Graphic Horizons

The architecture of the past century has been predominantly characterized by a rigorous functionalism that has largely standardized the tangible physiognomy of its structures. However, in recent decades, overlaid on functional rationality, issues of architectural perception have emerged from imagined universes, appreciated as a quality attribute in architectural ideation.The objective of this article is to compare and contrast some concerns in current architectural ideation with the artistic approach of Josep Maria Jujol, aiming to assess to what extent there are aspects that connect attitudes in a common contemporary culture. This culture utilizes narrative as a creative argument through evocations, and certain visual representations transform a generic mode of storytelling into a highly personal one, capable of contributing renewed originalities to architectural form.The research focuses on the built materiality of an early 20th-century project, re-examined through the ideational concerns of relevant contemporary projects. The article provides a methodological perspective on the application of graphic and visual representation resources that impact a materiality evocative of narrative arguments in architecture.

Since its beginning, photography has been one of the great allies of architecture. As a representation element, it manages to capture the architectural scene in fractions of a second. Its appearance as a technology available to the general public coincided with that of the Modern Movement in architecture, a Movement with which it became intimate and quickly allied itself. This new architecture, among other values, advocated lightness and transparency as values of modernity and photography attempted to reflect them. In Spain, without a doubt, Alejandro de la Sota has been one of the precursors of a mature Modern Movement. De la Sota took transparency as his banner in his latest works and this witness was taken up by one of his most notable students, Alberto Campo Baeza. This article aims to make an analysis of this architectural concept through the thoughts of its authors and especially the photographic series of several of their most paradigmatic works.

Since the beginning of the 16th century, the Portuguese built fortifications on strategic territories of the Strait of Hormuz, which were brought under their dominion and used as a basis to act upon the Indian Ocean commercial routes, secure this node and its bordering zones. The three main islands and their fortresses at the entrance of the Persian Gulf – Hormuz, Qeshm, and Larak – form an insular triangle that guaranteed the Portuguese presence for more than one century. However, the latter two have constantly been interpreted as satellites of Hormuz, and, as a result, their potential architectural associations have been overlooked. This article proposes an analysis and a hitherto missing translation of Kaempfer’s plan of the fortress of Qeshm (ca.1683–85), enunciating a setting for comparison with Erédia’s plan of the fortress of Hormuz (ca.1610). Due to a lack of extant literature on space allocation in Hormuz, the chosen path was to reassess it by examining the layout composition of the fortress of Qeshm. Employing guidelines from Kaempfer’s drawing, since it also bears witness to the transition to bastioned fortification, concordant elements and similar spatial arrangements in both plots are highlighted. This points out the necessary consideration of Hormuz not as an isolated architectural accomplishment but as material proof that European theoretical backgrounds faced local constructive and technical modifications during cultural encounters.

This research is framed within a broader line in which the author addresses the reciprocal relations between Art and Architecture of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Thus, the essential figure of Álvaro Siza, architect and artist, is analysed in relation to the role of drawing in his process of artistic-architectural ideation. The aim is to clarify, not only the genius of his production, but above all and especially his role as a catalyst and defender of a total art, undoubtedly charged with mysticism. In this sense, his integrative conception of art makes it possible to see the richness of his thought, which is expressed through a ‘hand that knows’, that is, wise, human and divine at the same time.

Painted façades in Genoa are a form of artistic and historical expression that can be admired throughout the historic centre: a sort of open-air museum in which art and architecture come together evocatively, creating an architectural language characteristic of the city.A significant example of a Genoese painted façade is Palazzo San Giorgio: the building was the subject of a careful survey using advanced instrumentation to recover the chromatic design, through which it was possible to reconstruct the original beauty of the façades.The Palazzo San Giorgio case study highlights the importance of preserving and enhancing the painted façades as historical testimonies and works of art. The recovery of the colour scheme allows the artistic mastery and scenic effect offered by the painted façades of the building on Genoa's harbourfront to be fully appreciated.

In the context of studies on the history of representation and the enhancement of knowledge of architectural drawings conserved in Sicilian archives, this contribution aims to examine Sebastiano Ittar's designs for the city of Catania, produced from the first decades of the 19th century and conserved in the Castello Ursino civic museum in Catania.A renewed urgency to modernize the city's spaces, in line with European architectural trends, leads Ittar to design new building types necessary to respond to the new utilitarian needs, decorum and worldliness. At the centre of this new vision is no longer the private client, lay or religious, as was the case until the previous century, but the citizen and the public administration.

The so-called Serapeum of Villa Adriana, Tivoli, is one of the most relevant monuments of antiquity. It is the subject of several previous studies, beginning from the Renaissance. Nevertheless, a compelling description of the unique geometry of its main vault still needs to be provided. This paper reports the first novelty discovered within a study set out to develop a deeper understanding of such geometry: the use of an ellipsoid-based shape. The result is of overriding interest both within the understanding of the monument and in the general context of ancient design. The finding could shed new light on understanding the Roman Imperial age’s theoretical mastery of double-curved surfaces through its consistent applications to architectural solutions.

The graphic heritage preserved in architectural archives constitutes an important legacy, not only to be preserved and handed down, but to be disseminated through research and new digital representations that broaden its diffusion and knowledge. The steps relating to the design phases that lead from the sketch to the final project, including the different options and the events that led to the completion of the work, take on the role of testimony of a compositional method surpassed by the fastest computer graphics softwares. Traditional drawings, unlike CAD ones where the graphic process is standardized, allow you to read the cultural and expressive paths imprinted on fragile paper supports. It therefore appears necessary to pay specific attention to research on original projects, on fragile drawings that risk disappearing due to the perishability of the material that define them and their lack of systematization, in particular that relating to the numerous private archives in the cataloguing phase. In this sense, a research methodology is proposed applied to a case study, conducted using a replicable and implementable scientific method dedicated to architectural archives. This is the project of a public work relating to the period of post-war reconstruction after the Second World War, extrapolated from a significant and little-known private archive, currently under re-arrangement, useful for understanding the political logic and historical-cultural influences of the period in the Italian provinces. This is the project for the extension of the Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Crafts and Agriculture of the city of Pescara by the architect Antonio Cataldi Madonna which is one of the most representative modern architectures of the Adriatic city. The graphic analysis highlights the cutting-edge technological and structural solutions that allowed the architect to experiment with an innovative stylistic language that is now analysed and reconfigured three-dimensionally with the new languages of representation in order to understand and disseminate the important and unprecedented graphic heritage.

The contribution presents studies on the decoration of the ancient Domestic Oratory (or Private Chapel) of the University Palace of Genoa (former Jesuit College). The frescoes and stuccos were created between 1704 and 1709 by Domenico Parodi: a painter trained in sculpture and interested in architectural settings. The theme of the decoration is based on the celebration of saints and martyrs of the Jesuit order, inside the place of prayer reserved for the Fathers. The real space, with a rectangular plan, takes on more courtly forms thanks to the painted perspective architecture and the contribution of the reliefs.The Oratory is made up of the sum of two cubic volumes with a bipartition underlined by the presence of two illusory umbrella vaults. The documentary and material investigations shown in this contribution are aimed at hypothesizing a reconstruction of the illusory space. The rectangular plan, in fact, is transformed by two painted exedra terminals covered by basins. The suggestion is effective thanks to the painted architectural members and their accurate perspective representation, in addition to the reliefs that protrude from the surface of the walls and vault. Despite the knowledge that there is a lack of references that would allow a univocal reconstruction, the perspective restitution can constitute a confirmation of the univocal attribution of the decorative project to Parodi, capable, without the aid of a quadraturist painter, of managing the illusory spatial configuration through the union of the arts.

In 1951, at the age of 39, Francisco de Asís Cabrero visited Max Bill in his studio home at Zurich. The house and its contents impressed Cabrero, who interpreted the ensemble as a reference for the integration of visual and applied arts: painting, sculpture, furniture, graphic and industrial design. Cabrero frequently mentions his admiration for Bill, his painting and sculpture, and by extension his Bauhaus experiences. In Bill’s work, Cabrero finds an explanation of the plastic work as a result of the constitutive interactions of its elements, the configuration of rhythms, the logic of proportions, and the physical and structural behavior of the materials achieving a coherent whole set. The concrete art forms have an internal logic, distancing themselves from the artistic avant-garde and abstraction processes based on nature.We investigated two projects by Bill: The monument to the Labor from 1939 and the monument to the Unknown Political Prisoner from 1952 and two projects by Cabrero: The mausoleum of Ali Jinnah from 1958 and the Aesthetic Research Institute designed in 1976. The four projects, in their analogies and differences will allow us to explore the relationships between art and architecture based on the symbolic form of the cube.

Experimental housing allows to the explore different ways of occupying space and are characterized by serving as prototypes for testing new design concepts. In the United States, this type of housing focused on improving the quality of life for residents and maximizing habitable space after the war. Numerous architects were called to develop this type of projects, among whom Richard Neutra and Marcel Breuer stand out. Both focused their studies on seeking economical materials and efficiently using the interior of homes. In this case, we have explored the projects of the VDL House and the House in the Museum Garden, paying special attention to each architect’s drawing methods to analyse and understand their concerns during the development of these houses.

Since the beginning, humanity has sought ways to ornament architecture with different objectives: to remember, instruct, simulate, or improve the aesthetic appearance of the inhabited place. Architecture and ornament have developed in parallel following the predominant styles of the different periods; However, from the 19th century, with the creation of Fine Arts Academies in Europe, ornamental techniques were freed from union’s dominations and the artists who trained in them were able to design new compositions for the middle and upper classes resorting to styles apparently forgotten or brought from other cultures.The Academies were fundamental for the knowledge and dissemination of these artistic techniques, giving rise to the preparation of catalogs that created “fashion”, enabling the presence of ornament in any work of architecture, beyond churches, convents and palaces. This document aims to present the ornamental ceiling’s designs of a Swiss artist, Antonio Cavallini (Bissone, 1836-Marmolejo, 1905), trained in an Italian Academy, who moved his atelier to Seville during the second half of the 19th century.

The Franciscan missions are composed of five architectural complexes, located in the Sierra Gorda, a protected natural belonging to the Biosphere Reserve, located in the north of the Mexican state of Querétaro. These buildings, from the 18th century, are representative for being an example of the Mexican baroque architectural values. They are also a reference in the history and social formation of México.This work focuses on the study of the architecture of the missions, through documentary research and in-situ graphic study of the historical and architectural values that characterize these buildings. The graphic survey, as an instrument of analysis and understanding of the architecture and its natural environment, confirms the importance of generating the appropriate keys for the restoration process, incorporating the necessary and sustainable methodologies, for the future conservation of the heritage value of these unique architectures.

The Palace of Calatayud is part of the bourgeois architectural heritage of the city of Valencia. Designed in the early twentieth century by the architect Juan Luis Calvo Catarineu, it retains much of the ornamental elements that characterize the eclectic style under which it was conceived. In particular, an interesting sample of the hydraulic tile pavements and ceramic mosaics by Nolla that lined the noble rooms of the building stands out. The work focuses on the chromatic and morphological analysis of these coverings, based on the in-situ measurement of the color parameters of the different ceramic pieces in NCS System notation and the subsequent graphic representation of the different combinations found, in particular those related to the Nolla mosaics. The variety of the resulting designs that define this ceramic typology -based on the play of colors and shapes of the modular pieces- is appreciable and evidences the versatility of this tiling and its capacity to adapt to the morphology of the spaces where it is inserted.

Virtual reconstructions of heritage hold significant value as visualization and dissemination tools. However, from a scientific perspective, they present intellectual challenges, particularly when lacking accompanying documentation of the evidence and criteria considered during their creation. Invariably, there are elements of uncertainty that render these virtual recreations imperfect.Since the early 21st century, representing uncertainty in virtual heritage reconstructions has been a consistent concern for researchers. Despite numerous proposals, a common protocol or universally accepted standards for addressing this issue have yet to emerge. With this communication, we aim to present a series of graphic tools proposed for use in virtual reconstructions of architectural heritage. This is intended as an interim solution while a definitive method guiding the process is being defined. The goal is to provide a framework that acknowledges and addresses uncertainties, ensuring a more nuanced and accurate representation of architectural heritage in virtual reconstructions. These tools are offered as a practical approach to enhance the quality and reliability of virtual heritage representations until broader consensus is achieved.

This project investigates the impact of architectural graphic conceptualisation on the development of the Portuguese railway infrastructure, with a focus on architectural styles, construction techniques, and societal implications related to railway passenger buildings.The objectives of the study involve a comprehensive analysis of historical perspectives, examining the graphic conceptualization related to architectural projects, especially considering the Industrial Revolution’s influence on architectural graphic ideation globally. The study also aims to explore the implementation of railway lines in Portugal, the standardization of construction techniques, and the role of architectural graphic conceptualization in shaping architectural models. Case studies, particularly contrasting the approaches of architects like Perfeito de Magalhães and Cottinelli Telmo, are employed to elucidate the divergence in architectural styles during the Estado Novo regime.The expected results include revealing a dichotomy in architectural styles, with traditionalist regionalism coexisting alongside modernist influences during the Estado Novo regime. Railway passenger buildings are highlighted as symbolic representations of societal progress, embodying contradictory styles.The article underscores the crucial role of architectural graphic conceptualization in capturing the multifaceted layers of Portugal’s railway development as well as emphasizes its shifts in societal perceptions, technological advancements, and political ideologies during the implementation of the Portuguese railway infrastructure.

This paper presents a study about a significant moment in Filippo Juvarra’s career: his unrealized project for the new Duomo in Torino undertaken by the architect between 1728 and 1730. It focuses on his centralised proposals for the building and the preserved drawings related to it. Following a scrutiny of the formalization and substantive content of these drawings, a comparative analysis is undertaken in tandem with the execution of an analytical graphic reconstitution. Through a meticulous consideration of this reconstitution, it becomes feasible to elucidate the architectural design process and the underlying intentions of the architect, thereby facilitating a deeper comprehension of how Juvarra achieved the remarkable and masterful spatial effects inherent to his “open” architectural compositions.

The “Casa de las Palomas” —House of the Doves—, located in the historic neighborhood of Albaicín (Granada, Spain), hides a surprising silo under its patio. It is one of the less known houses of Nasrid origin in Granada, unique for several elements, including two columns with Nasrid capitals, three columns with Tuscan capitals, a set of Moresque carved wooden elements over the capitals representing doves, and a large arch that presides over the patio. The deep silo, inaccessible, has been cited by researchers, such as the painter and archaeologist Manuel Gómez-Moreno González, who made observations from above giving approximations to its dimensions and characteristics. The objective of this work is to share the findings of the first comprehensive documentation carried out on the Casa de las Palomas, considering the silo, providing historical photographs and drawings along with new and unpublished graphic work of photographs, orthophotographs and drawings. The documentation methodology about the house and the silo has included three-dimensional reconstruction using photogrammetry and 3D laser scan for the subsequent creation of plan and section drawings. This inaccessible underground world sheds light on the unexplored relationship between house and silo in the Albaicín, in Granada, and in al-Andalus.

This article reports on a research project on the Café del Príncipe, a building linked to the theatre of the same name in Madrid, and currently called Teatro Español. Built on a site adjoining the theatre building, Juan de Villanueva conceived it with a dual use, as a service space for the stage box on the one hand, and as a café or botillería on the other. Thanks to the documentation work carried out, it has been possible to rescue an unpublished project by Mariátegui and to date the construction origin of the building itself, taking it back to the last decade of the 18th century and not to the reconstruction of the theatre after the fire of 1802, as was usually attributed.

Technological evolution makes it possible to identify methods of investigation and information management for the knowledge and valorisation of cultural heritage. This contribution proposes the study of the Monserrate Palace, a 19th century eclectic artefact located in the Portuguese city of Sintra. In order to obtain a complete documentation of the current state of the property, SfM, terrestrial and aerial photogrammetric survey campaigns were carried out, aimed at collecting digital information which, subsequently processed, allowed the generation of highly detailed three-dimensional models. The latter, in addition to facilitating the formal and constructive analysis of the site as well as the rich and peculiar decorative apparatus, represent the basis for the possible creation of a virtual narrative capable of allowing all the users who, since the post-pandemic period, have approached virtual tourism to learn about the memory of the places.

This article deals with the significance of drawing as an essential field of knowledge for the adequate development of the architectural design process. Drawing, closely linked to the body and mind, contributes like no other discipline to the creative, development and construction process of the architectural fact. Therefore, its complete and transversal integration in the teaching of courses linked to the creation and manipulation of space must be considered. An innovative teaching approach is presented here, recently developed at the Escuela Técnica Superior de Arquitectura de Barcelona (ETSAB/UPC), which has altered the usual scheme of teaching projects by putting drawing -along with other technical subjects- at the center of its interest as a driver of development and creation of new knowledge for the best achievement of teaching and pedagogical objectives. The excellent results of the initiative, as well as the high level of the works carried out, support its development.

This paper describes the results of an extensive research study on European military architecture treatises since the 17th century, which was aimed at identifying types, innovative aspects, and areas of application of composed graphic scales. Such scales, used in astronomical, cartographic, and fortification fields, take on the significance of a precision tool for project drawing and tracing on terrain in the executive field. Starting from the study by Amelio Fara on the graphic scale proposed by the military architect Raimondo Montecuccoli in the mid-17th century, the graphical analysis, carried out following the descriptions of the treatise writers, made it possible to hypothesize the steps of scale tracing, starting from a simple graphical scale, and to verify the measurement examples proposed by some authors. The methods of construction and use of such scales reverberated in the manuals used in military and engineering schools in the following century.

The architectural graphic expression, with all its variants, strengthens an important part of the process of approaching the project, as well as its resolution. When the architectural intervention concerns the rehabilitation of a historic building, the aforementioned connection takes on a greater meaning, both in the previous analysis phases and in the subsequent decisions that will come from them. The help of technologies in capturing information and the virtualisation possibilities provided by computer applications have determined both the work methodologies and the forms of graphic representation to achieve results.This article describes the processes carried out for the graphic representation of a Renaissance palace in the province of Teruel, la Casa Castellote, as a starting point to advance our knowledge and as a support for intervention design decisions.Every graphic survey, any virtual model analysing an architectural object, the intangible contribution of the initial sketches, and the conclusive surveyed representation constitute essential scientific research to address a design solution.

In 2014, Rem Koolhaas directed the fourteenth edition of the International Architecture Exhibition of the Venice Biennale, under the theme Fundamentals. Parallel to this, Elements of Architecture was published, an encyclopedic book that aims to provide an alternative vision of the history of architecture, based on its elements and focused on diverse approaches to them. The story of how this publication emerged and took shape is fascinating. Moreover, it opens an interesting debate about the tense relationship between pedagogical paradigms and contemporary architectural praxis. Within the extensive team responsible for the publication and exhibition, a confluence of academic and professional voices emerges, often marked by discordant perspectives. Rem Koolhaas himself has always maintained an unstable balance between these two aspects. This article embarks on an examination of the intricate processes undertaken during the genesis of Elements of Architecture, meticulously scrutinizing the contributions emanating from both academic and professional spheres. To document the text, a series of interviews were conducted with the key players involved in its publication, seeking contrasting perspectives that, as we will see, complement each other, as the book has become a reference in contemporary architectural literature.

Cartography tends to reflect a specific moment and a fixed stage of a permanent reality, leaving underrepresented, in the best of cases, aspects of great interest for the understanding of the territory, such as the agricultural heritage. This type of heritage reflects the relationship that the individual has played with the land throughout its history, a fundamental role that transcends the strictly productive role and reaches the memory and vital definition of many landscapes. This research aims to collect a selection of contributions, both in the study of new and historical cartographies, in addition to various methods of representation of the territory over time in its different meanings, from an approach that identifies and values the dynamic character of landscapes for its heritage valuation. This work proposes a broader reflection on the use of representation in order to generate a working method that allows combining archival information with the registration of other realities intrinsic to architecture and landscape, creating a narrative focused on those aspects subordinated by historical cartography so far. New cartographies of the agricultural heritage of Nerja’s historical orchard are proposed based on the superimposition of times and events, a display of experiences that allows to interpret the memory of this landscape.

The objective of this research is to show the importance that drawing had in the genesis and creation of the architectural complex of the Pueblo Español in Montjuïc, built for the Universal Exposition of Barcelona in 1929. The painter Xavier Nogués and the architect Ramón Reventós were part of a team that carried out an important research work, with a clear methodology and great enthusiasm. As part of this work, a series of trips through Spain were included, which were carried out between 1927 and 1928, in order to gather information and make decisions regarding the project that would finally be carried out. Nogués and Reventós were in charge of drawing everything they saw in their travel notebooks, among other field instruments. These notebooks, which have remained hidden until today, constitute unpublished material that is analysed in this research to highlight, on the one hand, the importance they had in the final work of the Pueblo Español and in their permanence despite the ephemeral condition of the commission, and, secondly, because it is a valuable material in the recovery of the Spanish architectural-artistic heritage, especially concerning the one that no longer exists today.

The contribution highlights some findings regarding the methods of visual representation of geometry presented in some treatises on military architecture elaborated between the 15th and 17th centuries in the European context. To achieve its goals, the paper proposes a first survey of the visual storytelling methods of geometry. We analyse the examples of Giorgio Martini, Dürer, Cataneo, de’ Lanteri, Maggi and Castriotto, Aconcio, Lorini and de Ville. Based on the example of Ostwald and Williams [2015] our research recalls three different declinations of geometry ‘for’, ‘in’ and ‘of’ fortifications. In this sense, we present geometry as one of the close ties that unite the disciplines of architecture and mathematics, while recalling the concept of representation as that set of graphic-textual operations (analogue and/or digital) which make it possible to reveal to the observer’s eye the visual structures of the two disciplines. By mean of representation, geometry emerges as one of the most important transversal links between mathematics and architecture.

The quotidian as both social and spatial domain is today an emerging field of study extended to architectural practices. The concept of an equidistant ecology between objects, discourses, and living beings, was developed by the sociologist and anthropologist Bruno Latour in the Actor-Network Theory. Latour observed an innovative approach to architecture by implementing the quotidian as a significant design layer. This theory embraces a post-human viewpoint and transcends the conventional notion of architecture and design as a mere Euclidean construct.Nowadays, there is an enhance in on-site practices in response to the telepresence-driven shift brought about by the digital imperative. This tendency underscores the importance of reclaiming alternative methodologies for observing and analyzing our everyday physical world. Notably, Japanese culture showcases a profound appreciation for the essence of everyday object system and home domesticity. In Japan, the practices of ethnographic hand-drawing, whether digital or not, has experienced a resurgence in numerous architectural offices. This research delves into the ancient roots of drawing as an ethnographic method for exploring domesticity, by outlining the analogy between two pioneering figures in the field of ethnographic drawings: Edward S. Morse and Wajirō Kon. The analysis of their respective on-site fieldwork illuminates the stark contrast between Morse's scientific and synthetic approach and Kon's voracious and documentary-oriented methodology.

Juan Navarro Baldeweg´s installation Interior III (1975) was exhibited at the Center for Advanced Visual Studies (CAVS) of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1975, as a compendium of the research that he began to develop around the exploration of optical phenomena and color, seeking to investigate those mechanisms that allow observation, apprehension, and the understanding of the environment. The installation is part of a series, in which, starting from empty rooms, Juan Navarro Baldeweg explored various concepts and ideas, which, over time, came to be what he called the essential variables that can be found in his architectural designs and works of art. The study of this installation and the optical pieces that he created in this context can help us understand in depth some of these variables, which ended up laying the foundations on which his unique professional career is based.

James Frazer Stirling (1926–1992) is one of the globally recognized architects. His career spans from the modernity of the 1950s to the postmodernity of the 1970s. This essay aims to highlight his lesser-known role as a master of representation, focusing on his pivotal work, the Bachelor's Thesis titled “Urban Center Plan and Community Center Development for Newton Aycliffe,” developed between 1949 and 1950 at the Liverpool School of Architecture.In addition to consulting his extensive bibliography, access has been granted to the documentary collection of James Stirling and Michael Wilford. This collection includes organizational charts, analytical diagrams, field notes, model photographs, colored floor plans, and conical perspectives.Based on this documentation, we recognize the level of perfection achieved by J. F. Stirling even in those early years. This perfection would accompany him throughout his career, as he routinely used these graphic resources along with others.

The use of new technologies applied to the virtual reconstruction of artistic and architectural heritage is a topic that has become particularly important in the world of cultural heritage conservation and research, as well as in its tourism management. With the advance of technology, researchers have found new ways to explore, document and preserve historical monuments, buildings and works of art, while heritage managers have discovered a new means of disseminating and bringing heritage elements to wider audiences. This subject will be approached through two examples in which new technologies have been applied to the experimentation of medieval art in the 21st century: the Taüll 1123 project and the Sigena mágica project. In this article we will study and compare the benefits, risks and challenges posed by the virtual recreation of lost or endangered heritage. Both when it comes to conserving, disseminating and preserving it, and when it comes to incorporating new technologies into the cultural tourism market through models that aim to enrich and improve user experiences when it comes to activating historical and artistic heritage.

Adolf Loos is probably the twentieth-century architect whose works have been most represented graphically by others to make known and disseminate his work, whose projects have been repeatedly drawn, and whose buildings, most notably his residential buildings, have been most modelled and analysed. Three-dimensional drawings predominate and are often axonometric, a particularly suitable medium to help us understand and explain the tight spatial sequences of Loos’s architecture. Very little research, however, has considered the drawings made by the architect himself in the design of his works. Did he use similar resources as a design mechanism? What systems of representation did he use? Determining the answers to these questions requires acceptance of Loos’s own views on drawing and a cautious approach to the limited collection of his surviving original drawings. The works in the collection of the Albertina Museum reveal a clear preference for two-dimensional representations of a project, with three-dimensional approaches used to supplement them, marginally even in the case of axonometric drawing. That runs contrary to the predominant use of axonometric projection in subsequent studies of the architect’s legacy.

The architecture of Roman public spaces in Hispania, and specifically of the forums, developed from the reign of Augustus onwards, in line with his policy of strengthening the cities, with the generalisation of closed and tripartite forums, commonly known as imperial forums. These public monuments underwent different transformations over the following two centuries, with different characteristics and sequences depending on each case. These modifications range from a process of monumental enrichment, with the use of luxury materials in its decoration, as in the case of the forum of Itucci/Torreparedones (Baena. Córdoba), passing through a more profound architectural development, as in the forum of Baelo Claudia (Bolonia, Cádiz), and even going as far as complete remodelling, as in the forum of Conimbriga (Condeixa-a-Velha, Portugal), or the construction of monuments attached to the forum and integrated into it, as in Augusta Emerita (Mérida, Cáceres). All of this derived from the need to adapt to the new urban needs, characteristic of Roman society, and which survived until the decline of Roman power. The architectural analysis of these complexes is completed by means of their graphic representation, based on the archaeological planimetries, allowing a better visualization of their constructive evolution.

King Philip II’s main intention in founding the Monastery of El Escorial was to build a burial site for his ancestors and their descendants, in compliance with the 1558 Emperor’s will and codicil. However, he died before it was completed after realizing that Juan de Herrera’s solution presented certain functional deficiencies. Therefore, between 1598 and its unveiling on March 15, 1654, several design proposals were put forward, all of which were documented graphically and in writing. Likewise, from this date to the present day, various interpretations and surveys have been carried out, all of which share a certain detachment from the actual construction, essentially because its rooms make up two groups of spaces that are difficult to connect to each other and the exterior: the Pantheons and the “Infiernos”. As a result, the symbolic core of the building is also the most obscure. Our aim is to investigate the evolution and situation of these spaces by reviewing and analyzing historical and more recent documentation available, both graphical and written and by making a new survey.

Álvaro Siza consistently incorporates a distinctive iconography into the drawings of his architectural projects. Notably, depictions of individuals, including Siza himself or his hands, stand out among these sketches. Moreover, enigmatic and recurrent angels frequently make appearances in the preliminary drawings of his projects, seemingly hovering from above and attentively observing the inception of his architectural creations. This presentation delves into the exploration of the origin and significance of these ethereal beings. The focus has been directed towards illustrative drawings embodying this theme, particularly within two projects that the architect regards as pivotal in his career: the Church of Marco de Canaveses and the housing complex in Quinta da Malagueira, Évora. To unravel this narrative, a thorough analysis has been conducted, incorporating the architect’s testimonials, his written reflections, and interpretations from various authors. Additionally, connections to classical drawing and painting have been established. The narrative navigates through the intricate relationship between this iconography and a myriad of conscious or subconscious influences, such as childhood religious memories, ironic allegories of life, mythological imagery, and contemplations on the intersection of architecture with the surrounding landscape. Collectively, these elements converge to shape a distinct and unmistakable poetic, graphic, and personal tool within Siza’s artistic repertoire.

The phenomenon of illustrated publications first introduced in England by “The Penny Magazine” in 1832, had a strong European resonance. The very low price, the popularisation of the most varied topics, and above all the illustrations of subjects from the past and present stimulated among the less affluent class a desire to acquire greater knowledge.Our study addresses the communication of technological progress through the illustrations of the aforementioned English periodical, reflecting on the choice of subjects and observing their depiction in terms of graphic expression. Our focus is on the visual popularisation of the new bridges that were being built both in England and elsewhere in Europe. We have selected a few for their graphic beauty and because they are emblematic of the new construction methods being introduced at the time.The result is on the one hand a kind of collection of bridge models, and on the other a graphic review of the ways in which these were portrayed. In both areas we can see the change under way caused both by innovative technologies and by illustrations designed to be particularly effective in terms of communication.What emerges from those pages is an image of reality, as it was in the early and mid-19th century, decidedly poised between traditional representational models and fresh attempts at graphic renewal induced by original and little-known subjects, symbols of present-day tomorrow. The aim of the images is therefore to arouse the reader’s curiosity.

The typological-construction characterisation of earthen wall structures is a prerequisite for proposing any kind of heritage conservation or restoration intervention. This necessarily involves conducting a thorough survey to facilitate the image capture and analysis of the wall surfaces. Photogrammetry offers an affordable and non-invasive solution that guarantees reliable results, as has been proven in a considerable number of projects to date. This paper describes the use of photogrammetry to survey one of the wall sections of Olías de Oria Castle (Almería). A unique aspect of this fortification is its topographical plan, which contains steep gradients outside the walls and therefore necessitated the alternation of aerial and terrestrial photogrammetry. The 3D point cloud obtained permitted the vectorisation of the wall, which in turn provided a reliable graphical base for the development of the typological-construction characterisation that may be used to justify a possible future intervention.

Isaac Díaz Pardo (Santiago 1920-La Coruña 2012), was a renowned intellectual as well as a painter, ceramist, editor and businessman. He was also a paragon in the transition of Galicia into a nation that is proud of its ancient roots and identity.Rarely do business and culture go hand in hand and serve as a reference to a nation. Isaac will be the emblem or symbol of Sargadelos, a model for the collective memory of a people capable of boosting their economy and entrepreneurship through culture and art in its purest sense. Sargadelos will not only be a business model but also the place where, aesthetically, the historical make-up of Galician culture and its commitment to the future will converge. It will be the seed of a project made up of Galician intellectuals and artists in exile in Buenos Aires: Rafael Dieste, Blanco Amor, Lorenzo Varela and Laxeiro as well as Luis Seoane who will be another prominent exemplar within Galician art and culture. Andrés Fernandez-Albalat Lois, an architect from La Coruña, will also be involved in this project. Fernandez-Albalat Lois, the author of The City of the Rías, was professor emeritus and professor of projects at the Higher Technical School of Architecture of La Coruña and a permanent member of the Royal Galician Academy. Every one of these characters deserves to be recognised and studied separately within Galician culture.The architects, in the Study Seminars during the first period of the Galician College of Architects.

Anthropomorphism has long served as a metaphor for understanding architecture and its components. Artists and architects have used it as a measurement standard and allegorical attribute in relation to philosophy and religion. This analogy, as a resource for graphic communication in architecture, has enabled the understanding of complex concepts through familiar elements of nature. While its usage declined from the 17th to 19th centuries, the shift towards modernity led to its formal and metrical reinterpretation. This text explores various contemporary interpretations of anthropomorphism as a graphic resource, considering its geometric and symbolic aspects. Over the past 70 years, architectural drawing has exhibited diverse forms, encompassing educational drawings by Fritz Kahn and the Vienna Circle, as well as the utilitarian metrics of Neufert and Le Corbusier. Other architects, such as O. M. Ungers with city metaphors, Tschumi, Thom Mayne, and recent projects like Urban CT-Scan or Philippe Rahm’s proposals, have also embraced the communicative possibilities of anthropomorphism.

Architects are accustomed to the necessity of drawing as a trigger for the processes that develop architecture. However, we can assert that this has always been the case. Through the study of 17th Century architecture in the city of Seville and an unpublished drawing discovered from one of the alarifes (architects) who worked on it, Juan de Legarra, we aim to demonstrate that even in a context with limited dissemination of architectural treatises, from which representation would acquire a definitive fundamental role in the learning and dissemination of architecture, drawing was always necessary. Masters such as Legarra, who practiced architecture in this context, understood this concept and used it instinctively. We do not know how it was part of their education, but we do know that it was integral to their daily work.