This abstract was submitted for the final or project for the "tesina" during my time at the ETSAB. The project, as described in this excerpt, investigated the capacity for semiotic / symbolic communication in virtual examples of architectural space:

2.0 / abstract
    The representation of virtual space is an issue inherent to the architectural practices of contemporary times. As such, virtual space’s capacity for the simulation and/or representation of physical space has been an essential tool in the process of architectural design. However, virtual space is a phenomenon that clearly exists outside architectural representation. In fact, virtual space finds its normal function within most pictorial media, including art, cinema, and video games.
    Within pictorial mediums, few spaces are as detailed and interactive as those provided by video games. In video games the spectator becomes a player in the spatial narrative and is subjected to the sensorial affectations of virtual space. From the categories of virtual self, scale, proportion, and spatial scripting, several video games were analyzed: Mirror’s Edge, Assassin’s Creed 2: Brotherhood, Grand Theft Auto and Half-Life 2. Through the management of first & third person perspectives; lineal & open three dimensional spaces; architectural referencing (historical, contemporary & fictional), video game spaces often achieve spatially immersive experiences that compensate for the lack of sensorial inputs.
    Their spatial nature, when combined with player interaction, is preceded by the use of architectural design techniques for designing space. As such, they offer the architect’s discipline a new and fertile ground for experimenting with space’s capacity to communicate content.

The spaces depicted below both share a common strategy when it comes to the player's navigation of the space. They communicate direction, hierarchy, and an ultimate objective for the game's principal challenges. Is this an explicit narrative structure for navigable space? How does it differ from architectural 'semiotic constructions' in physical space?

Screenshot. Traceur Training Arena. Mirror's Edge (EA Games, 2008)

Screenshot. City 17 square. Half-Life 2 (Valve, 2004)

Here's a link to the document: Spatial Communication Models in Virtual Environments: A Study of Architecture in Video Games.

I coursed the Master's in Theory and History of Architecture which Polytechnic University of Catalunya from 2011-2013.