The aim of this article is to articulate a set of principles that can be applied to both the analysis and design of three-dimensional spaces. To achieve this aim, the article discusses the way three-dimensional spaces can be organized as a semiotic resource — a mode, which, like other modes, is multifunctional. The discussion begins by introducing a powerful social semiotic tool, Halliday's metafunctional theory (1978), which has previously been used to theorize numerous semiotic resources in western cultures: language, visual images, speech, music, sound and movement. It then `opens up' a grammar of three-dimensional space using Halliday's notion of three communicative functions. The research presented in this article is illustrated with a museum example, the Hyde Park Barracks Museum, Sydney. However, it is equally relevant to natural spaces as well as built spaces across a broad range of other fields: homes, schools, workplaces, retail sites, hospitals and virtual spaces.
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