A Study of the Comparative Architecture of the First and Second Pahlavi Periods from a Semiotic and Semantics Approach (Case Studies: the Museum of Ancient Iran and the Museum of Contemporary Art)

Abstract

This study analyzes the constituent layers and effective factors in the construction of permanent buildings, as well as how to evaluate and classify the types of signs and semiotic and semantic views in, to emulate the original Iranian architecture. A comparative content analysis and a semiotic and semantics approach were used to analyze the data gathered through library and field studies. Different levels of semiotics and the views of theorists in this field were studied, and then a comparative study of the two museums was carried out and the similarities and differences between the basic components of these two buildings were studied. Then, with the initial coding and categorization, while analyzing the concepts, explicit meanings, implicit meanings, and symbolic meanings were extracted. The research findings show that museums are composed of different layers that are in unity and integration with each other and meanings and concepts through five layers with the titles of construction layer, environment, access, physical-functional layer, and landscape. The study shows that the legibility of the architecture of museums is achieved by paying attention to the layers of its structure and making sense of the design according to those layers. The designers of the museums under study have tried to pay attention to the levels and layers that make up museums while paying attention to the desired functional aspects. Reflect the aesthetic concepts of Iranian architecture while paying attention to the needs of users, recreating the concepts of Iranian architecture.

Keywords

• semiotics
• levels of meanings
• iranian architecture
• layers of architecture
• coding