ABSTRACT

This chapter looks at the concept of architecture as a text which signifies meaning in the real-world and examines how approaches to understanding architecture can be used to understand film design as well. This is an examination of the work of architectural theorist Christian Norberg-Schulz and the approach that C.S. Tashiro takes to understand architectural space in film. The chapter notes how the study of semiotics has contributed to architectural theory as a point of overlap with the semiotic approaches. It provides an overview of semiotic approaches to architecture, and shows how other works in the field have used historical overviews of architecture to underpin their studies of film set design history. These studies treat architecture as a cultural object and as a filmic subject more than they see it as an opportunity to understand what meanings film architecture contributes to a film text, something which C. S. Tashiro eventually sheds light upon.