ADVANTAGES OF DEVELOPING SKETCHBOOK SKILLS

There are certain advantages for the designer in developing sketchbook skills. The graphic facility cultivated in freehand drawing aids the representation of design proposals.The means of recording an existing subject are much the same as those employed in depicting an un-built vision of the future.

The graphic language is the same whether the building exists in reality or simply in one’s imagination: the use of line and shadow, of weighted and feint lines, of exaggerated silhouette, and so on, are employed with equal meaning.

The skills needed for drawing, once learnt, are far speedier and more responsive than those required for model-making or computer graphics. Drawing also conveys a sense of spirit, of creative passion, which other forms of representation often lack. Just as the sketchbook can be used to dissect graphically an existing building, the technique of unravelling and abstracting different architectural features can be employed in the reverse – to represent the different elements of a design proposal.

The explanation of form, structure and decoration can help in the development of design especially where complex matters of building services and space management are involved. A line of continuity therefore links the analysis of existing buildings to the development of new ones, with a similar range of drawing techniques being employed. This is one of the lessons which are learnt by studying the drawings of famous architects.