starts as a self-generated design idea quickly becomes
shared as colleagues are drawn into the process. In this
sense the freehand drawing aids the democratising of
design. However, Cullinan notes that the lack of graphic
skill by members of the team can be a serious
impediment to the idea of an interactive drawing involving
participation by non-professionals (e.g. users and clients).
Murphy warns that the loss of ownership of a design
drawing through its duplication via CAD can have an
adverse impact upon subsequent architectural quality. A
further point worth noting from the interviews is that the
initial design drawing is nearly always individually
generated. Although many minds are drawn in later, at the
very beginning projects were generated by a single mind
often on a single sheet of paper. Here the sketch comes
into its own as a begetter of future form rather than as a
means of documenting what already exists.THE FINDINGS: DRAWING TOOLS AND TECHNIQUES
The materials, tools and techniques of architectural
drawing have not overly concerned academics. The
questions addressed here seek to tease out the drawing
tools employed in a practical sense for design exploration.
The issue concerns the role of line, its weight and
permanence, the type of paper and pen used, and the
strategies for integrating sketching with other
investigative tools.
Whilst all architects interviewed designed primarily by
drawing, not all employed the pen. Foster, for instance,
designs mainly in pencil (HB) because of its flexibility and
textural potential. The dogmatic nature of black pen lines
worries Foster and he feels they suggest a solution too
soon. Allan Murray, who also designs in soft pencil (2B)
on detail paper, enjoys the way pencil glides over paper
giving the author the ability to alter the weight of line in a
way that reflects the hierarchies implicit in architectural
briefs. He also notes that pencil leads to drawings that,
with their many revisions and erasings, provide a better
narrative of the evolution of a design than the more
bombastic pen drawing. To several of those interviewed
line was the primary organisational device that allowed
the problem to be defined and then solved. However,
Alsop, who uses pencil (6–6B) and sometimes charcoal to
describe lines that can then be filled in with colour (usually
acrylic paint), refuses to solve the problem by line alone.
He, like Gehry, does not see the drawing as ‘finished
product’ but part of the process of creativity, which also
includes CAD, models, painting and collaboration with
fine artists and sculptors. On the other hand, felt-tip pen is25.2
Will Alsop’s painting was part of the process for the design of the
Cardiff Bay Visitor Centre. (Will Alsop)
Drawing in architectural practice 247