Understanding Architecture Through Drawing

Drawing the architectural façade may highlight some
aspect of current or historical theory of design, or the
sketch may simply tell you about the social pattern of
living at a particular place or time. The main point is to get
beyond the surface of the drawing into an analysis of
social and technological factors or of design theory.
Whether you choose to sketch a city or country building, a
private house or public monument, a modern structure or
ancient one, the same general rules should apply. By
drawing the façade of a building, you are focusing your
attention upon the principal area for expression exploited
by architect and engineer alike. The method of expression
may be obvious – perhaps by the use of exposed columns

• or more subtly – perhaps by the skilful adoption of
  proportional harmonies. Remember that, though the
  designer of a building may seek to link the exterior
  expression to the interior pattern of spaces and functions,
  he or she is mainly concerned with how the building looks
  from the outside. The yardstick by which to judge
  architectural quality is primarily that of the elevations.

CLUES TO INTERNAL FUNCTION
Many buildings employ a visual code based upon making
manifest the function of the building through elevational
expression. The clues are both direct and indirect. With
old industrial buildings, and some modern ones, cranes,
lifting hoists and large door openings announce the
presence of a warehouse. The office block may betray its
function through the use of repeating grids of windows,
strip lighting visible through large sheets of glass, and the
lack of curtains or blinds. Likewise a modern block of flats
will perhaps have expressed balconies, which provide
‘gardens in the air’, different window sizes and security
systems around the main entrance. Designers wishing to
exploit the functional clues may link the balconies into
bands 20 or so storeys high, or raise the block of flats on

stilts to provide space at the ground level for common

facilities such as laundries or shops. In the case of office

blocks, the architect may allow the entrance to project

forwards with a canopy for signage, or change the grid of

windows where conference facilities or staff refreshment

areas are located. In this way there are clues to both the

function of the building and to that of its various parts.

Many people interpret these visual codes when

deciding what the functions are within a particular

building. We are all familiar with the traditional use of

columns to mark an entrance to a public building, the use

of a rotunda to denote a space of importance inside or an

atrium marking a gathering space within the building. This

simple language of expression can be found in provincial

court houses as well as in many modern office buildings

in business parks. On a more mundane level, a single-

storey structure with high-level bands of windows

denotes accommodation for utility companies or perhaps

public toilets. These buildings do not necessarily require

signs: their appearance tells most people what goes on

inside.

A recent trend in architecture has been to enliven the

façades of dull buildings such as offices by exaggerating

on the outside the differences in internal function. Many

15.2

The designer of this small

cinema in Ukiah, California,

gives expression to the tower

and canopy in a fashion typical

of the 1930s. The tower acts as

a hinge around which the rest of

the design pivots. The bottle-cap

shape of the top of the tower

alludes perhaps to the café

found inside.

The façades of buildings 123