Understanding Architecture Through Drawing

(lily) #1

Chapter 15


The façades of buildings


Like an honest face, the elevations of a building should
tell you something about what function it serves, how it is
built and when it was constructed. In addition, the degree
of embellishment or grandeur probably provides clues to
the civic importance of the building. By drawing the
façade of a building, you will gain insights into the
intentions of the architect and his or her aspirations as an
urban designer. Additionally, you will probably understand
better the role of the building within the social or
economic structure of the area, the reason for employing
a distinctive style or pattern of architecture, or the
justification for adopting a particular mode of technology.
Your freehand sketch is, therefore, both graphic
description and historical analysis. Generally speaking,
historic buildings are more complex structures than
modern ones, partly as a result of layers of change that
have left their mark on the elevations, but mainly because
they do not subscribe to the simplified abstraction of
contemporary buildings. In the past the role of a building
may have been to decorate a street, terminate a vista or
provide a supporting role to a public monument. Today
buildings are more likely to express their structural
prowess, or their use of a sophisticated cladding system.
Whichever expression is sought by the modern architect,
it is unlikely to relate directly to wider civic ambitions.


15.1
This Edwardian office building in central Glasgow tells you that the publi
functions are to be found on the ground floor with the entrance well marked.
Above is found repetitive office space.

122 Understanding architecture through drawing

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