Speaking in tongues: the return of typological studies

Abstract

Speaking in tongues is a common expression for the word glossolalia, the usage of which is probably restricted to circles of the academia. Both terms relate to the idea of a sacred language, voiced by religious believers during meditation. Such language, seemingly impossible to understand, is made of broken syllables and vowels recited over and over. Due to their repetition, these particles of communication were the means to obtain a higher level of knowledge. The following presentation addresses the topic of teaching through design, and its need for synthesis, under a similar stance. It argues architecture must firstly be learned through the comprehension of its fundamentals. Type, a basic scheme of spatial organization, has been presented as such at diðerent moments of the history of this disciplinary field. Its education — currently facing the pressure of cultural commodification, bureaucratic overkill, and budget cuts — should consider a return to typological studies. They can provide a solution, among others, to come back to the syllables and vowels of architecture.