The Visible and The Nvisible in Architecture: A study of Visibility-invisibility Duet and its Effect on Meaning in Architecture

Abstract

The importance of invisibility lies in the fact that it is a significant means to convey doubt and uncertainty which the consumer looks for before achieving full satisfaction. Moreover, the terms were presented as opposites, and have been studied separately or as a duet in many architectural surveys. However, those studies lacked a clear definition of the terms and the nature of transition between them as well as the meaning conveyed and how the consumer receives it. This generates the research problem which is "the lack of perception of the relationship between the visible and the invisible in architecture and its effect of the meaning". Thus, the research objective is “stating the connection between the visible and the invisible and its effect on the meaning”. The research falls in five parts, the first of which presents the definition of both terms (visibility and invisibility) and how they work as a duet. Besides, it derives a duet sample diagram which presents a group of mixed cases (visible invisibility, visibility and invisibility at the same time, and invisible visibility). The second part shows the direct and indirect architectural studies and a discusses the cases in the duet diagram; in addition to that, it analyzes the cases in which they appear (like the case of visibility that trigger invisible visibility, and the gradual transformation). The third part offers a final form of the diagram and analyzes its numerous features. The diagram also surveys its relation to the materialistic and immaterialistic, the external and internal effects, the visible and the invisible, the ideologic and material aspects, and the direct and gradual change among the stages of the diagram. The fourth part presents the analysis of two architectural examples to test the accuracy of the resulting diagram. Finally, there is the discussion of the results and a display of final conclusions.