Perspective as a vehicle for investigating the representation of architectural space

Abstract

A preliminary survey comparing different modes of architectural representation. This report compares the architecture of the Renaissance to Renaissance paintings for clues to understand the relationship between architecture and it's mode of representation. Initially this research began as a comparison between the Renaissance genre of representation in comparison to contemporary architectural representation. During my investigation I found the complexities of the Renaissance became sufficient, such that I curtailed the investigation to concentrate on Renaissance architectural representation. However, in attempt to initiate a contemporary reading of Renaissance paintings I consulted the writing of Marshall McLuhan, Understanding Media: The Extension of Man, 1964, to appreciate the mass communication potential of fresco painting. What results is: a comparative analysis within the three nominal stages of the Renaissance, Early, Middle and High to access if there is a link between architecture and its mode of representation; then a comparison between each stage of the Renaissance to see if there is a continuity in evolution of architecture, relative to its representation. To conclude this report, I evaluate the substantive research and offer my own conjecture based on this toward contemporary architecture and how, if and why it relates to its mode of representation, the music video.