Understanding Architecture Through Drawing

Prince Charles has awakened the national con-

sciousness over questions of urban quality and

architectural design. He uses the sketchbook as a means

of describing and understanding the places he likes. The

sketch is employed as a learning tool rather than as mere

description.

The untrained eye can learn a great deal through

drawing. It teaches an important visual discipline – an

awareness of shape, line and perspective. The sketch

also engenders respect for the environment and the

designed objects within it. To have sat for an hour and

drawn an old panelled door is to create a respect for the

object that may discourage the tendency to daub it with

graffiti, or to relegate it to firewood. Such doors could be

recycled if their qualities or beauty were respected, and

1.7 (opposite)
The Daily Express Building,
Glasgow, built in 1936,
expresses the material
sleekness of International
Modernism.

1.8 (right)
This sketch by the architect
Richard Reid sets his design
proposals for Gravesend in
Kent into the streetscape.
This type of exploratory sketch
is part of the process most
architects employ to test the
apperance of their ideas.

The benefits of drawing 7