Architecture Images
Architecture images are the visual records of buildings and of the design of buildings, and they are one of the reference tools of the discipline of architecture, used for study, for inspiration and for the communication of a design. The term covers the photographs of built work, the drawings and the renders that show a design, and the images that carry the visual language of the field. This page explains the kinds of image used, where to source them, and how to use them in the design process.
What architecture images are and the kinds in use
Architecture images are the visual records of the built and the designed, and the kinds in use fall into 3 families. The first is the photograph of a built building, the image that records a building that stands, and it is the primary reference of the discipline, the way the field studies the work that has been done. The second is the drawing, the plan, the section and the elevation, which are the images of the design as it is documented. The third is the render, the image of a design that is not yet built, made by a rendering engine from a 3 dimensional model. A reference set of architecture images for a project runs to several hundred images, and the reader of the set studies the buildings and the designs from them. The image is the way the discipline records and shares its work, and a building that is not imaged is a building the field does not study, which is why the image is as central to the practice as the drawing.
Where to source architecture images
Where to source architecture images is a matter of the kind of image needed, and the table gives the source, the kind of image it carries, and the use it is suited to.
| Source | Kind of image |
|---|---|
| The archive of the discipline | The photograph of the built work, the historic set |
| The firm's own record | The drawing and the render of a design |
| The public library and the museum | The photograph and the plate of the landmark |
| The journal and the review | The image of the current work, the new building |
The archive of the discipline carries the photograph of the built work, the historic set that the field studies, and it is the first source for the image of a building that stands. The firm's own record carries the drawing and the render of a design, and it is the source for the image of the work in hand. The public library and the museum carry the photograph and the plate of the landmark, and the journal and the review carry the image of the current work, the building that is new. A designer sources the image from these 4 places, and the choice of the source depends on the kind of image needed, the record of the built, the document of the design, the plate of the landmark, or the image of the new. The image is the reference of the field, and the source is the place where the reference is kept.
How to use architecture images in the design process
How to use architecture images in the design process is a matter of the stage of the design, and the image is used at each stage for a different purpose. At the concept stage, the image is used for study, the designer studies 10 to 20 images of the buildings that solve the problem they are working on, and the image is the reference that informs the idea. At the design development stage, the image is used for comparison, the designer compares their drawing to the image of the building that does the same thing well, and the image is the check on the design. At the presentation stage, the image is used for communication, the render and the photograph carry the design to the client, and a presentation set runs to 8 to 12 images. A designer uses the image at all 3 stages, and the image is the thread that runs through the design process, from the study of the work that is done to the communication of the work in hand, and the discipline's skill in the image is the skill of the reference, the image that carries the meaning of the building.