the window or door is set back within its frame, although
when drawing this some licence is permitted. Each pane
of glass or timber panel would also have a shadow, which
provides a secondary layer of articulation. If the door or
window is framed in columns with a pediment, these
bigger architectural elements form a bold frame that
imposes an order on the drawing – an order that makes
visual reference, perhaps, to the larger structure of the
building’s façade. The various components of the subject
will have their own scale, pattern and proportion – and it is
these elements that should attract the architectural
draughtsman’s attention.
Modern doorways can be quite minimal in design, but
the need for handles and hinges, and even security
cameras, makes them interesting subjects. Like
traditional doorways, the change of level at the threshold
and the presence of signage and perhaps interior planting
can provide material for a telling sketch.
To assess your local environment graphically, you
should look at the details as well as the whole. The quality
known as townscape is to be found in both the whole
urban scene and in many of its smaller parts, such as
windows and doors. Often the details are changed
unsympathetically whereby the broader view, though
structurally much the same, is gradually devalued.
ENTRANCES AND GATEWAYS
Every neighbourhood or district has its boundaries and
hence entrance buildings. As we saw in Chapter 14,
these may not be self-evident; sometimes you have to
search them out, or to see such structures as hotels or
pubs as gateway buildings. Just as every neighbourhood
has its centre and a few special, often public, buildings, so
too you will probably have a perception of the edges to
the area and its entrances. In the Merchant City such
entrance buildings may be recognised, for instance, in
the cliffs of sandstone tenements and wide, straight
streets penetrating into the heart of the area and
flanked by gateway shops (such as Marks & Spencer in
Glassford Street).
The personal nature of a sketch will result in different
people viewing the same place in different ways.
Consequently, your perception of the entrances and
gateways in an urban district – and this applies equally to
the Merchant City – will differ from someone else’s. But
this is the strength of the sketch: unlike the camera,
which can only record the same view no matter who
pushes the shutter, a drawing is able to express different
meanings and interpretations of a scene.SQUARES, STREETS, URBAN SPACES AND
LANDSCAPE
The gridiron layout of the Merchant City gives the streets
a particular distinction. Planned in the eighteenth century,
the area is not unlike parts of Chicago or New York –
straight streets with right-angled junctions leading into
leafy squares. Indeed, the streets are more important
than many of the buildings, which merely provide the
backcloth to urban life. The framing of the streets, their
periodic punctuation by key buildings, and the fashion in
which streets are linked to squares or churchyards make
them a subject worthy of sketchbook analysis.
To obtain such drawings means, of course, that you
have to work within the space of the street. The bustle,
fumes and noise do not make for comfortable freehand
drawing, and aids such as rulers are essential if speed
is important. If you are concentrating upon street
space then the activities of the street may be important.
The relationship between the function of the buildings
that line the street and how, as at the Italian Centre in
John Street, the public space is modified by it may be
central to the quality of place and therefore to its portrayal
in your sketch.184 Understanding architecture through drawing