Code

A key concept of the current theoretical discussion

The process of coding is a systematic experimentation with signs, symbols, and the construction of larger cultural meanings. The fourth volume in the series Kontext Architektur examines the architectural-historical and -theoretical relevance of the concept of "code" from various perspectives. The authors and editors start from the premise that this concept makes for new ways of translating architecture into language. Thus, the dominance of computer simulation makes it clear that the building is no longer merely a vehicle for signs, but literally also their product. The code has penetrated, as it were, from the exterior of the building into its interior, into its structure. We are dealing with both a socio-cultural as well as with a mathematical and formal notion of code. The goal of this book is thus to arrive at a critical grasp of the contours of this vibrant conceptual tension between the cultural and the formal, the "outside" and the "inside," while also formulating questions for further exploration that are relevant for architecture.

• Another volume in the series Kontext Architektur on basic concepts on the shared frontiers of art, technology, and the sciences
• In cooperation with the Zürcher Hochschule der Künste (Zurich University of the Arts) and the Chair for Computer-Aided Architectural Design at the ETH Zürich (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zurich)

Andrea Gleiniger, Dr. phil., is an art and architectural historian; she teaches and does research at the Zürcher Hochschule der Künste (Zurich University of the Arts).

Georg Vrachliotis is an architect and architectural theorist; he teaches and does research at the Chair for Computer-Aided Architectural Design in the Architecture Department of the Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule (ETH) Zürich (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zurich).