ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses form as a language and explains how the architectonic object is a system of communication. We take the reader through the vocabulary of architectonic forms as a way of helping them master the making of things. To do so we describe the elements, attributes, and effects that create the unique identity of any architectural object. We begin by providing a basic definition of architectonic, a term whose complexity and history can tend to obscure its basic operative meaning. Next, we describe the elements that aggregate to form architectonic objects and how these objects become classified into distinct types dependent on their ordering and arrangement. These classifications form the basis for the larger sections in The Making of Things and become the source of the taxonomic organization around which the book is structured. Next, we describe the ways that individual elements can be organized into perceptible orders and describe basic operations that occur within this ordering. Finally, we discuss the attributes that constitute all architectonic form.
