Understanding Architecture Through Drawing

use of thermal mass for heating and cooling, rainwater
collection, sustainable drainage systems and integration
between human and animal shelter to provide greater
levels of comfort. There was a respect for nature and the
landscape that provided the resources upon which the
building or village drew. Modern practice has often broken
the continuity of these traditions with serious social,
cultural and environmental consequences. By using the
sketchbook to learn from the past, students and architects
may be better prepared for a future with fewer global
resources upon which to draw. In regions like Africa and
the Middle East, where much future dev-elopment
attention is likely to be focused, there are well-established
vernacular practices that are unique to their localities and
climate. Recording and under-standing these provides the
opportunity to update them for the demands of the
twenty-first century. Rather than take Western industrial
traditions into these areas, it may be more valid to
transport ideas from the less developed world into the
resource-hungry cities of Europe and the USA.
It is temping to use the camera to undertake the type

of recording and analyse described here. However, as

chapter 10 argues, photography has limitations in

reaching a deep understanding of design or construction

practices. The camera records the surfaces, not the

structural or spatial arrangements, nor the thickness of

materials or air flows. The drawing is better equipped to

undertake this type of investigation, although sketches

and photographs can be combined to fully narrate an

example of green practice. The benefits of drawing to

learning are obvious: there are judgements and

interpretations that need to be made (unlike in photo-

graphy), and in the quality of the graphic investigation

there is a basis to assess the level of intellectual inquiry.

Sketches also provide a vehicle for taking learning from an

existing building and applying the principles to the design

of a new one. Hence in learning about sustainable design

from existing structures, whether vernacular or more

recent examples, the sketches are the bridge into the

imagination.

As mentioned earlier, the subject can be examined at

three levels – urban, building and construction. All are

156 Understanding architecture through drawing