More precisely, "Architectural Representation and the Perspective Hinge".
The tool for representation mutates into the tool for design? In western history the power of "the perspective" is established through the cultural foundations in religion and philosophy. The power of the one-point perspective is very much a product of man's intellectual urge to understand (through metaphors) what otherwise cannot be (technically) explained.
The never changing and untangible nature of light and its symbolism for divinity have contributed to the man's search for understanding in sight (perspective) and light (optics). The imperfection of man and his ever-changing position in the world have given rise to the significance of a constructed perspective, a non-temporal and privileged view of the world.
This technique, with its roots in the divinity, manifests itself into the representation of urban and architectural spaces. In the periods of Medieval and Renaissance, the representation technique is stil much valued in its social context, rooting in the worship of the divine. However, in contemporary society, the influence of religious symbols on western society (as a whole) is no longer so dominant. And consequently, the associated symbols (and views) once foourished in spatial representation no longer carry the same value in contemporary society. Furthermore, the exclusivity of the ability to construct the perspective has diminished, along with it dies the notion of the unattainable.
What has developed from perspectives are orthographic representations of architectural layers. Given its mutated nature from a diminished technique of exclusivity, the continued use of its projection somehow still survives. Is it still valid for orthographic projections to be dominant among the masses when its predecessor in perspective construction has lost its social value?
How are our views constructed now? How is our understanding of the world and the spaces different now than centuries ago? How can the methods for representing our new understanding spaces be representated?
But, what is often a conflicting state to the avant-garde is often the basic human capacity to understand spaces when without thorough training... The hinge then is no longer about how to go from the representation to the represented, but it is the question of how to coherently convey the represented to the viewer.
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I think the real challenge we face today with regards to perspectival works in architecture is the methods through which we choose to represent it. A matter of digital means vs. traditional means. I believe we need to question the strengths and weaknesses of both methods to form a compromise that will provide understanding to the outsider seeing these drawings for the first time.
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