A relevant figure in the Rationalist movement, Italian-Swiss architect Alberto Sartoris (1901-1998) represented most of his projects in black and white or colorful axonometric projections. This choice of a precise representation technique is connected to his will to emphasize a rigorous geometrical control in the construction of a project. At the same time, axonometric projections avoid positioning the viewer in a specific position in space which would determine a privileged point of view.

The axonometric projection becomes a tool to aim for a scientific objectivity where each plane and space has equal value in the composition. No materials are represented, only light lines intersecting to form planes and volumes, no ornamentations, no shadows, no people and no context, only the project in its pure architectural values. In the heroic period of the modern movement, – Sartoris was present at the first CIAM in La Sarraz in 1928 -, architecture is looking for a new image to express its new values and the way projects are represented is as important as the way they are built, in order to create a manifesto for a radical renewal of the discipline.