Narrating Architecture with Graphics- more than just drawings
We are all accustomed to the regular, everyday way of representing design and architecture. Photographs, architectural models and inorganic drawings have always been the norm, but what if we could change that? What if natural and organic movement could appear to dictate how the viewer saw the piece?
There are always new forms of allowing the spectator to see the way a design works. As designers and architects, it is essential for the client [in my case, it is usually my fellow students and professors] to see what you saw when designing a space, to be able to transmit a message in more than just two dimensions. Now, with the help of wide and limitless imagination, technology has been able to help designers help their clients understand the emotion behind a design before it is built. Seemingly, technologies such as holograms, virtual realities, and projections become a moment between the 2D plans and the end product. OMA's proposal for the new Lucas Cultural Arts Museum in Chicago does just that, combining a physical model and computerized graphics to make it come to life.
Narrating a design is manipulating what the consumer receives to accentuate what you want them to pay more attention to, and it can be done with other ways apart from computerized graphic design. I believe computerized graphic design is a great and useful tool when working with someone who does not know very much about architectural models and plans, and attempting to sell them a complete idea.
Other ways of capturing a specific moment you want to showcase or highlight in a design is to mix common form of showing a model to create something new; a hybrid. Making a 3D model of a 2D drawing, this being a vertical cut along an architectural plan or a floor plan, can allow the consumer to grasp and idea in a concise way. Some architectural models don't allow the eye to completely understand an ideal by itself, but when cutting it into sections, as you would for a common drawing, the eye can better grasp what the designer is showcasing.
Mixed mediums can be more than just something beautiful to look at, they can done to transmit the idea of light and shadows, mixes of materials, positives and negatives in a space, anything the designers mind can imagine. Heat maps using vibrant colors can aid showing the spaces most commonly used in a space, black and whites can be used to visualize public and private spaces, solids on a blank paper can help understand how much of what is being built is affecting the amount of space people have within.
Creativity like this adds layers to your already thought-out design.The possibilities are limitless and it is up to us to make our mark. Going the extra mile during a presentation with these and many other ideas will not only help get your point across, but will wow the people there to see you work and hear your take on the project.