What Is Ambiguity?

Buildings were stitched together, combining the new with the old, resembling forms proposed in counter culture magazines such as Archigram. The movie breaks from using simple

According to Brown and Keeley ambiguity refers to the existence of multiple possible meaning for a word or phrase (Browne & Keeley, 2011, p.53). In the memo Ms. Castle mentioned some resources that justified her claim but also left a lot of ambiguity. Ms. Castle relied on the current success

American postmodern architecture has more focus on culture, the specific theme of that moment, but the problem of formalization started to show up. Deconstructivism, a critical architectural movement in the postmodern age, usually has nice control on the structural surface as the building’s skin and use the randomly geometric shapes to show the twisting architectural elements.

Ambiguity is a concept I came across while reading The Book Thief, by Marcus Zusak. The novel discussed numerous paradoxes of the human experience, and thus stimulated my mind into exploring branches of philosophy previously unknown to me. Though the concept is a simple one, the source of ambiguity is much more complicated. From my reading of this story and study in a psychology class, I learned that one’s natural instinct and nurturing environment is what affects one’s perspective. Equally important, no matter how similar common the human condition is, everyone is different. No person has the same life experiences, and thus has a different perspective. These conflicting perspectives are what lead to ambiguity, which leads me to quite a harsh

After identifying the basic structure of a message, a critical thinker must ask, “What words or phrases are ambiguous?” (p. 40) An ambiguous word or phrase is one that has multiple possible meanings. Ambiguous words or phrases in an argument create the need for clarification of the meaning before a reader can fully evaluate the argument.

The recurring theme of ambiguity is utilized by Morrison in Recitatif to cause the reader to question racial boundaries, and to show that the divide between the races in American culture is dependent on blacks and whites defining themselves in opposition to one another.

When designing and building structures, the social and political pressures influence the way they appear.

     Chapter seven begins by explaining an example that would make the case against using ambiguity. In fact, the title of chapter seven is “Avoid Ambiguity”. While it is true that vague statements leave questions unanswered, the traditional idea behind gathering information is to find specific details and clear communicated

Setting and imagery, is important in the novel, the word ‘Abbey’, represents connotations of the gothic itself, which conjures up expectations of horror, and danger, and visions of the uncanny.

In the essay entitled “Structure, Construction, and Tectonics,” Eduard Sekler defined tectonics in architecture as an observable expression which cannot be explained in terms of structure and construction

Being ambiguous is having more than one interpretation of a person. It is unclear of what choice is being made between two alternatives. The story The Kite Runner, takes place in Kabul, Afghanistan. The author of the selection is Khaled Hosseini. The main Characters are Amir (the narrator), Hassan, and Amir’s father, Baba. Hosseini adds morally ambiguous characters to leave the reader wanting more. Because it makes the reader scratch their head wondering why the character makes the decisions that they do, and why they live a life like they do and so on and so forth. Amir would be a perfect choice for being ambiguous because he has a friend in Hassan, But has somewhat jealousy towards him.

On his book on Modern Architecture, Curtis writes that modern architecture was faulted for it’s “supposed lack of ‘recognizable imagery’” towards the end of the 1970s. This statement supports the idea of Jencks’ double coding where architects must now make

Architecture is often mistaken as purely an art form, when in actually it is where art and engineering or art and practicality meet. For example, painting is an art, when preformed well it yields a beautiful picture that evokes a deep human reaction and brings pleasure to its viewer, however this painting provides no function, it cannot shield us from the rain or protect us from the wind or snow, it is purely form. An insulated aluminum shed provides shelter and protection from Mother Nature; however, it is a purely functional building, it was drawn by an engineer, not conceived by an artist to have form. The culmination of form and function is Architecture, the Greeks and Romans fathered this idea and Palladio’s study of roman architecture taught him his valuable truth.

The entryways of the building come from four different sides and meet in the middle. The overall shape of the building creates different views and facades. The building was not created just on the looks of it; it is made up of a three dimensional, stimulating, tactile human thing.

Centered in the house is a ramp that takes you on a journey from the underbelly of the house on the ground floor to the main body on the first floor and then on to a roof garden. Throughout the house views of the surrounding nature are framed, your mind is free marvel, as the forms evoke a sense of exploration and delight. Villa Savoye is better experienced than viewed through an image, only then can you understand the greater meaning and purpose that informs its beauty. One might argue that this is not beautiful architecture and a poor example, however upon visiting this house you cannot deny that the house is beautiful in its own right, evoking a response from the occupant. Le Corbusier’s masterpiece is moving; therefore achieving what he believed architecture to be about. This experience and the emotion that is felt can only be described in words. Shapes play a big role in the architecture but clearly the meanings behind are more important.