Open AccessSpeaking in tongues: the return of typological studies
Author(s) -
Diogo Seixas Lopes
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
joelho
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1647-8681
pISSN - 1647-9548
DOI - 10.14195/1647-8681_4_32
Subject(s) - repetition (rhetorical device) , presentation (obstetrics) , meditation , architecture , expression (computer science) , linguistics , field (mathematics) , discipline , sociology , epistemology , computer science , history , visual arts , philosophy , social science , art , mathematics , medicine , archaeology , pure mathematics , radiology , programming language
Speaking in tongues is a common expression for the word glossolalia, the usage of which is probably restricted to circles of the academia. Both terms relate to the idea of a sacred language, voiced by religious believers during meditation. Such language, seemingly impossible to understand, is made of broken syllables and vowels recited over and over. Due to their repetition, these particles of communication were the means to obtain a higher level of knowledge. The following presentation addresses the topic of teaching through design, and its need for synthesis, under a similar stance. It argues architecture must firstly be learned through the comprehension of its fundamentals. Type, a basic scheme of spatial organization, has been presented as such at diðerent moments of the history of this disciplinary field. Its education — currently facing the pressure of cultural commodification, bureaucratic overkill, and budget cuts — should consider a return to typological studies. They can provide a solution, among others, to come back to the syllables and vowels of architecture.