Fourteenth International Conference on Interdisciplinary Social Sciences

Abstract

Throughout history, architecture has built from a mythologized language and at its core, it exists as an inheritor of the ancient art of storytelling. To draw from Karen Armstrong, architecture has always concerned itself with meaning and it is that meaning that grants architecture authenticity. Architecture divorced from meaning is thought to be a story without a plot, a random collection of shapes and forms. Because of this fact, in architectural theory and discourse there is always present a layer of mythologized language—a meta-language, so to speak—that gives added meaning to the design. The term “mythologization” can be applied to the inevitable process by which the architect formulates their narrative and establishes their canon of style, form, and function that justifies their vision of the built environment. This mythologization of architecture has been a struggle for some architects as they try to resist or deny (escape from) its presence, while for others it has been a mythic cover, a layer of imitation that leaves the architecture with a false identity. This concept of “escape to” and “escape from” was first defined by Erich Fromm in his ground breaking work “Escape from Freedom, which can be applied to architecture. Since architecture cannot seem to escape mythologization, inevitably the question arises: why cannot architectural theory and process of design escape myth? This paper explores the struggles of architecture to express or attempt to deny the larger social context into which it is embedded.