Layout Photography: Let's Get Symmetrical

Lately I’ve been infatuated with how design is introduced via vision. Pictures and renderings are highly biased and manipulated views that attempt to present a building in its very best light, if you may. Having previously looked in the aesthetic merging of photographs and renderings, and then at residential interiors sans furniture, this ideabook dissects one particular aspect of its own demonstration: symmetry.

Tracing itself back into the Renaissance and the invention of perspective drawing, bilateral symmetry was popularized in Beaux Arts architectural schooling centuries later. Plans and façades that are mirrored about an axis can still be discovered, but they are not as common these days, stemming from a range of factors, such as Modernism’s influence and complicated sites that require asymmetry. Nowadays, symmetry is found more in small locations, like one room, instead of a general building.

More: Why There’s Beauty in Grid, Column and Row

Symmetry can also be something that is”found” and subsequently introduced in photographs. A space or outside may embody a hint of lace, but the framing of a photo and the staging of furniture and other elements heightens this sense of equilibrium. The next pictures are all strong symmetrical compositions, be they found or designed.

John Maniscalco Architecture

This living area is part of a home that is anything but symmetrical, but the centering of the structure gives this room its own symmetry. The matching sofas and on-axis coffee table heighten the sense of symmetry.

Elad Gonen

As in the last photo, the sofas, as well as every other furnishing within this area, accentuate the bilateral symmetry. The manifestation of the photo frames in the mirror even gives the impression of a central vanishing point, akin to Renaissance perspective. Nevertheless I can not feel that this small room would function like this, with two sofas facing each other.

Elad Gonen

This shot is by the same photographer as the previous example (and the next), and sofas are used for simulating symmetry. But here they’re side-by-side as well as facing. The lamps and coffee tables additionally stress symmetry about the massive window, but the walls on each side are anything but the same.

Elad Gonen

A last photo by Elad Gonen & Zeev Beech shows a more natural symmetry, with a couch facing chairs and a side table. The traces of the mattress-like coffee table, even however, certainly point the way towards the middle of the horizon.

Schwartz and Architecture

This might not be the type of space I have a tendency to attribute, but there is something about the photo that is kinda spooky. I think that the symmetry heightens that sensation, as does the delicate light and the compression of the ceiling onto the sides.

David Vandervort Architects

The gable end of this house exudes symmetry, especially with its focused openings. But note the way the room interior is not symmetrical and the way the canopy and measures are barely visible at right, signaling a porch that belies this elevation’s equilibrium.

Michael Tauber Architecture

Can a corner be symmetrical? In cases like this the response is yes. The orange seat, controls, as well as the stone joints within this shower make a balanced equilibrium on the diagonal. Just the inset shelf is not mirrored above the corner. When seen from another angle, this bathroom is anything but symmetrical.

This is just another diagonal composition that appears symmetrical, belying the true nature of the room. While the frames and mirror are not identical, the former manifestation of the latter strengthens the apparent symmetry.

Vanni Archive/Architectural Photography

Here the symmetry of the room is accentuated by the door frame that we are looking through. Who knows what it’s keeping from our opinion? A piano for you personally, which divides into the frame .

John Lum Architecture, Inc.. AIA

Within this opinion most elements are balanced perfectly: the doors, the wall, the skylight, the two types of stools. Interestingly the other bits — image frame, twigs, fruit bowl, petrified wood (or anything that is in front of the counter) — opt for asymmetrical balance, so they keep their singular nature.

NICOLEHOLLIS

This carefully put mirror accentuates the symmetry of the furniture, making the room appear more exciting as it is.

Two questions: Do those chairs proceed with that table? And where is the photographer/camera from the mirror?

Eisner Design LLC

This is some Taj Majal-esque symmetry (in that it is framed throughout a pool). The positioning of these chairs makes it stronger. I enjoy that the axis is a void in the wall that frames the trees beyond.

David Churchill – Architectural Photographer

The symmetry of this hallway is reached by echoing the long window with the mirror at right. The IKEA shelf in the end with all the wilting flowers atop provides a little humor.

David Churchill – Architectural Photographer

This is some marginally off-kilter symmetry, probably an attempt to meld the furniture together with the space. The fireplace and photo determine the fundamental axis, but they do not really align with all the double doors in the foreground. This situation is aggravated by the placement of the couches (aligned to the doors) and the striped chair (aligned with the fireplace).

W. David Seidel, AIA – Architect

Last, this room is made to appear symmetrical through the placement of the couches and lamps, and the introduction of those monitors displaying the identical image. The room feels like it’s linear, extending into the left and right, yet this photo condenses the space via a perpendicular, symmetrical arrangement.

Tell us: Are you attracted to symmetry?

More: Why There’s Beauty in Grid, Column and Row

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Sherarcon