Objetos e historias: La doble codificación de las nuevas formas de comunicación en arquitectura

Abstract

In 1977, Charles Jencks develops the concept of double coding, which was used to point out the need of the architectural form to split in two so it could be perceived by a specialized core, the architects, and also by the public. The main problem that the American academic tackles is that of communication or, to be precise, the problem of how architecture is communicated. Nevertheless, this communication process is mainly objectual: it is the built element that stablishes a dialogue channel with society, mainly through visual means. Through its condition as an object and, partly, as a fetish. The present article analyses the historical dominance of the architectural object as a communication element and the change that has happened in the form and the substance of this object within the discipline and the media evolution. It is through this change that the necessity of a new double coding, which mixes the objectual and the narrative —the life stories associated to architecture—, appears and stablishes an empathic connection, both with the architecture professionals and society.