Architects are sometimes criticized for taking creative liberties with their artwork, setting unlikely green scenes or populating their rendered scenes with an improbable array of happy figures. While these “literal renderings” (per Mike Rosenberg) may in some sense be figurative, using signage one would not likely see on an actual structure, they also are refreshingly blunt about the contents of the structures represented.

Surely, no one will actually call their store “Retail” or building “Signage” or mixed-use community “Mixed-Use Apartments,” but at least the viewer gets an actual sense of what they should expect to find inside.

In some cases, these are generic elements are simply temporary markers for mid-stage designs without a name — in others, they can be used to pitch developers, communities and local approval boards.

A kind of architectural equivalent to plain-packaging, minimalist companies (like Brandless), these exist at the other end of realism spectrum, countered by more playful and surrealist approaches like the one below.

The art of architectural representation has changed a lot over time, including the scale figures used to set stages, but at least these kinds of experiments show there is further room to adapt and grow.

If you cannot spot this giant  bus shelter in Baltimore, you may have bigger problems than missing the bus and getting to work on time.

Standing 14 feet high, the signage-plus-bus-stop spells out B-U-S in big capital letters, providing spaces to sit (on all three characters) as well as overhead protection from the rain (in the B and S). Each letter is also seven feet wide.

Created by mmmm, “BUS is a place to enjoy, interact, and meet while waiting for the bus. It is a leisure space in the middle of the rhythm of the city, a fun place for the inevitable waiting at a bus stop. BUS is made with wood and steel, materials that are typically used to build urban furniture.”

The idea is to work with simple, conventional and durable materials to create something both functional but potentially iconic – a place that anyone will know when you mention it. Like other guerrilla bus stops and functional urban shelters, it certainly stands out, but also seems more straightforward and civic.

“The three letters of BUS are big enough to accommodate two to four people each and protect them from rain, sun, wind, and inclement weather. They allow people to assume different postures of sitting or standing while waiting for the bus. The S allows people to lie back while they wait, and the B provides shelter.”

From their website, this is “a permanent public art project supported by Creative Alliance and Southeast Community Development Corporation in conjunction with the Baltimore Office of Promotion and the Arts, the European Union National Institutes for Culture (EUNIC), and SPAIN arts & culture. It is part of the initiative TRANSIT, Creative Placemaking with Europe in Baltimore.”

A photo-realistic mural with a nuanced message, this giant work of wall art is impressive in scale and a definite surprise to passers by. Complete with shade and shadow, the huge on-and-off power switch has hidden meaning behind its more obvious shock-and-awe appeal.

Buildings consume as much as half of the power used in many developed countries. Even in winter, many of the world’s biggest skyscrapers are in constant cooling mode to offset the heat of humans and equipment. In short: most structures are in some sense ‘always on’ when it comes to energy use.

Muralist Escif has a reputation for pointing out political, economic and social problems with his often-animated street art. Still, this piece in particular goes to the heart of an issue we often forget, but one that is right under our noses (or at our fingertips, as it were).