The Conventionsand Rhetoric of Architectural Drawing

IT I Fl Ir l

B F
._ r_:V!Z

,__,,_VKZ

By "a conventionof architectural drawing" I mean the sign-made normally on a twointo graphicform an aspect(e.g.,the plan or eledimensionalsurface-that translates vation) of an architectural designor of an existingbuilding. lt is an arbitraryinvention, it but.once established works only when it meansthe samething to an observeras it doesto the maker; it is a tool o[ communication.

In perspec throughwl niqueof pe ter theintr(

The introdu consistency it Oncean architectural conventionis established, maintainsan astonishing were common in Romanantiquity;almostall those through trme.Plansand elevations project elevationfor existingor ideal buildings, though a full-scale we know represent the pedimentof the Pantheon was found recentlyincisedon the pavementof the MausoleumofAugustus. velopment c

faceto anot, among plan

inflr.rences tl to indicate it

to My first considerationls for the instrumentsand materialsof drawing. Paper, start with, when introduced into the West in the fourteenthcentury,openedup the possilor used bility of recordrngrapid impressions, shetching, the first time. Parchment, of for images, and not suitedto previousll', was in general expensive any but defi.nitive too of sketchingor experiment.Few parchmentdrawingssurvive;the cost and sturdiness available new scrapingawaydrawingsto make the surface for the materialencouraged drawingsor texts (seechapter2).

Drawinginst

the characte

in lines incis

aror-rnd 1500

crayon.Mich sculptural an

extenslve use

tool couldbe Sheets paperarenot neutraiwith respect the drawngs done on them; they aregenof to erally cut in a rectangularformat that promotesa certain rangeof orientationin the drawing-in particular, the lining up of straight orthogonal lines parallel to the paper's

wider rangec

ployedasan e

emphasize co

edges. The format of paperwas echoedin that of the drawingboard, which permitted the introduction of the T-square and triangle. Almost all drawingboardsand a high prothan portion of elevation and perspective drawingshavea horizontaldimensiongreater the vertical.This must be attributable the natureof the human body,bringing the top to o[ the sheetnearerto the draftsmanand conforming to the favoredaction of the arm. are On the other hand, plans,particularlythoseof longitudinal templesand churches, often verticallyoriented,perhapsso that the entranceis nearestto the draftsman.The drawingis affected alsoby the color,texture,size,and densityof the support.

creasrngly fro

fects were so

substitution oI modernaddit

Drawing hasn

turlesdesigns r

tageof vivid re

In perspective drawings,the rectanguiar sheetof paper is an analogueof the window through which an oblect is seen;there is an inevitableconformity betrveen the technique of perspective projectiondescribed Leon Battista by Alberti in 1435, not long after the introduction of paper,and the format of the sheet.

The introduction of tracingpaperln the eighteenth century not oniy facilitatedthe deveiopmentof projectideasby eliminatingpainstaking transferrals from one opaquesurfaceto another (asby pricking the outlineswith a needle),but facilitatedinteractions amongplan, section,anclelevation. effort to codify the rvaysin which transparency An influencesthe designprocess would only rigidify its open potentialities; is sufficient it i[s lo indicate rmportance.

Draw'inginstrumentsobviouslyaffectnot only the appearance the drawing but also of the character the building they areused to represent. of The quill pen, oftenusedto ink in lines incised with a metal point, dominated the earliestdrawings; it was joined around 1500 by a finely sharpened black chalk, a materialsimilar to the modern Conte cra)ron.Michelangelofavoredthe much softel red chalk becauseit suited his more sculpturaland texturalorientation.Shortlyafter 1600, Borromini \&'as first to make the extensive use of graphite-essentiallythe n"rineral encased the modern pencil. This in tool could be sharpenedto a very fine point or nsed in other ways to communicatea wider range of texture and shadow From the Renaissance ink washeswere emon, ployed as an enrichmentof line drawingto distrnguish massfrom void in plans and to emphasize contrasts light and shadowin elevations, of sections, and perspectives. lncreasingly, from the eighteenth cenlury on, watercolorwas adoptedwhere pictorial effects were sought. Later innovations simply refined these choices, as with the
o

substitr-rtion the steelpen for the quill. The computerconstitutes only significant of the modern addition to the reDertorv

Drawing has not been the only meansfor communicatingarchitectural form. For cenin turies designsand buildings havebeenrepresented models,rvhich havethe advantageof vivid representation more accessible than the abstrac[ion drawingsto clients, of

to<

the public, and the masonor woodworker.Now twomay be composed by dimensional representations design,which is becoming progrescomputer-aided to sively more flexible and responsive the designers imagination.

i-

P The lan
tootprint' of Plansarearbitrarydiagrams a nonexistent Realbuildingsarenot simply setdown on flat surfaces like a model on a table. The fragment from the marbLe Rome(fig. 12.1)is evenmore arbitrary plan of ancrent than most; beingjust iines and dots, it is the diagram of a diagram.
from 12.1 Fragment themarble Plan A.D. of Rome, 205-208. Fine Library, Photo: Arts UniversitY. Harvard

But plans,apartfrom the factthat they indicatesomething literally invisible, arehighly capricious.The repin resentation lig. 12.2 of the Erechtheionin Athens vividly illustrates the arbitrarinessof the convention' The building has three quite different levelsthat are all here as if they were on the same plane' represented Even structures on relatively flat basesare shown as of composites differenthorizontaicuts,one at the base of the steps,one at the baseof the columns,one at the bottom of the column shafts.The thirteenth-century plans from the lodge book of Villard de Honnecourt (fig. 12.3) arean earlyexampleof combinlngthe footprint type of plan with what is called the "reflected" the Moreover, vaulting plan of the vaulting overhead. though acas is represented ifit wereon a flat surface, tually it curvesup toward an aPex.

12.2 Athens, Erechtheion, plan Photo: Arts Fine Library,

i

Harvard University.

Itrim
art i+ -fr T

u Tr l
=;LI^]

II

II

12.3 Villard Honnecourt, de project Piene Corbie) (with de fora chevet plan St. and of Etjenne, paris, Meaux, 1230. ca. Bibliotheque Nationale, Fr29093. Ms.

=
o

3
) o7

The ection S
The sectionremainedbasicallythe samefrom rts first appearance the rhirreenthcenin tury; that of PeterParlerfor the fourteenrh-cenrury praguecathedral(fig. 2.6) is the earliest fully correctone I know,though the innovationis probably traceable the Reims to workshop in the 1220s.As with the plan, the section's through the walls is unvericut fiableby ey'e, most cases, can be drawn only with rheaid of the plan. From rhesrarr, in ir parts of the building at some distance behind the verticalsecrionwere included in the representation-in this case, flying buttresses. the Somenonrectilinear designs o[our own time make it difficult to makeand to reada section, either because structureis not rectilinearor because has constantshifts of the it (fig. 12.4). planes

The Pers

The Roman ously-and

sualize their

understand

.;ustexamin

ThemajorRe

tural represe

rherefore mis

2. 16,2. 18) . r

perspective hi

to use ad hoc
12.4 Hans Scharoun, Philharmonic Hall, '1959-'1963, Berlin, longitudinal section. From Eckehard Janofske Arichtektur-RAume: ldee Gestalt und bei Hans Scharoun (Braunschweig and Wiesbaden, 1984).

avoided ril the

server what in

A few sixteen

callyconstruc

estin the desig

pro.1ectron, witl A drawing by I sections, lend t

meanthat the,

space mass, or
I 2.5 LeCorbusier, project fortheinterior ofVilla " Les Tenasses," Garches. Photo permission by of Artists Rights society.

the design; sl in

meantto exagg century

phasize revr the

298

f, ,'
*1i:ti;:;,,1:;:::::;

The Persoective
The Roman theorist Vitruvius recommendedperspective drawings-rather ambiguously-and they havebeenemployedsincethe fiiteenthcenturyto help designers vito sualizetheir work in threedimensionsor to rrrakefinishedrenderings patrons,who for understandably almostalways are baffledby the abstractions oIthe conventions have we just examined,and to represent and reconstruct existingbuildings.

The major Renaissance theorists opposedthe use of perspective a meansof archltecas tural representation because recedinglines would inevitablybe unmeasurable the and thereforemisleading.In practice,all the architectsmade perspectives anyhow (flgs. 2.16,2.LB). But in the very period in which geometrically constructedcentral-point perspective had been inventedand most exploited,architects paradoxically preferred to use ad hoc approaches representing to buildings rn three dimensions.They thus avoidedthe rigidity of the fixed centraleyepoint, and made it possibleto put the observerin whateverhorizontal or verticalposition most lavoredtheir purpose.

A few sixteenth-century architects, notably Baldassarre Peruzzi,employedgeometrically constructedperspective some drawings(fig. 2 23): it may havebeenhis rnterin estin the designof illusionisticstage setsthat led him to a truly sophisticated control of pro1ection, with the plane of projectionplacedbehind the surlaceof the paper.

A drawing by Le Corbusieriliusrrates how perspectives, unlike plans,elevations, and lend themselves especially rhetoricalexposition(frg. 12.5). By rhetoricali to sections, mean that the aim is not simply to represent faithfully as possiblean architectural as spaceor mass,but to presentit to the viewerso as to emphasize particulargoal of the the design;in short, to persuade. Corbusiersinterior perspective a villa designis Le for meant to exaggerate depth of space the and the interplayof abstract planes,and to emliving spaces the late nineteenth phasizethe revolutionarycontrastto middle-class of centuryl

=
o G

.q

;
F

) oo

The persp

pression ol

sentround

(l cupolas.

shownasa vanr.) Phi throughth

see, ana ln

and outsid

the wall as

guide to a I ponents of

tectural (

Palladio, an

evations bu

surements

(fig.2.20)

tlon or sec

represente

constmctit

ativelyfew l

that are ort

abovethe p

perspective 12.6 Philibert Delorme, sectionthechapel, of ChAteau d'Anet. Premier de From tome itect 1 ). I'arch ure(Pats, 561

ln the seve

ical engine

metric dral

of constru colleclme

cedingplar

jective fon beforethe

300

sectionaims to give a readableimThe perspectlve o[ pression a buildings interior;it is usedto repreas sent round or polygonalin[eriors'or partssuch be cupolas. (lf the rnterior ls rectilinear,rt can is shown as an elevadon,and perspective not relea Philibert Delorme in 1567 shor'ved cut 1,sn1.) we through the chapel at Anet (flg 12 6) in which the impression, inslde see,in an ad hoc perspective of ancl outstde simultaneously,and the thickness asa the wall aswell. The drawing would be useless opguide to a builder or mason The Renaissance of rn ponentsof perspectrve the presentation architectural designs-notably Alberti, Rapl'rael' elPalladio,and Barbaro-appealed for orthogonal From machine. Farrish, evationsbuilt up from the plan, in which all mea- 12.7 William are surements exact and can be used in buiiding (fig. 2.20). To make the kind o[ orthogonaielevation or section of a circular or polygonal stlucture to by represented frg.2.20,ir ts practicall)'essential construct it from the plan, whrch is why, in the reldrawingsof such lluildings afvely few Renaissance that are orthogonal, tl-resectlon is drawn dlrectly abovethe pian on the samesheet' t centur;',milinry and mechanln the seventeenth the developed techniqueof axonoical engineers metric drawing,whrch permittedrepresentations of constructionsln three dimensions in which could be retainedin the recorrectmeasurements subceding planes(fig 12.7)' Anongeometrical' had existed even Jective form o[ axonometric paintersof the Japanese before the Renaissance,
.9
o
c

" Onlsometrical PersPective," 9 Society Philosophicat 1 (1822)'fig

5
1n1

:/.::.:.:i,ri.,

'|2.8 Tale Genji, of Japanese 1677. screen, Photo courtesy of lsabella Stewart Museum, Boston. Gardner seventeenth century 1flg. 12.8) frequently illustrated dwellings and town settings from an elevated viewpoint but without perspective diminution, as a way of facilltating their n211s1i1's5-2gain for rhetorical purposes. In the Renaissance,a similar, unconstructed approach rvas found to be the most effective lvay of rqt..renting complex machine s, but in this case the recedlng lines were normally bent around to whatever angle rvould reveal most about a particular part of the structure

The axonometric method proved to be particularly suited to the forms o[ trventiethcentury architecture, rvith its lavoring of straight lines and flat planes. But it came into prorninence through widely used texts on the history of ancient and medieval architecture by Auguste Choisy, beginning in the 1870s. Figure 12.9 shows the plan as well as the interior and exterlor of a Roman vaulted structure.

Painters of the early trventieth century also exploited the axonometric, adding to the basic graphic method the spatial potentiallties of color. El Lissitzky, a Russian artist who

( 12.9 August

chez Roman vault. From debAttr lesromains(Paris,1883) L'art 12.9 Auguste Choisy,

worked in Germany,produced many exhibition designs, which he claimed to be his mosr imporrant work; f,g. 12.1"0 drawn for an exhibit at Hannover was in 1926-1927. Like many of his contemporaries, he held pseudo-sci.entifi.c theoriesof an expandedspace and time to be deslgnedinto his work. Parts o[ the drawing can be readas a proJection from either below or above,and the figure is calculatedto confusethe dual reading:the shifts are intended to actualizethe viewer'sexperiencein time and space.ln a seriesof house studres(fip l2 I l). PeterEisenman has em".- - o. - - .,

ployed axonometric projections of increasingcomplexity not only to reveal the interpenetration of

projectforthe 12.10 ElLissitzky, Cabinet Abstraction of inthe Provincial Museum, Hannover, Sprengel Museum.

1 2 .1 2L u d wM ig

planes, but to explorethe complexityand incoherence

--f ur - - .Pdudl > -,i^l - ^(^ , . ^ - ^ r l tduut15 .

CAD: C The

Mies van der Rohedeveloped unique form of archia tectural representation which the structure itself in could be represented a void (fig. 12.12).Thus the as ResorHouse project is represented an interior eleby vation in whlch the wall, which is glass, only a picis turesquecollageof photographsof a vast landscape beyondit (not eventhe one that would havebeenseen from the house)and two mullions, of blank paper;rhe broaderwhite bandsaresteelcolumns.Although rhey reject perspective representation, Miess drawings o[ this klnd in fact call upon the viewer's understanding of perspective visualizea readable to spaceout of the void. Historically they are allied to the minimalism of

Computer-a

12. 13)Asa t r .

the introduct

pectsof work

structuraldet

lowing for vis

the capacity o

grammedintc Z and Alias-

especially the

pansionin th

curves(exten

ste traditional

12.1 Peter 1 Iisenman, drawing for House, Guardiola Puerto de Maria, Santa Cadiz, Spain Photo of counesythearchitect

the 1960sin painting and sculpture.

doesnot mere by hand, but

traordinarypr

304

York. Art, of Museum Modern New 1937-1 Photo: 938. House, study Mies der 2 12.1 Ludwig van Rohe, fortheResor

l ma C C AD : T h eo mp u te r g e
(fig. Computer-aided design is having a profound effect on architectural drawing innovationin the field, its importanceperhapsequalsthat of 12.13).As a technological in rheintroduction of paper.lt is now almostindispensable supportingthe technicalasducting, and pecrsof working drawings,such as those for lighting, heating,acoustics, imaging, alstructuraldetailing.It moveseasilybetweentwo- and three-dimensional previously worked out. Increasingly,it has lowing for visualization of forms and spaces proparameters the capacityof hand-madedrawing to depart from the predetermined grammed into the software.Recentlynew applications,facilitatedby the softwareForm Z and Alias-and best known to the public in illustrations of the work of Frank Gehry, Museum in Bilbao(fig 12.la)-have permitteda greatexthe especially Guggenheim pansion in the ability to devisecomplex manipulationsof planesin undulationsand of of curves(exrensions what Robin Evanscalled ruled lines) beyond the capabiiities now virtually a lost technique).Here the machine traditionalstereotomy(in any case, that drawingprocesses had previouslybeencarriedout only doesnot merelyaccelerate on by hand, but opensup a potential not attainable the drawing board, one with exform' traordinarypotentralfor the extensionof architectural
.F

t
O 6

30s

'|2.1 Asymptote Rashid Lise (Hani 3 and Anne Couture), interface Guggenheim study, Virtual Musuem, Photo 1999. courtesy of thearchitects.

( 12.14 Fran

306

;";;;;lf
I .: r :,.:;r:r::r '

photo 12.'14 Frank Gehry, forGuggenheim study Museum, Bilbao. courtesy architect ofthe

t
o o

.=

sqtrs

a H a n d n dM i n d
As a sign, a conventionrefersto an aspectthat is signified.lf the drawing in which it ls project,then it relates the signified to an used represents existingbuilding or a fi.nished it to of somewhatasa verbaldescriptionrelates an aspect the ob.lect refersto. This is not the represents signito saythat either the graphicor the verbaldescription"accurately" fied, bur only that it relates it in someway that can be read.What arethe differentefto are What aspects architecture more of fectsof a graphic and a written representation? communicable drawing as opposedto words? by

A study by Michelangelofor the plan of the church o[ San Giovanni de' Fiorentini in Rome,o[ 1559 (frg. ]2 l5), posesthe questionof what the graphicsign signifiesin the ln caseof a sketch or study for a possiblestructurethat has not fully materialized the mind. Is ir then a sign lor a mental image? That would be a possibleexplanadesigners psychology, whlch, I take it, would hold that the mental lmtion in terms of Cartesian age is fixed and unrnflectedby the processof drawing. But archltecturalsketchingis most often an interactive process which an initial idea is put down and lhe mark sugin gestsan extensionof that idea, which then resultsin an altered mark. This is how Michelangelo's plan becameso heavily worked over; while it may have lost its initial vitality that makeseveryelementseemto be aliveand in clarity,it gainedan expresslve are sheets particuevolution.The interchange goeson until a resolntionis found. Sr-rch larly preciousbecause they bring us closestto the moment of conception.An earlier proposal for the samebuilding (lig. i2.l6) by anotherarchitect,Antonio da Sangallo ivay,though one (a longiin the Younger, presents alternative proposals a more readable is with the other (a circularplan with tudinal plan with side chapels) quite inconsistent
rq A i q ttn o ch rn p l s) -" '^r_ _ '.'

W
''

t 't

Even marks aimlesslymade can be organizedby a draftsmaninto purposeful form. Leonardoda Vinci proposedthat a painted compositionbe startedfrom arstain made by throwing a spongeagainst wall. Inventionmay thus be physicalaswell as mental, a today are questioningthis distinction. though neuroscientists

12.16 Anto

Flor

308

12.15 Michelangelo Buonanoti, project San for Giovanni de'Fiorentini, Rome, I 559. Florence, Casa Buonarroti, 124.

;
o
c

1 2'1 6 Ant oniodas angallot hey ounger , p r o . j e c t f o r s a n G i o v a n n i d e 'F i o r e n t i n i , R o m e , l 5 l g - , | 5 1 .9 9 Florence, A1 (photo: Uffizr, 292 author).
E

309

wlth its co

light and sL

struments u pose th and

be a delica

pen,or steel

may be loos

Nc surfaces. \,e). partic a

it, but each

way of perc

what he or s traitsoI ren

qtrrle ,r f the

4!!

Ur dL/

12.17Louis HypostyleKarnak. Kahn, Hall, Collection Kahn. SueAnn

aremanyp(

The architect's sketchin preparationfor a work differs from the paintersor sculptors. A basic conventionof the former,such as a p1an, bearsvirtually no visual relationship to the structureasbullt; one cannotevenscethe plan of a completedbuilding. yet most frequentiythe initial studiesfor a building are made in p1an.The figural arrist,on rhe other hand, makespreparatory sketches that relatedirectly to the appearance the inof tended sculptureor painting-sometimes for the compositionas a whole, sometimes for some part of it; he or she has virtually no conventional signsthat are stand-insfor the fina1 product(figs.6.17,6.18).

LouisKahn

a whollyidi,

his career-

monument

areinflecte

that affectd

Piranesi's et Rome(fig I

T h e e p r e s en tao fo n sti n gu i l d i n g s R ti E xi B
The rhetoric of drawing is perhapsbest rllustratedin represenrations buildings rhat alof readyexist (figs. 12.i 7-12.22). The drafrsman chooses building he or shewanrsto the drawwith a particularpurposein mind, and that purposeaffects what is represented and how.An immense r:rngeof representations available,from the sun,eyor's archaeolois or gist's orthogonal elevation the watercolorists to br-rilding in a landscape rendered set and 310

its sublime; pearance of

with what ti

The repres

ologicalexc

with its contours and detallsblurred by contrastsof light and shadow and of color. The surfaceand the inwith the purstruments usedarechosenin accordance it in poseand the intendedaffect; the first example, may line executed draftingpaperwith a fine on be a delicate it steelpen, or engraved a metalplate;in the second, on may be loosebrushworkappliedto a varietyof rougher Not seek surfaces. only doeseachrepresentation to conbestadapted to vey a particularmessage with the means it, but eachobservation the product of an individuals is way of perceir'rng,and of his or her way of conveying The latter involvesindividual what he or she perceives. to traitsof rendering,comparable handwriting,and the style of the time and place of making. Therelbrethe "accuracy" a depictionis entirelyidioslrlcratic,there of aremany potential"accuraciesl'

Louis Kahn sketchedthe HypostyleHall at Karnak in w a whollyidios y n c ra ti ca y(fi g . I 2 I 7 ).a sa m o m e nli n his career-long pursuit of the effectsof hght and of of monumental composltion.Photographs a building are inflectedby the samepersonaland cultural forces that affectdrawings(seechapter4).
I 2.1 Giovanni Battista Piranes 8 . moat Castel of Sant'Angelo, Rome. Leantichitd From (Rome, 11 5]', romane ca. 1 4, vol, plate 9. Photo: Arts Fine Library, Harvard University.

in Piranesi's etching of the baseof CastelSant'Angelo in Rome(fig. 12.18)is an exercise communicatingthe sublime;its intention ls not to provide cluesto the appearance the building, but to overwhelmthe viewer of p wit h what t he ar ti s t a wa s i tsa w e s o me o w e r. s

.= =
o o
a

The representations of the results of modern archaeologicai excavation are certainly the drawings least

.9

311

[_.]l

(1968). plan. Hesperia3T 12.19Athens,Agora, From influencedby personalfactors. call them "objective" when the aspects draftsman We the depictscorrespondto our expectation how the drawing can be most useful. In the of plan of the Agora at Athens (fig. I 2 .19), we can follow a story of the palimpsestof cu]ture in the courseof time. But we could go with this drawing in hand to the site it describesand be totally unableto orient ourselves. The structures shown herearemental constrlrcts much of which may havebeen dehypothesizedfrom scrapsof evidence, stroyedin the finding, or coveredover afterbeing found.

12.20G.PSte

19ss) c

h draftsman;

wall by gues

v cathedrals,

In early(pre would calla

resentanyki more signifi

The reconstructionof destroyed alteredbuildings tends to edgecloserto Piranesi's or fantasythan to the measured plans.All are redolentof the historicalmoment in which they weremade.A typicalreconstruction the Parthenon Athens(fig 12.20)selects of in a viewpointcalculated dramatize approachin a mid-twentieth-century to the way,seeking verisimilitudeby the additlon of actorsin Greek costume.Another visitor to the Parthenon, beforeit had beenblown up in the early fifteenthcentury,provided a quite (frg. 12.2i). Thereaisois a built-in unreliabilityin the presentation differentrestoration of the eievations and sections existingbuildings; there are no rules constraining of the 312

We knowthr

astonishing

naissance ar

curate repr a

havepermit

anti remade

the fourth-c

lii

f
t

;t ::\

:. 4 -]:] \
(Princeton, 12.20 G.PStevens, reconstruction Parthenon, From ofthe Athens. Restorations ofClassical Buildinqs I 955), Courtesy ofAmerican ofClassical Athens. School Studies, draftsman;he or she may havearrivedat the height of an entablature the width of a or wall by guessing. Guessing the preferred the is methodin representing heightsof Gothic cathedrals, which aremostly too tall to measure affordable by means. In early (pre-1500)drawingsthis alterationis usuallydue to an indifference what we to would call accuracy: RichardKrautheimershowedthat medievaldraftsmenmight representany kind of central-plan building asround, sincethe symbolismof centralitywas more significantthan the actualform.
o G

\ #

We know the Renaissance period for its devotionto the remainsof antiquity,and for the astonishing number of drawings of ancient remains surviving from the hands of Renaissance architects and renderers. would expectthesedrawingsto provide as acWe curalea representation ancientremainsasthe techniques of and styleof the time would architects havepermitted. Not so; even,or perhapsespeciaily, most distinguished the A of remadeantiquity accordingto their own interests carelessness. reconstruction or rhe fourth-century Santa Costanzain Rome by Francesco di Giorgio Martini (fig. 313
't

1222)-a a1lygoods planwith e

'g'

cT?"tntt.
!

space, ratt

and ignore

We might buildingsir rauonrn p Portraits, li

thoseinten semble the

or occasio

time (asear

ancient coir

tural repre

the style ar

Lrons. Portr

served r but

symboliccl

chitectural

cialandpol

Piranesidir

DanieleBa

throughhis

painter anc

vestments c

and his ac

r published

architectu

odd capita
1 2.2 1 Ciriacod 'Anc ona, f ac adeof t hePar t henon , A t h e n s , l 4 3 6 . B e r l i n , S t a a t s b i b l i o t h e k , M s . H a m i l t o n 2 5 4 , f o l . S 5 r .

314

1222)-a

structurethat still standsin an exception/A

aliy good stateof preservation-presentsthe circular plan with eighteen pairs of columnsaround its central space,rather than the twelve that actually are there, and ignoresthe thick walls and niches.
;L** tt --

jL;)i
,
I i

s8 t *,' w
od aq !-"ryr4

b
fa g j

We might ask whether the representatlon existing of buiidings is the samesort of significationas representation in painting and figural or landscapedrawrng. (otherthan like architectural representations Portraits, those intended for use),are normally expectedto resemblethe subjectin someway,and they do obsen'e or occasionally establishconventions current in their time (asearlyRenaissance portraltsadopt the forms of ancientcoins,medals,and busts).Like most architectural representations, they are substantiallyrecastin the style and technique chosenby the artist and patrons. Portraitstypically transmitnot only what is obsen'edbut aspects the sltter that can be inferredby of symbolicclues:character, status, aspirations, Aretc. chitecturalrepresentations no lesscolored by soare cial and politicalforces, is clearfrom the example as by Piranesidiscussed above (fig. 12.18).A portrart of DanieleBarbaro(fig. 9.1) conveysthe sitter'sgravity through his expression and his lack of contactwith the painter and viewer; his position is indicated by the vestments his office (asPatriarch-Elect Aquileia), of of and his achievements the prominent role of his by published works. Attention is further directed to his architecturalinterestsby the colossalcolumn and an odd capital-likeform alongside it.

\,1

-)' a

12.22 Francesco di Giorglo Martini, plan sectionSanta and of Rome, Costanza, 1489ff. Turin, Eiblioteca Reale, Ms. Saluzzo c.88. 148,

;
o

E
U

E
6

'-

'3 3r5

T h e h e t o rof D ra w i n q R ic
In sum, the architectural drawing is not just a documentcontainlngthe requireddata, bearsthe stamp of the author'spersonalstyleand that of the time and but inescapably (A p1ace. practicedviewer can identify the draftsman-provided an adequate number of drawings by the same hand have been documented-or at least the approximate date, through evidencethat is primarily of a formal characterbut can include the maker's orientationtowardwhat is presented.) Further,a drawingmay be a graphicform o[ architecturaltheory,conceived not only to illustratethe designer's principlesbut to persuade viewerof the validityof his or her point of view (fig. 12.12). the

Therefore

tory Rad

werein th

ine therea

of only mi

to semiol historyas

braries an

ruminatio

An architectural drawing may be not just a meansto an end but an end in itself.Drawings can be the only way of presenting projectsthat arevisionaryor at leasttemporarily unrealizable. They can becomepromotionai instruments(presentation drawings, competltiondrawings)or an object of fashionquite disconnected from the making of buildings, to the extent of being quite unbuildable (the fashionof drawing resembles that of clothes).In the past century many architects, particularly those most widely known, havebuilt reputations drawingsprior to having built much of importance: on Le Corbusier,having had few commissions his early career, in energetically produced and publishedarchitecture paper.In recentyears, on Tschumi,Koolhaas, Eisenman, Coop Himmelblau,and Libeskindhaveexercised greatinfluenceon the profession and on architecturaleducationprimarily through drawings disseminated through books and periodicals, and in art galleries and museums.Sinceat leastthe eighteenth century, architectural drawingshavebeenprized by collectors and exhibitedasworks of art and haveacquireda value on the art market.

Finally,the conventionsare, in a sense,elementsof a language; like words and sentences, they are inventedor arrivedat by mutual agreement and, oncein place,remain wrth little changefor centuries.Because they are a way in which an architectcommunicates basicaspects his or her work with anyoneinterested building and the art of in o[ architecture, altering or attemptingto improve them can result only in confusion.

Therefore'unrike architecrural styresor drafting techniques, they havealmosrno his_

investigation, then, is more cioselyrelated to semiologythan to standard archltectural research. is an aiternadve It to architectural history asit hasbeenpracriced, and its appear in the facr ries rhat it is pursuednot in ri_ brariesand archivesbut with rearworks in hand, through visual experiences and the ruminationsthat follow them.

inerhereasons,,n.,o."i;;;:HJ.::::,fl;:;.:::.'",:"-":-::ff :"ffi ;. of only minor historicalinterest. This field of

;J: f

f:r-J::"rr,ons

canbe rearized,with estabrished convenrions,they as

t
o E

'-

J1/