Design

The term ‘design’ comes from the Italian disegno, meaning drawing, suggesting both the drawing of a line on paper and the drawing forth of an idea from the mind into physical reality. Disegno implies a direct link between an idea and a thing.

One may conclude that this design is nothing but a visual expression and clarification of that concept which one has in the intellect, and that which one imagines in the mind. However, the word is also derived from the Latin signum, meaning sign, and shares the same ancient root. To this end design takes on the condition of that motion or gesture used to express or convey an idea to give meaning.

In all matters, particularly in architecture, there are these two points; the thing signified, and that which gives it significance. That which is signified is the subject of which we may be speaking; and that which gives significance is a demonstration on scientific principles.

Disegno allowed architecture, painting and sculpture – the three visual arts – to be recognized as liberal arts concerned with ideas, a position they had very rarely been accorded previously. Associated with intellectual rather than manual labor, the new status of the drawing and the architect increased the status of the building.