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Drawn Together: The Evolution of Architectural Scale Figures

18 May

[ By WebUrbanist in Art & Drawing & Digital. ]

architectural selfies

As they evolved, illustrated figures in architecture (sometimes called ‘scalies‘) have grown to have more personality, color and life, serving as more than a means to measure relative distances, heights and widths in renderings.

architectural scalies figure void

abstract scales

Historically, architectural drawings rarely featured people and, when they did, these were simplified constructs, often just outlines or silhouettes, designed simply to give the viewer a sense of scale.

scalies from gizmodo

scalies

Over time, start to see figures sitting in furniture, holding books (or recently: mobile devices), groups interacting and other strategies to bring these two-dimensional people to life, and the architectural scenes they inhabit along with them.

scalies in new rednerings

Their evolution is not accidental: scalies are often used with very explicit aims, from trying to give people a sense of the use that will take place in a finished building or space to conveying a broader vision of its popularity. Developers, for instance, may want to sell investors on how well their project will do financially, and thus pack drawings with figures to create that impression.

loitering scalies

On the flip side, architectural students may take things to opposite extremes, setting lewd, crude or generally absurd scenes for shock value and collegial entertainment.

scalies package

While some architects simply photo-edit their own scalies out of various images, there are professional makers as well, who take pictures against green screens and sell them in bundles, like “100 Business People” or “100 Casual People.” With the rise of 3D modeling, some companies are starting to capture and sell three-dimensional figures as well.

scalies in extreme environmen ts

sad keanu architecture rendering

Increasingly, other ‘support’ objects have coming into play, from cars to carried accessories. Some designers go out of their way to make scalies stand out, using scantily-clad models, impossible characters (like dinosaurs) or famous figures (like a sad Keanu).

scalies example

Taking the larger view, scalies show us a great deal about times, places and cultural norms; in the mid-1900s, you find men golfing and women in kitchens, dressed (of course) in period attire. Today is no different, but we notice the cultural cues less since these are now our times and places (Images via Gizmodo, Curbed, The New York Times and DesignObserver).

[ By WebUrbanist in Art & Drawing & Digital. ]

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Laser Precision: 3D Site Scan Enables Architectural Intervention

09 Mar

[ By WebUrbanist in Architecture & Houses & Residential. ]

3d view

Incredibly accurate laser-scanning technology, precise down to a hundredth of a millimeter, has helped British architects not only plan a new structure but also secure permission from a local planning commission. Their proposed Rock House, now approved, preserves both natural and architectural features currently on a government-protected site.

3d view preservation

Cornish firm Poynton Bradbury Wynter Cole (PBWC) Architects enlisted CESurveys to lidar scan the existing property, located in a conservation area. Their scanner system fires tens of thousands of lasers per second to get precise distance readings on complex terrain. Compared to traditional surveying and site-mapping strategies, this approach is much faster, cheaper and more effective.

3d building model

3d architectural addition

The results are translated into a three-dimensional model that can be manipulated, showing the effects of site changes or interventions. Scans from around sites are stitched together to form a complete picture.

3d scan section

3d scan side

3d scan elevation

The resulting models have an array of benefits, including the ability to show approving parties what the impacts of additions and remodels might be to a given property. They also helped the architects, in this case, maintain key lines of site, such as views out to the sea, and limit the cost of revisiting the site frequently to document additional features. Slices of the scans also make it easy to generate sections and elevations, sliced directly out of the models.

3d model lidar laser

Applications of lidar scanning goes well beyond architecture, too, including the ability to document historic infrastructure and preserve 3D models of fresh crime scenes.

[ By WebUrbanist in Architecture & Houses & Residential. ]

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Architectural Cultures Condensed: Vernacular Dwelling Collages

11 Feb

[ By Steph in Art & Drawing & Digital. ]

architecture collage 1

Can you distill the architecture of a particular city down to an image of just a single building? Not effectively – unless you’re Sweden-based artist Anastasia Savinova, who scouts and photographs the most distinctive typologies of specific locations and then blends them into a single structure via paper collage. Entitled “Genuis Loci,” the series consists of monstrous, Frankenstein-like cobbled buildings packing in as much visual information as possible.

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“Traveling around cities and countries, I take pictures of buildings, look into windows sneakily, go to local shops, flea markets and bars, watch everyday life – all this helps to build the feeling of the Place. This feeling becomes a foundation for a series of large-scale collages. The Integral Image emerges from visual information and a dozen of associations. While architecture and landscape are visual components of the integral image of the Place, at the same time, this image is inseparably linked with a mentality and a way of life.”

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“It is saturated with ‘an incorporeal something.’ Ancient Romans called it ‘genus loci’ – the protective spirit of a place. In contemporary usage, ‘genus loci’ refers to a location’s distinctive atmosphere. A big house on each collage is composed of many buildings, which are typical for a particular country or city, in their connection with the land and the spirit of the place.”

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Some almost look like they could be real structures, while the rest are pure fantasy, towering dozens or hundreds of feet into the air, sprouting forests from their roofs or balancing precariously on ladders. Can you guess from the images which countries are represented here? If you can’t figure it out, check out Savinova’s website for all the specifics.

[ By Steph in Art & Drawing & Digital. ]

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Wearable Skylines: Architectural Rings Wrap Up Global Cities

05 Feb

[ By WebUrbanist in Art & Sculpture & Craft. ]

architecture wrapping cityscapes

Jewelry for urbanists has taken a new turn with these silver, gold and platinum cityscapes, each featuring iconic buildings, monuments and landmarks from major metropolitan centers around the world.

architectural ring collection

Ola Shekhtman, a goldsmith from North Carolina, has crafted rings around cities including San Francisco, Boston, New York City, Paris, Amsterdam, Stockholm, Berlin and Hong Kong, selling them online via Etsy.

architecture finger jewelry

Growing up in Siberia, Ola wanted to travel the world, eventually visiting London and San Francisco before moving to New York.

architecture silver gold rings

With the help of 3D-modeling software, she created this series to capture the spirit of places she has been and those she yet wishes to visit. Buyers can likewise decide whether to pick places they live, favorite past points of travel or goal-oriented rings for desired future destinations.

[ By WebUrbanist in Art & Sculpture & Craft. ]

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Architectural Geodes: Subtractive Sculptor Carves Ornate Spaces

17 Jan

[ By WebUrbanist in Art & Sculpture & Craft. ]

carved stone sacred space

Combining the raw exterior remnants of source stones with the finely-tuned architectural details of sacred spaces, these marvelous fossil-like miniatures combine compelling elements of organic forms with heroic amounts of human effort.

architectural geodes

carved stone pillars

Matthew Simmonds studied art history before becoming a stonemason, then turned his knowledge and skill toward a hybrid pursuit: sculpting spaces from sandstone, limestone and marble.

carved interior architecture space

What he uncovers inside each chunk becomes part of a graceful juxtaposition with the rough and unaltered exterior shells that remain. His works also convey a sense of discovery, as if archeologists had dug down to find these marvelous wonders buried in history.

sculpture interior revealed

“Making a play of architectural spaces on a small scale, the solid stone is opened up to reveal internal worlds, often intricately carved, in which the changing viewpoint and light play a strong role in defining the sculptures.”

sclupture carved stone space

“Drawing on the formal language and philosophy of architecture the work explores themes of positive and negative form, the significance of light and darkness and the relationship between nature and human endeavour.”

set in wood

Geoff Manaugh highlighted Simmonds work but also connected it to similar approach taken in a stellar piece of museum advertising set in wood, a promotional image of modern architecture hewn from a log, made for the Cité de l’Architecture.

[ By WebUrbanist in Art & Sculpture & Craft. ]

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Buildings in Bottles: Crafty Test-Tube Architectural Models

03 Jan

[ By WebUrbanist in Art & Sculpture & Craft. ]

test tube architecture

A tiny twist on miniature architecture turns simply-crafted models into hovering micro-habitats, suspended in test tubes like the science experiment of some mad architect.

test tube stack buildings

test tube environment

Micro Matter is an ongoing project series by Rosa de Jong, an artist and designer from Amsterdam who uses both manufactured materials (paper and cardboard) as well as natural ones (sticks and moss) to shape small worlds enclosed in glass.

test tube crafting

test tube skyscraper

The scenarios range from partial (the tops of skyscrapers poking above the clouds) to complete (homes resting on floating mountaintops), and vary in structural plausibility as well, bringing to mind less-controlled urban environments in places like Mexico, where ingenuity often trumps order.

test tube miniature mountain

test tube floating

Each creation also comes with a behind-the-scenes look at its construction, including both the materials employed and the tools used to cut the pieces apart and assemble them into new forms.

test tube workspace

test tube water tower

test tube glass sculpture

The results strike a balance between everyday believability – crooked walls and as-needed staircases – and utter fantasy, combining the rigor of a ship-in-a-bottle with the imagination of a science fiction artist.

[ By WebUrbanist in Art & Sculpture & Craft. ]

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Soviet Bus Stops: Surreal Architectural Roadside Wonders

24 Sep

[ By Steph in Destinations & Sights & Travel. ]

soviet bus stops 1

Standing stark against silent desert backdrops like sculptures made for Burning Man, these leftover Soviet structures are actually bus stops scattered throughout one of the most sparsely populated regions on Earth. Photographer Christopher Herwig followed bus routes from Estonia to Armenia to photograph odd little roadside shelters in former Soviet satellite states for a new book.

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soviet bus stops 12

‘SOVIET BUS STOPS’ chronicles dozens of these entirely unique and surprisingly artistic structures in 157 color photographs, exploring the bus pavilion as its own architectural form. “There is a certain amount of [utilitarianism] here,” reads the foreword by Jonathan Meades. “But it is atypical. The norm is wild going on savage. Just as follies were, in the 18th century, often try-outs for new architectural styles, so may some of these wayward roadside punctuation marks have been structural or aesthetic experiments; they certainly don’t lack grandeur and audacity.”

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soviet bus stops 3

Herwig first discovered the strange beauty of these huts on a long-distance bike ride from London to St. Petersburg in 2002. Designed by local artists, seemingly without any restrictions from the government providing the money, each one displays a bit of the character of the town in which it stands.

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Throughout his journey, which took him to 13 countries and through territories that are rarely traversed by tourists, Herwig reports that he was occasionally accused of being a spy. The photographer scoured maps, Google Earth and traveler’s blogs for clues to find many of the shelters, which appear to be in exceptionally good shape for their age.

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Twelve years in the making, the photos were originally published in a limited-edition, sold-out version of the book, which is now available in an expanded, smaller-format trade edition.

[ By Steph in Destinations & Sights & Travel. ]

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Church for Crabs: Architectural 3D-Printed Hermit Shell

13 Aug

[ By Steph in Art & Sculpture & Craft. ]

hermit crab castle

A hermit crab scuttles along the sand, carrying a perfect replica of a Japanese wedding chapel on its back, complete with a tiny spire. After designing a series of crystal-clear ‘crawling cities,’ artist Aki Inomata returns with another detailed architectural alternative to natural shells, rendered in transparent acrylic so we can still see the crab’s body within.

hermit crab castle 2

Entitled ‘White Chapel,’ this miniature sculpture is the third installment of Inomata’s project ‘Why Not Hand Over a Shelter to Hermit Crabs?’ The shape will look familiar to Westerners, of course, as we see churches like this practically on every block. But in Japan, such structures are used for weddings only, and rarely for worshipping or any other form of religious services.

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“When I visit Western countries, I sometimes notice the origin of architecture, habits, foods, etc… in Japan, they would be transformed into local styles, and I ask myself, ‘are we Japanese living in mimicry of western world?’ says the artist. “For me, these imitations, or I would say reproductions or arrangements of Western-style architecture, seem to reflect identities of post-colonialism inside of Japanese people.”

hermit crab castle 5

Inomata uses CT scanning to perfectly replicate the interior shape of a natural hermit crab shell so all of her artificial alternatives fit comfortably. Previous versions have included skylines of New York City and Amsterdam, as well as reproductions of buildings in Paris and Tokyo.

[ By Steph in Art & Sculpture & Craft. ]

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The Most Under-Valued Editing Tool for Architectural Photos

04 Jun

Gradient-header

Nothing catches the eye of a potential home buyer or design client quite like a beautiful set of photos. Whether it’s for real estate agents, designers, or homeowners, expectations are high, and restrictions are often many. It’s not uncommon to have to deal with extremely short notice, very short windows of time in which to work, or to be asked for almost immediate turnaround. We, as photographers, become torn between meeting all the needs while still producing work we are proud of… and all while still making a profit! In real estate, especially, this often leads to photos that are “good enough”. But does it have to be this way?

While most are aware of the basics of editing images for interior spaces, there is one tool that is often undervalued – the Gradient Filter. This can be a tremendous tool for helping to balance out fading light on the edges of a frame when you are limited on gear and are not able to balance out the light on location. Adding a few Gradient Filters onto an image can make your mundane interior photos go from acceptable to impressive, with minimal time invested. The Gradient tool is also excellent in helping to sharpen up towards the edges of the frame, helping to compensate slightly for lens distortion.

The Gradient Gilter can be found just below the histogram in Lightroom. Once applied, you can move it around by grabbing the central node, you can change the angle of it by placing cursor over center line and clicking to spin it, and you can also spread or tighten the gradient by grabbing the outermost line and moving it inward or outward. The flexibility of positioning alone is a great benefit when trying to keep editing time to a minimum.

Gradient filter tool can be found under the histogram in Lightroom

Another great quality about the gradient filter is that, unlike the lens vignetting correction (under the Lens Correction module) or the post-crop vignetting effect, the Gradient Filter can adjust many factors of the image. You can adjust exposure, temperature, tint, sharpness, clarity, and several others. This makes it a very handy tool for making subtle adjustments that would otherwise be tougher to blend in with a brush filter. In this before-and-after example, the gradient filter has been used to adjust for the blue tint in the shadows on the floor due to the bed cover. It’s a subtle adjustment that helps to elevate the quality of work.

Gradient4

Let’s look at a few more before and after photos so you can see the effect of the gradient filter. In the series below, the only change that has been done to the After photos is the addition of Gradient Filters. While the Before photos are acceptable to most, adding the Gradient Filters helps to add extra polish to the photos. It helps to bring it up another notch, and will help to impress your clients even more than usual!

Gradient3

Gradient2

Gradient1

Note that in most cases, you will want to add several gradient filters, not just one. Each space will be a bit different, but the need tends to toward adding a bit of subtle light onto the sides of the frame, along with some clarity and possible slight temperature adjustments depending on light sources.

Exterior photos can benefit just as much from the Gradient Filter as interiors! Not all scenes will need this type of adjustment, but below is an example of a common setup that benefitted greatly from gradient filter adjustments. The shadows in the lower left corner of the frame are too dark, and a gradient filter adjusting the brightness of shadows is ideal for balancing them out.

Gradient-ext

As a final point, it’s worth noting that the Gradient Filter tool is one that should finish off your editing, and should not be the main editing technique used on an image. In nearly all cases, it will be a perfect tool for some finessing of highlights/shadows or temperature so that your image will have that extra bit of polish. Before exporting your final files and sharing with your client, be sure to consider if a Gradient Filter should be added into your arsenal of editing tools.

Do you have a different tool that you feel is undervalued for photo editing? Please share your thoughts in the comments below!

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The post The Most Under-Valued Editing Tool for Architectural Photos by Natalia Robert appeared first on Digital Photography School.

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Architectural Camouflage: Garments Printed with Tile & Marble

28 May

[ By Steph in Design & Products & Packaging. ]

architectural camouflage 1

Blend right into urban surfaces, from the walls of subway stations to the marble in museums and courthouses, with this line of architectural camouflage shirts, pants and accessories. A collaboration between design firm Snarkitecture and custom print company Print All Over Me, the line takes architectural patterns from public places all over New York City and translates them into fashion.

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The prints not only honor iconic minimalist patterns that have been an integral part of the city’s visual identity for decades, it enables the wearer to blend into urban environments. The effect can be pretty impressive, as seen in the collection’s promotional images.

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“The starting point was this idea of creating moments of architectural confusion, where you become visually lost within different material surfaces,” says Snarkitecture, a Brooklyn-based collaborative practice known for its unexpected installations, like all-white airball machines at Miami’s coolest modern parking garage.

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The Architectural Camouflage collection is available now at Print All Over Me, ranging from $ 38-$ 145, including a backpack, a baseball hat, a jumpsuit and a rain coat. Got an idea of your own? Anyone can upload images to create custom garments, home accessories and other items at PAOM.

architectural camouflage 6

Check out more urban camouflage, from body painting and bizarre costumes to disappearing cars.

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Posts Tagged ‘Architectural’

Drawn Together: The Evolution of Architectural Scale Figures

Laser Precision: 3D Site Scan Enables Architectural Intervention

Architectural Cultures Condensed: Vernacular Dwelling Collages

Wearable Skylines: Architectural Rings Wrap Up Global Cities

Architectural Geodes: Subtractive Sculptor Carves Ornate Spaces

Buildings in Bottles: Crafty Test-Tube Architectural Models

Soviet Bus Stops: Surreal Architectural Roadside Wonders

Church for Crabs: Architectural 3D-Printed Hermit Shell

The Most Under-Valued Editing Tool for Architectural Photos

Architectural Camouflage: Garments Printed with Tile & Marble

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Posts Tagged ‘Architectural’

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