• Aucun résultat trouvé

Drawing/s

N/A
N/A
Protected

Academic year: 2021

Partager "Drawing/s"

Copied!
190
0
0

Texte intégral

(1)

DRAWING/S by

Kim Sammis

B.A, Wellesley College, Wellesley, Mass. 1978 Submitted in partial fulfillment of the Requirements for the degree of

Master of Architecture at the

MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY June 1986

c Kim Sammis 1986

The author hereby grants to M.I.T. permission to reproduce and to distribute publicly copies of this thesis in whole or in part.

Signature of Author

Kim Sammis. Department of

Certfied by

Accepted by

(

A iijture, May 16, 1986

/

Imre Halasz, Professor of Architecture. Thesis Supervisor

Th 9

.ms C-has ain C a irman , Departfentai on Graduate Students

MASS.

JUN

0INS.s4

1986

Ri E

(2)

MITL'ibaries

Document Services

Room 14-0551 77 Massachusetts Avenue Cambridge, MA 02139 Ph: 617.253.2800 Email: docs@mit.edu http://Iibraries.mit.eduldocs

DISCLAIMER OF QUALITY

Due to the condition of the original material, there are unavoidable

flaws in this reproduction. We have made every effort possible to

provide you with the best copy available. If you are dissatisfied with

this product and find it unusable, please contact Document Services as

soon as possible.

Thank you.

The images contained in this document are of

the best quality available.

(3)

-tat-.'

^*

:

' 14

(4)

DRAWING/S

by Kim Sammis

Submitted to the Department of Architecture on May 9, 1986 in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Architecture Studies.

ABSTRACT

Drawing has become essential to the making of architecture. Though some of the most magnificent structures were created without documentation, testified by The Pyramids, the Parthenon, primitive dwellings, treehouses and many other "spontaneous" constructions, the contemporary profession of making buildings demands countless representations. From sketchy initial concepts to persuasive presentations to detailed construction documents, the making of images for a design sometimes takes longer than the construction process. Images must be read by many diverse people involved in the formation of buildings, therefore architectural notation systems demand consistency. Despite the accepted language of representation, images are abstractions of real objects. They are limited in their scope of information and allow us to bring our own perceptions to them.

Architectural drawings stand between us and an object. Due to their two dimensional nature, they must present information with symbols and conventions that we take for granted, just as we accept the structure of language. Many contemporary drawings are created not to serve the making of buildings, but to make a visual or ideological statement. They are illustrative of ideas, and their resultant physical forms would express the manipulations of drawings, rather than the reverse. This aspect of representation has led me to question the substance of architectural images, their functions and the use of traditional notation systems specific to architecture and its .allied craf ts.

Herbert Spenser said. "language must truly be regarded as a hindrance to thought." We think in images, though the mandatory learning of verbal formations may well

befuddle our visions. Notation systems in architecture are similar to language. They too are abstractions of concepts and require training for understanding and manipulation.

(5)
(6)

Drawing is a communicative tool. In architecture, drawings specifically relate to three dimensional space and its construction. This thesis is a study of particular types of drawings, their deeper significance, their production, and their influence upon the process of design. Historical, as well as formal analyses are incorporated in order to present a fuller understanding of the language.

j-i w A. Walter Gropius. "The eye compared to a camera." Z 7 -~

~

0

-f , ; " -

(7)
(8)

TABLE OF CONTENTS

PROLOGUE

THE MAP OF SUZHOU PERCEPTION

HOUSE X, THE AXONOMETRIC

AND CONVENTION

AND THE MACHINE

SKETCHES

THE TOOLS OF DRAWING ARCHITECTURE

EPILOGUE

NOTES

BIBLIOGRAPHY

PICTORIAL SOURCES

11

21

53

91

127

161

165

175

181

(9)
(10)

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

What a pleasure and relief to reflect upon, rather than be absorbed in, this process that has raised more questions than answers. Little -do my friends know how they have guided me through not only the past few months, but the past few years as well. I thank

Leigh, whose gentle nature and kindness have often offset my dark swings.

Mary, an eternally kindred spirit who shames me with her generosity and devotion. Jane, who maintains stability, humor and thoughtfulness throughout the toughest of times.

Hassan, who possesses a lust for life that sometimes makes even me blush. Trina, who keeps us all in touch with what's real.

And to those friends outside this place who have not quite understood the compulsion, but have dragged me away from it, nonetheless:

Thank you, Anne, Michael, Nan and Laurie.

My greatest appreciation to those teachers who have influenced my life as much as my architectural education; Rosemary Grimshaw, Elin and Carmen Corneil and Peter Prangnell.

Thank you, Imre, for taking on this questionable project and candidly expressing appreciation and criticism.

The utmost gratitude goes to my mother, Lynn Kang, who has taught me well about freedom, love and friendship, and to my father, S. Fraser Sammis, who has done everything he could to help me through.

(11)
(12)

The question is not what we look at, but what we see." Thoreau

PROLOGUE

Drawing is a universal language. The subject of representation in the field of architecture crosses many topical borders and discussions inevitably lead to psychology, philosophy and history - all aspects that contribute to the substance of representations

and more significantly, the things they represent. This is the heart of the issue. The major difference between architecural drawings and others is that they are specifically created for the purpose of communicating information about a tangible object. What identifies them with other forms of art is that beyond the technical necessities, they can portray ideas, associations, intentions, atmosphere, sequence...a multitude of elements that make architecture "the livliest of the arts." Sometimes drawings display a sense of the perceptual conditions of a building, though often they offer only objective facts - enough to comprehend relationships, structure, movement and materials.

(13)

/l a * ~

-4

t1

(14)

The Carpenter Center For the Visual Arts is not Corbusier's most celebrated building, even though he claimed that "he would put all his architectural elements into it."(1) It is the only one that I have had the opportunity to explore and have realized in the process that typical architectural drawings of the building could never give a substantial sense of its spatiality. Of course, the interpretation of architectural images depends not only upon our experience with them but also upon the images themselves. The things a designer chooses to portray, the method she uses to portray them and the medium of presentation tells as much about the designer's intentions as does the actual structure. In this particular case, none of the traditional systems of architectural delineation do the building justice, and their associative use doesn't add up the way representation of a more planar building might. Plan, section, elevation, axonometrics or pespectives are unable to tell the story of The Carpenter Center. The experience of the unified object defies that kind of notation. This is not to imply that other buildings don't exist that are similarly complex. (a local example being a design by M.I.T.'s Maurice Smith.) Theories behind the forms inherently contradict planar notation systems, which include all orthographic and isometric consturctions. An

interior or exterior perspective view would give a static impression when the buildings themselves articulate just the opposite; movement and its temporal and spatial manifestations. This is all very academic and many would contend that two dimensional representation of architecture could never give an accurate account of the "experience" of a building. The point is that some buildings can be described and imagined through the use of a series of drawings though they can never emulate the sense of being in or around a space, and others resist that kind of description. An inspection of architectural drawing conventions will help clarify this point.

Corbusier's drawing of the Carpenter Center is intriguing not only in the methods he uses to describe the building, but in the form of the building itself, particularly in its

A. Basement Floor Plan, Carpenter Center. B. Longitudinal Section, Carpenter Center.

(15)
(16)

14-relation to the surrounding environment. A site plan of the area best displays it as an anomaly. The Center dramatically alters the circulation routes in the Quincy Street area and its form looks glaringly noncontextual. In fact, the form might be disassociated with anything else we know, except possibly in our dreams, or doodles, or the lines left after mindlessly tracing our foot through the sand. The curves of the studio walls are not rooted in mathematics, recognizeable geometries or images from elements in the history of architecture. The shape is playful, imaginative, spontaneous. and reminds us that these qualitiles are not relegated to reverie, but are freecdoms, or

may be so bold to say, necesities, in our daily lives.

Corbusier proclaims a liberation from the constraints and formulae of historical tradition and from the limitations of the drawing tools that implement our design process. The curves in the Carpenter Center were not made with the aid of a template, irregular curve or compass. They came directly from the mind of the artist, his hand and pencil the only mechanics for representation. This particular aspect of the drawing sparked a question in my mind about the things we use to make other things. Contemporary buildings begin not with blocks of stone or trunks of trees and eonough men to cut and haul them into place, but with knowledge, imagination and a thin, fragile drawing surface and hand held tools to manipulate images. The tools used for design drawing evolved in response to ideas and needs, and gently dictate certain

ways of thinking.

Architectural drawings are a step away from the real thing. Due to their abstract nature - the depiction of three dimensional space on a two dimensional surface, they rely on conventions that necessitate particluar ways of seeing. They require a standard consistency in order to attain the penultimate goal of making buildings. The conventions, or language of representation, carry with them certain assumptions and limitations which we generally take for granted due to our familiarity with them. The

C. Site Plan Photograph, Carpenter Center.

(17)
(18)

systems of notation force us to limit our perceptions to its requirements. Questions concerning those limits and requirements form the basis of this thesis.

Systems of notation in architecture have developed in order to share objective information about buildings between many people. They consitiute a language that must be learned and practised for clear understanding. The components; plan, section, elevation isometrics and perspective, can be comprehended singularly, but in order to receive a full mental image of the volume and forms of a building, they must be combined. Each one is a symbolic representation of some aspect of a place and implies an interpretation of the thing. We must respond to that interpretation with knowledge and personal perceptions in order to attempt to reconstruct what was in the mind of the architect.

To speak of the art of representation as a unified whole is unrealistic. Drawings are made for many purposes, and in many cases, the drawing we see is not rendered by the creator of the idea. The following essays are not as much concerned with presentation or competition drawings, but with formative drawings, the implicit systems and rules and their meanings.

The history of architectural drawings is older than the profession itself and can be investigated through a myriad of themes. Each drawing is not only about building, but speaks of techniques, purposes, geometries, theories, systems and culture. The following articles are not intended to be a chronological treatise on changing styles, nor are they a critique of modes of representation, though distillation is required in both areas in order to formulate a basis for investigation. The four articles are separate inquiries into the larger subject of representation, each focusing on a specific element of the process of making and understanding architecture through its representation. Inherent

(19)
(20)

in each is speculation about how these different subjects influence the way we create

architectural form.

D. David Hockney. "Kirby (After Hogarth) Useful Knowledge."

(21)
(22)

"Indeed, oh Socrates - Teetatus says - I am full of wonder at what these "appearances" are; and at times, if I dwell on looking at them, I really feel

dizzy."

Plato: Teetatus

THE MAP OF SUZHOU: PERCEPTION AND CONVENTION

Years ago, not being particularly interested in whether the Mets were winning, I became fascinated with the possibilities of graphically representing a baseball game, or

a simple play on a two dimensional surface. The monuments were easy; home plate,

first base, shortstop, etc. Each one was X feet apart along a straight line, the shortest distance between two points. The next task was more scientific, involving the use of symbols and systems in order to clearly illustrate rules, positions, movement in space and the key element of time. It occured to me that the idea of drawing baseball was not unlike that of representing the game of pool: both games involve sticks and balls that follow geometric principles with the additional elements of time and motion. A simple idea became overwhelming.

(23)

*M3

(24)

The graphic representation of architectural plans concerns similar issues. Sticks and balls are replaced by people and objects in motion and at rest. Geometric principles are applied to physical and spatial requirements. Clearly, a building is not a game, but certain fundamental questions arise in relation to the delineation of both . It concerns a two dimensional representation of three dimensional space. The baseball game depends upon the element of motion, a concept, (sometimes called the fourth dimension) which architectural theorists have been deliberating for centuries. The basic elements of visual perception, direction, distance and their abstractions are inherently

the same in both.

Before notation systems for engineering were universally accepted as sciences, the art

of two dimensional representation developed similarly to the way drawing abilities develop in children. This is most clearly illustrated by the evolution of cartographic science, the foundation of spatial representation through plan drawing. Long before the elements of the built world were designed and preserved through drawing, it was imperative to understand the natural world - a prerequisite for travel, commerce, imperial growth and food gathering. All the surviving map relics could be called "world maps", for as far as we know, the limits of the horizon might well have been the world.

This essay is a brief investigation into fundamental issues of representation that cross the boundaries of architecture, cartography, and art. A 750 year old map is used as

exhibit "A". The map of Suzhou, of Ping Jiang, as it was then called, is misleading, A.

Map

not only due to its fourth (at best) generation quality, but the image printed here on Ma archival bond is the material opposite of the original representation which is presently Suzhou located at the Suzhou Museum in the People's Republic of China. It stands next to

two other stone carvings of the Sung dynasty, all of which are smooth black stone with white engraving. The formidable size of the 2.84 x 1.4m carving allows careful

(25)
(26)

scrutiny of every chiselled line. The layout can be read with the eyes or the hands. Purportedly the earliest plan map of an ancient city in China, the carving was engraved in 1229.(1) It is testimony of more than a city planning scheme, the placement of significant momunents or sophisticated engineering. The stone documents a story about perception and representation; a vision of the world and its depiction in two dimensions.

It is difficult to imagine drawing or understanding a plan or map without comprehension of the notational systems. We are so accustomed to reading drawings and photographs from a very early age that there is no need to question the techniques and assumptions upon which they are based. We tend to take for granted the tools used for surveying, measuring and drawing. It took hundreds of years before topographical representation developed into a science that uses specific constructs and symbols for a general understanding of space. There are some beautiful examples of mapping from contemporary primitive cultures. Professor R. Carpenter gives an account of the Alaskan Aklavik tribe, who has graphically recorded an accurate impression of the shape of nearby islands at night without the help of visual information. (2) Their drawings are a result of listening to the sound of waves lapping against distant shores. Before westerners reached the natives of the remote Marshall

B.

Islands, the inhabitants constructed practical maps using narrow strips of the centers of Stick palm leaves lashed together with cord from fiber plants. Positions of islands were Chart. marked by shells and the arrangements of sticks indicated patterns of wave masses

caused by wind direction. A metric system was probably unnecessary due to their innate physical maneuvers. In this form, the information could be easily and safely transported on a rough, wet, canoe ride.(3)

The content and comprehension of the previous examples is far more rudimentary than of the map of Suzhou, though they are illustrative of naive and useful representations

(27)

CEUR ET MIROIR

vE M N 0 C OG CE A P, p A P P. E B N U L DANS PLETS RE LES SONT ME COM NON ET GES AN LES NE CE MI RLOIR JE SUIS Guillaume EN CLOS Apollinaire VI VANT iT VRAI COM GI ME MA ON

26

E B M M A L N I

(28)

of spatial knowledge. "Visualization" and representation can take many different forms.The stone tablet is significant as an example for this inquiry not only due to its impact as a visual object, but of the representational symbols it exhibits. From the standpoint of conventional graphic standards,it is in orthographic elevation with additional elements of three dimensional, or isometric projection protruding from the fortification walls or the bridges rising up over the canals. If the walls are traced around the perimeter of the city, we see that the view of elevation changes each time a corner is turned. On the top and bottom of the drawing the interior of the wall is portrayed and conversely, the right and left walls are exterior views. All the corners are depicted in an awkward, distorted fashion.

These aberrations of contemporary plan notations provide clues regarding the nature of drawing, perceptual, analytical and cognitive mapping skills. It will be useful to explicate the set of conventions used in typical plan drawings before discussing deviations from that set.

The use of any orthogonal system relies upon certain rules. These are similar to grammatical constructs in 'language, though pursuing this analogy too far leads into dangerous territory. (4) Both the written language and drawing is constructed of accepted symbols formed by conventions but the perception of the two systems is entirely. different. We often rely on "gestalt" readings of drawings before analyzing component parts. This is impossible with the written word, even though certain poetic movements have attempted to disprove it. A friend of mine once wrote:(5)

concrete poetry

is like a brick

bullshit pressed

C.

(29)

2-.4

I0

(30)

The poem grossly comments upon the difference between the content of writing and drawing.

A picture is a universal language, though its interpretation is highly personal. It

cannot be read aloud. Although it takes some training to fully comprehend all the elements of an engineering drawing, even untrained people can have a sense of the movement in one due to their own graphic experimentation and physical/spatial perceptions.

The primary value of maps or plan drawings is that of description of horizontal areas that are too large to be perceived all at once. Without maps, we must navigate using the benefit of our common sense and experiential knowledge of space unless we have a written description as a guide. Our minds do not conceive space on a two dimensional matrix unless we have seen that kind of spatial representation. Instead we find our way by remembering images, monuments, words, activities, textures and sensations such as light, shadow and sound. These perceptions augment the information found on maps and might alter our interpretation, depending on our abilities.(6) Maps might be as simple as a street diagrams or as complex as an aerial photograph.

Learning the cha-cha is not a particularly difficult task. Our bodies and minds recall

D.

by rote repetition, our partners help guide us with their movements and we may Cha-cha

remember different corners of the room while our limbs and torsoes assume the correct diagram.

positions. The learning could take a number of rehearsals, depending upon the extent of our neuro musular coordination. Someone (Arthur Murray?) devised a footprint and arrow movement plan to expediate the process. We see in plan what our bodies follow in space and our memories are aided by a visual abstraction. We immediately understand the skeletal notations on the dance plan and are able to manifest three dimensional spatial movement with a two dimensional abstraction. A plan drawing of a

(31)
(32)

building doesn't allow us the possibilities of full scale movement. We are forced to reduce our size to a designated scale and imagine the volume, movement and haptic sensations of the place.The cha-cha plan is only a diagram of movement without indication of substantial form, yet it exemplifies how valuable a visual aid is to our

psycho/ physical memories.

The plan offers a description of the possibilities of our horizontal movement through space rather than visual or cognitive movement. What separates an orthogonal description from other types of architectural representations is the lack of a specific point of view. It is not a realistic image of what, or how, we see. There are an

infinite number of viewpoints by virtue of the fact that all the represented features are perpendicular to an imaginary plane. Therefore, there are no distortions of metric qualities or relationships. All the lines or edges are drawn equidistant from the viewer (with the exception of an angled or curved plane that lies beneath the cut of the drawing. ) The surface of the paper is the cut. A major problem of the plan is that we are unable to perceive vertical dimensions without additional drawings of references to heights, although there are notational devices that suggest a third dimension such as shadowing and dotted lines (overhang, hidden structure). The conventions do not allow for the comprehension of vertical displacement.(7)

Because the plan is the plane of unencumbered movement, it has been used traditionally as the primary tool for design . If the nature of a building is revealed by its plan, as Corbusier and the Beaux Arts theorists declared, it is of great interest that an abstraction is the basis for creating such powerful influences in our lives, the built environment. The only times we might actually view an unobstructed plan is when a new foundation waits for walls (or old walls have been removed). The real plan of a city can be seen only from a great height, and that view is distorted toward the limits of the horizon by visual parallax.

(33)

fa I -00 Vi -1- to -* '

~

*~ f Oeke 'o. -%4 K&O Ad6A;

(34)

The map of Suzhou utilizes some of the conventions described above in addition to some other, pre-established techniques of representation, judging from the systematic spacing and layout of roads and canals. The ground plane is imaged from an undesignated spot above, yet the walls, buildings and mountains are shown as if they are vertical planes standing somewhere in front of us. The elements that have significant vertical dimension are laid flat on the ground. Elements that are heavy constructions and protrude from flat surfaces are depicted in rough axonometric. This method, in fact, is closer to the way we might think about the experience of moving through space. It combines the visual walk through the city with metric conditions, though it is not clear whether it is chiselled to scale. Today's conventions would reduce the great exterior walls to thick lines, and the surrounding mountains to a

series of concentric circles. To enter into this city of elaborate waterways on a E.

modern plan, we would have to break thorough a line. On this map, there is a direct ofDetail visual understanding of the major gate - it looks like a gate with a wooden structure front

overhead denoting its function. gate.

Although the science of drawing in this case is somewhat unsophisticated, the elements are clear and easily understood. The description of Suzhou is somewhat analagous to the way a child would represent elements in space. Piaget and Inhelder performed copius investigations of the development of human perceptual and representational capacities. Their studies are directly related to the history of cartography. If we assume that above a certain age, children and adults see the smae world, then their abstraction of that world in drawings relies on the level of interpretation. At a very young age, there is a motor coordination problem but subsequently, the abstraction of objects depends upon powers of analysis. According to Booker, the graphic efforts of children display similar stages through which our ancestors passed. He shows as an example an illustration of various "W's", copied by people of increasing ages from a

(35)

a

b

c

d

e

(36)

sophisticated typeface. The first attempt is made by a very young child who concentrates on the fundamental four lines that make the letter read. The lines are joined in the correct places and the angles drawn between the lines are an adequate attempt. An older child's drawing shows more analysis of the details of line weight

and serifs, though proportions are misjudged and parallel lines are still problematic. F. The untrained adult who drew the next, "W", is apparently aware of the parallelism W's. and the details, but fails to notice that the right serif is shorter than the left. The

problem is more difficult than it looks at first. In order to copy a letter correctly, a person must have progressed through distinct conceptual stages; those defined by Piaget as prallelism, angles, equality, sraightness and thickness. The first few are most relevant to this story.

Piaget's investigations concern the nature of space itself; whether it is an innate idea or a result of actions carried out by the individual. His studies encompass the realms

of perception, perceptual space, haptic space, pictorial, projective and Euclidean space. The brief synopsis doesn't scratch the surface of Piaget and Inhelder's major text, The

Child's Perception of Space, but it will help to clarify this particular analysis.

Although all children progress through distinct stages of understanding perceptual and representational space, they develop different degrees of sophistication in that understanding. Many adults never analyse drawings in a systematic way, regardless of their perceptual capacities. Piaget has corroborated that our first comprehension of objects in space is that of topological relationships. This deals with the outlines of perimeters of things and how/if they are connected or bounded with other things. Qualities such as shape, size, distance, angularity or straightness are inconsequential at this phase.

(37)
(38)

li 4. lit, t

-- 51 k

&- 0

-7

V-t..1i

The next, and most influential stage encompasses the more difficult projective representation of concepts. When a child begins to recognize the distance between objects, positions in space and the basic concepts of Euclidean geometry, the drawings attempt to display these projective characteristics. Often, a verbal understanding of something becomes graphically literal. Thoughts, rather than visual information about an object are displayed. The illustration is a typical example of the way a six year old might depict a house and a yard. Since the bottom of the paper is closest to the artist, the nearer objects, gate and bushes, are drawn there and the furthest ones,

chimney and smoke, are drawn at the top. This form of representation is reminiscent

of Chinese landscape painting, where distant scenery is shown at the top of the page rather than behind the components in the foreground. All the components also have

realistic proportions. It would be illogical to show trees- diminishing in size as they recede. Both the child and the Chinese landscape painter relate direct perception of objects. H. "Fisherman On The Flower Stream." Wang Men. Yuan Dynasty. G. Child's Illustration.

(39)

a O

(40)

With a different intent, the stone tablet displays a similar Mlethod of projection, although the geometric concepts are more advanced. Landscape is shown as in the Chinese painting - flat elevations of mountains float up the page as they become further away from an inaginary viewpoint that is somewhere in fromt of the city wall.

Detail

It appears to be above and just to the right of center. From this point we view the

most elaborate elevation in the drawing. The front buttresses appear to vanish to a Wall point just behind the center of the wall. Contrary to this, the right side wall Buttress. buttresses are drawn in a suggested axonometric as if we are standing outside looking

back and the left wall has us viewing them from the front. The substantiality of the surrounding walls is emphasized. These and the bridges are the only things that show attempts at three dimensional representation.

The map shares another characteristic of the child's drawing, even though its purpose may be different. The only indication that the stick figure is someone's mother is her written title, "mom". In the child's case, her specific features were too difficult to draw and the resulting symbol of any lady had to be clarified by a verbal description. The buildings in Suzhou are also represented by symbols of three major types, as if they were stamped on. To those familiar with the city, the coordinates of each tells what it is, but to others, only the written description offers that information. A mixture of symbol systems must be used to describe a world where one system isn't adequate.

The issue of viewpoint is essential not only to the understanding of the concept of specific drawings, but to major vicissitudes in the history of architectural representation. After the discovery of edges, shapes and distances, a child is confronted with the conflict of knowing certain shapes and seeing their awkward appearances in drawing attempts. A drinking glass has a circular opening on the top and a similar bottom

(41)
(42)

even though it can sit on a horizontal surface. In a drawing, a straight line for the bottom looks satisfactory, but a circle for the top looks wrong. Piaget developed the theory of "constancy phenomena", which suggests that our perceptions register the sameness of the thing although its projective image changes. The basic problem is that of the drawing of an object that has shape in more than one direction. The conflict

is displayed on the walls of Suzhou. Solutions to this dilemma fall under two

categories: the first uses a number of drawings to describe objects from differing viewpoints while the second involves the transformation of the third dimension on a two dimensional field, displaying apparent rather than real shapes. (8)

The coordination of objects using understandable systems of reference is the main task of the cartographer, who generally utilizes the former category, specifically, the plan drawing of the orthographic system. The location of objects or points are referenced by perpendicular axes that is a diminutive version of the "gridded" world. Systematic projections were first inspired by the heavens rather than the earth, as astronomy was not as tangible as geography and stargazing potentionally provided answers to essential queries concerning night and day, the changing of seasons, tides and weather.

The combined investigations of Pythagoras, and Aristarchus of Samos substantiated that the earth was a sphere tilted on its axis by twenty three and one half degrees to the plane of orbit and that the moon revolved around the earth. At the time, (app. 250

B.C.) our solar system was thought of as a series of concentric spheres, the stars

fixed upon one transparent surtace and the moons and planets on others. When the astronomers found it necessary to document the stars and their relative positions, they were faced with the same conflict as a child; that of the projection of three dimensions into two. Eventually, two major systems accredited to Apollonius of Perga and Archimedes, were invented. It is documented that orthographic and stereographic projections were derived from observations of shadows. Those cast by the light of a

(43)

SUN'S RAYS PARALLEL SHADOWS HEMISPHERICAL GRID CANDLE'S \RAYS CONICAL .POINT SOURCE OF LIGHT .I.

b

.4.

d

.. ... V, '% x

(44)

candle or point source, (sterographic) were larger than the object itself where as the

image formed by parallel rays from the sun (orthographic) was the same size as the Spheres.

object. Of course, the "screen" had to be parallel to a major axis of the object. The projection of a sphere implied the projection of lines of latitude and longitude, derived from the methods used to measure a star's position in the sky. Gridded lines produced by the cast shadow provided a flat framework for the plotting of points. These discoveries form the basis for primary geometrical principles which concern the implications of conical rays, the foundation of all camera images. Illustration b shows the longitudinal shadows becoming more and more distorted as they approach the outline of the projected circle. The latitudinal lines remain horizontal. Points or figures plotted on the resulting grid are distorted at the edges. Stereographic projection, d , not only casts longintudinal lines as true arcs of circles. but the resulting matrix is a system of curves which intersect each other at right angles. This discovery made it possible for Ptolomy to map the world, and formed a basis for secondary geometries used in perspective and axonometric projection.

Most of the great writings from ancient Greece had disappeared form Europe during the dark ages, though traces of Pythagoras, Euclid, Archimedes and Hero have been discovered to exist in ancient Arabic cultural centers. Images of compositional devices have been dectected beneath Egyptian tomb papintings and relics of Mesopotamia show similar linear grids as bases for agricultural layouts. Knowledge of the ancient documents eventually made its way back to Italy through northern Africa and Spain by the Moors. The translation of these texts into Latin in the early sixteenth century formed the foundations of Renaissance thinking and the impetus for dogged experimentation with image making based on geometrical principles. Up until this time, cartographic images of the world were circular formats displaying idealized arrangements of monuments often with a celestial or omnipotent viewpoint, portraying a hierarchical

(45)

do '44 a It' -4 O£r-IIT -W I.

(

9. .9 5,

44

(46)

view of the cosmos. There are no clues regarding measured distances of systematic projections. The information displayed is purely visual and appeals to our cognitive mapping processes.

The most influential plan in the western world to deviate from this view is that of the city of Imola, drawn by Leonardo in 1502. He presented a new system of abstraction, based on metric rather than visual information. This implies an imaginary bird's eye view of the city, which for the Renaissance man, was an extraordinary leap of logic. Topographical features are drawn as if they are reflected on a single horizontal plane, the resulting image known as icnographic. (8) New, selective

information could be scientifically coded and documented. Abstract information took priority over visual impressions or symbolic values. Topographical measurements were acheived by the use of a primitive odometer, described by Alberti in the Ludi Matemati: "A small hole was bored through the axle of an ordinary cart wheel so that once every rotation one small pellet would fall from a container above the axle through the hole and into a pouch."(9) Counting the pellets could ascertain the amount of distance travelled. Other surveying tools, such as the transit and magnetic compass were necessary to complete the gathering of information. Measured angles and distances necessitated the use of scaling instruments for documentation.

Leonardo advanced a coherent system of drawing processes. Images of cities were revealed as objective constructs rather than perceptual interior images.

A similar development of cartography in China has been documented to have occured even a few centuries earlier than Leonardo's plan of Imola. The earliest known printed map is assumed to have been made about 1155 A.D. and .shows northern orientation, settlements, rivers and a portion of the Great Wall. The Chinese gained access to Greek investigations from Arabain coastal settlements before 750 A.D.

K. Leonardo's plan of Imo/a.

~ek

----04

oi

VI - I IL Im

VIC

(47)

40"

(48)

Accurate, detailed surveys of China's eastern coastline and rivers have been discovered etched in stone over precise grids.

Engineering and Cartesian geometry were both familiar to the waterway engineers and L. stonecutter(s) at Suzhou. A rectangular city with a precise orthogonal road and Stone

carving

waterway system was planned using a geometric construct. Smaller blocks appear as of

subdivisions of larger ones. The entire scheme appears to have been planned using Suzhou. mathematical equations and careful land division, though appearances are deceptive.

The science of cartography has as its roots, questions concerning appearance and reality, with the main goal of documenting clear, universally understandable information. The "signature" of a mapping code is derived from the processes of encoding, or map making, or decoding, or map reading. In the words of Piaget, " The intuition of space is not a reading or apprehension of the properties of objects, but from the very beginning, an action performed on them." Representations of space are intermediaries between us and real objects, functioning like telescopes or microscopes, but relying on graphic symbols rather than mechanics. The correct choice of symbols is imperative in order to relay the desired information. The more difficult task is understanding the assumptions mad by the map readers or interpreters.

Due to our a priori knowledge of drawings and symbols, we can make certain assumptions about ancient Suzhou, even though the drawing conventions are different from what we might use. Some of the information is easily accesible, such as the relative building positions, general locations on the urban framework, major structures and entrances and the strong Chinese concept of juxtaposing and separating the natural landscape and the highly intellectualized built world. The quality and design of the graphic marks indicates emotional attitudes about the elements. Mountains are drawn with jagged, sharp strokes depicting precipitous, rough terrain. The rhythmic, decorative quality of the water flowing outside the city wall demonstrates a continuous

(49)
(50)

but turbulent current. Within the walls the movement of water is stilled by one clean white cut following the long straits and sharp bends of the canal. We can feel the intentions, even though the symbols do not follow familiar graphic codes.

Our conventional plan drawings have evolved from perceptual or symbolic notations to the representations of objective facts. When we use the plan for designing, we are applying graphic symbols of objects to denotate judgements about space. The symbols are precise conventions that can be deciphered by anyone familiar with the standards . Without an indication of three dimensionality, or subsidiary drawings to complete the vertical elements or volumetric space, the plan remains a factual statement. In the map of Suzhou, there is a combination of objective and subjective description, which helps us to receive impressions and sensibilities about the image as well as facts concerning critical relationships. We are reminded of an instinctive response to the delineation of space, not unlike the recent award winning drawings of Janet Needham-McCaffrey.

Cartographic science is most demanding due to user-referent problems. Mapping codes must be devised in order to relay dense information to X number of potentially unskilled readers without confusion or subjective overtones. The symbols must not be misread.

Plans of buildings in themselves have ambiguities. Unless there are special notations, or a key that clarifies special symbols, the implied spatial qualities can be misjudged. It would be revealing to exchange formative plans in a studio to see what kinds of sections develop. The limitations of the plan drawing inhibits the expression of our ideas. If the different ideas are not chronicled in some other form, then the images could be forgotten or lost to the abstract two dimensionality of the drawing.

M. Janet Needham MaCaffrey. "Urban Vignette."

(51)

V a

72I.l

/-,e Z"-i^ /a-b 4,' r.? P, ziN/V~ o(kAc-

7

'A/^/ faeo'a ah Ax flop.

(52)

The eternally mysterious Garden of Ryoanji, in Kyoto, made me acutely aware of the relativity of a plan. No more than five clusters of rocks distributed on a bed of raked pebbles, the simple garden demands consideration. Designed by Soami, an enlightened gardner in the 15th century, the rocks might be depicted in plan, (were we able to traverse the sacred ground for measurement) yet an elevation is virtually impossible to draw. A slight shifting of eyes changes the relationships of the rocks. There is no point of view where all the rocks can be seen simultaneously. The garden defies representation, as much as it defies explanation. A line in the brochure reads, "'Absorbed in this scene, we, who think of ourselves as relative, are filled with serene wonder as we intuit absolute self." Objects in space can only be described in relation to other things. To do this accurately, a third dimension is imperative, yet even that

(53)

52

(54)

"In Holland, they throw away the flowers, they make them for the bulbs."

John Hedjuck

HOUSE X, THE AXONOMETRIC AND THE MACHINE

Despite the fact that Peter Eisenman's drawing of House X doesn't appear to be a residence, or for that matter, contain the elements of architecture that we are most familiar with, the image evokes a sense of wonder. Does it have anything to do with "house", and if so, would we want to live there? If not, what is he trying to convey and what are its origins? Certainly not in traditional images, materials, or dreams of domecile. Based on the assumption that the answer to the first questions is an

unqualified "no", this essay explores the answers to the latter questions.

Clearly, there is a deliberate method at work. The form and its representation are charged with loftiness. The object itself and its portrayl, are not grounded in common experience, but evolve from highly intellectual constructs. The image of the house is at least as significant as the design itself.

A.

Axonometric of

House X.

(55)
(56)

Appropriately, the presentation is an axonometric drawing, the culmination of a series of transformations using that particular method of graphical construction as a design vehicle. Of course his intentions are rooted in other considerations which demand analysis outside of the realm of this article, but the relevant issue concerns Eisenman's choice of representational methods. The constructional geometry inherent in the axonometric drawing is analagous to the theories upon which he bases his procedures. The image is as abstract as his assumptions. Eisenman's house epitomizes the use of the axonometric - it is not about architecture, but about a particular way of organizing space.

Since we are presented only with the stripped down elements of an object, we are forced to analyse it in terms of Eisenman's intentions, which are undecipherable without his own written explanation:

Modernism, he states, "as developed in the other arts, in philosophy, in literature, music and painting, broke decisively with the subject/object relationship. In modernism the dominant mode of reading was an attempt to have the object refer not to a reading subject, but to its own condition of being.(1)

What is a condition of being? In most drawings we can relate it to specific emphases; light and shadow, hollows and voids, screens and solids, relation to landscape, use of materials...Eisenman's drawings only relate it to itself. This is the essential matter and the crux of the subject/object relationship.

His references are not drawn from design or building, but from linguistic theories, particularly those of Chomsky. The forms are derived from models that were originally developed to explain the foundations for creativity in language. Eisenman "suggests an equivalence of deep structure and syntax as a basis for a formal conception of architecture that reacts against the perceptual, relativistic realm of

(57)

I I\\ 600-30-1 450 0

Li

I' a

b

56

B

-d

C

(58)

conventional meanings."(2) He attempts to decompose the formal attributes of architecture and systems of form making into a formal grammar, not based on traditional building tools such as walls, columns, beams, floors, etc, but on abstract expression of spatial ideas. In an article entitled, "Architectural Linguistics," Keyser and O'neill state,

We began with the assumption that archtectural design is an instantiation of geometric knowledge, since architectural structures, whatever else they may be, are three dimensional geometrical constructions. This suggests that the study of the theory of innate geometry, and not linguistic theory, should form the basis for any systematic investigation of architectural design.

Eisenman's foundations in linguistic theory are an intellectual sidestepping of the major issues. Due to the nature of these associations, the axonometric model is the only representational tool Eisenman could use for exploration. It is the only graphical convention that fully embodies "the theory of innate geometry" of three dimensions.

A closer look at the construction of axonometric drawings and the history of their use

gives this credence, and suggests the possibilities and dangers as a design tool.

To simplify the technical constructs and distortions of an axonometric, an illustration by Bernard Schneider will be helpful.(3) In general, axonometric illustrations are capable of presenting objective characteristics of a complex three dimensional object without breaking it down into a series of dislocated projections as do orthographic representations. Although the drawings account for measurable heights and lengths, due to the requisite construction of projection, the resulting image manifests angular distortions: in the vertical plane, if the ground plan is to be undistorted (a), or in the ground plan, if an undistorted front or sectional view is desired (b).

B.

Distortions of

the

(59)
(60)

The cube represented in (a) displays correct longitudinal measurements, but the object appears distended in a vertical direction. This, according to Schneider, is manifested by "the false impressions created by the automatic interpretation of perspective of the human eye." Our natural tendency is to minimize the depth of represented objects and therefore apparent distortions are emphasized to a greater degree. In an axonometric illustration (b), where the plan is rotated at thirty or sixty degrees to the horizontal base line, only the thirty degree side will appear proportionate. The forty five degree angle of projection also disguises important planes that are perpendicular to the plane of the paper. These planes are represented as lines, along with diagonals that are angled into the depth.(c)

Schneider's example clearly illustrates simple ambiguities of axonometric representation. Eisenman exploits the technique and its implied deformations as an operative tool for making architecture. The drawings of this houses look like three dimensional puzzles, built specfically form the propose of mental entertainment rather than function. Disparite pieces or entire rooms look as if they might slide out for inspection or service and then lock securely back into place. There is no indication of scale, of structural elements or recognizable materials. We can not perceive anything that might be recognized as windows, doors, architectural detailing or emphases. Every element is abstracted to its essential idea. The ungroundedness of the axonometric drawing gives a satellite like illusion. Catapulted through space, the object might be as large as a planet, yet a xerox reduction could make it look like the bauble at the end of a key chain.

Objects drawn using the axonometric method are depersonalized, unable to portray

perceptual aspects of space. e Qualities such as light, materials and textures look C isometricVarious awkward because their delineation mixes representational metaphors. The construction projections. of an axonometric requires the use of a static three dimensional grid, which is directly

(61)
(62)

associated with the way something is built, but not the way it is perceived. So, the technical, objective reality, and perceptual, subjective reality are antithetical in one representation though ironically, some indication of planes and massing is necessary to keep the drawing from turning itself inside out. The addition of pictoral elements actually emphasizes the abstracted nature of the image, Although plan and section drawings are similarly abstracted, shadows and other indications of character don't appear unrealistic because the image is closer to the way we imagine things to be. The third dimension of the axonometric implies volumes in a way that can't possibly be experienced. The viewpoint of a axonometric is ubiquitous. We are looking at something from three dimensions sumultaneously, as opposed to a perspectival representation, which dispalys a static, singular point of view.

Perspective drawing is also a geometrical construct for the representation of three dimensional space, but is based on a discernable vantage point. Although its construction has limitations concerning peripheral vision and visual curvature, it is closer to the way we realize actual space from a frozen position. When qualitative information is added to a perspective drawing, it seems natural, even though it is romanticized, compared with the mechanized view of an isometric.(4) Perspectival images rely upon relative relationships rather than rules of proportions, as do the other forms of architectural representation.

The method of axonometric representation refers to orthographic images without the necessary cross referencing of distinct views. The dimensions and scale are constant and directly measureable, though angles are distorted. Orthogonal squares appear as diamonds and circles are pressed into ellipses. There exists neither a specific point of view, nor a sense of realism. The complete objectivity of the drawing method inherently contradicts sensual understanding. Each plane is depicted as if we are infinitely parallel to every point on that plane. The viewer is three dimensional space,

D.

Perspective views.

(63)
(64)

differing from the point of view of a plan or section, where the viewer is an infinite plane, hovering somewhere above or in front, as the case may be.

The creation of an axonometric contradicts the laws of visual perception. The object is represented not as it appears, but according to its calculable characteristics based on plane parallel projection. Therefore the drawing technique is dependent upon the use of right angles and a building formed through an analysis of the technique would naturally facilitate their use. Curves as well as angles look distorted. It is appropriate that the designs retain a boxy, orthogonal quality. If the form develops from a box using axonometric techniques as form generators, then it follows that the final product will reflect that process. Eisenman justifies the process by entitling it with a double edged description, "Cardboard Architecture." It supports his polemic as a new style, but also accurately describes what he creates. The term describes the blandness of an unarticulated surface.

White forms are used to shift our visual perception and conception of such forms from the perception of a real, tangible, volumetric architecture to the conception of an abstract, colored planar space, from the polemic

of the white of the 1920's to the neutrality of cardboard.(5) E.

James The influence of mood, atmosphere, precedent, detail and ornament is nonexistent. Stering These attributes may or may not emerge from the final exploration. Axomometric. Eisenman's parti is inherently abstract. Without a grasp of the principles of the

axonometric technique, it is impossible to follow the logic of the transformations. Not only is the drawing itself (or any drawing, for that matter) once removed from the built object, but the nature of the axonometric is such that it objectifies our perceptions of space. His process has no foundations in perception. If axonometric drawings are distorted images and Eisenman creates buildings from them, then the resulting buildings must imply that distortion. Although most of his house designs were

(65)

-AA.. --'4 INI r Z- -7 jo ' 44k R. i I ./, a~ tl 4 1 1

TA

*rt

-4 -A --* T. r

(66)

not realized, it seems that an inhabitant of the buildings experiences not an architecture that brings something to the imagination,(6) but one that is reminiscent of the white paper and straight edges of the drawing board. The buildings are as brittle

as the delineation.

The use of the axonometric drawing as a tool of representation in architecture has had

a sporadic history. An account of some of the salient periods will highlight its

character and its appropriateness as a design tool. Although it isn't clear when and where the technique originated, we know that it was used in other arts before architecture. Even before the images found in pre-perspective paintings, there is documentation of its essential principles in the fields of stonecutting, engineering and construction. (Its practical use was called steriotomie in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.) These practices dealt directly with constructional geometry, with the aid of two dimensional representation or graphical geometry for simple, dimensional relationships. When plane geometry proved too complicated for solving three dimensional problems, solutions were codified using actual models, then reapplied to drawings from calculations of physical dimensions.

Illusionistic isometric images can be found on drawings and paintings that date back to ancient China,(7) though there is no sense of mathematical construction or use of rigorous vanishing points until the experiments by Da Vinci, who drew what we refer to as "cavalier perspective."(8) In his notebooks there are details of buildings that are depicted in three dimensions with such a distant vanishing point that the images appear to be axonometric. Often these studies are combined with sectional views of buildings that help to ground them in a more realistic sense of space. A similar and popular representation is a study by Baldassari Perruzzi, who collaborated with Sangallo in the construction of St. Peter's in Rome. In the foreground of the drawing there is a ground plan with truncated columns that recede into the distance, each one vanishing

F. Perruzzi. St. Peter's in Rome. Interior perspective. G. Da Vinci, Cavalier Perspective.

(67)
(68)

at such a distant perspective point that it seems to have its own set of axes. They

move back into the pictorial space until a sectional perspective view of the altar stops the view into the distance. This kind of synthetic representation of space doesn't reappear until the drawings of Choisy were published and circulated.

The influential treatises by Auguste Choisy, particularly his /'Histoire De L'Architecture, (1899), were inspired by the exhaustive investigations of the mathematician, Gaspard Monge, who is known in Europe as the "father of Descriptive Geometry." His ideas and formualtions came about in reaction to the predominant use of orthogonal drawings and the length of time necessary to calculate and adapt them to three dimensional space. He defined points, lines and planes and their positions in space by the use of three coordinates and through a series of illustrative and explanatory texts beginning from the most basic spatial relationships to the very complex, analysing them with the application of mathematical fromulae. It is interesting to note that the precise pen and ink drawings are emphasized by illusionistic techniques. Shadows and the articulation of depth are used in order to clarify his ideas. Without these, isometric images are perceptually confusing and may turn inside out or rotate arbitrarily in space - a device which modern artists later exploited.(9) The methods of Monge were taught as introductions to mechanical drawing and art from 1800-1950. Choisy applied the principles laid out in Monge's, Geometri Descriptive, to his own series of drawings illustrating the principles of architectural construction, proportions and order throughout history. "The system has the clarity of perspective and lends itself to direct measurement."(10) This was the first time that the axonometric system was methodically used to represent architectural space. His writings and meticulous illustrations were popular with modern architects, though neglected by the proponents of Beaux Arts design, where the plan and the elevation took precedence over constructional considerations. Choisy's treatises offered the world not only an

(69)

Figure

fig  ? 4 -~  h.~.  _______  Iii rIrliI'/iq. i.1)I':7I3!

Références

Documents relatifs

The purpose of this study is the proposal of an erasure- oriented drawing style to develop the ability to copy images.. Possible erasable parts of an existing illustration were

We shall present two ways of working of two contemporary architects who both have a different sensitive approach to atmosphere, by confronting their works and

Some of the characteristics of the behavior of the structure function are now used in two examples. First, the nugget effect is used to provide the variance of salt and

(1) to assist in developing international guidelines for the use of simians in human health programmes ; (2) to advise on methods of limiting the unnecessary international trade

In the remainder of this paper, we will implicitly assume that all link diagrams are connected, and that a diagram is alternating within each twist region... Thurston [29,

L’accès aux archives de la revue « Annali della Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa, Classe di Scienze » ( http://www.sns.it/it/edizioni/riviste/annaliscienze/ ) implique l’accord

In four parallel workshops, participants made practical recommendations on three important issues: the feasibility of using a BIS for inter-European data collection to improve

Recently, Ahlgren ([1]) has given a proof of a Theorem slightly weaker than Theorem 3, and has also proved a quantitative version of Ono's Theorem about the odd values of the