METAPHOR: the NEED for INNOVATION

The issue of poetics and meaning in contemporary architecture and urbanism invokes, often unknowingly, actions of metaphor. Metaphor, from the Greek wordmetaphora(meta: over, andpherein: to carry),² is a linguistic device that is appropriate when considering the interpretation of artifacts. A building can be metaphorical, an object or element can be metaphorical, and cities, all their immense complexity, can be understood in metaphorical terms. No doubt for some the calling up of metaphor is a romantic notion, verging on the decorative ornamental. However, as Lakoff and Johnson have demonstrated, metaphor operates at all levels of everyday language: orientational