Architecture as Communication<\/i><\/a><\/strong>\u00a0advances the idea that built environments function as media of communication. Using practice theory in conjunction with the concept of style, this book is anchored in three historical determinants: the quest for perfect proportion in buildings, the belief in architectural determinism, and the ongoing efforts within other media to influence how those who experience built environments understand them. Ross Eaman explores how houses, schools, places of worship, factories, office buildings, stores, malls, opera houses, plazas, and parks have meaning for people as subjective life-worlds.\u00a0Architecture as Communication<\/i>\u00a0proposes media theory that articulates the social construction of meaning as a unique way of understanding the built environment \u2013 one in which the users and observers of structures and spaces participate along with architects and designers. Architecture, according to Eaman, encompasses the multiplicity of communication as human interaction, preparing people for what they are about to encounter, signalling how they should act, and selectively enabling them to perform their expected role.<\/p>\nUsing examples across many historical periods and cultures,\u00a0Architecture as Communication<\/i> argues that we judge our built environments by the values they communicate.<\/p>\n
Published by McGill-Queen\u2019s University Press, 2025<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Media theory has long overlooked the built environment and its communicative capacity: how built structures and spaces convey meaning through material embodiment and symbolization. Architecture as Communication\u00a0advances the idea that built environments function as media of communication. Using practice theory in conjunction with the concept of style, this book is anchored in three historical determinants: […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[224],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n
Architecture as Communication: A Medium Like No Other by Ross Eaman | School of Journalism and Communication<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Media theory has long overlooked the built environment and its communicative capacity: how built structures and spaces convey meaning through material\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/sjc\/2026\/architecture-as-communication-a-medium-like-no-other-by-ross-eaman\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Architecture as Communication: A Medium Like No Other by Ross Eaman | School of Journalism and Communication\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Media theory has long overlooked the built environment and its communicative capacity: how built structures and spaces convey meaning through material\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/sjc\/2026\/architecture-as-communication-a-medium-like-no-other-by-ross-eaman\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"School of Journalism and Communication\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-01-23T18:28:12+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-01-27T18:02:50+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/sjc\/wp-content\/uploads\/architecture-as-communication-300x450.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"rogermartin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"rogermartin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/sjc\/2026\/architecture-as-communication-a-medium-like-no-other-by-ross-eaman\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/sjc\/2026\/architecture-as-communication-a-medium-like-no-other-by-ross-eaman\/\",\"name\":\"Architecture as Communication: A Medium Like No Other by Ross Eaman | School of Journalism and Communication\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/sjc\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2026-01-23T18:28:12+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-01-27T18:02:50+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/sjc\/#\/schema\/person\/caed127c0e6675e409fe30e1dee0afca\"},\"description\":\"Media theory has long overlooked the built environment and its communicative capacity: how built structures and spaces convey meaning through material\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/sjc\/2026\/architecture-as-communication-a-medium-like-no-other-by-ross-eaman\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/sjc\/2026\/architecture-as-communication-a-medium-like-no-other-by-ross-eaman\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/sjc\/2026\/architecture-as-communication-a-medium-like-no-other-by-ross-eaman\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/sjc\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"ComsFacultyBooks\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/sjc\/category\/comsfacultybooks\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Architecture as Communication: A Medium Like No Other by Ross Eaman\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/sjc\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/sjc\/\",\"name\":\"School of Journalism and Communication\",\"description\":\"Carleton University\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/sjc\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/sjc\/#\/schema\/person\/caed127c0e6675e409fe30e1dee0afca\",\"name\":\"rogermartin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/sjc\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/314d75b0fde5b1f46a9da27a1e4016fe?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/314d75b0fde5b1f46a9da27a1e4016fe?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"rogermartin\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Architecture as Communication: A Medium Like No Other by Ross Eaman | School of Journalism and Communication","description":"Media theory has long overlooked the built environment and its communicative capacity: how built structures and spaces convey meaning through material","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/sjc\/2026\/architecture-as-communication-a-medium-like-no-other-by-ross-eaman\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Architecture as Communication: A Medium Like No Other by Ross Eaman | School of Journalism and Communication","og_description":"Media theory has long overlooked the built environment and its communicative capacity: how built structures and spaces convey meaning through material","og_url":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/sjc\/2026\/architecture-as-communication-a-medium-like-no-other-by-ross-eaman\/","og_site_name":"School of Journalism and Communication","article_published_time":"2026-01-23T18:28:12+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-01-27T18:02:50+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/sjc\/wp-content\/uploads\/architecture-as-communication-300x450.jpg"}],"author":"rogermartin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"rogermartin","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/sjc\/2026\/architecture-as-communication-a-medium-like-no-other-by-ross-eaman\/","url":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/sjc\/2026\/architecture-as-communication-a-medium-like-no-other-by-ross-eaman\/","name":"Architecture as Communication: A Medium Like No Other by Ross Eaman | School of Journalism and Communication","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/sjc\/#website"},"datePublished":"2026-01-23T18:28:12+00:00","dateModified":"2026-01-27T18:02:50+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/sjc\/#\/schema\/person\/caed127c0e6675e409fe30e1dee0afca"},"description":"Media theory has long overlooked the built environment and its communicative capacity: how built structures and spaces convey meaning through material","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/sjc\/2026\/architecture-as-communication-a-medium-like-no-other-by-ross-eaman\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/carleton.ca\/sjc\/2026\/architecture-as-communication-a-medium-like-no-other-by-ross-eaman\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/sjc\/2026\/architecture-as-communication-a-medium-like-no-other-by-ross-eaman\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/sjc\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"ComsFacultyBooks","item":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/sjc\/category\/comsfacultybooks\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Architecture as Communication: A Medium Like No Other by Ross Eaman"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/sjc\/#website","url":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/sjc\/","name":"School of Journalism and Communication","description":"Carleton University","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/sjc\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/sjc\/#\/schema\/person\/caed127c0e6675e409fe30e1dee0afca","name":"rogermartin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/sjc\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/314d75b0fde5b1f46a9da27a1e4016fe?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/314d75b0fde5b1f46a9da27a1e4016fe?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"rogermartin"}}]}},"acf":{"thumbnail_type":"custom","custom_thumbnail":{"id":23593,"alt":"","title":"architecture-as-communication_400x300_acf_cropped","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/sjc\/wp-content\/uploads\/architecture-as-communication_400x300_acf_cropped.jpg","width":400,"height":300,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/sjc\/wp-content\/uploads\/architecture-as-communication_400x300_acf_cropped-300x225.jpg","thumbnail-width":300,"thumbnail-height":225,"medium":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/sjc\/wp-content\/uploads\/architecture-as-communication_400x300_acf_cropped.jpg","medium-width":400,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/sjc\/wp-content\/uploads\/architecture-as-communication_400x300_acf_cropped.jpg","medium_large-width":400,"medium_large-height":300,"large":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/sjc\/wp-content\/uploads\/architecture-as-communication_400x300_acf_cropped.jpg","large-width":400,"large-height":300,"gallery-thumb":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/sjc\/wp-content\/uploads\/architecture-as-communication_400x300_acf_cropped-300x230.jpg","gallery-thumb-width":300,"gallery-thumb-height":230,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/sjc\/wp-content\/uploads\/architecture-as-communication_400x300_acf_cropped.jpg","1536x1536-width":400,"1536x1536-height":300,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/sjc\/wp-content\/uploads\/architecture-as-communication_400x300_acf_cropped.jpg","2048x2048-width":400,"2048x2048-height":300,"wide-image":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/sjc\/wp-content\/uploads\/architecture-as-communication_400x300_acf_cropped.jpg","wide-image-width":400,"wide-image-height":300,"square-small":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/sjc\/wp-content\/uploads\/architecture-as-communication_400x300_acf_cropped-150x150.jpg","square-small-width":150,"square-small-height":150,"people-thumbs":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/sjc\/wp-content\/uploads\/architecture-as-communication_400x300_acf_cropped-300x300.jpg","people-thumbs-width":300,"people-thumbs-height":300,"card-thumbs":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/sjc\/wp-content\/uploads\/architecture-as-communication_400x300_acf_cropped.jpg","card-thumbs-width":400,"card-thumbs-height":300,"video-thumbs":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/sjc\/wp-content\/uploads\/architecture-as-communication_400x300_acf_cropped.jpg","video-thumbs-width":400,"video-thumbs-height":300,"text-image":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/sjc\/wp-content\/uploads\/architecture-as-communication_400x300_acf_cropped.jpg","text-image-width":400,"text-image-height":300,"rotator-image":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/sjc\/wp-content\/uploads\/architecture-as-communication_400x300_acf_cropped.jpg","rotator-image-width":400,"rotator-image-height":300},"original_image":{"id":23592,"alt":"book cover","title":"architecture-as-communication","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/sjc\/wp-content\/uploads\/architecture-as-communication.jpg","width":900,"height":1350,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/sjc\/wp-content\/uploads\/architecture-as-communication-300x450.jpg","thumbnail-width":300,"thumbnail-height":450,"medium":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/sjc\/wp-content\/uploads\/architecture-as-communication-400x600.jpg","medium-width":400,"medium-height":600,"medium_large":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/sjc\/wp-content\/uploads\/architecture-as-communication-768x1152.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":1152,"large":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/sjc\/wp-content\/uploads\/architecture-as-communication.jpg","large-width":900,"large-height":1350,"gallery-thumb":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/sjc\/wp-content\/uploads\/architecture-as-communication-300x230.jpg","gallery-thumb-width":300,"gallery-thumb-height":230,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/sjc\/wp-content\/uploads\/architecture-as-communication.jpg","1536x1536-width":900,"1536x1536-height":1350,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/sjc\/wp-content\/uploads\/architecture-as-communication.jpg","2048x2048-width":900,"2048x2048-height":1350,"wide-image":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/sjc\/wp-content\/uploads\/architecture-as-communication-900x700.jpg","wide-image-width":900,"wide-image-height":700,"square-small":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/sjc\/wp-content\/uploads\/architecture-as-communication-150x150.jpg","square-small-width":150,"square-small-height":150,"people-thumbs":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/sjc\/wp-content\/uploads\/architecture-as-communication-300x300.jpg","people-thumbs-width":300,"people-thumbs-height":300,"card-thumbs":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/sjc\/wp-content\/uploads\/architecture-as-communication-400x300.jpg","card-thumbs-width":400,"card-thumbs-height":300,"video-thumbs":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/sjc\/wp-content\/uploads\/architecture-as-communication-400x600.jpg","video-thumbs-width":400,"video-thumbs-height":600,"text-image":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/sjc\/wp-content\/uploads\/architecture-as-communication-700x1050.jpg","text-image-width":700,"text-image-height":1050,"rotator-image":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/sjc\/wp-content\/uploads\/architecture-as-communication-800x600.jpg","rotator-image-width":800,"rotator-image-height":600}}},"add_banner":"no"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/sjc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23591"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/sjc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/sjc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/sjc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/sjc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23591"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/sjc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23591\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23603,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/sjc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23591\/revisions\/23603"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/sjc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23591"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/sjc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23591"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/sjc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23591"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"book](\"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/sjc\/wp-content\/uploads\/architecture-as-communication-300x450.jpg\")
Media theory has long overlooked the built environment and its communicative capacity: how built structures and spaces convey meaning through material embodiment and symbolization.<\/p>\n