Topics in Contemporary Architectural Theory: Atmospheric Perspectives

Conventions of architectural representation typically rely on trees, mountains and clouds to countermand the denaturing effects of drawing in plan, section and elevation. This seminar argues instead that the landscape settings included in a wide range of representational genres are not only signs of nature or techniques for producing naturalistic space, but exactly what they appear to be; neglected components of as yet to be written environmental histories of architecture. With attention to historical events, we examine how trees, mountains and clouds were represented and redesigned as architects sought to cultivate the natural world.