Abstract
Architects are now capable to construct diverse architectural compositions with various formal attributes. Although theorists have defined diverse sets of composition attributes, no former list covers the features of our newly built buildings. This study, for the first time, introduces a systematic method to define all the visual attributes in the composition of a building. Arising from the definition of composition, the proposed method, after defining the composition layers and families, prepares a composition graph; then, by introducing three roots of the attributes, it creates a list of the visual attributes. To give a better insight, the method applied to four buildings and their visual attributes are extracted accordingly. The employment of the procedure on a set of building images sharing a criterion can reflect the most in-common formal attributes among them. Therefore, a list of building attributes are also prepared by applying the method on 200 randomly selected building images. The proposed method is adjustable to our needs and also applicable to various art forms which the term composition covers. Consequently, the introduced method has the potential to be an assistive tool in many formal explorations studies.
Highlights
Composition has experienced multiple definitions over its centuries of background
Since this study focuses on the visible composition attributes in building images, the very distinguishable properties need to be identified, rather than an extensive number of properties hard to specify
The Most In-Common Composition Parameters Applying this method for a number of buildings can result in attaining a comprehensive list of the shared composition attributes, though it is not the aim of the paper; that is to say, the introduced method aims to reflect the visual attributes of a building façade, it has this potential to disclose the shared ones among a set of building images
Summary
Composition has experienced multiple definitions over its centuries of background. Alberti defines composition as “the procedure in painting whereby the parts are composed together in the picture” (Grayson & Alberti, 1972: p. 73). Jon Brantingham, the composer of Hollywood, defines musical composition as “the process of making or forming a piece of music by combining the parts, or elements of music” (Brantingham, 2019). They generally emphasize the syntax of composition, which mostly concerns the orders and arrangements of the parts. Various set of composition attributes can be found in literature, they do not cover all the existing ones in our diverse buildings forms; lack of a proper method for defining a comprehensive list resulted in introducing multiple sets of attributes prepared by the subjective opinion of the theorists. After discussing the procedure in the part, it is applied on four buildings to reveal their composition attributes and illustrate the method in practice
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
