Project Title: Patterns of Representation
Built, Unbuilt or Under Construction: Unbuilt
Project Year: 2011
Student Name: A. Scottie McDaniel
University: Harvard University Graduate School of Design
Faculty Advisor: Andrea Hansen

Project Description: As designers, we do not craft, construct, demolish, engineer, or install. So what do we do? We produce visuals (drawings, models, diagrams, and prototypes) of a design. Through the medium of representation we communicate our ideas. Rarely do designers produce the artifact they design; instead we design drawings informing others how to make. While clarity is important in this translation, design intent needs to be conveyed. Each project cannot be represented in the same manner and portray variation in ideas. By choosing material, technique, tone, font, and palette, we are making design decisions. These judgments are symbolic of the attention to detail, materiality, and spatial relationships within the built work. Representation is the design process.

This study surveys modes of representation to discern intent by following unique associations between project type and technique. Through these comparisons and evaluations, we can begin to understand the appropriateness of representing a project in a particular way. It is important to note that there are indefinite possibilities of comparison and this survey is unapologetically biased. By paralleling the subjective nature of representation, this study, like any design proposal, makes decisions of inclusion and exclusion, and therefore proposes connections from this subjective stance.

Note: The associated images catalog a range of copyrighted images of conceptual work by designers and landscape architects. These images were used as part of a educational project and abide by the terms of the Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for Media Literacy.