Visual Rhetoric

                In March 2012, the construction of a new 634 million dollar ball park for the Miami Marlins was completed. A drawing of the entire ball park is shown, and is a prime source of visual communication used in the field of construction engineering. The single most important piece of visual communication found throughout the construction industry are the plans. These plans consist of all of the drawings and renderings that show how the final project should look when accomplished. These include, but are not limited to: sectional views, floor plans, ceiling plans, 3-dimensional views, elevation views, and schedules. These designs and plans are used to accomplish daily tasks and to entice a client into financing the project in the preconstruction process. Due to their many essential uses in construction, construction plans epitomize visual communication in the construction engineering field.

            To start off, in the floor plan of the stadium, you can see the entire layout of the project. Though you are unable to see all of the numbers and details of the project from this particular drawing, you would be able to do so if you were to open this document in the software in which it was created. You would have the ability to pan in and out, change viewing angles, and select different objects to reveal their properties. For example, if you were to select a sectional view of the stands (a side view as if you were standing on the field), you would be able to see and edit any object in your view, whether it be the stands, walls, seats, or even the décor. Through this software, you can apply this method to any object from any view. You are able to view and change the minutest of details with the click of a button. When engineers work on a project, they first must come to an agreement on a design between them and the client. The drawing shown is one of the completed plans of the stadium, which is presented to the client, which in this situation is the owner of the Miami Marlins. Many more views are shown, often three dimensional renderings or videos panning throughout the 3D stadium as if taking a tour through the entire finished product. If the owner agrees and is willing to finance the project, the building process starts. During the process of actually making the plans come to life, the plans are constantly being reviewed to see how things will be laid out and what products to use. That being said, the project plans are very important means of visual communication, not only for clients but for the construction engineer’s team building the project.

            In this case, the drawing of the Marlins’ new stadium was being used for presentation to the client who was financing the build. This is so because usually the construction engineer’s plans include much more quantitative details within the layout when being used for reference of the build. These drawings convey a means of common understanding between the teams building the project. There is no information left out. Distances are one example of many. As you can see, there is a lack of the usual annotations that depict the distances between different parts of the park. In most cases, there are lines and tiny numbers scattered across the page of the drawing you can hardly tell what it is. In addition, most plans include a ton of symbolism that even I have yet to begin to understand. These symbols would be located throughout the drawing, referencing you to different drawings including the specifications and properties of certain objects. The color and fact that almost anyone can decipher what objects and sections of the parks generally are is yet another hint that the intended audience is a client and not other engineers, architects, or site supervisors. Typically, the drawings shared between these people are much more crude and difficult to understand for someone not strongly educated in construction plans. All of these factors show that this drawing is specifically designed to awe and woo a client financing a project.

            This specific example of a construction plan is an effective way of visually communicating what the final project of the Marlin’s stadium would look like. For being a two dimensional drawing, it does a very good job at satisfying the client with the completed plan by showing all of the different aspects of the stadium, without all of the symbolism and fine details. It does not take an expert to read this particular construction drawing, and it still shows what the finished product will generally look like. Anyone can understand most of the details in this drawing. For example, the green circles: trees, the blue lines and white stripes: paths or walkways, the lots filled with lines outside the stadium: parking. It doesn’t take much previously acquired construction specific knowledge to understand the layout of the new Miami Marlins’ Stadium. The color included in the drawing not only helps with the deciphering of objects, but gives the drawing more pizazz to appeal to the client. It makes the drawing look more impressive than its counterparts used by the construction engineers to complete the project.  Although the drawing doesn’t capture the project in its entirety, it still successfully reveals the layout and design of the entire park, along with the plot of land it will be sitting upon to help the client make a decision on whether to finance the project or not.

The drawing of the Miami Marlins’ new stadium is an effective use of visual communication not only because of all the reasons stated above, but because the owner chose to finance it and make the drawing come to life. In today’s constantly changing world, good communication is a crucial factor of completing a successful project, and much of this communication is done visually. The importance of all the different team members to be on the same page is inexplicable. Of the many types of plans involved in the construction process, all are equally as important in visual communication. Whether it be used to reference back to during the build or design the project the client wants to finance, it is an essential piece to the communication puzzle in construction engineering.