The architect Richard Reid uses the sketchbook in a
similar fashion today. His studies of oasthouses in Kent
were the inspiration for his design for a National Trust
visitor centre at Chartwell. The freehand drawings
provided a source of references that Reid selectively
exploited for his new design. The skill Reid demonstrates
in his sketching has enriched his experience as a
designer. The same is true of Zaha Hadid whose three
decades of sketchbooks sit by her desk and provide much
of the DNA of her architecture (Zaha Hadid2006 p28).
There is a further advantage 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 unbuilt 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 that may be learnt by studying the
drawings of architects of the calibre of Mackintosh.Why draw? 23