Genre of Foyers in the Contemporary Highrise

Abstract

The term genre is usually associated with literary and filmic texts; however, this article also considers other communicative events such as foyers as text types. While it might seem quite obvious to note that the fundamental purpose of foyers is to shuttle users back and forth between the entrance and the elevator, it is more intriguing to discern the ways in which this function is achieved. By using the theoretical framework developed within the discipline of systemic functional linguistics and by employing the analytical tool of intertextuality, this article undertakes a comparative semiotic reading of the foyers of Harry Seidler’s corporate and residential highrises in Sydney, Australia, in order to explicate the generic structure of foyers, to elucidate the similarities and differences between his foyers and to foreground the ideological stance that Seidler has consistently taken throughout his oeuvre.L