Call for Papers: Stoà Journal n. 3. Renderings
A thorough examination of the effects of architectural renderings in the context of didactics and pedagogy for architectural design has not been systematically conducted so far. This is perhaps due to the short time since this tool has become commonplace in the academic setting. Although the critical scope of architectural renderings has not yet been fully grasped, the composition of images using digital graphics has been too quickly relegated – at least in the context of European teaching practices – as one of the causes of a particular degeneration of a certain know-how, and therefore of a loss of architectural knowledge. Renderings stand accused of being tools that are primarily aimed at the production of images that satisfy only at a superficial and retinal level. Therefore, we will question the potential of this tool through a survey of past and present pedagogical experiences, that will form a network of reflections and cultural positions that employ architectural renderings as functional tools for learning. Through the description of the urgencies and interests brought up by this topic for the project of architecture, we will conduct an analytical synthesis to understand how renderings can perform as signifiers.
The call seeks answers to three main questions within which the submitted proposals should position:
- Renderings and the culture of image: how and in which pedagogical contexts do renderings represent the digital evolution of perspective drawings and collages to insert themselves as their complement or, conversely, replacing them tout court as indispensable pedagogical tools for the construction of design thinking?
- Renderings and architectural knowledge: how do digital environments generate plausible imaginative scenarios capable of setting new cultural, physical, and informative contexts to distil critical positions, judgments on reality, and technical assumptions in architectural teaching?
- Renderings and architectural representation: how can renderings become the primary tool for representing the evolution of the design process, the spatial features of the architectural object and its relationships with possible contexts? How can possible digital aesthetics contribute to the definition of a new cultural territory for the students’ education?
Abstracts in English or Italian (max. 2500 characters) should be submitted to redazione@stoajournal.com following the abstract guidelines by 15 September 2021. For the full call and submission guidelines, see the Stoá website.