detailed study of a subject through the freehand drawing
leads naturally to creative design by opening up different
possibilities. Analysing existing buildings through the
pages of the sketchbook provides a useful springboard for
progressing into design. The precedents explored are of
value in themselves, but, more importantly, the formal,
spatial and decorative language employed in examples
that have been sketched may prove applicable to the
design of new buildings.
To take advantage of the progression from freehand
drawing to creative design, the artist must approach the
subject in a considered fashion. The outline is important
and so are the proportions, and often a relationship exists
between the building in plan and how it works in section
and elevation. As we tend to draw the outsides of build-
ings, the potential designer should not focus upon the
façades at the expense of the often critical relationship
between elevation and plan. These ‘invisible’ relationships
may be the most instructive when drawing certain
buildings, and provide a source of ideas for the designer.
A good sketch is not necessarily a faithful likeness; it
may in a pedagogic sense be better to analyse and
decipher the subject. Sketches that consist of probings
around specific themes may prove particularly useful to
designers since they provide fruitful avenues for further
exploration. Charles Rennie Mackintosh was a particular
master of this type of sketch, and drawings from his
Italian Tour of 1891 demonstrate a concern for form and
decoration that are obvious precursors of his later
designs. In his sketchbook drawings Mackintosh explores
the volumetric nature of Italian churches, the simple,
almost abstract forms of farmhouses, and the black and
white decoration of Romanesque chapels. These images,
and the facility Mackintosh developed for representing
them, find expression, either directly or indirectly, in his
later designs for schools and houses. Similar sketchbook
studies of Celtic art and architecture, and of wild flowers
sketched whilst living in Suffolk, proved a parallel path
into creative design for Mackintosh.2.5 (far left)
The 19th-century lighthouse at Dovercourt in Essex has an undisguised
steel frame and expressive bracing. The subject lends itself to pen and
ink drawing with shading used to enhance the spacing of the columns
and beams.2.6 (left)
At a more detailed level the steelwork of the lighthouse at Dovercourt
continues to give expression to how the structure is supported and
braced against the coastal winds.20 Understanding architecture through drawing