ARCHITECTURAL VISUAL COMMUNICATIONS 5:

VISUAL TECHNIQUES 5

EXTERIOR ARCHITECTURAL
PHOTOGRAPHY

ORATA, ANTHONY R
ARC221
Anda Fitness Gym, Anda St. cor. Legazpi St.,Intramuros Manila

HIERARCHY
This structure shows a descending hierarchy of its tiers or
floors, which shows a design principle, which is the
hierarchy of its plan. It can be observed the first floor of
this building is quite smaller than the other tiers above it.
As the viewer’s vision turns upward the structure, the
width of the floors gradually expands from the first tier’s
smaller width. The structure’s descending hierarchy made
it look massive.
BALANCE AND UNITY
The way this image was captured creates a balance
between the two structures and the sky. The subjects in
this composition were oriented through an imaginary
central point, which made the subjects to be
proportionate with each other.
Unity can also be observed, especially in the colors of
the three subjects; the sky (blue), the LPU Culinary
Building (reddish tone), and The Bayleaf (light yellow
colors). The colors were primary colors, which created
a balance in its hues

LPU Culinary Institute, Victoria St. cor. Muralla St., Intramuros, Manila
 BALANCE
The three main portals at the facade of the Manila
Cathedral create symmetry in the viewer’s vision at the
center. When striking an imaginary line down to the
center of the major portal, it resembles that the other
side of the composition reflects on the other side. What
the viewers might see beside the major portal, can be
also seen on the other side perfectly.

Portals of Manila Cathedral

Exterior of Silahis Arts & Artifacts, Inc.

CONTRAST
The exterior of the two tiers of this structure presents a
contrast in colors and contrast in architectural finish
and material with each other. The first tier is mostly
covered with stone bricks but with more modern
windows than the one above it, while the top tier shows
the more traditional look of wood finish and capiz
window
 CONTRAST AND
PATTERN
The facade of the Palacio Del Gobernador creates a
pattern of vertical white strips with small windows with
each strip. Aside from the pattern features of this
building, the colors seen in this composition present a
contrast. The reddish brick of the top facade
complements the green colors of the surrounding
trees.

Palacio Del Gobernador, Gen, Luna St., Intramuros, Manila

Camilio Osias Hall, National University-Manila

BALANCE AND
PATTERN
The facade of the Osias Hall at National also shows a
symmetrical balance. Striking through a line at its
center makes the elements on one side duplicated on
the other side. There is also a striking feature in this
structure, which is the repetitive pattern of circles and
triglyph on its frieze.
Henry Sy Hall, NU Nazareth School-Manila

UNITY
This composition shows unity, as the whole image is
monochromatic. The tone of the facade blends with
the blue sky to show how the intensity of the sky
reflects the original white color of the walls and into
the glass windows. This was manipulated to cool the
filter to harmonize the main subject (the facade) with
the background (the blue). Turning the mood of the
image into cool tones tranquilizes the view from the
viewer’s perspective.
Skybridge of Jhocson Memorial Building and NU Manila Main Building

EMPHASIS AND
BALANCE
The detailed architectural elements, which can be seen
from the facades of the Jhocson Memorial Building and
the Main Building emphasized the simple appearance
of the sky bridge that connects in between them. It was
captured towards its center to make it more
emphasized. The composition of the image by how it
was captured creates balance and proportion between
the two massive objects (preferring to the buildings.)
UNITY AND PATTERN
The windows, blue pilasters, and air conditioning units.
as seen from the image, are already showing the
principle of pattern and repetition. The placement, the
distances, and the form of the pilasters, the windows,
and the aircon units are repeated from one place to
another, which shows structural cohesion and
harmony.

Facade of Henry Sy Hall

 BALANCE
The composition of the two buildings creates a balance
and proportion towards an imaginary center line. The
approach of how this image was captured aims to
divert the proportion of the buildings into equal
portion in the view of the viewer.

Jhocson Memorial Building (left) and NU Manila Main Building (right)