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PORTFOLIO: MISREPRESENTING ARCHITECTURE

Misrepresenting Architecture deals with research into the ‘misuse’ of standard forms of architectural representation and communication and how they can be utilised outside of their usual utilitarian contexts to create critical artworks and texts. The research takes two primary forms; CAD drawings produced as narrative ‘digital paintings’ and détourned forms of architectural text such as the schedule of works, the specification and various types of listing.

The author has been producing CAD drawings and architectural graphics as part of his practice for over fifteen years. The use of representation in this way is an attempt to deconstruct the forms of architectural drawing by deliberately locating ‘drawing’ outside its conventional context, often in provocative and playful ways. The pieces consist of narrative drawings and artworks using Computer Aided Drafting software, the works are often highly coloured and displayed as digital prints on light boxes. The work uses appropriation and collage to create tableaux pieces that can be pictorial, abstract or even propositional. Many of the CAD drawings relate to authors film works, are produced to illustrate his scholarly texts and essays or are developed for design projects or exhibitions.

The recuperation of types of text used as part of the normal mode of professional activity both stresses the often ’invisible’ nature of these forms of writing within the process of architectural production itself while undermining their apparent objectivity. The deployment of these ‘minor texts’ as critical vectors also questions the hegemony of other forms of critical writing within architectural discourse.

An important aspect of the research is the use of humour as a disruptive element in a critical engagement with architectural production. The work addresses issues of authenticity, originality and transparency through a process of ‘détournment’, where the meanings of elements within the representational system are over-turned through their juxtaposition with other graphics and text.