Throwback to my Article - Architecture Figures

Architecture Figures

Human figures are typically used in an architecture rendering to provide a clear scale for the common eye. Thanks to new technologies like Photoshop we have lost our “ontological dimension”, and the copy paste method we use makes it easier for us to fill architecture renderings with a desultory crowd of figures.

Leonardo Da Vinci's Vitruvian Man


True architects since the early centuries used human figures not only to describe the quantity and the quality of the environment but also for deeper purposes of study and expression. Some used it as means of architecture inspiration, demonstrating the divine power of the human order.

Bernini using the human proportion as inspiration when he designed St. Peter's Square


Other architects use human figures to emphasize on the activity within the space, sometimes it is important to depict the spatial properties of a design.




Architects project themselves into the human figure. So if we compare drawings from different architects, we frequently find differences in body shape and body activity, for practicing architects often represent their own ideologies as a reference for understanding the human physical condition.




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