To avoid hyper-realistic renderings there have been witnesses of the emergence of other options for architectural representation which seduce the viewer, not for their overwhelming resemblance to reality but rather the opposite, its resemblance Ito everyday life's textures presented through unpretentious drawings inspired by collage, watercolor, and painting. Digital collage and other similar representation tools have gained more popularity when discussing how architecture can be communicated. Among the practices already working with this kind of representation, is FALA Atelier, a Portuguese studio lead by Filipe Magalhães, Ana Luisa Soares and Ahmed Belkhodja based in Porto. The trio described themselves as 'a naïve architecture practice' working in different scales, 'from territories to birdhouses,' merging formal languages, references, quotations, and themes and ruled only by an obsession for clarity.
This obsession is made evident when we compare the digital images produced by the studio and the photographs of the completed buildings and projects. The level of resemblance is surprisingly high and remarkable and make a statement: FALA's collages are not merely stylistic but powerful tools for representing and designing. The comparison of FALA's architecture before and after completion speaks a lot about the portrayal of thoughts through a un-scaled medium of proportionate collages. By seeing the collages followed by the photographs we understand the potential of these humble representations that leave no room for doubt, that FALA's nonchalance regarding realism can be anything but naïve or simple in its ways.
Any form of architectural drawing is a tool to psychologically involving the client to accept to the terms of the architect, it is merely a device to distract the client in believing that this is the best version of their requirements in that project regardless of the hidden mistakes in its representation. A distinctive and powerful way to convince the client to be convinced enough to invest his interest in the architect's work. The drawings and views are prerequisites to be much better than the final product, the drawings are made to manipulate with the minds of the client by creating distractions in all of its senses. The views of FALA Atelier may seem surreal in its imagination yet difficult in even believing it might even be true at its first glance, but the remarkable resemblance of their work to their final product is tremendous. It is not very easy to attain such power through the mediums of the tool this firm has selected to use, but the results seem to have been as real as imagined.
Every element required is represented through a 2 dimension like 3 dimension depiction with providing information like the construction material, texture, colour, size, environment, and ambiance, all of this being there with proportions but no absoluteness, the final building does resemble the perceived notion of the building created by the architect, but until the completion of the building the client is clueless of the buildings actuality as there is a very fantasied version of the build at the forefront to the client.
The recent popularity of architectural collage has led to a lot of cloning and some groaning. But, the collage is more than an aesthetic, it helps preconceive space in new, often scenographic ways. Flatness and depth coinciding in a single frame, that’s the overall impression. This layered effect is produced over and over again in Hockney’s paintings, drawing observers in and inviting them to crack the tension of the picture plane. The pupils widen and dart back and forth, scanning the image for clues to the source of irregularity. And, then a creeping suspicion: Where is the light coming from? These are rooms without shadows.
In all of the examples shared, one resembles the message is being delivered to the client, but they're certain is a wave of uncleanliness formed in their minds until and unless they see the final result. But, even this vagueness in drawings confuses the states of minds of people in believing this is the best possible way for this project to happen. These collages are like a medium of expression for the architect to understand rather than the client for whom it’s a mere tool of inclination. The potentials of this way of representation of architecture may have over past the digital era as this is beyond it. The long history of architectural production, more than buildings drawings assured the potential of architectural creation reviving the concept of styles as a legitimate area of exploration within the traditional methods of representation such as watercolor, pastels or be it the age of computer-aided drawings.
Image Sources
Comments