Can people engage with the complexities of architectural drawing?

As architects, our daily practice involves the creation of personal geographies through drawing exercises. In this exhibit at the Venice Biennale in 2016, we selected drawings from our book, CAZA: 2010-2016, to act as an interface with the visitor.

The visitor enters the room and gazes at a screen equipped with a camera that captures the movements of their face. The twist is that the screen does not project a perfect mirror image of their face, but instead displays a drawing animated by their movement. Every facial gesture engenders a physical change in the drawing on the screen—the visitor sees their face transcribed as a form they don’t recognize, yet paradoxically control.

Each drawing used as a facial mask was developed during the execution of an architecture project currently under construction, showcasing the dynamic potential of modular and parametric design as tools for interaction and interpretation.