Public defence in Architecture, Landscape and Urbanism, MA, Architect Hanna Hyvönen

Today, construction projects are customarily presented to the general public through perspectives that look like photographs. Such photorealistic visualisation is generally regarded as easily accessible yet also potentially misleading. In academic architectural discussions, photorealistic visualisation has been dismissed as glossy marketing imagery with no intrinsic connection to architectural thought. 

The study shows that photorealistic visualisation should not be embraced as fluent communication nor dismissed as superficial illustration. Both attitudes are based on a questionable understanding of pictorial realism as the straightforward imitation of visual reality. 

It is argued that photorealism is currently a central mode of architects’ work rather than a stylistic property of pictures. In 3D software, architecture is typically approached through an imaginary movable camera. The ideal of photographic veracity is thus built into architects’ digitalised toolkits. 

Basic functionalities of CAD, BIM, and visualisation software intertwine techniques of perspective projection and simulated photography. It is shown that the intuitiveness of this software photorealism is sustained by deeply entrenched notions of perspectival representation, photographic truth, and architectural space. Under the cover of its apparent naturalness, photorealism strongly shapes the ways in which architecture is produced and assessed today. 

The apparent easiness of photorealism also conceals tensions that confuse architectural perceptions. On the one hand, photographic representation implies faithful documentation; on the other hand, perspectival techniques have traditionally served scenographic and utopian purposes. It tends to remain unclear which tradition should guide the interpretation of photorealistic rendering. 

The study develops new ways of criticising architectural photorealism. At the same time, it shows how challenging it is for architects to truly depart from the conventions of Western visual realism ingrained in 3D software. Yet, as photographic and simulated photographic material is currently exploited on a huge scale through new technologies, it is all the more urgent to critically question the photorealistic approach to built environment.

Keywords: architectural visualisation, photorealism, photorealistic visualization, 3D visualization, theories of depiction, pictorial realism, visual realism, architectural representation, architectural graphics, software studies, graphical user interfaces, CAD, 3D modelling

Title of thesis: Building (with) Pictures: The Confusing Fluency of Architectural Photorealism

Doctoral student: Hanna Hyvönen
Opponent: Reader, Dr Joel McKim, Birkbeck College, UK
Custos: Professor Panu Savolainen, Aalto University School of Arts, Design and Architecture, Department of Architecture

Thesis available for public display 10 days prior to the defence at: https://aaltodoc.aalto.fi/doc_public/eonly/riiputus/

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Doctoral theses in the School of Arts, Design and Architecture: https://aaltodoc.aalto.fi/handle/123456789/54