Inhabited graphic space: The human figure in architectural visual communication

Abstract

This paper analyzes the potential of the human figure within the perspective drawing as a communication tool of the architectural project. Although in the state of the art of architectural representation—especially as it is linked to digital tools and marketingconditioned— the use of human figures is extensive, in most offices they are employed only to show the scale and proportions of the building. However, in some works their use goes beyond that and is more original and oriented to emphasize specific architectural contents and personal aspects of the designer. The human representation—which has an ancient origin, found its place in the Renaissance and revealed its potential in the neoclassical perspective drawings—is today an element with more potential to indicate the typology of the space; the characteristics of the physical environment; the profiles of users who are expected to experience the architecture and the interactions that will be generated among them; the overall concept of the project; and the spirit of the times. This paper selects, analyzes and synthesize different categories of use in which the human representation operates as a polysemic element that emphasizes the—advertising as well as critical and historical—discourse of the architectural project.

Keywords: drawing, architectural representation, CAD, models, human figure.