ABSTRACT
What is it that moves us when we enter certain buildings? Why do some places give us a sense that we belong, whereas we feel ill at ease in others? Some might call it “architectural meaning,” others, the “poetry of architecture.” Either way, architects have always been concerned with this expressive power of architecture to touch human emotions while at the same time positioning itself in the public domain, playing a political role in ordering human interactions. Traditionally, and until the end of the seventeenth century, this “language” of architecture was firmly established in the notion of decorum, the appropriate use of ornament, “the faultless ensemble of a work composed, in accordance with precedent, of approved details” (Vitruvius 1983: Book 1, Ch.2). Based on natural proportions and therefore a sense of harmony, architectural expression implied a common ground that made it possible for an entire society to share the meaning of a given work, understand its destination, read its story (Pelletier 2006).
