Drawing Architecture in the Landscape: The Graphic Analysis of Monuments in Their Natural Surroundings

Abstract

There is at present a growing interest in the landscape, initially in its natural state, to which studies have been dedicated in order to detect the values that the landscape itself presents. For some time now, this sensitivity towards nature has also resulted in the urban settlements being studied and drawn in relation to their surroundings. In this sense, they are being looked at as objects which have been conditioned by their environment, with which they establish a close relationship. Nevertheless, the same does not occur in the study of unique works of architecture, since researchers, attracted by their formidable architectural values, pass over other values that are more frequent and common to all buildings, such as the land on which they are situated and the dialogue they establish with their natural surroundings.

This paper presents some examples of my graphic work as an architect-artist dedicated to depicting, through panoramic views, buildings in relation to their natural surroundings. In this sense, I have paid close attention to the architectural composition and the geometry of the buildings, but also to their relationship with the landscape, to the intrinsic values of their environment. In particular, this present paper focuses on three very different types of building: Renaissance centralized plan churches, Romanesque churches, and castles, the analysis of which will serve to demonstrate the necessity to link buildings to their surroundings in graphic representations. This is so because, in addition to being extraordinary works of architecture, their placement in the landscape generates relationships that must be taken into account to widen the field of architectural analysis.