Sayable Space. Narrative Practices in Architecture

Book excerpt: ‘When a work reaches its maximum intensity,’ wrote Le Corbusier, ‘a phenomenon of ineffable space occurs.’ The ultimate quality of architecture would reside, therefore, in the resistance to its description. However, to tell us this, and much more, the Swiss master has published more than seventy books and his so compelling formula in supporting the ineffable also shows how words are able to grasp it. This brief essay investigates the multiple intersections between discourse and design: the way buildings try to ‘talk’ with their own specific means; how architects are trying to remain relevant without building; the paradoxes of architecture description after its completion; the modes of communication during the project processes; the capacity of narrative to act before the project operations start and infiltrate the collective perception, making possible innovative approaches...