Rendering fotorealistico e mixed media. La rappresentazione di progetto fra scientificità e narrazione

The progress of the methods and tools of digital representation has greatly enriched the range of formal and operational possibilities, leaving ample space at the architect to express itself using drawing techniques that, in some cases, aim to a specific graphic idiolect. However looking at the progress of technological innovation, that influences design practices in a very incisive way, it seems to be stuck in a stagnation of communication which often continues to give to photorealistic rendering the exclusive task of telling the architectural project. Could be defined as a today agreement, widespread in international competition tables, but also in the most important magazines: in fact this type of rendering proposes an archetype, aimed to turn into a show images that display us pictures of a credible reality populated by incredible forms to inhabit. This paper analyses and compares the nowadays methods of design representation, focusing on the different languages of the drawing. Photorealism is not the only way: for example, the market offers plugin oriented to pictorial and cartoonist images of 3D models. The photorealistic rendering mimics photography as much as the nonphotorealistic rendering mimics the manual drawing, but, at present, the tools and techniques available are so many that they can be easily mixed and overlapping, and at least they should be tested. There isn’t reason why the traditional drawing, photography, photomontage, collage, ..., rendering, can’t coexist with other media. The openness to experimentation with more personal techniques and languages, which distance themselves from mere photorealistic simulation, is documented by an increasing number of architectural drawing competitions, websites and blogs that collect the different experiences of the protagonists.