Courtesy of Tatiana Bilbao

设计工具：建筑图纸的计算机辅助可视化设计与手绘草图的批判性观点
Design Tools: A Critical Look at Computer-aided Visualization and Hand Sketch for Architectural Drawings

由专筑网邢子，小R编译

作为建筑设计的基础，手绘图纸一直以能够让建筑师与其设计进行互动、直观表达概念而著称。虽然很多人都能够了解手绘的重要性，但对于那些没有手绘基础的人来说，又会怎样呢？众多学生在第一年的建筑学习中发现，他们难以承受手绘练习的强度。在这些学生中，有的会因为画不好画而选择放弃建筑学，有的决定把更多精力放在学习计算机制图的技术上。

因此，这两种由手工和机器完成的设计图纸，成为了两种截然不同的表现风格，在学术界和专业界引起了激烈的讨论。本文将对计算机辅助可视化和手工草图在设计图纸中的应用进行批判性的探讨，并分别分析其利弊。

As the foundation of any architectural design, sketches and drawings have long been known for their ability to allow the architect to interact with his/her design efficiently and express concepts intuitively. While the importance of hand drawing is understood broadly in architectural schools, what happens to those who is incapable of hand drawing? Numerous students have found it extremely difficult to cope with the intensity of hand drawing exercise during their first year in architectural training. Among these students, some would choose to quit architecture simply because they cannot draw well, some would decide to focus more on learning the techniques of computer-generalized design drawings.
Consequently, these two types of design drawings produced by hand and machine, are becoming two distinctive presentation styles, and arising heated debates around both academic and professional world. This article will take a critical look at the application of computer-aided visualization and hand sketch in design drawings, and analyze the pros and cons respectively.


Courtesy of Frank O. Gehry


Courtesy of Frank O. Gehry

塑料制作与自发改造的比较

当一个人开始设计时，他很可能会先拿出概念图，这可以是一组参考性的草图，可以是视觉记录，也可以是建筑师灵感的随机记录。因为在这个阶段，只需要表达设计理念，不需要涉及很多细节，这些草图可以是简单零碎的、自发的，画在描图纸上，随时可以修改。这可以被看做是一个开始设计方案时必须经历的过程。

Plastic Production Versus Spontaneous Modification
When one starts designing, he/she would most likely to come up with conceptual drawings first, which can be a set of referential sketches, a visual diary or a random record of the architect’s inspiration. Because at this stage, one only needs to express design concept without concerning many details, these sketches can be simply fragmentary and spontaneous, drawn on sheets of tracing papers, ready to be layered on top of each other. This can be seen as an evolving process that one must go through when initiating a design proposal.


Courtesy of Mies van der Rohe

例如，在建筑学院设计项目时，学生一般会进行现场分析，手绘场地边界、分区、植物、道路和现有的相邻建筑，并将它们层层叠加，看它们如何交汇或分叉，设计的入手点在哪里。手绘可以作为准备过程，让建筑师获得尺度感和对场地条件的熟悉把控，同时把建筑功能摆放在适当的空间里。

For instance, when a design project is assigned in architectural schools, students would generally conduct site analysis by hand tracing the property boundaries, zoning, planting, arterial roads and existing adjacent building, and layering them on top of each other to see how they converge or diverge and where the design opportunities lie. Hand drawing can be as a preparatory process that allows the designer to gain a sense of scale and familiarity with the site condition, while laying things out on a grid.


Courtesy of Renzo Piano

尽管如此，随着强大的计算机可视化技术的引入，我们上面讨论的传统设计过程受到了挑战。现在，当学生接到项目时，越来越多的学生会直接从谷歌地球上抓取场地的卫星图像，然后根据需要在AutoCAD或Rhino等软件中进行旋转和缩放。这个旋转和缩放的过程只需输入一个数值或一个命令就可以完成，这成为了纯粹的机器制造，缺乏一定的直观思维。

Nevertheless, the traditional design process as we discussed above is challenged with the introduction of powerful computer visualization. Nowadays, when students are given projects, it is becoming more likely that they would directly grab the satellite image of the site from Google Earth, then rotate and scale it in software like AutoCAD or Rhino as required. This process of rotating and scaling can be done by simply entering a value or a command, making it purely machine-made with a lack of intuitive thinking.


Thom Mayne's Hand Sketch. Image Courtesy of New School and AIAS San Diego

随着计算机辅助程序因其无与伦比的精确性而被人们所接受，建筑师们就可以根据以数字方式描摹的线条，对整个场地进行三维建模，他们可以放大缩小，想在哪里切割截面就在哪里切割。此外，计算机生成的图像使其更容易和房地产公司沟通。对于那些不习惯阅读平面图和剖面图的客户，他们甚至可以在现场虚拟走动，迅速了解设计。数字化渲染设计使其被更多人所接受，因为每个人都可以读懂逼真的渲染图，而不是凌乱的手绘草图。

As computer-aided programs are embraced for its unmistakable precision, architects could then go ahead and 3D-model the entire site based on the linework they traced digitally, they can zoom in and out and cut sections wherever they want. Moreover, the computer-generated images make it much easier to sell to the real estate market. For those clients who are not comfortable reading the plans and sections, they are welcomed to walk around the site virtually and understand the design rapidly. Digitally rendered design makes it accepted by a wider public, because everyone can read the realistically rendered drawing rather than messy hand sketches.


Courtesy of Tatiana Bilbao

作为一名设计师或建筑师，我们在用数字可视化进行设计或展示时，应该慎重，因为它往往使设计具有可塑性和重复性，呈现出误导性的状况。如果在概念设计阶段过于依赖电脑，你的设计更可能是你从其他先例中收集的元素的拼贴。如果没有深入的直觉思考，你会更接近于制作模式而不是真实的设计。在网上浏览时，在CAD或3D家具仓库中看到现成的设计图块并不稀奇，你可以很容易地将其插入到你的项目中，然而，你总是应该质疑设计的原创性，现成的、批量生产的元素真的算得上是设计吗？或者说它们只是其他设计的翻版，并没有充分考虑现场条件。

As a designer or architect, we should be cautious when designing or presenting with digital visualization, for it often makes design plastic and duplicable and presents misleading reality. If you rely too heavily on computer at conceptual design stage, your design is more likely to look like a collage of all the elements you collected from other precedents. Without in-depth intuitive thinking, you will be closer to the production mode rather than design process. While browsing online, it is not rare to see the ready-made design blocks in CAD or 3D furniture warehouse, which you can easily insert into your project, however, you should always question the originality of design, is ready-made, mass-produced elements really counted as design? Or they are simply a duplicate of other designs without sufficient consideration of site condition.


© MIR

此外，如果没有亲自去现场，不去亲手绘制设计草图，几乎不可能真正感知建筑环境的光、湿、影这些独特的元素。计算机生成的图像是向银行和开发商等目标受众群体销售的理想选择，因为它往往能以一种明亮和干净的状态来说明设计方案。数字渲染图表现优秀、构图均衡，阳光角度和阴影都经过精心规划，目的都是为了达到最佳的效果，与现实生活中的施工后状况相比，可能会产生误导。在天气、人员、灰尘等各种环境因素的影响下，人们在渲染图中看到的材料并不是都像现实生活中的样子。讽刺的是，"实景渲染"是否真的呈现给人们的是现实，这仍然存在争议。

Furthermore, without going to site in person and sketch out the design by hand, it’s nearly impossible for one to really perceive the light, humidity and shadows, the distinctive elements of the built environment. Computer-generated imagery is ideal for selling to a targeted group of audience such as banks and developers, as it tends to illustrate the design in a perfect bright and clean condition. The digital renderings are often quite promising with balanced composition and carefully planned sunlight angles and shadows, all aimed at a best result, which can be misleading when compared with real-life post-construction condition. With the varied environmental factors such as weather, people, and dust, not all materials we see in the renders look like what they are in real life. Ironically, it becomes controversial that whether or not the “realistic rendering” really presents us with reality.


© MIR

混合方法

“混合方法”，是建筑师们在决定手绘草图和计算机可视化之间的新名词。根据2014年相关部门对ASLA专业实践网络（PPN）的调查，成员们被问及他们喜欢的工作方式，即在电脑上还是用手绘画出草图的想法。大约有23%的人选择了“混合方式”，正如一位受访者所认为的那样，“用电脑提高效率，用手绘发挥创意”。

Hybrid Approach
“Hybrid approach”, is a new term that the architects have suggested when it comes to the decision between hand sketches and computer visualization. According to a 2014 survey of ASLA’s Professional Practice Networks (PPNs), members were asked how they prefer to work: on a computer or sketching ideas out by hand. About 23% chose a “hybrid approach”, which uses the “computer for efficiency” and the “hand for creativity,” as one respondent argued.


Visualization of Unbuilt Architecture. Image Courtesy of SAN Architectural Visualization

“混合方法”，既可以看作是传统与技术的结合，也可以看作是当今世界被数字设计工具接管下的一种妥协。有人建议，建筑师在方案设计阶段仍应保留传统的手绘草图作为设计策略，因为手绘草图可以为创意的激发和自发的修改提供空间。当后来到了最终的概念设计阶段，计算机辅助程序可以更方便、更高效，因为它可以根据给定的参数生成无数的设计方案。但是，我们应该记住，建筑环境不是静态的，而是充满动态的，所有的参数都会随着时间的推移而变化。

“Hybrid approach”, can be seen as both a combination of tradition and technology, and a compromise under increasing takeover of digital design tool in today’s world. It is suggested that, architects should still preserve the traditional hand sketches as part of the design iteration at schematic design stage, since hand sketches will allow room for idea stimulation and spontaneous modification. When later comes the finalized conceptual design, computer-aided programs can be more convenient and efficient, as it generates myriad design proposals based on given parameters. However, we should keep in mind that the built environment is not static but full of dynamics, all parameters is subject to changes throughout time.


© MIR

对于一位年轻的建筑师来说，需要意识到绘画在建筑培训中是必不可少的，因为它表达了建筑师的头脑、手和眼睛的互动。画画来构思建筑非常重要，而不是单纯依靠电脑来替你完成工作，因为整个过程会变得没有人情味，也充满了妥协。

For a young architect, one needs to be aware that drawing is essential in architectural training as it expresses the interaction of the architect’s mind, hands and eyes. It is very important to draw to conceptualize architecture, instead of relying simply on the computer to do the job for you, as the entire experience then becomes impersonal, indirect, somehow, futile.


Visualization of Unbuilt Architecture. Image Courtesy of Daniel Gillen


Wolf Prix's Hand Sketch. Image Courtesy of New School and AIAS San Diego


© MIR


Visualization of Unbuilt Architecture. Image Courtesy of SAN Architectural Visualization


Zaha Hadid's Hand Sketch. Image Courtesy of New School and AIAS San Diego


Courtesy of Architizer


Courtesy of FIRST IN ARCHITECTURE


Courtesy of Getty Images


Courtesy of Tatiana Bilbao