Architectural drawing in the process of visual research: The new school concept of the representation of space

Abstract

The viewpoint of architect Đorđe Petrović on drawing as a research process, driven by his work at the Faculty of Architecture, University of Belgrade within the field of architectural drawing, is to be taken as a starting point for the analysis of the process of visual representation of architectural space in this paper. The analysis is primarily focused on the relevant period from the beginning of the seventies, when the concept of the New School was formed, and Petrović introduced the concepts of visual research and visual communications to the curriculum, in his reassessment of the role of architectural drawings as a purely technical and information resource. The basic methodological question concerns the interpretation of the concept of visual research, conducted within the reformed curriculum, as well as its position in the then socio-cultural context and in relation to the actual practice of the time and the period that preceded it. Looking at the drawing as a powerful means of representations of space, the paper discusses architectural discourse determined by architectural drawing as the product of social and theoretical practice, similar to the hypothesis of Henri Lefebvre, presented in his work The Production of Space.

Keywords

• architectural drawing
• visual research
• visual communications
• New School (of architecture)
• representations of space