Written Communication Oct 1996

Virtual and Material Buildings: Construction and Constructivism in Architecture and Writing

PETER MEDWAY

Abstract

The article offers a fresh perspective on semiotic approaches to writing. It endorses recent arguments for more study of writing that shapes and directs the production of material artifacts and for considering writing as one semiotic mode among others. The main purpose, however, is to consider a case of nonwritten symbolic production, architectural design, for what it may suggest for the study and the teaching of writing. A constructivist account is proposed whereby the design (like equivalent written texts) not only proposes and foreshadows a new object in the world but creates one, bringing into existence, through acts of representation, a virtual object that is real in its social effects. Transcripts from design conversations are drawn on to elucidate the characteristics of such virtual artifacts, and implications for writing are drawn.

Journal
Written Communication
Published
1996-10-01
DOI
10.1177/0741088396013004002
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Open Access
Closed
Topics
teacher development multimodality
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Citation Context

Cited by in this index (19)

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  6. Swarts (2004)
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  9. GEISLER (2001)
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  11. Winsor (2001)
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  12. HALLER (2000)
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  13. WINSOR (1998)
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  14. Fleming (1998)
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CrossRef global citation count: 51 View in citation network → Build reading path →

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