Images and the making of meanings in construction project design

Collinge, W. H. (2015) Images and the making of meanings in construction project design. Journal of Civil Engineering and Architecture Research, 2 (9). pp. 898-909. ISSN 2333-9128

Abstract/Summary

This paper explores how visual images used in construction project design work can be understood as social semiotic compositions that are authored by design teams to be interpreted by client audiences in particular ways. The paper clarifies how visual images are strategic communicative resources employed by designers that effect the comprehension of requirements, the relations between project parties and the design process itself. A visual image of hospital patient rooms from a hospital construction project briefing meeting is examined from a multimodal social semiotic perspective; the analysis being supported and supplemented with insights from designers immersed in construction project communications with client parties. The discussion notes how different representations of requirements using visual and textual signs can impact the design discourse and relations between parties; visual images being more sophisticated than simple tools in the design process. The insights of the paper are informative for multiple civil engineering and architectural contexts where visual images assist and propel forward the design process.

Item Type	Article
URI	https://reading-clone.eprints-hosting.org/id/eprint/66750
Refereed	Yes
Divisions	Science > School of the Built Environment
Publisher	Ethan Publishing
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