Visual Discoveries

CONTENTS

8 INTRODUCTION 16

EARLIEST RECORDED SECTIONS

24

BUILDINGS: REAL AND IMAGINED

84

LANDSCAPE AND URBAN DESIGN

136

GEOLOGY AND MINING

182

INVENTIONS AND TRANSPORT

202

HUMAN ANATOMY

Kupferstichkabinett der Akademie der bildenden Künste Wien.

USING A SECTION TO PROBLEM SOLVE When paper became more accessible and widespread in Europe during the 14th century, more cross section drawings began to be produced.

Previously parchment, made of calf, goat or sheep skin, was used for drawings, but it was not widespread due to its cost and inaccessibility.

Little is known about architectural drawings in the medieval era. It is believed that prior to using paper and scale drawings, concepts and ideas were communicated verbally or with models and templates.1 Villard de Honnecourt, a Frenchman from Picardy, created one of the earliest known cross section drawing between 1225–1235. In thirty-three parchment sheets, de Honnecourt created approximately 250 drawings of animals, architecture, carpentry, church furnishings, geometry, humans, masonry, mechanical devices, recipes or formulas and surveying.2 The modern term “sketchbook” wouldn’t apply here as these sheets were likely assembled into a collection only after the drawings were complete. The drawings and captions in de Honnecourt’s collection are in different orientations.

Villard de Honnecourt’s exact profession is unknown. It was previously believed that he was an architect or master mason. This was refuted in

17

18

Source gallica.bnf.fr / Bibliothèque nationale de France. Département des Manuscrits. Français 19093.

G.Garitan, View from northeast of Reims Cathedral (High Gothic), 2015, jpg, 3,965 × 2,514 pixels, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:ReimsCathedral0116.jpg.

VILLARD DE HONNECOURT

Cross Section of the Flying Buttress System at Reims Cathedral Reims, France

1225–1235

GIACOMO QUARENGHI

Cross Section of the Hermitage Theater Saint Petersburg, Russia c. 1787

Longitudinal Section of the Hermitage Theater Saint Petersburg, Russia c. 1787 Giacomo Quarenghi (1744 – 1817) was an Italian neoclassical architect who rose to prominence in Imperial Russia. He was the court architect for Catherine the Great, and in 1787 he completed the Hermitage Theater in Saint Petersburg for her private use. Patterned after Palladio’s Teatro Olimpico, the auditorium is a small amphitheater with a capacity for 250 spectators. The theater was used as an administrative office during the Bolshevik era and in the 1980s, the theater was restored for public use.

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THOMAS USTICK WALTER

Section Through Dome of U.S. Capitol Washington, D.C., USA 1859 Thomas Ustick Walter (1804 –1887) was the fourth Architect of the Capitol and during his tenure, he enlarged the U.S. Capitol building, adding north and south wings and a new dome. The expansion of north and south wings resulted in a lack of proportion with the old dome designed by Charles Bulfinch. Walter created a new cast-iron dome to replace Bulfinch’s that still stands as of 2019. Patterned after St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome, the new dome is three times the height of the previous dome.

The making of the dome coincided with the American Civil War. At the onset of the war, the dome was still unfinished. Federal soldiers were stationed in the U.S. Capitol to protect it from the Confederacy.

In December of 1863, a bronze statue named Freedom was placed on top of the dome. Ironically, the statue was made with the help of Philip Reid, a man enslaved

by Thomas Crawford, the sculptor commissioned to build Freedom.12

46

HITOMI TERASAWA

Kowloon Walled City Kowloon, Hong Kong SAR, China

Kowloon Walled City was a densely populated, seven-acre urban settlement in Hong Kong which was home to approximately 50,000 people.

Demolished between 1993–1994, the Walled City was unregulated in terms of development and was approximately thirteen to fourteen stories high, limited by Kai Tak International Airport half a mile away.

Before the demolition, a team of Japanese researchers, led by Takayuki Suzuki documented the walled city and published a book named Daizukan Kyuryujyou in 1997. In this book, Hitomi Terasawa illustrated a highly detailed cross section of the settlement that visually describes community life there. Though there was triad activity in the Walled City beginning in the 1950s and declining in the 1970s, it was simply a place where people could rent cheaply. In the late 1980s, unsanitary conditions at the Kowloon Walled City led to the government deciding to relocate residents and demolish the settlement. It is now a park.

104

Ian Lambot, Bird’s eye view of the Kowloon Walled City, 1989, jpg, 1,942 × 1,466 pixels, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:KWC_-_1989_Aerial.jpg

1997

114

FOSTER + PARTNERS

Thames Hub Isle of Grain, UK 2011

Foster + Partners.

Foster + Partners, featured multiple times in this publication, use the section often to visually explain their urban design and infrastructure concepts.

A well-executed section is a viable way for any designer to convey multiple layers of information that speaks to density, programming, and specific characteristics of a space.

In 2011, Foster + Partners created a proposal for a new integrated infrastructure network on the Thames Estuary. The Thames Hub would have a new airport, flood barrier, freight port, and a rail route that would allow goods to be moved to other ports, thus avoiding London’s congestion. This proposed airport would be fifty-five kilometers from central London.

115

WILLIAM SMITH

Geological Section from London to Snowdon 1819 William Smith (1769–1839), nicknamed “Strata Smith,” is known as the “Father of English Geology.” Self taught and not formally educated, Smith worked as an assistant to a surveyor and eventually for a coal company. Smith created the first accurate geological map of England in 1815 and contributed heavily to the field of stratigraphy, a branch of geology concerned with the study of rock layers, otherwise known as strata.

In his beautifully drawn geological cross section from London to Snowdon, he combined the cross section technique with perspective of the above-ground topography. Harmonious colors and shading artfully delineate the strata and the physical landscape.

Despite Smith having created the first geological map of England and this cross section, his scientific contemporaries were slow to recognize his achievements. Smith served an eleven-week sentence in prison for accrued debts in 1819. Near the end of his life, Smith finally received recognition for his achievements. In 1831 the Geological Society honored Smith with their highest award, the Wollaston Medal.

143

HEINRICH BERGHAUS

Idealer Durchschnitt eines Theils Der Erdrinde 1841 Heinrich Berghaus (1797 –1884) was a German geographer and professor of Applied Mathematics at the Bauakademie in Berlin. He is best known for Physikalischer Atlas, a landmark publication that is notable for its graphic representations of the physical aspects of the Earth, something that had not been done at the time. The atlas is divided into eight sections: meteorology and climatology, hydrology and hydrography, geology, terrestrial magnetism, botany, zoology, anthropology, and ethnography.

In this cross section, Berghaus depicts an ideal earth’s crust. Accompanying this section cut, Berghaus includes geological strata information along with accompanying plant and animal information that are noted as “organic remains.”

Berghaus collaborated extensively throughout his career with Alexander von Humboldt, a notable Prussian geographer. With von Humboldt’s help, Berghaus established a geographical school (Geographische Kunstschule) in Potsdam in 1836.

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151

David Rumsey Map Collection

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