How to draw the world: From the plan to an architectural storytelling

Banou, Sophia

Abstract

While with contemporary tools of navigation such as Google Maps we are today able to 'hold' the Earth in our hands, our architectural representations are increasingly turning their gaze away form this subject, abandoning the 'aerial' view of the plan and succumbing to the virtuality of 3D rendered and Photoshopped simulations. This schism between the representational possibility of the plan and the definitive simulation of the perspective can be traced back to the 'crisis of representation' of the 1960s (Tschumi). In this context, the work of Superstudio is proposed as a useful hinge for the understanding of the emergence of a narrative form of representation that, although shaped under the influence of 'the Spectacle' (Debord), was still rooted in a representational tradition of abstraction. Their work can thus be considered as a historic predecessor of the digitized yet not-essentially-digital modes of perception that have infiltrated architectural practice in recent decades.

• Presentation Conference Type: Conference Paper (unpublished)
• Conference Name: European Architectural History Network Conference: The Tools of the Architect
• Start Date: Nov 22, 2017
• End Date: Nov 24, 2017
• Acceptance Date: Nov 22, 2017
• Deposit Date: Feb 19, 2018
• Peer Reviewed: Not Peer Reviewed
• Keywords: architectural representation, architectural drawing, aerial view, Superstudio, digital turn, storytelling
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/878209
• Additional Information: Title of Conference or Conference Proceedings : European Architectural History Network Conference: The Tools of the Architect
• Contract Date: Feb 19, 2018