TOOLBOX / BSLA
DESIGN
HYBRIDIZATION
E volu t i o n o f Re nd e r i n g s :
From t h e S u rf a c e t o t h e S c r e e n
DAN TAL, ASLA and JIM LEGGITT, FAIA
F
rom the earliest evidence of
architectural drawings and sketches
up to the mid-1980’s, all but a few
architectural perspectives and design
representations (renderings) were hand
crafted and drawn with either pencil, ink
and/or paint. They were either drafted
using traditional perspective layout
methods or derived from photographs
and other early technology that
optically captured scenes. In the mid1600’s Johannes Vermeer developed
a camera-assisted perspective tracing
technique using the camera obscura—the
predecessor of the modern photographic
camera—which to this day is a recognized
standard tool for creating architectural
perspectives. Architects combined
photography with their hand drawings
over one hundred years ago. Ludwig Mies
van der Rohe, Hugh Ferriss, Le Corbusier,
Oscar Nitzchke and others pioneered
composite drawing techniques in the
1920’s through the 1930’s that resulted
in architectural renderings that
combined photographic prints, hand
drawing, paint, and even collage. Many
of the great drawings they produce are
archived with MOMA in New York.
The act of creating a traditional
hand drawing on a drafting board
or flat surface involves the intimate
connection between one’s hand, eyes,
and brain, and requires one to touch
the surface (paper) with a tool (pencil).
When the personal computer was
introduced in the mid-1980’s, there
began a gradual shift away from
the drawing surface to the monitor
(screen). The pencil was replaced by
a mouse and keyboard. Eyes focused
Boston Society of Landscape Architects Fieldbook
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