Abstract
Planning and predicting the experiences that buildings will produce is an essential part of architectural design. The importance of representation lies in its ability to communicate experiences before a building is materialized. This article will treat the topic of representation of architecture works without putting aside our direct experience with edifices. By understanding the perceptual, associative and interactive phenomena that arise from the human encounter with buildings, it becomes possible to comprehend the representation of these phenomena through pictorial means. The first objective of this theoretical article is to define the inherent and unavoidable factors that are present in the creation and interpretation of all architectural representations, regardless of the technical means used. Any representation conveys two processes: the representation of experience (a creative process), and the experience of representation (an interpretive process). Furthermore, there exist two layers in any representation: the what (the architectural object) and the how (the representational medium). The second objective is to suggest alternatives to visual realism, in order to create representations that embody the particular phenomena that an architectural work will be able to produce. On the one hand, representations that pretend to copy reality produce in the observers detailed visual experiences; on the other hand, certain representations reflect the experiences themselves after they have been produced; they represent buildings as they are transformed by experience. This article focuses on those representations that are not only the reflection of an object, but also the reflection of our way of experiencing it.
Highlights
This article addresses the question of how representations show or predict experiences and is, interested in the ostensive or communicative function of representation
This paper addresses the qualities of representation related to the what or the content of representation; it will not delve into the techniques of its creation and the particular experiences related to them, i.e. the how
The term experiential representation is intended to encompass the representation of architectural phenomena in general without being limited to visual experiences, on which iconic representation is solely focused
Summary
Based on what has been said in the preceding paragraphs, it can be stated that there are two types of process that are inevitably embedded in images or models of buildings: the process of capturing an architectural referent in some material medium, and the process of interpreting a representation from the part of the viewer. Trying to define representation – and establishing the qualities for a representational work to be considered as such – is a difficult task if no distinction is made between the representation of experience (a creative process), the experience of representation (an interpretive process), and the two layers or levels of representation proposed here: the what (the architectural object) and the how (the representational medium). The what is the component of representation that is commonly considered independent of the representational medium and the way it has been produced (the how), e.g. the house that is represented, whether by a model or a photograph (Table 1)
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