Introduction
Architectural drawings and photographs are the primary mediums through which architects communicate. Before a building is built, drawings are the principal way for an architect to express his or her ideas. This process is illustrated by the image below.
The designer bears the responsibility of having to convey his or her ideas on paper, utilizing a vocabulary of established architectural drawing conventions. Drawings are then interpreted by an "interested" (hopefully) audience in order to understand the ideas of the designer. Architectural drawing utilizes many conventions, from diagrammatic, to plan/elevation, to perspectival drawings. All of these drawing systems, which differ primarily by projection systems and symbol conventions, are assumed to show the spaces designed by an architect. Plans, sections, elevations are very much diagrams, showing a spatial relationships to other constructed objects, they do not attempt to communicate the idea of a “viewer” or inhabitation of space. The architectural perspective is unique in terms of its attempt to represent and place the viewer inside the proposed space.
It is my contention that viewer immersion and spatial representation are neither the underlying goal nor the effect of perspectival drawing. An architectural perspective is an abstracted diagram, made for the ready transmission of architectural ideas, and is often at odds with our visual perception of space. Furthermore, I believe that architectural photography mimics architectural drawing in its conventions and motivation, erasing spatial understanding in lieu of the communication of cerebral architectural concepts, and assumes the role of an architectural drawing after the construction of the building.