Honor Award

See Different, Think Different, Draw Different

Wei Chen, Student ASLA, Graduate, University of Pennsylvania
Faculty Advisors: Valerio Morabito and Karen O. Lutsky

  • See Different. Think Different. Drawing Different
    Close Me!

    Albunol. Approach: Photo Motage + Hand Drawing
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    Image: Wei Chen

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  • See Different. Think Different. Drawing Different
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    Blade Runner. Approach: Movie + Photo Motage + Physical Modeling + Hand Drawing
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    Image: Wei Chen

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  • See Different. Think Different. Drawing Different
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    Zion Canyon. Approach: Photo Motage + Physical Modeling + Hand Drawing
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    Image: Wei Chen

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  • See Different. Think Different. Drawing Different
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    Chefchaouen. Approach: Photo Motage + Physical Modeling + Hand Drawing
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    Image: Wei Chen

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  • See Different. Think Different. Drawing Different
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    Zora. Approach: Reading + Physical Modeling + Photo Montage
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  • See Different. Think Different. Drawing Different
    Close Me!

    A Physical Model for Zora. "Beyond six rivers and three mountain ranges rises Zora, a city that no one, having seen it, can forget... Zora’s secrete lies in the way your gaze runs over patterns following one another as in a musical score... The copper clock follows the barber’s striped awning, then the fountain with the nine jets, the astronomer’s glass tower, the melon vendor’s kiosk..."
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    Image: Wei Chen

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  • See Different. Think Different. Drawing Different
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    Xi’an. Approach: Physical Modeling + Photo Montage
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  • See Different. Think Different. Drawing Different
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    A Physical Model for Xi’an. Thirteen dynasties in history of China set their capitals in Xi’an. The history of Xi’an is accompanied by hundreds of times of demolitions and reconstructions of the city wall and thus the square shape city wall has become an cultural icon of the city.
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Project Statement

This 40-second animation reveals ideas and techniques behind new ways of landscape representation. These new landscape representation methods aim at combining advantages of modeling, drawings, photos, movies, as well as computer graphic techniques in order to better capture the essence of a site, its culture, its physical characteristic, its morphology.

Project Narrative

This short animation explains to audience new ideas and techniques of landscape representation I acquired through study of the course “Topics in Representation: Landscape Drawing”. The objective of this course is to provide students with representation tools to begin this process: how to represent the essential or minimal idea, a stage in which it is not evident if we are drawing the existing landscape or the beginning of its transformation. These representation tools, through a combined use of modeling, drawings, photos, as well as “styles” borrowed from movies, dances, and music, aim at creating meaningful landscape drawings that best capture and reveal the essence of a site: culture, physical characteristic, and morphology.

Additional Project Credits

UPenn School of Design
Landscape Architecture Department
The class and critics

Digital Juice SoundFX library
Background Music

Special thanks to my fiancée Wei Chen (we accidentally have the same name) for her continuous support and encouragement.