ISABEL MARCOS
PhD Dynamic Semiotics

#semiotics, #signification, #architecture, #urbanism In this post, we will look at an “iluminura (illuminated picture)” dated from the times of King Dom Manuel (1495-1521). The chosen iluminura embodies this epoch and represents a dynamic topology, which deploys diverse temporalities, as I will show later. A panoramic view of the city of Lisbon in the 16th century is illustrated in this “iluminura” and surrounded by an architectural decoration of a late Gothic Manuelino style

#semiotics, #architecture, #signification, #urbanism The recurring image in all my blog posts is a map of the socio-cultural forces (also called abstract morphological structure). I studied this theme as part of my doctoral research (1996) on the emergence of the shape of the city of Lisbon, its morphogenesis. In other words, the abstract morphological structure corresponds to the distribution of statuses and institutions, of the different thematizations on the topological su

#semiotics, #architecture, #signification, #urbanism Along the past blog publications, we covered a few tens of centuries, from 2000 BC up to the 12th century, and we become aware that this is the period necessary to stabilize the physico-symbolic values of a human settlement, such as: life / death; nature / culture; up / down; etc. These values are the root of any human settlement and, in general, they are expressed in space, in the form of places or monuments. It is a quest

#semiotics, #architecture, #signification, #urbanism After the Reconquest, the central urban attractor was kept on the same place, and the Portuguese realms replaced those of the Arabic period. It had always been subdivided into two parties: the Political domain, the space of the military, which becomes the domain of royalty, is placed at the summit of São Jorge hill. The Religious domain, the space of the sacerdotal class, is placed on the slope of São Jorge hill, where the

#semiotics, #architecture, #signification, #urbanism The Arab conquest of the Iberian Peninsula came after the 711s. The inhabitants of the conquered cities adopted the religion of the victors. This conversion to Islam offered slaves the possibility of freeing themselves. Islam, the Arabic language and culture, gained importance even if, simultaneously, there were revolts on the part of the Hispano-Roman populations allied with Christian lords. Conversion to Islam may explain

#semiotics, #signification, #architecture, #urbanism The cult of the martyrs came with new types of organisation of space, which influenced the new urban organization of the Roman cities, especially in what regards to the place of the dead and the living. In his work on death, Philippe Ariès shows how “the dead will enter the cities from which they have been removed for millennia. It started, not so much with [Western] Christianity, but with the cult of martyrs of African des

#semiotics, #signification, #architecture, #urbanism In my last post about the primitive voids that structured the territory, was mentioned that throughout history, the first step in the strategy of domination of each conquering people began with the occupation of "structuring voids", as a strategy for controlling the movements of the populations who inhabited them. Controlling the “structuring voids” meant controlling its population movements in space. In this line of though

#semiotics, #signification, #architecture, #urbanism In the previous post, I stated that the act of building is not dissociated from that of investing one's environment with values. I have also presented my perspective on how the act of building is inextricably linked to the ecosystem where we build and to the meaning we attribute to the various places of the living environments. My research on urban morphogenesis taught me that most cities are born in a specific territory af

#semiotics, #signification, #architecture, #urbanism At a time when we have forgotten our primordial connection to our ecosystem, the planet and therefore with the very basis of our experience. It seems to me essential to bring back to this second group of posts the question of the origins of territorial morphogenesis. Reading space is a primordial activity. The first men observed the signs of the surrounding environment so he could feed himself, independently if it was for t

#semiotics, #signification, #architecture, #urbanism I’ve introduced some notions about Dynamic Semiotics in previous posts. This theory became the foundation for my work as a researcher since an early stage of my formation as architect. In the year before I finished my architectural studies at the Faculty of Architecture at the University of Lisbon I realized that there were no tools for interdisciplinary reading of the place of architectural intervention. At the time, I was

#semiotics, #signification, #architecture, #urbanism The ability to read territorial forms, as well as to understand the “updates” of the meaning of these forms, allows us to correct problems of spatial inscription of collective identity, of urban conflicts, among many other issues. The genesis of form, or morphogenesis, is a “thickness” of meanings, which unfolds topologically. Morphogenesis allows us to access issues related to shape’s latency, such as: 1. Symbolic Form

#semiotics, #signification, #architecture, #urbanism The territory is composed by a multitude of meanings organized in a multilayer, where we find a visible layer, which corresponds to the apparent forms of the territory – squares, streets, neighbourhoods, gardens, mountains; and a multitude of invisible layers that correspond to urban routes, public manifestations, territory morphologies, among many other activities that make visible the social, cultural, symbolic and physic

#semiotics, #signification, #architecture, #urbanism To give meaning to what surrounds us is as natural as breathing! To access the meanings of a territory, inherent to the dynamics of spatial, social, cultural or symbolic functioning, is complex. This applies whether we consider the scale of architecture, the city, or the landscape. In this context, to read this complexity we need instruments, just as we need a cup or our hands to drink. Semiotics offers us reading instrumen

#semiotics, #architecture, #signification I am a semiotician and therefore consultant in semiotics. I am also a researcher and university teacher on semiotic in architecture, urbanism, and communication. I am an author and I have participated in hundreds of conferences and seminars as speaker, key-note speaker, and organiser of well established international congresses. In order to explain what is semiotics, I can simply say that Semiotics is a toolbox for accessing meaning.