Understanding Architecture Through Drawing

Chapter 9

Sequential sketches

Sketching is about exploration, about learning to see
places and architecture through the graphic experience.
As such, the architectural illustrator is concerned with
interpretation rather than mere description, and that
interpretation must contain elements of critical
judgement. A common mistake is to draw too literally and
to seek representation from one viewpoint alone.
To reach a real understanding of ‘place’, you need to
walk through it, thereby experiencing the changing
geometries of the urban scene. Sketching can be a useful
aid to urban analysis as long as the viewpoints are chosen
with some thought. The most rewarding urban spaces
often revolve around a public monument where a mixture
of squares, streets and lanes provide a range of spatial
patterns. As you move through the different volumes, you
become aware of large and small spaces, enclosed and
partially enclosed ones, connected and unconnected
ones. The beauty of many towns, particularly historic
ones, lies in this variety and in the unexpected delights
that unfold.
You can attempt to record such experiences through a
single sketch, but usually a collection of sketches is more
informative. The mystery of old towns, which derives in
no small part from the irregular street layout, and the
marvellous contrast between large public buildings and

small domestic ones, can be captured in a well-planned

sequence of analytical sketches. The complexity of such

places and the subtle interplay between the parts means

that three or four sketches are required to capture the

essence of the place and its changing geometries. Such

sequential sketches (or ‘serial vision’, as Gordon Cullen

put it) should be based upon well-selected viewpoints.

For the drawing of a historic town with a major public

monument as focus you should sketch:

• the approach from afar, or at least just outside the
  immediate sphere of influence of the monument;


• a view glimpsed of the monument above roof tops
  or along streets (the monument should not yet be
  fully in view);


• a view showing much or all of the monument within
  its setting;


• a close-up view of the monument, with steps,
  railings and human activity round about.

Whatever sequence you follow (and many different vistas

are normally available), it is important to keep the feeling

of mystery and suspense alive. Therefore the story should

unfold like a good play, with each drawing an act that

develops a particular theme. It often helps if the views

72 Understanding architecture through drawing