Plans in PerspectiveLearning About Architecture

Lesson Two

Learning Goals

•Learning to draw architecture with dimension using perspective•Understanding the history of architectural design styles•Having a better understanding of how to create design plans

What is linear perspective?

• The technique an artist uses to make an image look 3-dimensional and realistic on something flat like paper or canvas.

A little history…• Perspective was developed in art in the late

1300s and early 1400s. Before that, paintings looked flat.

Before perspective Early tries at perspective Perspective in action

Artist Fillipo Brunelleshi combined his math skills with his art skills and drew the first known picture to use linear perspective.

One of Brunelleshi’s architectural drawings of a cathedral dome.

Perspective in ArchitectureYou learned in the first lesson that architects make many different drawings of their buildings, like cross-sections, floor plans, and elevation drawings. Those are all flat drawings.

Architects also make more realistic drawings of what the building will look like. Nowadays, computer programs help draw these, but they used to be done by hand.

Here are pictures of the Ryrie Building in Toronto, Ontario in Canada. The left is the architects perspective drawing of the plan, the right is a photograph of the building once it was finished. Pretty amazing!

In the first lesson you drew an elevation drawing.

This lesson, you will learn to draw with perspective.

Can you see the difference?

Elevation drawing Perspective drawing

Drawing with 2-point PerspectiveFirst you need to learn some important words!

Horizontal

Vertical

Diagonal

Horizon Line

Practice FirstWe will be drawing a whole city block today, using linear perspective, but first let’s get the idea down by drawing a box.

Lay out a piece of copy paper horizontally (the long edge closest to you).

Draw two dots (vanishing points) on the horizontal line (horizon line) near the left and right edges of the paper.

Draw a horizontal line all the way across the page, about 1 inch from the top of the paper.

Draw diagonal lines connecting the top and bottom of the vertical line to each vanishing point.

Draw a vertical line about 3 inches long, in the middle of the page, with the bottom about ½ inch from the bottom of the page.

Now connect the tops of these vertical lines to the opposite vanishing points.

Next, draw two more vertical lines, one about 2 inches to the left of the vertical line, and one about 2 inches to the right of the original vertical line.

If you add the architectural elements we learned about in the last lesson (windows, entrance, decoration, roofline), you’ll have a building instead of a box.

Now erase the lines outside the cube that led to the vanishing points. You’ve drawn a 3-d box!

If you add the perspective lines and horizon to these pictures , you can see the shape easily!

Make a City Block!Now we’ll use that same technique to make a whole city block of buildings.

Lay out your drawing paper horizontally (the long edge closest to you).

Add vanishing points on both sides of the horizon line, then draw a 4-inch vertical line about 2 inches from the bottom in the center of the page. This will be the corner of your first building.

About 4 inches (one-third) from the bottom of the page, draw a horizon line all the way across. Make sure it’s nice and straight.

Add a small dot about one inch below the bottom of the vertical line and connect it to the vanishing points. This will be your sidewalk.

Draw lines connecting both the top and bottom points of the vertical line to each vanishing point.

Erase the horizon line and the top lines to the vanishing point beyond the first building. Now you have one building with a sidewalk.

Next draw two vertical lines to create the edges of the front building. The farther the lines are from the center, the bigger the building will appear.

Make a City Block!Now you have one building, you’ll want to add more to the block. There are two important rules to remember:

•All vertical lines will be parallel to each other (the top and bottom edges of your paper are parallel – they run the same direction and never cross each other). This includes the corners of all buildings, and the sides of any doors, signs or windows).

•All horizontal and diagonal likes will connect to the vanishing points. This includes the lines in your sidewalk, the tops of all doors, windows and signs on your buildings.

Now erase any overlapping lines and you have a block of buildings!

Here’s an example: vertical lines have been added (they’ll stop at the sidewalk line) , and the tops have been connected to the vanishing points. Also, the sidewalk lines were added.

Now erase any overlapping lines and add elements until you’re happy with your block.

Now lets add a door. If you can do that, signs and windows are done exactly the same way. Draw a vertical line where you’d like the closest edge to be, then connect the top to the closest vanishing point. Add another vertical line where you’d like the far edge of the door to be. You will start the line at the diagonal top line and end it at the sidewalk line.

Once your block is drawn and all of the extra lines are erased, you get to color and decorate your buildings!

If you’d like, you can go over all of the pencil lines with a black ink pen to make them stand out nicely before you start coloring.

Now name your city!