Mapping

the Intangible Stan Allen

Architect, Stan Allen, discusses Nelson Goodmans philosophies regarding the ways
in which architectural drawings function in a contemporary city. He begins by
describing architectural drawings in a conventional sense as representational
scaled-down images of the building, but notes, more importantly, that architectural
drawings can be approached through diagrams and notation. Two related fields he
cites that use notation are math and time-based art forms (ie. music and dance). He
draws parallels between all three areas and suggests that drawings as notation can
express the experience of a building better than any representational drawing. A
differentiation between autographic and allographic art forms are defined and Allen
determines that architecture is neither one or the other, but a combination. The
term autographic is defined with the assumption that there is value in the original,
and that authenticity depends on the direct contact with the author. An example of
this would be with paintings or sculpture. Allographic arts are capable of being
reproduced at a distance from the author by means of notation (Allen, 2000). An
example of this would be in music. Notation, which musicians interpret and
understand through a learned convention can be performed and create new realities
(Allen, 2000). Allen then continues to differentiate between diagrams and notation,
and describes notation as a system that operates under learned conventions, while
diagrams can be open to many interpretations. You might be asking, what does this
have to do with architectural drawings? Allen continues his essay into a discussion
about The Illegible City, and the need to develop a new vocabulary to describe the
text of the city. He states that because we are at a point of transition to a new kind of
city, the conventions of representation need to be rethought (Allen, 2000). The
essay concludes by suggesting that the use of diagramming and notation as an
additional field of representational techniques is Allens suggestion to start to
understand the contemporary city.
Stan Allen, Notations + Diagrams: Mapping the Intangible, in S. Allen and D. Agrest, Practice: Architecture, Technique and
Representation, 2000, 41-61.

Questions:
Who is the audience for these diagrams and notations? Will people not trained to read diagrams
understand them? Would you not need to express the experience of a building to a potential client?
Or are these strictly for architects and those in the industry to understand?

What is the importance of reading a city? (The language of its inhabitants and the space of the
street). (I imagine it is important, but I dont know why.) What if cities have changed so much that
they can not be legible?