scholarly journals Drawing on an architecture of blindness: A critique of the visual privilege operating in architectural representation

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hannah Walsh

<p><b>This thesis exhibits the visual medium of architectural representation destabilized and reinterpreted by locating blindness in architecture. What can blind drawing allow architects to see? </b></p> <p>As a primary medium of architectural representation, drawing is an agency through which architecture is conceptualised, developed and disseminated. Conventionally, drawings are generated and perceived through sight: they are visual projections. Such visual privilege reduces the subject of architectural representations to visible, physical elements of buildings, while invisible, and/or intangible aspects of architectural experience often lack consideration in drawing. The architectural design process can be described as the translation of architecture between the mediums of drawing and building. The context of representation describes this translation as shifting from conceptual to conventional drawing types. While the visual privilege constantly operates in both conceptual and conventional drawing, the differences between their visual languages enable them to describe different aspects of architectural experience. The main difference that this thesis explores is the strictly visual vocabulary of conventional drawing, and the ambiguous capacity of conceptual drawing, enabling it to reference both visual and non-visual aspects of architectural experience. </p> <p>This thesis places conceptual and conventional drawing in parallel, aiming to exaggerate their differences on paper, and what they represent in reality, highlighting where and how architecture risks being weakened during a course of translation. The first half challenges the visual privilege through blind drawing as an alternative mode of conceptual drawing, while the second half identifies invisible aspects of architectural experience that cannot be depicted through conventional drawing. In concluding the research, these differences also evidence opportunities offered by the dual capacity of architectural representation, which simultaneously depicts visible (and physical), and invisible (and intangible) elements. For example, a line as a wall, also defines invisible space either side of said wall – perhaps dotted by the warmth of morning sun and cooler patches of shadow cast by window mullions. This thesis addresses a shift away from the ingrained visual privilege thriving in architectural thought. While drawing remains an inevitably visual medium, the design process must consider both visual and non-visual aspects, equally incorporated by an architectural experience. To exploit the dual capacity of representation, such methods of drawing should encourage architects to draw as though they are blind.</p>

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hannah Walsh

<p><b>This thesis exhibits the visual medium of architectural representation destabilized and reinterpreted by locating blindness in architecture. What can blind drawing allow architects to see? </b></p> <p>As a primary medium of architectural representation, drawing is an agency through which architecture is conceptualised, developed and disseminated. Conventionally, drawings are generated and perceived through sight: they are visual projections. Such visual privilege reduces the subject of architectural representations to visible, physical elements of buildings, while invisible, and/or intangible aspects of architectural experience often lack consideration in drawing. The architectural design process can be described as the translation of architecture between the mediums of drawing and building. The context of representation describes this translation as shifting from conceptual to conventional drawing types. While the visual privilege constantly operates in both conceptual and conventional drawing, the differences between their visual languages enable them to describe different aspects of architectural experience. The main difference that this thesis explores is the strictly visual vocabulary of conventional drawing, and the ambiguous capacity of conceptual drawing, enabling it to reference both visual and non-visual aspects of architectural experience. </p> <p>This thesis places conceptual and conventional drawing in parallel, aiming to exaggerate their differences on paper, and what they represent in reality, highlighting where and how architecture risks being weakened during a course of translation. The first half challenges the visual privilege through blind drawing as an alternative mode of conceptual drawing, while the second half identifies invisible aspects of architectural experience that cannot be depicted through conventional drawing. In concluding the research, these differences also evidence opportunities offered by the dual capacity of architectural representation, which simultaneously depicts visible (and physical), and invisible (and intangible) elements. For example, a line as a wall, also defines invisible space either side of said wall – perhaps dotted by the warmth of morning sun and cooler patches of shadow cast by window mullions. This thesis addresses a shift away from the ingrained visual privilege thriving in architectural thought. While drawing remains an inevitably visual medium, the design process must consider both visual and non-visual aspects, equally incorporated by an architectural experience. To exploit the dual capacity of representation, such methods of drawing should encourage architects to draw as though they are blind.</p>


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth M. Keslacy ◽  

The materials and techniques that we use to create architectural representations undoubtedly affect how we apprehend the work of architecture being depicted. By analogy, if we consider Leonardo da Vinci’s oil-on-poplar depiction of Lisa Gherardini next to a pencil sketch, a comic-book style half-tone, and a graffiti-based interpretation of the Mona Lisa, it’s clear that each medium maintains its own set of associations, while, at the same time, clearly communicates its content and reference. The medium is not perhaps the whole message, but it is an important component of our experience of images and drawings.It is also true that the choice of a particular mode of drawing during the design process can profoundly shape the object being designed. Any student of architecture can rattle off the implications of choosing Rhino, Sketch-Up, Maya, AutoCad, or Revit to work through an architectural design problem, particularly in terms of the forms and details that each software facilitates easily or with difficulty. Robin Evans’ insights about drawing’s fundamental difference from its content, and yet the agency it maintains in the shaping of that content, turns out to be just as true in the digital age as it was in the era of hand drawing.1 Unfortunately, the professional trend toward hyperreal image-making has meant concealing the drawing’s own construction processes and neutering its space-generating potential. The speculative and uncertain nature of hand-production is sublimated in favor of the glossy render that makes the proposed appear as already-real. The pendulum is already swinging away from this tendency in some academic and professional circles, largely under the banner of the post-digital.2 Despite a return to orthography, collage, and an “illustrated” rather than “rendered” sensibility, the so-called post-digital largely remains stubbornly digital. How, in a world saturated with Instagram-worthy architectural images, can we teach our students to reinvest in a drawing-based design process that is experimental and open-ended? How can drawing itself be reinvigorated both in terms of its representational agency and its abilities to produce new kinds of form and space?


2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 183-200
Author(s):  
Goran Marinović

The dispersed interpretation of ecological issues in architecture creates grounds for the confusions and contradictions inherent in the sustainable challenges. The relationship between sustainability and its architectural representation remains a troubled one. In contemporary architectural praxis the term sustainability is frequently little more than a fashionable phrase or comfort word. Through analysis of the myriad of projects, articles, and books on the subject of sustainable design, it is evident that sustainable architecture has incorporated an unnecessarily limited and inappropriate conceptualisation of social ecology. In order to overcome this deductive logic of sustainable architecture this paper has two aims. First, it investigates different notions of ecological sustainability. The paper argues that we must fundamentally revise the focus and scope of the debate about sustainable architecture. Second, following the work of Chilean architects Elemental, this paper elucidates issues of design process in constructing residence units with respect to participatory practices of community members. It explores a design process of housing in relation to issues of socio-ecological aspects. Concretising the argument, this paper investigates competing interpretations of ecological and sociological features in architectural process of designing residence units.


Buildings ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 59
Author(s):  
Abraham Yezioro ◽  
Isaac Guedi Capeluto

Improving the energy efficiency of existing and new buildings is an important step towards achieving more sustainable environments. There are various methods for grading buildings that are required according to regulations in different places for green building certification. However, in new buildings, these rating systems are usually implemented at late design stages due to their complexity and lack of integration in the architectural design process, thus limiting the available options for improving their performance. In this paper, the model ENERGYui used for design and rating buildings in Israel is presented. One of its main advantages is that it can be used at any design stage, including the early ones. It requires information that is available at each stage only, as the additional necessary information is supplemented by the model. In this way, architects can design buildings in a way where they are aware of each design decision and its impact on their energy performance, while testing different design directions. ENERGYui rates the energy performance of each basic unit, as well as the entire building. The use of the model is demonstrated in two different scenarios: an office building in which basic architectural features such as form and orientation are tested from the very beginning, and a residential building in which the intervention focuses on its envelope, highlighting the possibilities of improving their design during the whole design process.


2018 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 25-43 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ayman Ahmed Ezzat Othman ◽  
Nermeen Mohamed Amin Abdelwahab

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to develop a framework integrating risk management (RM) into the architectural design process (ADP) as an approach for delivering sustainable construction projects. Design/methodology/approach A research methodology, which consisted of literature review and field study, is designed to accomplish four objectives. First, to provide a comprehensive literature review of the concepts of sustainability, ADP and RM. Second, to present and synthesis the results of two relevant studies focused on identifying, quantifying and classifying the risks associated with ADP; and investigating the perception and application of Egyptian architectural design firms (ADFs) towards integrating RM into ADP as an approach for delivering sustainable construction projects. Third, to develop a framework that integrates RM into ADP towards delivering sustainable construction projects. Finally, to draw conclusions and recommendations to improve the practice of delivering sustainable construction projects among ADFs, construction professionals and governmental authorities. Findings ADP is a fundamental phase of the construction process because the decisions adopted during this phase affect the project performance throughout its life cycle. While RM is widely applied in different sectors of the construction industry, its application in ADP received scant attention in construction literature. The research identified 18 key risks that affect the sustainable delivery of construction projects during ADP. The architect, the client and the project manager are the highest ranked responsible parties for the occurrence of these key risks. The field study highlighted the need to develop a framework to facilitate integrating RM into ADP. Research limitations/implications This paper focused only on the integration of RM into ADP. Originality/value The conducted literature review and field study provided an in-depth understanding of the key risks that affect the sustainable delivery of construction projects during ADP. Through its five stages, the proposed framework is expected to serve as a foundation for integrating RM into ADP as an approach for delivering sustainable projects. This ideology has received scant attention in construction literature. The developed framework represents a synthesis that is novel and creative in thought and adds value to the knowledge in a manner that has not previously occurred.


2017 ◽  
Vol 41 (5) ◽  
pp. 397-417 ◽  
Author(s):  
A Romanska-Zapala ◽  
M Bomberg ◽  
M Fedorczak-Cisak ◽  
M Furtak ◽  
D Yarbrough ◽  
...  

The quest for a sustainable built environment brought dramatic changes to architectural design because of the integrated design process. The integrated design process is the modern way to realize “performance architecture,” that is, design with a view to field performance. Integrated design process permits merging of concepts from passive-house designs, solar engineering, and an integration of the building enclosure with mechanical services. In part 1 of this series, the emergence of many new multi-functional materials was discussed. Yet, current innovation is guided by lessons from history. Thermal mass in heavy masonry buildings allowed periodic heating. The authors postulate integration of a hydronic heating system with the walls and the use of smart temperature control of the heating system to modify and optimize the thermal mass contribution. To use the mass of a building, one must accept transient temperature conditions where the indoor temperature varies but is confined by comfort requirements for both summer and winter conditions. On the other side, resiliency requirements dictate that in the absence of electricity the air temperature does not fall below about 12°C over a period of several hours. This requirement implies that summer cooling will likely be separated from the heating systems and that operation of a low-energy building is heavily dependent on the design of smart control systems. Analysis of control systems provided in this article for earth-to-air heat exchangers and cooling of houses with lightweight walls lead us to the requirements of separation between heating and ventilation and needs for different sources of fresh air. Finally, a new concept emerges.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Farhan Ali ◽  

Thinking creatively, is a necessary condition of the Design process to transform ideas into novel solutions and break barriers to creativity. Although, there are many techniques and ways to stimulate creative thinking for designers, however, this research paper adopts SCAMPER; which is acronym of: Substitute- Combine-Adapt- Modify or Magnify-Put to another use-Eliminate-Reverse or Rearrange- to integrate the sustainability concepts within architectural design process. Many creative artifacts have been designed consciously or unconsciously adopting SCAMPER strategies such as rehabilitation and reuse projects to improve the functional performance or the aesthetic sense of an existing building for the better. SCAMPER is recognized as a divergent thinking tool are used during the initial ideation stage, aims to leave the usual way of thinking to generate a wide range of new ideas that will lead to new insights, original ideas, and creative solutions to problems. The research focuses on applying this method in the architectural design, which is rarely researched, through reviewing seven examples that have been designed consciously or unconsciously adopting SCAMPER mnemonic techniques. The paper aims to establish a starting point for further research to deepen it and study its potentials in solving architectural design problems.


2012 ◽  
Vol 64 ◽  
pp. 18-25 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohd Arif Ismail ◽  
Rosnaini Mahmud ◽  
Isham Shah Hassan

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