Digital systems for architectural representation

Written by Mariangela Riggio.

In 1400 Filippo Brunelleschi developed a drawing system of the space: the perspective. 

Today architects and engineers don’t use pencils and leafs to draw a perspective more, but now the perspective is created by computer, so it isn’t a two-dimensional drawing. Today the space “can be browsed” by particular architectural software. New digital technologies have changed the communication language of the architecture, that it has always been united with images and drawings. Today it’s possible to create a building with its colours and its material before its construction  through a professional software.

The picture called “rendering” can show us every kind of building with its features, with  specific lights and with specific environment even though it doesn’t exit yet or it’s possible to create images of building that they exited in the past, but now   there aren’t more. Today architects and engineers often use a particolar software to draw, they are called BIM (Building Information Modelling). They allow us to check many architectural elements of a project. This kind of software can create different three-dimensional elements with the advantage to make changes quickly. Though many software tools you can draw plans and elevations of a design of a building at the same time. You can modify each element and you can see the correction in every drawing generated by the software. The simulation of materials, lights and viewpoints thug virtual cameras show realistic images of the architectural project. This is very important for the designer because he can show his project to the customer clearly.

Also in the cultural field the digital revolution has produced advantages, because today we can see the architectures of ancient civilizations and so for example we can rebuild virtually Colosseo or another monument. We can mention, for example, the three-dimensional reconstruction of Ancient Rome that there is in Google Eart map. The studying of the old architectures and the famous architects’ projects never built lure the interest of the students; in fact many educational workshops about the news digital drawing techniques are common in our Italian universities. Finally it’s important to remember that many architectural projects of famous architects like Frank O Gehry or Zara Hadid are created with specific software.

In conclusion can we say that today it’s simpler designing and drawing? Three-dimensional desing is more complicated than the drawing by hand, but it attracts anybody!

Look some of our experiment about the rebuilding of famous architects’projects in the multimedia section.