Vasco Pinheiro Architecture School of Lusófona University, Lisbon, Portugal 231
considered to be problematic, so that we may afterwards conclude with some lines
of orientation, allowing us to consolidate the basis of a pedagogical transformation,
which is needed now more than ever.
Without forgetting the humanistic condition of architecture – its method and
experimentation – the following 8 points may be defined as emerging problems in
the traditional pedagogic system:
- In general, cultural imagery and in particular, architectural imagery are presently
haunted by the possibilities offered by new technologies, which allow us to travel
in time and space in a digital universe where imagery and its relationship with
technology constitute an accentuated expression of dominant consumption, which
finds in an emotional appeal, its principal criterion of acceptance. - New design technologies are competing for the consolidation of an architectural
culture dominated by image. But this is not only a problem of architecture. In the
academic environment, it may be dangerous to allow the easy handling of images
once their construction may lead to the emptying of contents, to the absence of
rigour, geometry and composition criteria, leading to the configuration of objects
whose efficacy does not surpass the value of appearance. - The diversity in tools made available by new technologies and the great variety
of contrasting software present specific and equally contrasting characteristics,
which introduce in the act of drawing, physical and operational limitations that
impede the subject in the act of projecting without constraints. - The natural and intimate relationship between the subject and the graphic expres-
sion of his thoughts – the drawing – is interposed by an artificial system – the
computer – which operates in accordance with specific software, conditioning the
spontaneity of the act, while subverting its emotional, sensitive and cathartic
character. - The experimentation of solutions by drawing or design as a research method is
conditioned by the need to introduce rigour in the registration process – the great
majority of drawing software functions with the help of the Cartesian system,
which requires precision in the determination of the geometrical location of points,
lines and planes. It is important to note that mistakes and crossing over errors
are equally fundamental in the act of preparing projects. First and foremost, a
project’s drawing communicates with the subject who’s realising it, as he relies
on critical thinking while awaiting permanent correction. - The drawn object assumes its value in accordance with the totality of the repre-
sented figures and the necessary relation between its parts and their respective
relation to the whole. For this reason, the dimension of the monitor’s field of
view constitutes a clear limitation, demanding the use of specific commands such
as, for example, zoom and pan, which interpose themselves between the visual
relationship of the subject and the drawing, fragmenting the object and concen-
trating the subject’s attention on its parts, consequently making it difficult to
concentrate on the whole. - The professional use of software encourages the rapid and easy handling of graphi-
cal elements, which are part of the project and appear in the form of blocks,
libraries and preconfigured solution models (whole and partial). Their use in the