ABSTRACT
This chapter differentiates among the range of computer-generated imagery (CGI) used by urban designers. It provides a discussion that points towards cautious handling of the communicative scope of collages that can be well complemented by other types of CGI before entering a constructive dialogue with clients. Ethnographic work among architects, visualisers and clients has already convincingly argued that CGI in the form of renderings is far from always ‘flat’ or ‘disembodied’, as Pallasmaa would have it, but does in many cases evoke ‘digital atmospheres’ or simply atmosphere deriving from the aesthetic, emotional and corporeal impact of the visual encounter. During the fieldwork, different adjectives are used when employees in the studio speak about renderings and collages, respectively. The way that urban designers produce a collage can be seen as a token of their delicate sense of the ecstasy of things and half-things.
