Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Sydney, 2004. / Title from title screen (viewed 14 May 2008). Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy to the Dept. of Linguistics, Faculty of Arts. Includes bibliographical references. Also available in print form.

Western museums are public institutions, open and accessible to all sectors of the population they serve. Increasingly, they are becoming more accountable to the governments that fund them, and criteria such as visitation figures are being used to assess their viability. In order to ensure their survival in the current climate of economic rationalism, museums need to maintain their audiences and attract an even broader demographic. To do this, they need to ensure that visitors feel comfortable, welcome and secure inside their spaces. They also need to give visitors clear entry points for engaging with and valuing the objects and knowledge on display in exhibitions. This thesis maps a grammar of three-dimensional space with a strong focus on the interpersonal metafunction. Building on the social semiotic tools developed by Halliday (1978, 1985a), Halliday and Hasan (1976), Martin (1992) and Matthiessen (1995), it identifies two interpersonal resources for organising space: Binding and Bonding. Binding is the main focus of the thesis. It theorises the way people�s emotions can be affected by the organisation of three-dimensional space. Essentially, it explores the affectual disposition that exists between a person and the space that person occupies by focussing on how a space can be organised to make an occupant feel secure or insecure. Binding is complemented by Bonding. Bonding is concerned with the way the occupants of a space are positioned interpersonally to create solidarity. In cultural institutions like museums and galleries, Bonding is concerned with making visitors feel welcome and as though they belong, not just to the building and the physical environment, but to a community of like-minded people. Such feelings of belonging are also crucial to the long-term survival of the museum. Finally, in order to present a metafunctionally diversified grammar of space, the thesis moves beyond interpersonal meanings. It concludes by exploring the ways textual and ideational meanings can be organised in three-dimensional space.

Western museums are public institutions, open and accessible to all sectors of the population they serve. Increasingly, they are becoming more accountable to the governments that fund them, and criteria such as visitation figures are being used to assess their viability. In order to ensure their survival in the current climate of economic rationalism, museums need to maintain their audiences and attract an even broader demographic. To do this, they need to ensure that visitors feel comfortable, welcome and secure inside their spaces. They also need to give visitors clear entry points for engaging with and valuing the objects and knowledge on display in exhibitions. This thesis maps a grammar of three-dimensional space with a strong focus on the interpersonal metafunction. Building on the social semiotic tools developed by Halliday (1978, 1985a), Halliday and Hasan (1976), Martin (1992) and Matthiessen (1995), it identifies two interpersonal resources for organising space: Binding and Bonding. Binding is the main focus of the thesis. It theorises the way people�s emotions can be affected by the organisation of three-dimensional space. Essentially, it explores the affectual disposition that exists between a person and the space that person occupies by focussing on how a space can be organised to make an occupant feel secure or insecure. Binding is complemented by Bonding. Bonding is concerned with the way the occupants of a space are positioned interpersonally to create solidarity. In cultural institutions like museums and galleries, Bonding is concerned with making visitors feel welcome and as though they belong, not just to the building and the physical environment, but to a community of like-minded people. Such feelings of belonging are also crucial to the long-term survival of the museum. Finally, in order to present a metafunctionally diversified grammar of space, the thesis moves beyond interpersonal meanings. It concludes by exploring the ways textual and ideational meanings can be organised in three-dimensional space.

Thesis (doctoral)--Universität Zürich, 2009. / Includes bibliographical references (p. [529]-546) and index.

A partir do construto de mediação simbólica de Vigotski, entendida como intrínseca ao processo de desenvolvimento psíquico e cultural humano, esta pesquisa, de cunho qualitativo, investigou o espaço escolar enquanto mediador de significados e sentidos sobre a escola, tanto pelo que propõe sua configuração arquitetônica quanto pelas experiências e usos que possibilita ou que se faz desse espaço, com especial atenção para a sua ressignificação pelos usuários das escolas, principalmente os alunos. A pesquisa foi desenvolvida em duas dimensões: análise do referencial teórico e pesquisa empírica. A pesquisa teórica percorreu autores de diversas áreas do conhecimento (Educação, Arquitetura, Psicologia, Filosofia e Geografia) que trouxeram importantes contribuições para esta reflexão. A pesquisa empírica foi realizada numa escola pública estadual da cidade de São Paulo, construída no período da Primeira República e com 104 anos de existência e tombada pelo CONDEPHAAT (Conselho de Defesa do Patrimônio Histórico, Arqueológico, Artístico e Turístico da Secretaria da Cultura do Governo do Estado de São Paulo) pelo valor histórico, cultural e arquitetônico de seu prédio. Foram utilizados como procedimentos de coleta de dados a observação em campo e o registro iconográfico (fotografias e desenhos), entrevistas livres e registro de depoimentos espontâneos dos funcionários da escola e uma entrevista semiestruturada e em grupo com alunos do 8º ano do Ensino Fundamental todos com o objetivo de identificar e compreender a constituição, organização, uso, vivências cotidianas, apropriações e significados do espaço escolar. Desta forma, compôs-se uma reflexão que traz contribuições para o entendimento do espaço como construção humana e, como tal, lugar que carrega significações não aleatórias, mas passíveis de serem transformadas e recriadas por meio da diversidade de apropriações que pessoas reais fazem dele; lugar que impõe constrangimentos (conformando corporeidades e mentalidades) e impinge controle e disciplina ou que pode estar aberto à experimentação criativa; lugar impregnado pela(s) cultura(s), mas que também é habitado por percepções e vivências pessoais; e, no caso da escola, materialidade que propõe, ainda, sentidos sobre a escola e o conhecimento e sobre sua função em nossa sociedade. / From Vygotskys construct of symbolic mediation, understood as intrinsic to the human psychological and cultural development, this qualitative study has investigated the school environment as a mediator of meanings and senses of school, both by means of what the schools architectural configuration proposes and by the experience and uses that it allows, and has focused on the schools resignification by its users, especially students. The study included two dimensions: an analysis of the theoretical framework and empirical research. The theoretical research included authors from different areas of knowledge education, architecture, psychology, philosophy and geography , who brought important contributions to this discussion. The empirical research was conducted in a state public school in Sao Paulo city. Built 104 years ago, during the First Republic, such school was listed by Conselho de Defesa do Patrimônio Histórico, Arqueológico, Artístico e Turístico (CONDEPHAAT Council for the Defense of Historical, Archaeological, Artistic and Touristic Heritage) of São Paulo State Department of Culture, for the historical, cultural and architectural value of its building. As for data collection, I used field observation and iconographic records (photographs and drawings), free interviews and recording of spontaneous comments from school officials and a semi-structured group interview with 8th grade students, aiming to identify and understand the constitution, organization, use, and daily experience and meanings of the school space. Thus, I have written a reflection that brings contributions to the understanding of space as a human construction and, as such, as a place that carries meanings that are not random and can be transformed and recreated through the diversity of appropriations by real people; a place that imposes constraints (conforming mentalities and corporealities) and enforces control and discipline or that may be open to creative experimentation; a place impregnated with culture(s), but also inhabited by our personal perceptions and experiences; and, in the case of school, materiality which also proposes senses of school and knowledge and about its role in our society.

A partir do construto de mediação simbólica de Vigotski, entendida como intrínseca ao processo de desenvolvimento psíquico e cultural humano, esta pesquisa, de cunho qualitativo, investigou o espaço escolar enquanto mediador de significados e sentidos sobre a escola, tanto pelo que propõe sua configuração arquitetônica quanto pelas experiências e usos que possibilita ou que se faz desse espaço, com especial atenção para a sua ressignificação pelos usuários das escolas, principalmente os alunos. A pesquisa foi desenvolvida em duas dimensões: análise do referencial teórico e pesquisa empírica. A pesquisa teórica percorreu autores de diversas áreas do conhecimento (Educação, Arquitetura, Psicologia, Filosofia e Geografia) que trouxeram importantes contribuições para esta reflexão. A pesquisa empírica foi realizada numa escola pública estadual da cidade de São Paulo, construída no período da Primeira República e com 104 anos de existência e tombada pelo CONDEPHAAT (Conselho de Defesa do Patrimônio Histórico, Arqueológico, Artístico e Turístico da Secretaria da Cultura do Governo do Estado de São Paulo) pelo valor histórico, cultural e arquitetônico de seu prédio. Foram utilizados como procedimentos de coleta de dados a observação em campo e o registro iconográfico (fotografias e desenhos), entrevistas livres e registro de depoimentos espontâneos dos funcionários da escola e uma entrevista semiestruturada e em grupo com alunos do 8º ano do Ensino Fundamental todos com o objetivo de identificar e compreender a constituição, organização, uso, vivências cotidianas, apropriações e significados do espaço escolar. Desta forma, compôs-se uma reflexão que traz contribuições para o entendimento do espaço como construção humana e, como tal, lugar que carrega significações não aleatórias, mas passíveis de serem transformadas e recriadas por meio da diversidade de apropriações que pessoas reais fazem dele; lugar que impõe constrangimentos (conformando corporeidades e mentalidades) e impinge controle e disciplina ou que pode estar aberto à experimentação criativa; lugar impregnado pela(s) cultura(s), mas que também é habitado por percepções e vivências pessoais; e, no caso da escola, materialidade que propõe, ainda, sentidos sobre a escola e o conhecimento e sobre sua função em nossa sociedade. / From Vygotskys construct of symbolic mediation, understood as intrinsic to the human psychological and cultural development, this qualitative study has investigated the school environment as a mediator of meanings and senses of school, both by means of what the schools architectural configuration proposes and by the experience and uses that it allows, and has focused on the schools resignification by its users, especially students. The study included two dimensions: an analysis of the theoretical framework and empirical research. The theoretical research included authors from different areas of knowledge education, architecture, psychology, philosophy and geography , who brought important contributions to this discussion. The empirical research was conducted in a state public school in Sao Paulo city. Built 104 years ago, during the First Republic, such school was listed by Conselho de Defesa do Patrimônio Histórico, Arqueológico, Artístico e Turístico (CONDEPHAAT Council for the Defense of Historical, Archaeological, Artistic and Touristic Heritage) of São Paulo State Department of Culture, for the historical, cultural and architectural value of its building. As for data collection, I used field observation and iconographic records (photographs and drawings), free interviews and recording of spontaneous comments from school officials and a semi-structured group interview with 8th grade students, aiming to identify and understand the constitution, organization, use, and daily experience and meanings of the school space. Thus, I have written a reflection that brings contributions to the understanding of space as a human construction and, as such, as a place that carries meanings that are not random and can be transformed and recreated through the diversity of appropriations by real people; a place that imposes constraints (conforming mentalities and corporealities) and enforces control and discipline or that may be open to creative experimentation; a place impregnated with culture(s), but also inhabited by our personal perceptions and experiences; and, in the case of school, materiality which also proposes senses of school and knowledge and about its role in our society.

L’analyse sémiotique de l’architecture domestique a pour but de voir comment se manifestent, à travers le langage architectural, les comportements codés qui remplacent la communication linguistique, en postulant qu'il y a un déterminisme de l'architecture par les valeurs macro-sociales, et que le signe architectural doit être considéré comme un marqueur anthropologique. L’approche pluridisciplinaire qui allie des champs aussi divers que l’architecture, la sémiologie et l’anthropologie, a pour ambition de contribuer d’une part, à la sémiotique de l’architecture en proposant une méthodologie pour l’analyse et le découpage d’un corpus architectural, et d’une autre, d’élargir le champ de la géographie urbaine à de nouvelles disciplines, et enfin, de proposer une lecture inédite du paysage urbain à Beyrouth à travers l’étude comparative de deux typologies architecturales. L’approche sémiotique proposée peut être appliquée en tant qu’outil de la géographie urbaine à des corpus architecturaux ou des pans du tissu urbain afin d’appréhender les mécanismes de production et d’obsolescence des formes, et par extension de la ville. / The purpose of a semiotic analysis of architecture is to see how non verbal codes manifest themselves through the architectural language, based upon the idea that such a language is conditioned by macro-social values, and therefore the architectural sign should be considered as an anthropological marker. This multi-disciplinary approach combining different fields such as architecture, semiotics and anthropology, is aimed on one hand at contributing to semiotics by proposing a methodology for the analysis of an architectural corpus, and on the other hand, to broadening the field of urban geography to new disciplines, and finally, to providing a new analysis of Beirut’s urban fabric through the comparative case study of two architectural typologies. The proposed semiotic approach can be applied as a tool of urban geography to architectural corpuses and urban fabrics in order to understand the mechanisms of production and obsolescence of form.