time based on a societal importance of efficiency, economy, and effectiveness, language begins to assume a new oratory standard.

Old English begat Middle English begat Modern English

Victorian Style begat Modernism begat Structural Expressionism

These entities have become representative of our culture throughout the ages and have reached a point of abbreviation so severe that LOL has become accepted in our contemporary language in the same way that the recycled geometries of a builder’s suburbia are accepted in the built urban fabric. Common architecture that inhabits neighborhood streets and replicates empty strip malls is a simple form being pushed through an algorithmic system, with the core necessity of the building being ignored in favor of a quicker output. The same is happening to language: shortened words and poor grammar causes the orator to produce an idea quickly, but the audience to break down a sentence in order to understand the idea, adding an unnecessary setback to the mode of communication. Should we allow ourselves to be accommodating to a lack of effort by both common architecture and language, merely writing them off as an unfortunate fad? Or does this signify the transition to the next phase of evolution - in which case the issue is not whether this will continue, but where it will take us.