Evaluative expression in architectural practice: An analysis of UK Design and Access Statements

Writing is the main medium of communication between practising architects, their clients and other professionals involved in the construction and regulation of the built environment (Forty 2004; Decq 2013; Binotto 2013; Gerber & Patterson 2013). Although visual material such as photos, maps, diagrams and plans are essential for the practice of Architecture, these only establish the basic semantic (ideational) content of an architect’s plans, and language is needed to express attitudes towards this content (Medway 1996). However, most prior studies of the language used by architects have examined texts from Architecture magazines and journals as opposed to practitioners’ choices relating to Field, Tenor and Mode in response to the social context of the workplace. Our paper investigates the register of Design and Access Statements (DASs), documents which all architects practising in the UK are required by law to submit to their local authorities when making planning applications. We chose the sub-system of ATTITUDE within the theoretical framework of Appraisal (Martin & White 2005) to examine one aspect of the register of DASs: the linguistic resources used to evaluate architectural phenomena in order to justify architectural decisions to local clients and regulatory authorities. We found that inanimate entities in the DASs tended to be judged from an ethical and legal perspective, and were assigned feelings of desire, well-being or satisfaction. As one of the first investigations to relate the linguistic choices of practising architects to a specific situational context, our study should be relevant to all students of register and professional discourse, and particularly those involved in the professional development of practitioners, for example in Schools of Architecture.