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Gestaltsprache

English translation: ... vocabulary of (or: 'of both') form and (overall) design; the vocabulary and overall look of...


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20:57 Mar 17, 2011
German to English translations [PRO]
Art/Literary - Architecture
German term or phrase: Gestaltsprache
Es sei ein eigenständiger Entwurf, der solitäre Baublöcke als Inseln in der rheinnahen Landschaft zeige, so die Jury. Die Arbeit formuliere eine überzeugende und bewusste Gegenposition zum bestehenden Stadtgefüge und hebe sich von gängigen Strukturmustern derzeitiger Stadtplanung ab.
Die Formen- und Gestaltsprache der Architektur sei klar und eigenständig, die Verwendung von Ziegeln stelle sowohl einen Bezug zur Ziegelei als auch einen würdigen Bezug zum Dom her. Die Grundrisse seien ebenfalls klar und übersichtlich strukturiert und hätten bis auf wenige Ausnahmen Bezug zum Rhein. Die Jurymitglieder begrüßten zudem die Einbindung der Villa und ihre Einzelstellung inmitten der Grünanlage. Der landschaftliche, offene Charakter der öffentlichen Freiflächen biete weitreichende und eigenständige Gestaltungspotentiale, auch erleichterten die Grünvolumen im Norden und Süden sowie großflächige Grünzonen die Einbindung in die Kulturlandschaft.
Fabio Descalzi
Uruguay
Local time: 22:55
English translation:... vocabulary of (or: 'of both') form and (overall) design; the vocabulary and overall look of...
Explanation:
Tricky, since Form & Gestalt potentially synonymous. Meanings? How critically used/differentiated? Wd read it intuitively as 'lang of a) *component* forms/elements & of b) the overall form/appearance ("Gestalt") a building takes on. M. L. Apelt's pocket-size "Ger. - Eng. Dictionary: Art History - Archaeology" (Berlin: E. Schmidt Vlg, 1982) gives us, for Formensprache, 'vocab. of form or shape', & at 'Gestalt': figure, of c'se; while 'fig. ' can also mean a non-'figurative' ... form(!), thence 'figuration', it might puzzle in this archit. context; 'CONfiguration' 'd mislead, evoking the overall site plan /interrelationships of the various blocks (see pics, short URL:
http://mcaf.ee/a16ed). Apelt @ Gestaltung(en): representation, structure, formation, composition, design(ing), configuration. (Apelt p. 92). PS @ Lynda, care w/ 'design lang. ', source is Ger. tho' transl. reads v. well (in the few places I looked @, superficially) - their '...handwriting' (I'd rather think 'hand') @ end of item says 'less likely a native-Eng spkr' but I might be nitpicking. All this said (deep breath) ´, hope it helps!
Selected response from:

Stephen Reader
Local time: 03:55
Grading comment
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
3 +5design language
Lynda Hepburn
4 +2(The language of individual formal elements and) the design as a whole
Helen Shiner
3 +1... vocabulary of (or: 'of both') form and (overall) design; the vocabulary and overall look of...Stephen Reader


  

Answers


9 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5 peer agreement (net): +5
design language


Explanation:
I have found it referred to as "design language" e.g.

"Er ist ein wichtiges Projekt der Landschaftsarchitektur der neunziger Jahre, denn er ist Zeugnis einer neuen Gestaltsprache..."

"It is an important project of the landscape architecture of the nineties, evidence of a new design language..."

see: http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CBgQFj...

Lynda Hepburn
United Kingdom
Local time: 02:55
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 4

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Nicola Wood: 100% - good definition in wikipedia by the way.
25 mins

agree  Andrew Swift
2 hrs

agree  Horst Huber: I guess you might suppress "Formen", or maybe you would say "the language of form and design"?
2 hrs

agree  Joel Schaefer: I would go with "the language of form and design"
3 hrs

agree  Translation-Pro
4 hrs

neutral  Jim Tucker: OK, not outrageous, but really this almost always refers to product and brand design (as in the Wiki); "formal vocabulary" might be closer
10 hrs
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46 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5 peer agreement (net): +1
... vocabulary of (or: 'of both') form and (overall) design; the vocabulary and overall look of...


Explanation:
Tricky, since Form & Gestalt potentially synonymous. Meanings? How critically used/differentiated? Wd read it intuitively as 'lang of a) *component* forms/elements & of b) the overall form/appearance ("Gestalt") a building takes on. M. L. Apelt's pocket-size "Ger. - Eng. Dictionary: Art History - Archaeology" (Berlin: E. Schmidt Vlg, 1982) gives us, for Formensprache, 'vocab. of form or shape', & at 'Gestalt': figure, of c'se; while 'fig. ' can also mean a non-'figurative' ... form(!), thence 'figuration', it might puzzle in this archit. context; 'CONfiguration' 'd mislead, evoking the overall site plan /interrelationships of the various blocks (see pics, short URL:
http://mcaf.ee/a16ed). Apelt @ Gestaltung(en): representation, structure, formation, composition, design(ing), configuration. (Apelt p. 92). PS @ Lynda, care w/ 'design lang. ', source is Ger. tho' transl. reads v. well (in the few places I looked @, superficially) - their '...handwriting' (I'd rather think 'hand') @ end of item says 'less likely a native-Eng spkr' but I might be nitpicking. All this said (deep breath) ´, hope it helps!

Stephen Reader
Local time: 03:55
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 34

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Helen Shiner: Has a more sophisticated ring to it as an overall solution for the sentence.
3 hrs
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4 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +2
(The language of individual formal elements and) the design as a whole


Explanation:
This, I think, is the distinction being made here.

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Note added at 4 hrs (2011-03-18 01:49:31 GMT)
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This is similar in intent to Stephen's answer, just alternative wording.

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Note added at 14 hrs (2011-03-18 11:46:31 GMT)
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Vocabulary is a great alternative to language here. I have no preference for one or the other.

Helen Shiner
United Kingdom
Local time: 02:55
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 143

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  mill
9 hrs
  -> Thanks, mill

agree  Stephen Reader: Thx for that Entrümpelung, Helen! ('fraid you're dealing with a messy here)
9 hrs
  -> Thanks, Stephen - a creative mind at work!
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Changes made by editors
Mar 17, 2011 - Changes made by Fabio Descalzi:
Field (specific)Art, Arts & Crafts, Painting => Architecture


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