Picturing Architecture

Book excerpt: This book presents a range of graphic images used in the production of Australian architecture. It pictures perspective, axonometric and orthogonal images and each is examined for its specific aesthetic qualities and the techniques and materials used in the production of final artwork. To clarify the distinctive characteristics of the graphic images, each is accompanied by a statement about the design, written by the architect and, where available, photographs of the completed building. The introductory text questions how the selected drawings might be seen to characterise a visibility of cultural production with regard to the present formation of our architectural profession. This question opens two domains of analysis - firstly, the roles of the observer and artist/architect in relation to the currency of visual codes and secondly, the application to architectural production of visual codes from artistic media. These domains of analysis issue further debate on the necessity of architectural drawing to fulfil the representational role of making comprehensible projected built form.