This course aims to question the relationship between architecture and its representation and more specifically the role ofanimation in architecture.
The Carceri (Prisons) series of etchings by Piranesi marked a significant turning point in the 18th century of visually representing architectural spaces. Breaking from the rigid mathematical rules of linear perspective that had dominated architectural representation since the Renaissance, Piranesi sought to focus on the evocative qualities of images rather than the geometric order that was privileged by the conventions of perspective. The theatrical nature of his etchings have since been noticed by many outside the discipline of architecture and were of great influence to film makers such as Eisenstien and more recently Spielberg. Another such visionaire, Hugh Ferris, who too created cinematic renderings of architecture also proactively distorted the linearity of perspective, writing in an article on the role of architectural renderers ‘… it would appear that he is not so much permitted as actually required to slight incidental facts of his viewpoint in favor of the essential facts of the subject which he is viewing.’ (Ferris 1926).
