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Anthropomorphic Resources in Contemporary Architectural Drawing

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Graphic Horizons (EGA 2024)

Part of the book series: Springer Series in Design and Innovation ((SSDI,volume 44))

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Abstract

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.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. IGA Department, E. T. S. Arquitectura, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Madrid, Spain

    María Asunción Salgado de la Rosa & Javier Fco. Raposo Grau

  2. Cuesta College, San Luis Obispo, CA, USA

    Belén Butragueño Diaz-Guerra

Authors
  1. María Asunción Salgado de la Rosa
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  2. Javier Fco. Raposo Grau
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  3. Belén Butragueño Diaz-Guerra
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to María Asunción Salgado de la Rosa .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Architectural Graphics Department, University of A Coruña, A Coruña, Spain

    Luis Hermida González

  2. Faculty of Architecture, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal

    João Pedro Xavier

  3. Architectural Graphics Department, University of A Coruña, A Coruña, Spain

    Inés Pernas Alonso

  4. Architectural Graphics Department, University of A Coruña, A Coruña, Spain

    Carlos Losada Pérez

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© 2024 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG

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Salgado de la Rosa, M.A., Raposo Grau, J.F., Butragueño Diaz-Guerra, B. (2024). Anthropomorphic Resources in Contemporary Architectural Drawing. In: Hermida González, L., Xavier, J.P., Pernas Alonso, I., Losada Pérez, C. (eds) Graphic Horizons. EGA 2024. Springer Series in Design and Innovation , vol 44. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-57579-2_39

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-57579-2_39

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-031-57578-5

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-031-57579-2

  • eBook Packages: EngineeringEngineering (R0)

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