Mimari görselleştirme pratiğine eleştirel bir yaklaşım
A critical approach to the practice of architectural visualization
Yazar: REŞAD ŞÜKRÜ ÇOBAN
Danışman: PROF. DR. ARZU ERDEM
İstanbul Teknik Üniversitesi / Fen Bilimleri Enstitüsü / Bilişim Ana Bilim Dalı / Mimari Tasarımda Bilişim Bilim Dalı
Derece: Yüksek Lisans, 2013
Konu: Mimarlık = Architecture

Özet:
Düşünce temsil edilmediği sürece başkalarına aktarılamaz. Mimarlar meslek içi iletişim için maket veya eskizleme yöntemlerini daha çok tercih ederken meslek dışındaki kişilerle iletişim için perspektif kurallarının uygulandığı ve fotografik gerçekliğe yakın imajları tercih etmişlerdir. Rönesans döneminde perspektif çiziminin keşfedilmesiyle resimler yeni bir boyut kazanmış ve bir tablodan öteye giderek başka mekanları ve dünyaları temsil etmek için kullanılmışlardır. Perspektif çiziminin mimari temsiliyet sürecine katılmasına ise ilk zamanlarda şiddetle karşı çıkanlar olmasına rağmen bu kurallı çizim metotu mimari tasarım ve meslek dışı iletişim amaçlı temsiliyet sürecine kalıcı olarak dahil olmuştur. Günümüzde ise gelişen teknoloji ile birlikte sayısal ortamda gerçekçi imajlar üretme olanakları artmıştır. Bu teknoloji ve araçlar da mimarlık ofislerindeki yerlerini almışlardır.İkinci bölümde tartışılan, İkinci Dünya Savaşı sonrası modern mimarlığın, özellikle Amerika Birleşik Devletlerindeki şahsi evlerin fotoğraflar ile yayınlarda yer alması sonucunda mimarlığın temsiliyetinin başka bir boyuta taşınmasıdır. Bu dönemden itibaren mimarlık artık dergilerde ve gazetelerde bir moda ürünü gibi, dramatik ve zaman zaman yanıltıcı fotoğraflar ile temsil edilmeye başlanmıştır. Fotoğrafçılık mesleği ise kendi içinde özelleşmeye başlamış ve mimarlık nesnelerinin fotoğrafları konusunda uzmanlaşan kişiler ortaya çıkmıştır. Bu fotoğrafçıların başarılı olanlarının bir kısmı da tıpkı günümüzdeki görselleştirme uzmanları gibi aslında mimarlık eğitimi almış kişilerdir. Fotoğraf sanatı ise, fotoğrafın yani karanlık oda'nın icadıyla birlikte kendi tarihini oluşturmaya başlamıştır ve özellikle ilk dönemlerinde piktoryalizm adında kendinden önceki resimlere özenen bir tavır sergilemiştir. Mimarlık nesnelerinin fotoğrafları ise yayınlarda boy göstermelerinin yanı sıra Richard Meier, Richard Neutra ve Le Corbusier gibi dönemin önemli mimarları tarafından kendi mimari düşünceleri üzerinde pratik yapmak için de kullanılmıştır. Burada üzerinde durulan durum fotoğraf temsiliyet metotlarının aslında mimari tasarım sürecini etkileyen hatta ona dahil olan araçlara dönüşmesidir. Mimari görselleştirme pratiği ise 2000'li yıllara doğru sinema endüstrisinden ödünç aldığı araçlar ve teknoloji ile büyük gelişmeler katetmiştir. Bu teknik gelişmeler sayesinde fotoğraf ile ayırt edilemeyecek gerçeklikte imajlar ortaya çıkmaya başlanmış ve bazı durumlarda fotoğraf yerine kullanılmaya başlanmıştır. Bu görseller ise tıpkı fotoğrafın resme özendiği gibi fotoğrafa özenmiştir ve manipüle edilebilme kapasitelerinden ve üretim şartlarının kolaylığından dolayı fotoğrafın doğurduğu tekinsizliklerin çok daha fazlasını oluşturmuşlardır.Üçüncü bölümde ise mimari görselleştirme pratiğinin kendisi eleştirilmiştir. Mimari fotoğrafların fonksiyonları ile görsellerin fonksiyonları kıyaslanarak tasarım sürecine ve algıya etkileri tartışılmıştır. Dramatize edilmiş görsellerin algıyı fikirlerden çok etkileyici grafik unsurlara yönlendirdiği konusu ele alınmıştır. Diyagramların mimarlık tarihinde yaptığı etki üzerinden görselleştirme pratiğinin tasarım sürecindeki yeri ve günümüz mimarlığını nasıl değiştirdiği konusu incelenmiştir.Diyagramlar, basit çizgileri sayesinde mimarlığı fonksiyon üzerine yoğunlaştırıp amaçsız detaylarından uzaklaştırmıştı. Görselleştirme pratiğinin ise sabit ve belirli kamera açıları üzerinden bir fikirler bütününü tasvir etme hedefiyle cephe hareketlerine ve fotografik kompozisyonlara odaklı bir mimarlığa yol açması tartışılmıştır. Ayrıca mevcut görseller üzerinden tekrar eden durumlar konusunda analizler yapılmıştır. Sık sık karşımıza çıkan bu teknikler ve kararların, mimarlığı öyle olmasa dahi homojenize edilmiş bir ortam gibi tasvir etmesi tartışılmıştır. Son olarak da tutarlı ve dengeli olduğu takdirde görsellerin ne kadar başarılı olabileceği konusuna da örnekler ile değinilmiştir.Son bölümde ise genel bir değerlendirme yapılmış ve geleceğe dair öngörülerde bulunularak mevcut donanım ve araçlarda ne gibi değişiklikler yapılarak görsellerin oluşturduğu olumsuz durumlardan kurtulunabileceğinden bahsedilmiştir.

Abstract:
Any form of idea cannot exist without a form of expression. Architects often tend to communicate their ideas through sketches or rough models. But to communicate with their clients or to the layperson there is a common need for more realistic and rendered perspective drawings. After the invention of perspective drawing in Renaissance the perception of images have changed. The paintings became more than mere images and were often used as a window to another place or environment, as if they really existed. The imposition of this drawing technique to the architectural design and representation process was harshly objected and criticized by some in that era. But the perspective drawing took its place in architecture as both as a design method and as a presentation technique.After the II. World War, architectural photographs, especially of private houses in United States of America started to appear increasingly in magazines. This has put photography to a very important spot in representing architecture. Well known photographers in that field were being hired to capture stunning images of architecture. As of this era architecture has started to be perceived like a fashion product with highly dramatized, carefully staged and sometimes retouched photographs of itself. The visual has become a very dominant part of our society in the last century and through the advancements of technology and the digital media it?s dominance has been clenched. The bussiness of filmmaking and especially Hollywood contributed huge technical advancements to the tools of that particular art. After the first full-featured animated movie called Toy Story these advancements started to spread to other practices where the same tools could be used. Architecture was one of these practices and hugely gained advantage of these tools in terms of producing good looking visuals in a short amount of time. With these new abilities architecture started to change. Looking at the works built by the relatively famous architects of the last 15 years, it can be argued that architecture started to move away from its functional priorities and became a practice of building interesting forms and masses. Also with the gains of digital technology, it has become much easier to copy or emulate any building which has been built or published. Throughout the world, this resulted a type of architecture which is not related to its environment, culture or society but seems to be landed from sky.Digital technologies on the other hand, has also provided the ability to build ingenious buildings which would be impossible to realize 20 years ago. Also the ease of communication and the relative speed of computer generated drawings to the traditional techniques has helped architectural offices to compete with the current speed of global economy and the expectations of construction companies. But using these new abilities to illude the perceivers of architecture (consciously or unconsciously) or to move away from the main concerns of architecture is a very serious situation and should be examined carefully.In the second chapter, the practice of architectural representations is discussed parallel to photography. This practice, with the technologies borrowed from the film industry, has changed a lot in the last 15 years. The ease of being able to produce photo-real images has shifted the expactations of the client and the layperson. Although creating physically accurate and realistic images can be very helpful, it is argued that these tools have transformed the role of architecture. The renders created for architecture often included many elements not related to the subject. These elements are images of cut-out people who are usually surprisingly happy and elegant, shiny and dramatic skies, carefully crafted stage compositions. Studies have shown that while laypeople are looking at a render, they spent as much time examining the architecture as these elements while when architects are examining a render they are mainly focused on the architecture. This clearly shows that intentionally or unintentionally, the common tricks and illusions of a render can be quite misleading.Photography, after its invention tried to emulate the paintings which came before that and similarly architectural renders have tried to emulate the many qualities of photographs. With the uncanny realistic look of renders, they even took the places of photographs. Mainly because they are much cheaper to produce. Also with the coming of digital tools to manipulate photographs, the credibility of photography as a document started to vanish. Many journalists tried to raise awareness to the fact that as long as the digital manipulations continue, the society will no longer see the photographs as something real. Today it can be easily said that any commercial photograph or image in general is not trustworthy.Architectural photographs resemble the architectural renders of today in many ways. Not only graphically but also in the ways of producing it and using it in the process of design and representation. While many great photographers of architecture examined the natural light for days to capture the subject in the most optimum way, the visual artists producing renders also tries to emulate an expressive light by doing many test renders. Like many important archicture photographers, most people in the architectural visualization field are also architects. In a lot of ways, these to practices are very similar to each other. Their working process, their relationships with the architects are very parallel. A good composition is a key element in capturing a photography as well as a render. Most photographers are known to carefully stage their scenes and visual artists are doing exactly the same, with more freedom. But besides these similarities, the use of photography and renders during a design process are alike too. Some architects are known to redefine and examine their designs through photographs of their buildings and the same is true for architects today studying their designs on the renderings. This aspect is widely argued through the thesis as it mainly focuses the designer on a single angle of the project and tends to emphasize on the aesthetics of certain facades. The main goal of this chapter is to capture the similiraties of these two practices. And by comparing the relatively new practice of architectural visualization to the fairly established architectural photography their functions in the field are discussed. With the coming of photographies of architecture being published in magazines and books, the function of a photography has shifted in terms of advertisement. An impressive and dramatic photography of a project had a chance to be more stimulating than the project itself. While many important photographers of the modern era states that a photograph cannot be good unless the design is good; today it is understood that an image whether a photograph or not can be misleading. The manipulative powers of a photography has been a subject of many arguments. But these powers of the visualization industry, when compared to photographs are much stronger. Today the emphasize of digital renderings in architecture are so big, sometimes the cost of representation of a project can cost more than the design itself.In the third chapter, the practice of architectural representation is criticised for many of its characteristics. First the importance of architectural photographs for reaching an audience and helping the architect build a reputation is examined. This function is then related to the importance of renderings today, which for many architects started to play an important role as they might represent their ideas more than the built project. On the other hand how a bad decision regarding a render can illude the perceivers of the image by not being able to reflect the ideas of the architect is explained. Also it criticized how the expectation of a realistic image is becoming a burden on the architect and the visual artist as it might lead to skipping the concept stage. Many clients and investors are expecting a finalized, photography-like images even at the earliest stages of design. Another subject that is discussed in this chapter is how the ease of manipulation results unethical results in the field. Manipulative powers of digital tools are almost becoming hard to resist because of their speed and the ease of their use. Finally in this chapter, the recurring aspects of published renders are examined. From images with extreme contrasts, distracting elements to the very characteristic features borrowed from photography. A quick analyse has been made in this chapter to visualize how a well known rendering company uses contrast in their images. Although contrast is necessary to emphasize on the shape of a mass, these much repeated effects are homogenizing the visuals of architecture today. Distracting elements and incredibly detailed and staged environments are criticised due to their tendancy to distract the eyes of a layperson from the architecture and focus on the non-related elements of an image. Also related to the art of photography once again, this time the very obvious features borrowed from the photography are discussed. The dramatic light beams from the sun, the vignette lens effects, the framing tecniques which almost became a rule for photograhy are critized because these repetitions are not allowing the architectural representations to be an original graphic form and limiting its endless capacities. Thus leading the expectations of the community towards photo-like images. The cut-out people used in renderings are also discussed touching on the subject of architectural drawings and representations becoming a social history resource. The power of accurate and balanced renderings are also given credits and explained by examples from two rendering offices in London. The `accurate visual representations? show how carefully constructed images with no manipulative effects or distracting elements can be helpful to realize an unbuilt design.Final chapter is where a general evaluation is made. With the writer?s professional experiences, the aspects criticised through the thesis are supported. A render of a high-rise building, which was manipulated to make it look thinner is explained. Also it is discussed through an example how a basic render can be dramatized very quickly with an impressive background image which is not related to the project or its location in any way. Final thoughts on the thesis are regarding the future of the practice of architectural representation with reflections ranging from current situation of the film business and new advancements in technologies of augmented reality.