ABSTRACT
Of the images used on the front cover of The Architects’ Journal (The AJ), the one appearing on the 31 October 2002 edition is in many ways atypical (see Figure 3.1 and Plate 3). Rather than an architectural photograph of a completed building, which is the norm for this journal, the image shows the model of a building. Moreover, the model scene is not the product of a controlled studio environment or within an architect’s office, but is outdoors, in what looks to be a construction site. The most unusual aspect of the image concerns, however, the model’s physical support, its ‘pedestal’: a hand grips the model from beneath, holding it in position. Sun hits the façade of the model house and the upturned wrist of the model bearer, revealing tendons in tension. Also highlighted, at the right-hand edge of the page, is the stitching of the bearer’s blue denim jacket. As the stitching curves over the outstretched arm, it happens to align with the fractured yellow line of road markings beyond and they appear, through the distortion of distance, as roughly the same thickness. The intended point of alignment between model and the backdrop of urban scene would seem to be the meeting point between the roof of the model house and that of a property to the right of the model. The model is placed as if to be an adjoining unit to that building. The relationship of scale between model and backdrop seems precise. The scaffolding on the building would appear to be perfectly suited to transfer to the sunlit façade of the model, and the road traffic cones to the far left of the image would seem to have come from the same model kit.
