Above It All

This classic Sesame Street video is a good plan-view earworm. Looking at a project in plan puts the viewer above it all. So do satellite pics. In paraline drawings, such as plan oblique or elevation oblique, their third dimension is added diagrammatically, without any convergence of depth lines. The lack of convergence gives the illusion that the back plane is bigger than the front. Figures can be placed in these paraline drawings, but constructing the context is onerous, with little payoff. On one project, the production team was persuaded to track their design process by means of plans and paraline views. There were some awkward surprises a year later when those who approved the project based on perspective presentations saw the final product. How frequently do we experience a space from above, anyway? Like plan views, paralines don't take you INSIDE. At the most they provide a superior, detached point of view. 

The blue wall is equally as wide as the orange wall in this elevation oblique
from Kevin Forseth. Optically, it appears larger.