Visualizing Evidence in Architectural Research (from Data Mapping to Explanatory Diagrams)

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue interrogates the subject of visualization in architecture, and asks whether contemporary visualization falls within the history of modes of representation in architecture or if it represents the beginning of a paradigm shift. As a discipline, architecture contributes to the production of new knowledge, not only of architectural matters but frequently concerning aspects of the built environment that intersect with disciplines in the social sciences and humanities. Studying the history of architecture enables us to correlate the creation of built form and landscapes with the development of other forms of knowledge. As these interactions increase, the presentation of data in a visually understandable format is a growing epistemological and pedagogical challenge. Can architectural ideas—history, context, evolution, or current state—be translated into didactic and accessible visualized formats? Can the visual encoding of these ideas provide new insights into architectural histories and provide the means to discover diversities, commonalities and possibilities found en masse in architectural data? Conversely, can visualizing data provide opportunities for others to decode and access complex architectural ideas? What are the possibilities and potentials for architectural historians of data mapping, force directed graphs, histograms, linear charting or other forms of data aggregation? As we confront growing volumes of data and media-savvy researchers, what are appropriate ways in which to convey information with both accuracy and communicational appeal?

In Beautiful Evidence, statistician-turned-graphic-designer Edward Tufte makes a case for the equal importance of the visibility of evidence alongside the factual proof that is presented. The history of architecture is centred on documenting and representing built form through traditional means such as architectural drawings, models and photographs and, more recently, through computer renderings and virtual reality. Much of this has centred on the object, the type, the maker, the place, or the experience. Attempts have been made to visualize trends in architecture, such a Charles Jencks’ famous diagram in Meaning in Architecture or his Evolutionary Tree of Twentieth Century Architecture. The potency of diagrams has been extensively explored by architects, including Peter Eisenman, Bernard Tschumi and Rem Koolhaas, to the point of creating a new trend called “datascape architecture”. However, it is not yet clear whether these explorations fall within a new concern for visualization or are understood to be a continuation in a long tradition of modes of representation and translation, as identified by Robin Evans. In recent decades, a series of mappings originating from economics, sociology, statistics and political science has mirrored practices in architecture. Does this mean that architecture is at a disciplinary turning point in which “making architectural data understandable” is an imperative rather than a trend?

This Special Issue presents contributions from scholars in architecture, urban design, and landscape architecture who are exploring the potential of utilizing complex data sets to understand architecture’s many histories. We welcome investigations that address approaches to visualization beyond traditional studies in the field of architectural representation and challenge us to consider new ways to make coded data accessible and engaging. 

Prof. Dr. Jean-Pierre Chupin
Prof. George Thomas Kapelos
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Architecture is an international peer-reviewed open access quarterly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1000 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• data representation in architecture
• architecture history