Foundations of Design : REPRESENTATION, SEM1, 2018 M2 JOURNAL - FLATNESS vs PROJECTION Marissa Samrai
Anastasia Sklavakis
1003391 Studio Class 19
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WEEK 3 READING: LE CORBUSIER, AND PURISM
Question 1: What is Pictorial Space according to Le Corbusier? (Maximum 100 words) Rosalind Krauss describes in her book entitled ‘Leger, Le Corbusier, and Purism’ Le Corbusier’s interpretation of pictorial space as a space that’s impossible to cure or put right, and where movement cannot occur. She believes that because it is perceived from a distance, it is eternally connected to the idea of objects situated in a plane that is parallel to the plane of the picture surface, or in her words; frontality. She notions of pictorial frontality is further explored in her paintings and drawings where it probes the concept of these terms being three-fold; the object, the arrangement of objects and the colour and texture.
Question 2: The Flatness of Le Corbusier’s painting’s are attributable to two properties. What are they? And what are these pitted against?(Maximum 100 words) The two properties that Le Corbusier relies on to convey Flatness are black and white, this creates a juxtaposition between figure and ground. She eludes to creating interest at the point where the figure and ground meet, thus developing into a metaphor within the three dimensional space for what she defines as the mutual externality of one object to another. Figure and ground are pitted against depth, something Le Corbusier interprets as a descriptor of texture.
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MARIO’S WORLD
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HAND DRAWING OF MARIO’S WORLD
The axonometric construction by hand defines the key objects in the landscape. Details such as coins and clouds were purposely left out to enusre the key elements, including the mountains and pipes, were the central focus.
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ILLUSTRATOR DRAWING OF MARIO’S WORLD
The Illustrator program enabled me to precisely trace over my original axonometric drawing. Although it is an accurate representation of my hand drawing, some elements were modified in order to enhance their visual aesthetics in the new landscape.
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WEEK 4 READING: PRACTICE ARCHITECTURE, TECHNIQUE AND REPRESENTATION
Question 1: Explain the difference between Pictoral (in this case perspectival) space and Projection? (Maximum 100 words)
As commentated by Diana Agrest in ‘Practice Architecture, technique and representation’, perspective records what already exists, however axonometric projection creates something new. Perspective refers to something that can no longer be understood as the natural outcome of a vision but rather as a special case of anamorphosis, a distorted projection. Agrest pursues these ideas through explaining the solution to the issue of distortion; through aligning vanishing points, converging projections and picture planes to create a correct perspective. She highlights that projection serves as a link between the history of representation to the present use of cinematic apparatuses, since projection can represent objects through the use of the elements of measurability and transmissibility.
Question 2: Where did Axonometric projection first arise, and why? (Maximum 100 words) Diana Agrest also notes that axonometric drawing systems were closely related to mechanization and industrialization and thus taught in Engineering Schools in the 18th and 19th Centuries. She believes that the use of axonometric projection in architecture further developed the already present basis of math and science. For those who were already architects or technical draftsmen, axonometric systems integrated the immediacy of a perspectival view with the scalability and transferability of orthographic projections; an ideal combination. Agrest carefully outlines that axonometric projections are predominantly centered around the construction and consistency of measurement and dimension, rather than illustrating an idea.
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ILLUSTRATED MARIO’S NEW WORLD The final axonometric construction is brought to life by the introduction of colour and shading. These additional elements bring dimension and placement to the image whilst establishing a playful mood. By placing a light source in the initial stages, the multiple faces of each object contains varying tones of the same colour, thus informing the viewer of a sense of placement and positioning on the page. This technique was simple to execute, and provides added dimesion and a level of completxity to the piece. The use of gradients in specific places helps to add dimension to the setting and a sense of space and layout. Through using gradient predominantly on curved surfaces, such as mountains and pipes, a contast in created between that of flatter faced structures such as the arches and floating blocks. This technique exphasises the range of objects present in the landscape and also engages the viewer through the visual diversity of colours and shades in this illustration. The use of varying colour groups including the greens, browns and oranges encorperates variety into the image and defines alike objects together, such as mountains, ground objects and floating objects. The use of the Adobe colour pallete helped in choosing colours that complement each other. Furthermore, details were added through the use of patterns on objects, including the polka dots on the mushroom and plants, imperfect circles on the mountains and rhombuses on the arches and other architectural structures. Although these patterns primarily came from the original Mario elevations, some additional ones were added to create more detail and interest in the landscape. The lower level was kept sparse because I wanted the viewer to establish a sense of space and not be bombarded with too many elements. However the objects I did include mostly originate from the original elevation, and consequently helps to link the two levels together. Altogether the composition has detail and variety without being overcrowded or confusing. My purpose was to bring a sense of flow and moment around the piece, aiming to tie all the objects together into a collective, visually aesthetic image. This notion also translates to the purpose of Mario and his role in the game.With this in mind, the landscape is designed to have multiple routes and modes of navigation, thus enhancing its compatablity with its intended users.
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APPENDIX
The process of my drawing shows how a complex illustration can be constructed from a simple axonometric that outlines key elements. The main objects in each image above contain the same main features, however, it is through the development of details and experimentation in hidden spaces that adds to the drawing’s overall complexity.
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Colour not only defines mood and emotion in any piece, but also creates dimension and placement especially within three dimensional drawings. The images above demonstrate how the functions in Illustrator are used to translate the hand drawing into the context of the digital construction. Furthmore, the use of transparency and overlaying implies depth and adds additional dimension and levels to this illustration.
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