The Volumetric Diagram – Genealogy of a Drawing Type

Abstract

Biography Tommy Kaj Lindgren architect and Urban Design, of Architecture, in the of Arts, Design and Architecture at Aalto University. In his research, Lindgren is focused on the position of drawings as mediating tools in architectural production and reproduction. While working as an architect and teacher, he also contributes to ongoing discussions on the urban environment, its form and formation, through critiques and reviews. Abstract The architectural drawing is integral to the way we envision, construct and understand our environment. Interpreted as mediators, the situated nature of architectural drawings can be defined, and their effects identified. This text is an exploration in three parts of the drawing type that I call the ‘Volumetric Diagram’—in the first part, the general nature of architectural drawings is described and examples highlighting the constructed nature of different drawing types are presented; all drawing types are claimed to be in a state of flux and the mechanisms of change are examined – the durability of types being a function of their connectivity. In the second part, the Volumetric Diagram is described as a distinct contemporary drawing type, its ‘pre-history’ is traced from axonometric representations and diagrams, and its emergence is outlined by examining the genealogy of the type. The qualities of the Volumetric Diagram are described and elaborated based on this analysis. In the last part the previously explored aspects of architectural drawings in general, and the Volumetric Diagram in particular, are juxtaposed with architectural approaches and theoretical concepts, in order to highlight the position of the Volumetric Diagram in relation to them.