Understanding Architecture Through Drawing

large areas of brickwork can appear to be seamless wall
planes rather than composed of individual units, but
different colours of brick are often employed to create
patterns on a larger scale. Where bricks are mixed with
stone, the relative scale of the parts of the wall can
establish lines of tension, which eighteenth-century
designers used to define edges and create visual frames.
In many cases you will find that the whole façade of a
brick building is trimmed in stone in order to create a
‘picture frame’ around the house.
The wall and its framing members are essential to the
rhythm of a façade. Frequently the structural members
become the main means of decorating a building. The
classical orders established rules whereby embellishment
subscribed to a predetermined plan. Often the orders
obscured rather than expressed the structural logic of a
building – and it was partly an escape from the limitations
of the classical decorative language that justified the flight
into the Gothic Revival and thence, a century later, into
modern architecture.
It is rewarding to compare an architect-designed
building of the eighteenth century to that erected by an
engineer or surveyor. The design of a country house or
town hall of the time would no doubt be correct from an
academic point of view, but one would be hard pressed to
identify clearly what method of construction had been
employed. By way of contrast, an area of dockland would
contain wharfs and warehouses of honest construction
and simple, unadorned lines. The hand of the engineer
would be evident in the use of robust arches, plain areas
of undecorated brickwork and functionally expressed
beams or roof trusses. In both cases the façade makes
visible the values that led to the erection of the building –
values that the act of drawing should reveal.
Whether you are drawing for pleasure or discovery,
the architectural sketch is best rendered in good light –
preferably sunlight. The texture of the various building

materials, the play of structure against background

walling, the depth of windows and façade projections are

better observed in strong light, and best depicted with the

aid of shadows.

As in plan drawing, shadows or shading can enhance

the three-dimensional qualities and bring alive qualities of

the façade, which have become obscured by generations

of soot deposits or by your own overfamiliarity with such

buildings. The architectural sketch is a means of cult-

ivating a personal sensitivity to buildings and to their

construction. Whether your subject is a vernacular house,

a modern factory or historic church, the sketch should

make visible to you some of the key qualities of the

architectural design.

CLUES TO PROPORTIONAL SYSTEMS

If you see the elevations of a building in more geometric

terms, it may become evident that the design is based

upon a proportional system of one kind or another. Many

buildings of classical inspiration employ proportional

harmonies based upon squares, circles and the golden

section. Beauty was seen to lie in the adoption of shapes

128 Understanding architecture through drawing