Rationalist movement architects’ heretical drawings

Designing by architectural perspectives and axonometric

Abstract

On the representation in perspective, interpretations of the alleged 'transgressions' made by 16th-century artists after codifying rules for applying the method seemed compelling. Experiments with the polycentricity of certain pictorial representations seemed to be legitimate violations of monocentric, seen, however, as a pure abstraction from reality. In the following three centuries, architectural drawings realised with perspective mostly show the permanence of the balance of compositions, where the monumentality of buildings is accentuated in addition to the rigorous construction of space. A profound change in the field of representation, about the use of graphic methods and techniques, was recorded from the beginning of the 20th century onwards and therefore, it is evident that the production of the exponents of the avant-garde movements, by suggesting profound changes in the systems and techniques of representation, identified decisive elements for the new grammar and syntax of project drawing. In the architectural drawings, it can be observed that perspective probably emphasised the process of invention, as creativity in the conception of new spaces was central to the interest of each of the protagonists of the period. Perspectives underpinned experimentation with the shapes of spaces, depths and elevations, construction elements and materials, surface treatments and possible decorative solutions. Shifting the point of view from the central to the corner position could further highlight singular aspects of the planned architecture. For the exponents of Rationalism, the authors of the selected representations of architecture, the variability of the point of view translated into the possibility of inventing spaces and representing them effectively by combining rationality with elegance and functionality with harmony.