Plantation semiotics: A visitor center for Verdura Plantation.

摘要

The focus of the thesis, Plantation Semiotics, examines meaning behind the language of plantation architecture. According to architectural theorist Charles Jencks, semiotics is the analysis of signs and sign processes of all kinds, the study of meaning-making, a signifier and signified. Specifically, the thesis investigates the semiotic implications within the context of antebellum plantations applied to the development of a proposal for a visitor center for the ruins of Verdura Plantation.;To develop the design proposal, the thesis examines various projects that explore semiotics in architecture. In these projects, the critical issues are meaning through organization, meaning in materiality, and phenomenology of space. The precedents include the Grand Teton Visitor and Learning Center, Mapungubwe Visitor Center, and finally, the Stonehenge Visitor Center. In addition, the thesis analyzes the semiotics of specific antebellum plantation sites.;The literature review examines various sources that help to interpret meaning in plantation architecture. Behind the Big House by John Michael Vlach individual architectural components of various plantations, analyzing them for their implied meaning. Cabin, Quarter, Plantation: Architecture and Landscapes of North American Slavery is a collection of essays that examine the plantation landscape holistically and focuses on architectural organization as representative of a larger cultural hierarchical system.;The thesis concludes that context is key to semiotic understanding. Contextual associations influence viewer perception, and as Jencks' model of semiotics notes, viewer perception is critical to linguistic meaning. Context includes place, culture, and time. Changing or removing any of these contextual conditions changes the perceived meaning of semiotic expressions.