Arquitetura e Comunicação: Diálogos entre o projeto de arquitetura e o design gráfico

Abstract

The theme explored in this dissertation focuses on the impact of graphic and visual media on the production, transmission, and dissemination of architecture as a theoretical, practical, material, and immaterial body of study, intended for a broad audience not specialised in the architectural discipline. The research revolves around three concepts - architecture, communication, and graphic design - through which a web of relationships is created, seeking to demonstrate the historical importance of visual communication in the construction and communication of architecture. Furthermore, it explores why architects, for several centuries, have been interested in and involved in the graphic design of architecture books, even though editorial design is not within their area of study. Starting from the concept of communication, the medium is approached as a crucial tool in communicating architecture to a broad audience, reflecting on the importance of representation and abstraction in the effectiveness and efficiency of the process. From a historical perspective, the evolution of architecture is examined alongside technological advancements, demonstrating the impact of the invention of printing, perspective, photography, and digital imagery on communication in general and architecture in particular. Recognising that architecture shares a common root with other arts, like painting and sculpture, the role of the architect as a creator of forms and organiser of spaces, intrinsic to the profession, can be extended to various disciplinary fields, such as graphic design and visual communication. In this sense, in a third phase, architecture and graphic design are brought into dialogue, based on three concepts - structure, space, and scale - fostering a reflection on the complicity and complementarity of both areas. The dissertation concludes with the analysis of three case studies that highlight how visual representation and graphic design, serving architecture, contribute to communication with the general public through one of the oldest, most comprehensive, and multifaceted means of two-dimensional architectural communication - the architecture book.