Drawing and the Making of Architecture

This course focuses on the practice of drawing in the making of architecture. It explores the act of tracing lines on a surface as the foundation of design, a word that evokes through its own origins the very moment of architectural invention. As the most direct expression of the architect's ideas and an operative form of 'non-verbal thinking,' the physical response of the hand to media contributes crucially to the creative process. This studio course will offer an unmediated encounter with drawing techniques: we will test different supports-from parchment to screen, end especially paper-and different tools-natural chalks, antique and modern inks, industrial pencils, as well as keyboards and tablets-in order to understand the interaction, throughout history, between materials and design practice. Parallel to this, we will discuss a wide range of readings critically, thus reconstructing the evolving theory of representation in architectural writings and the relevance of graphic expression to both theorists and practitioners. Ultimately, the course will allow students to penetrate norms and conventions of technical drawing and to understand a primary tool in the production of architecture from the point of view of its makers.