Abstract - Attempt...again

Images were first made to conjure up the appearance of something that was absent. Gradually it became evident that an image could outlast what it represented; it then showed how something or somebody had once looked – and thus by implication how the subject had once been seen by other people.

John Berger

There is much that can be learned through the act of Drawing. It is a unique way to experience and investigate the world. It is not just seeing the world, it is about being in it. When you are confronted with an object, you are only seeing it. Seeing it in relation to yourself. If you try to draw that object you are interacting with it. You are experiencing it in relation to yourself as well as everything around it. In a line you gain a new understanding. When you try to find the curve or the connection between two points you are making a statement about what you see. It takes time to draw a line, it is a conscious effort, a deliberate intervention on the blank page and a record of how the object is seen by you. The drawing becomes a reference point for how you see yourself in the world. Though to begin to connect all those points together, we need to understand drawings.

When trying to understand drawings, there is a key aspect that needs to be addressed; Drawing as Language.

Through drawings we reveal the beauty and detail in everyday objects. They are a means of expression and through the aesthetics and lines of a drawing we begin to see a structure to that expression. We see the beginnings of the development of a language. That language is of great importance to Architecture. Architects trade in images, they are the language with which we communicate ideas and concepts. This communication can't happen verbally. It is a visual profession and therefore needs a visual language. It is important for people to be able to see and understand what is being “said” through these drawings and so an Architects needs to be able to “speak” the language. They need to spend time drawing and develop their own personal style; develop a Hand for Drawing. It is the same process as developing an Eye for Photography. After many hours of taking photographs you begin to instinctively know how to frame a certain scene or use the lighting to your advantage. It is the same for drawing. After many hours of drawing building, objects, people, etc, the drawer instinctively begins to understand how they relate to each other and can then more accurately conjure up the appearance of something that was absent. By developing a Hand they learn the letters, words and sentence structure that allows the language to be broadcast and understood.

This thesis documents the process of that investigation and follows the development of a Hand for Drawing.

Abstract - Next Attempt

Architects spend increasing amounts of time sitting in front of a computer. This is a natural progression of the profession and comes from advancements in technology and the need for faster and and easily reproduced drawings. However, computers are slowly eliminating one of the most important processes and tool that an Architect can use: hand drawing. Architects need to take a step away from their computers and spend some time drawing and actually developing a hand for it, developing their own personal style. It is the same process as developing an Eye for photography. After many hours of taking photographs you begin to instinctively know how to frame a certain scene or use the lighting to your advantage. It is the same for drawing. Yet after leaving school, drawing falls by the way side. Architects need to regularly spend some time drawing.

There is so much that can be learned from the simple act of of picking up a pen or pencil and putting it to paper. It is a unique way to experience and investigate an the world around us. There are the two specific aspects of drawings that need to be addressed; the Drawing as Art and the Drawing as Language. Through drawings we reveal the beauty and detail in everyday objects and we can communicate ideas and concepts.

Thesis - Mapping

The first steps to understanding everything I have done to date.

Playing - The Scarf

In between working on other projects I have started playing around with drawing. These are a collection of three drawings all taken from the same subject. I had placed a pashmina at the side of my desk and took out a piece of paper every time I needed a break. The first is done in pen, the second in conte and the third is ink and brush. The ink is not something I normally do, but thought I might expand out of my comfort zone. There is a definite difference in competence and quality from the first two to the third. But, in the end, it is an experiment.

The Act of Drawing - Trial Images

These are a few trial images in a sequence I was thinking about. It lacks something I am am trying to come up with a better way to go about it. But actually tracking the movements that go along with a drawing is quite interesting. These look a bit too fake. I had to cut out the shadows which makes the whole thing look created, when it is really just a layering of images.

The Act of Drawing - The Line

Here is the first attempt at photographing the Act of Drawing. I started with the simplest element of drawing, the line. Obviously there is the "point", which is even simpler but no one is interested in seeing a point being drawn. The line is the simple element of drawing that involves motion.

These are really just testing out the apparatus for documentation. It still needs some work (ie better lighting, subject, etc) but it is going somewhere.

The Act of Drawing - Machine Concept

The next step in my thesis is going to be documenting the act of drawing it self. A record of the moments, thought and time that go into creating an image. I need to develop a system or machine in order to do this. Below are the first conceptual sketches:

Thesis - Lines Represent Time

A quote that I think is quite relevant to the new endeavor of thinking about and recording the act of drawing:

"All drawn lines have a speed that can be deduced: they have a beginning and an end, and therefore represent time, as well as space. Even a tracing of a photograph contains more 'time' than the original photograph (which represents just a fraction of a second) because the hand takes time to do it." - David Hockney

Sketches - Gourds

The following are sketches based on exercises that the first year class are doing in Arch 110. I am helping out and participating in the class and these are the most current. Each student was given the opportunity to select a gourd and then the drawing began:

Draw a circle on your page. Now, turn that circle into the gourd that you selected.

Imagine a larger circle. A circle that surrounds your page. Now, turn that circle into the gourd that you selected. The stepping up of scale made you focus on a different level of detail, and as a result, a different set of lines. You can see a similarity but the shift is evident.


A few gourds fell and were broken so I changed the subject of the sketches but continued with the same exercise.


With this change of scale, more of shift can be seem than in the previous gourd.

The final one from this series was an investigation of my own. I was interested in the interior of the gourd and what make the ridges so pronounced on some. We cut one open to see what was going on. I drew the plan and elevation as a study of that.

Sketches - Washington D.C.

I was away in Washington D.C for a few days and did some sketching. Also, I am going to be experimenting with some different scanning techniques over the next little while and would welcome the feedback.