A Framework of Multilingual Representation of a Design World on the Basis of Philosophy of Language

Abstract

A framework to organize symbol systems for representation of the same design project from different disciplines is proposed based on philosophy of language and computational linguistics. The framework classifies the symbol systems into three classes, namely, surface language class, universal language class, and a mathematical-logical structure. A surface language is a conventional symbol system used in an architectural design. A universal language represents not only the intentional meaning of surface languages but also the states and transitions in a mathematical-logical structure. An example is shown to give a concrete idea about the framework. The author expects the proposed framework to provide a theoretical foundation for the integration of symbol systems in multi-disciplinary architectural design support system.