Ricardo Irles Parreño

The Symbolism of Figurative Expression

The representation of the impossible, imperfect and unknown reality, pre-supposes, in the area of architectural graphic expression, an eternal problem with which to work. Parallel to the efforts of science to understand the composition, essence and behaviour of matter, architects in general, and draftspersons in particular, have worked to establish methods that allow a faithful but codified reflection of the visible meaning of architecture. To be precise, the point clouds (qualified with colour) that have been studied using CAD technology represent the most rigorous, effective and accurate representation of the buildings we inhabit. The figurativeness in them is evident: as perfect as indiscriminate, they reflect from the slightest inclinations to the most irrelevant details that, even perceiving by the human eye, would be characteristics to be safely discarded by the human intellect. It will be put forward, through a series of examples, that the cornerstone of current drawing discipline lies, not in the tools, but in the ideas that orient them, and, it will conclude, that the representation of the unreachable reality must position itself consciously above these issues to achieve excellence in architectural drawn expression.