The semiotic form of scale

Abstract

The meaning of the French word forme can go from concrete to abstract, depending on whether it is understood from the side of art, logic or mathematics. It is suggested that the categories of iconic and symbolic signs of Ch. S. Peirce's semiotics can shed light on the situation regarding architectural forms. These are often approached under an iconic aspect whereas their conception also passes by verbal and numerical forms. Scale is inseparable from these forms. The article exposes a form proper to the architecturological scale, which, composed of the triad of concepts reference, dimension, relevance, joins the Peircian semiotic categories of firstness, secondness and thirdness. These concepts are formally presented by the examination of the conditions of attribution of measures to the Arche de la Défense (Paris). They are then validated by the analysis of a passage from Vitruvius concerning the attribution of measures to a public square. The consequences of the architecturological reduction of architectural design to measurement are then examined in relation to the considerations of various authors. In particular, the Thomian opposition of form to content, which is distinguished from the Grangerian opposition of form to content, is interpreted as iconic for the former, symbolic for the latter. The hypothesis of a vicarious function of the scale is then introduced between these two registers.