Metaphors: A Creative Design Approach or Theory?

https://transmaterialasia.wordpress.com/2006/11/01/hadids-metaphors-reading-her-biography-
from-the-way-of-thinking/

Posted by Christine Wonoseputro on November 1, 2006

Metaphors: A Creative Design Approach or Theory by ChristineWonoseputro

WHAT IS METAPHOR?

The word metaphor derived from grammatical language or phrase of expression. In language grammatical structure,
the word metaphor defined as a direct comparison between two or more seemingly unrelated subjects. The word
metaphor itself derived from Greek phrase: metaphoric rhetorical trope which in the simple case, a metaphor
describe as a first subject is being equal as the second subject in some ways. Thus, the first subject can be
economically described because of the implicit and explicit attributes or meaning from the second subject, in order to
enhance the description of the first one. Being known in its usage in literature, especially in poetry, metaphor has
been described in few words, emotions, and associations from one context with objects and entities in any other
different context or meanings.[1] The meaning in linguistic could be the denotative meaning and connotative
meaning. The denotative means the positive, the real meaning of a context. Connotative means the implicit meaning
of words, sometime it could be the negative or the hidden meaning of a word.

The basic of metaphor is almost similar with the term analogy in literature, but metaphor itself is more powerful and
assertive than analogy itself [2]. Metaphor has the similar acknowledgement and closely related to other terms and
grammatical structure that use in grammatical style such as simile, metonymy, allegory, hyperbolic, parable, pars-
prototo, totem pro-parte,and synecdoche.

Basic on George Lakoffs statement about metaphor, this grammatical term has the relation between the source and
the target. Source means the thing or object which sends the message or the impulse, and target means the recipient
of the impulse itself. The target could be audience or viewer. Being related to the target or the audience or the viewer,
metaphor has been describe open interpretation which this kind of language style sometimes has being known as
cognitive language, which its interpretation depends on the mind of the viewer itself.

TYPES OF METAPHOR IN LINGUISTIC:

Basically, there are 3 kinds of metaphors [4]

a. Dead metaphor,is one in which the sense of a transferred image is not present. Example: to grasp a concept or
to gather youve understood. Both of these phrases use a physical action as a metaphor for understanding (itself a
metaphor), but in none of these cases do most speakers of English actually visualize the physical action. Dead
metaphors, by definition, normally go unnoticed. Some people make a distinction between a dead metaphor whose
origin most speakers are entirely unaware of (such as to understand meaning to stand underneath a concept), and
a dormant metaphor, whose metaphorical character people are aware of but rarely think about (such as to break the
ice). Others, however, use dead metaphor for both of these concepts, and use it more generally as a way of
describing metaphorical clich.

b. Extended metaphor sets up a principal subject with several subsidiary subjects or comparisons.

c. Mixed metaphor is one that leaps, in the course of a figure, to a second identification inconsistent with the first
one. Example: He stepped up to the plate and grabbed the bull by the horns, where two commonly used metaphors
are confused to create a nonsensical image.

Other typeof metaphors which have been recognized but not universally accepted :
1. An active metaphor is one which by contrast to a dead metaphor, is not part of daily language and is
noticeable as a metaphor. Example: You are my sun.

2. A complex metaphor is one which mounts an identical identify on another. Example: That throws some light
on the question. Throwing light is a metaphor and there is no actual light.

3. A compound or loose metaphor is one that catches the mind with several points of similarity. Example: He
has the wild stags foot. This phrase suggests grace and speed as well as daring.

4. An absolute or Para-logical metaphor (sometimes called an ant metaphor) is one in which there is no
discernible point of resemblance between the tenor and the vehicle. Examples:

I. The couch is the autobahn of the living room.

II. Six Flags is the aquarium of roller coasters. An implicit metaphor is one in which the tenor is not
specified but implied. Example: Shut your trap!

5. A submerged metaphor is one in which the vehicle is implied, or indicated by one aspect. Example: my
winged thought. Here, the audience must supply the image of the bird.

6. A simple or tight metaphor is one in which there is but one point of resemblance between the tenor and the
vehicle. Example: Cool it. In this example, the vehicle, cool, is a temperature and nothing else, so the
tenor, it, can only be grounded to the vehicle by one attribute.

7. A root metaphoric the underlying association that shapes an individuals understanding of a situation.
Examples would understand life as a dangerous journey, seeing life as a hard test, or thinking of life as a
good party. A root metaphor is different from the previous types of metaphor in that it is not necessarily an
explicit device in language, but a fundamental, often unconscious, assumption. Religion provides one
common source of root metaphors, since birth, marriage, death and other universal life experiences can
convey a very different meaning to different people, based on their level or type of religious conditioning or
otherwise. For example, some religions see life as a single arrow pointing toward a future endpoint. Others
see it as part of an endlessly repeating cycle. In his book World Hypotheses, the philosopher Stephen
Pepper coined the term and proposed a theory of four ultimate root metaphorsform-ism, mechanism,
organic-ism, contextual-ism.

8. Aconceptual metaphor is an underlying association that is systematic in both language and thought. For
example in the poem Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night, by Dylan Thomas uses the conceptual
metaphor of A Lifetime is a Day is repeatedly expressed and extended throughout the entire poem.

9. Adying metaphor : essay of George Orwell, calls a dead metaphor one that has been worn out and is used
because it saves people the trouble of developing original language to express an idea. It is all but dead.

Similar through the explanation above, Antoniades, [5] the author of Poetics of Architecture, describe these
kinds of metaphor in his own architectural language terminology:

a. Tangible metaphor or the visual metaphor is similar to the analogy of form. Such as if you build a
hamburger stall, which adopted the form of hamburger and people will recognize that the building is
a hamburgers stall.

b. Intangible metaphor is the metaphor of text or context. This is the extension of tangible metaphor, that
architecture is not only playing with visual image of the form, but it play with the hidden message of
it.

c. Combine is the combination of tangible and intangible metaphor.

METAPHORS, GRAMMATICAL STRUCTURE, AND ARCHITECTURE

The demolition of Pruit Igoes building as the death of modern era.

Architecture which is form of visual art and communication, also bring visual language of communication. Becoming
the part of visual language, architecture contains of grammatical structure is sending its impulse of messages.
Grammatical structure builds the proper visual language to transfer the idea and body of concept from its author.

The word metaphor appears in Post Modern Architecture the form of protest to modernist architecture. In his
book, The Language of Architecture [6] Charles Jencks wrote that architecture itself can be read as a language. As
visual language, architecture has its own grammatical structure to state the mind. And metaphor is become one of the
most powerful Post Modern Architectures tool, to state critic and parody of the Modern era. It strongly states the
failure of modern architecture and make joke of the death of modern era.

In post modern architecture, the position metaphor as architectural grammatical structure is becomes the part of the
grand SEMIOTICS, the system of sign in Architecture. Basically, Semiotics and the system of sign are rooted on
Ferdinand de Sausages Structuralism Concept in Linguistic and Levi-Strauss in Anthropology. Structuralism always
divide the phenomena of things in elements that is believed the caused of abstraction [7]. Structuralism believes that
the relation between objects or elements is caused phenomena [8]. Structuralism teach us that to understand the
phenomena of things or objects, it always see matters in what they have called: THE BINARY OPOSITION.
Structuralism is seen everything in this life in its own way, such as:

a. Cause and effect (J.J Rousseau)

b. Speech and writing (C. Levi-Strauss)

c. Presence and absence, signifier and signified (Ferdinand de Sausure)

 d. Non material material (Antoniades)

According to the concept of philosophy that being stated by those philosophers, Architecture adopt that philosophical
thinking. Architecture itself is being seen as the most complex and complicated branch of knowledge from ART,
which its manifestation is in visual and material. Architecture is being bound by gravity, climate and weather,
topography, hierarchy, movement, space, and other things such as memory, social hierarchy, soul, programs, and
many other things. That is why architecture is facing a lot of things, in order to accommodate a lot of programs and
natural bounds. At last, the complicated oppositional of architecture has to be translated into material. The process of
transformation of abstract aspects into material is being called as the process of Metaphoric Process. The most
successful metaphoric process is probably Notre Dame du Haute Ron champ Chapel of Le Corbusier, which
begins the idea of a crab, but could be interpreted as many other things by its viewers.

Le Corbusier

Le Corbusiers Ronchamp chapel multi interpretation of metaphor.

The multi interpretation of Ronchamp
According to Prijotomos [9] lecture notes, post modern era itself differ into the post-modern [10] era or called the
after or late modern era and the post- modern architecture or the new modern architecture. Both of them has different
technique and different translation system in using metaphor of architecture. The late modern and its architect, such
as James Stirling, Robert Venturi, and Charles Moore choose more conventional items as his own metaphorical tools.
[10] From Asian architecture, Tadao Ando has also been being known as the late modern architect from the eastern
world that use nature and the poetic of nature to form his metaphoric tools in architecture. The new modern or neo
modern architect, which most of them is being known as deconstructionist architect, is dividing into deriddean
architects and non-deriddean architects.

Scheme of Post Modern Architecture:

Post-modern Architecture:

1. After Modern Era:

a. Late Modern Architecture ( Tadao Ando, early Gehrys works,etc )

b. Post Modern Architecture ( James Stirling, Charles Moore, Robert Venturi, etc. )

2. New Modern Era

c. Neo Modern Architecture: Richard Meier,etc- High Technology ( High _tech ) : Norman Foster, etc

d.Deconstruction

1. Deriddean( Peter Eisenman and Bernard Tschumi )

2. Non- Deriddean( Frank Gehry, Zaha Hadid, Coop Himmelblau, Morphosis, etc.)

Lebbeus wood s dystopia of the future the metaphor of

non- deriddean architecture

The Deriddean Architecture would look like thesimplest deconstruction architecture in using the
metaphor of form, because their playing tools is the text and the revelation of text in design. The word
conservative doesnt mean that they use the simplest metaphor. Mostly deriddean architect play with
the intangible metaphors or the extended metaphors. Source has stated that this deconstruction is the
most complicated and hard to understand. They adopted Derridas concept from Of Grammatology,
which is wrote by Gayatri C. Spivak [11]. Peter Wiseman and Bernard Tschumi are two architects that
have been intensively used this concept. Setiawan [12] called these two architects as the metaphors of
text. The manifestation of their designs is not as chaotic and fractal as the non- deriding architects.
Aaron Betsky, [13] wrote his book The Violated Perfection, which categorized 210 architect of the non
deriding Architect, into 5 main groups:

1. Revelatory Modernist: Pure form has contaminated, transforming architecture into an agent of instability,
disharmony conflict that is the proper statement of this kind of architecture. According to its concept, this
group is the most conservative in non -deriddean architecture. They use function, principle of abstraction,
and composing the fragmentation of pieces, programs, and contexts to fabricate metaphors of architecture.
 Emilio Embasz, Jean Nouvel, Helmut Jahn, Eric Owen Moss, and Gunter Benisch are part of these
architects.

2. Shard and Sharks: the most radical of deconstruction architecture. They play with slate and plane. The
composition is chaotic and fractal. The metaphor is rebellious [13], chaotic, and the beauty of ugliness.
Prijotomo called this kind of deconstruction as the ugly duckling the hidden beauty of design. As being
mentioned by Gehry in his Inaugural Lecture in NUS, October 2006, he use his architecture as the

Frank Gehry In His Inaugural Lecture at Singapore, being drawn as the

Simpson and his concert hall model.

metaphors of urban chaos, the mixed use topography and the messy environment. He said that architecture
is become mirror of its era, giving archieves to next generation about how that time when architecture is
being stated looked like . So, as what Himmelblau has stated, that architecture has mission to carry, as a
story teller. Architecture must burn. Frank Gehry, Zaha Hadid, Kazuo Shinohara, Coop Himmelblau, and
Gunter Domineg are the part of Shard and Sharks movement.

Zaha Hadid
 Frank Gehry

Frank Gehrys Fred and Ginger building metaphor of Fred and Ginger, a famous
dancer couple.

3. Textualist: this group has also being told as the built language architecture. They feel that architecture as the
interpreter must be used as the creative probability of interstitial composition between language,
photography, and movie. Ben Nicholson, Steven Holl, Bernard Tschumi, and Diller are parts of this group.

4. New Mythologist : using the utopia as myth which has existed along the time, and being revaluated by the
failure of International Style as the utopia of Modern Architecture, this new mythologist create dystopia or
vision of self destruction which is not developed in human minds to stay preserve the life. This group tries to
create the new utopia of the past, present, and the future. Being inspired by the science fiction movie and
time machine, Lebbeus Woods, Paolo Soleri, and Hodgett & Fung design association are parts of this group.

5. Technomorphism : the metaphor that being used is the metaphor of machine and technology. Architects think
that technology is being created to help human. Technology make space and time become shorter and
easier. For example in medical world, the life support of human being has already been helped by machine ,
such us artificial and metal bone, machined heart support, artificial blood vein, and the latest innovation in
Japan, the androids. This group of architect has been translating technology and its impact in human life as
technomorphism deconstruction. Betsky mentioned that Macdonald and Salter, Toyo Ito, Morphosis, and
Holt is the part of this group.

SOUTH EAST ASIA EXPERIENCE IN ARCHITECTURE OF METAPHORS : THE SOCIAL, GEOGRAPHICAL, AND
POLITICAL CONTEXT IN ARCHITECTURE EDUCATION

How about South East Asia Architecture? Learning from architecture and design development of the world, the impact
of globalisation and post modern language also give the strong influence through south East Asia and other
developing countries, such as Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, and Philippines. The using of Metaphors as
one of the Post-modern tool in doing the design, many young architects create innovation in design. The post-modern
world has brought communication and media closer to people. The information become open source and the global
network of architects give strong influence through South East Asia education and development, too.

Work of Ito, Gehry, Hadid, and many other architects can be found everywhere in South East Asia, including
Singapore. According to this situation, some Seminars and Design Conference in South East Asia, Young architects
conducts public discussion in developing the language of own local identity of South East Asias architectural design
tools. For example Singapore has 25 40 young architects, which actively publishing their portfolio of works and
sharing their way of thinking in design. In Indonesia, AMI[14] (Arsitek Muda Indonesia) or the Young Architects of
Indonesia become the front liner of new design innovation. MARA in as a school of architecture in Malaysiastart to
think about the root of Malay architecture and developing the language of Malay architecture.They conduct the first
Malay Architecture International Seminar in 2005, collaborated with trisakti University and National University of
Singapore. Nowadays, South East Asiakeeps developing their own architectural language in order to finding their own
local genius. Dr. Johanes Widodo from National University of Singapore [15] has mentioned that as Eastern World,
we have to develop our own identity in architecture, by finding and keep searching our own local architectural
language. Nowadays our scholars and architects still borrowing western grammatical language to perform their
building design. South East Asian architects has to be brave enough to show their own local heritage of metaphorical
transformation.

Learning from Japan, which has probably been the most active in searching and developing Asian local values as
the grammar of metaphor in design. Japan has Kisho Kurokawa, Tadao Ando, and Toyo Ito have been globally known
as Asian front liners in developing new language that brings Asiato the world through its architectural metaphors.
Kisho with the concept of Architecture of Symbiosis, Symbiosis, Metabolism, Information, Recycle, Ecology,
Intermediate Space, Fractal, etc. has been the most influence Japanese architect of symbiosis and metabolism
metaphors.[16] Kishos concept of design has been recognize worlwide, and architecture public has apreciate his
works. ( Kisho Kurukawa :The Philosophy of Symbiosis ( 1992 ) ).

Trying to be one step ahead, Deconstruction Architecture Seminar has been presented in Surabaya, Indonesia,
Sardjono Sani[17], as the representation of AMI has stated that through his own understanding, he produce the
design. He looks at architecture as media that can produce programs that adopted complexity and contradiction. The
complexity is architecture is depends on architects subjectivity, modernity and it dependence of hierarchy, and human
as an object of form and space. So, he said that he does not want to be trapped in deconstruction or any other form
of style, but, he has his own of thinking [17]:

a. That his architecture could be interpreted as multi dimension of interpretation, because architecture as a
branch of art is open to many interpretations.

b. In Architecture, the most important is the life inside of it, the changing of its context and the eternal value of
space and form that could be used by the users.

c. Taoism, Surrealism, Dadaism,are his tool to help him producing his own architectural metaphor. The design
progress is being helped by using theme in design scenario, understanding the aim, meaning, and individual
response (client) along the design progress. Architecture is not only work by the subjectivity of the architect,
but must be done progressively with the client.

Learning from those experiences, it will be a great homework for South East Asia and a lot of school of
architecture and design to produce scholars that proud of their own local architectural grammar.

SUMMARY AND DISCUSSION

1. Metaphor is the transformation process from abstracts into material or visual image. Analogy is the
fundamental level of metaphor. In analogy, the concept is directly applied to design or context without
process.
 2. Metaphor is part of system of sign or Semiotics. Semiotics, which divide into icon, symbols, and Sign, is the
representation of denotative and connotative meanings in linguistics into architecture. This signify, signified,
and signifier is the three points that construct the semiotics system.

3. Design approach or theory? Probably it is the most difficult question to answer, because most architects still
use it as a design tool. To make it as a theory, I think it still need a long road toward recognition. In my own
undestanding, metaphor as part of of architectural tool is strongly bound with the local context and local
understanding. To become a theory, metaphor should be recognized as a general and global concept.
Actually, the using of metaphor is not a new issue in architecture. Ancient Architecture, which use a lot of
signs and symbols has already adopted it as a grammatical tool to represent their concept, especially for
spiritual and sacred buildings.

FOOTNOTES

1. Quoting from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metaphor: In language a metaphor ( from the Greek : metapherin ) is

seeming relate the two subjects that seemingly unrelated subjects , IA Richard , The Philosophy of Rhetoric ( 1936
)

2.Anthony C. Antoniades, Peotic of Architecture : Theory of Design ( 1992 )

3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Lakoff

4.Quoting from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metaphor

5.Anthony C. Antoniades, Poetic of Architecture : Theory of Design 1992 : 30

6. Charles Jencks, The Language of Posmodernism ( 1991 )

7. Geoffrey Broadbent, Deconstruction : A Student Guide, London Academy Edition ( 1991 )

8.Heidegger in Dr.Bagoes Wirjomartono, The Conception Background of Deconstruction Architecture, presented in

Seminar of Deconstruction Architecture in Surabaya, 1995.

9. Dr. Joseph Prijotomo, Hand Book of Theory and History of Architecture Architecture Department of Petra
Christian University Surabaya (1998)

10. Charles Jencks, The Language of Posmodernism ( 1991 ): The metaphor after modern era is slightly
conventional, vernacular, and parodical. The vocabularies that they use is borrowing the value of the past, such as
using the greek or roman column as joke to critic the modern architecture and the international style. Compare to new
modern vocabularies, the emotion is brutalism, chaotic, and rebellious.

11. Aaron Betsky, Violated Perfection : Architecture and Fragmentation of The Modern, New York, Rizolli International
Publication ( 1991 )

12 Aaron Betsky in Aloysius Joseph Setiawan , The concept of Derridean and Non-Derridean in Architecture of
Deconstruction, presented in Seminar of Deconstruction Architecture In Surabaya ( 1995 )

13.Frank Gehry In Inaugural Lecture In National University of Singapore, October 2006

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_gehry

14.AMI Penjelajahan 1992 1995, AMI : The Long Toward Recognation ( 2005 )
15. Quoting from Dr. Johanes Widodo in International Malay Architecture Seminar in Jakarta : Today our architects
still borrow western language to produce their own methapors south east asia architects must be proud of its own
local vocabularies. ( 2005 )

16.Contemporary Japanese Architects, Taschen ( 1995 )

17.Sardjono Sani in Aplication of Deconstruction Architecture, presented in Deconstruction Seminar In Surabaya

( 1995 )