(A representative rendering, via)
It all sounds so perfect:
Children run playfully about, chasing pigeons. A jogger passes by, and a businesswoman chats on a cell phone. Seniors perch on the edge of a fountain, watching the throngs of people as they pass.
But it's just a Photoshop rendering. (Above, "Underpass Park" in Toronto's West Don Lands.)
A provocative Planetizen essay queries the role of scale figures in architectural renderings--those balloon-holding children and businessmen striding along that any architect of a certain age (myself included) has used to animate an image of a space. Are they dishonest?
"It can be a mistake for designers to overplay the number of people," says Brent Toderian, planning director of the city of Vancouver, B.C. "Because all they've done is spark the discussion on what's missing in the design. Are we kidding ourselves? Are people actually going to be using the space in the way they do in the illustration? We who are in the business of reviewing designs, commissioning designs, take them with a grain of salt."
I think the piece could dig a bit deeper: beyond a scale reference, what are we really saying through the pictures of people we put in renderings? What is hidden and what is revealed? What is the value of the thousands upon thousands of hours that interns spend using Photoshop's magic wand tool, in order to crop that "man with briefcase" just so?
More.
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