WORK WITH YOUR HANDS!

At the conceptual level, it’s extremely effective to communicate with a client via rough, iterative sketches made with thick markers and sheer trace paper while sitting around a table together. This can take the form of a site plan, looking at where one or more buildings could go on a given plot of land, or floor plans, roughly configuring rooms within a specific building. It can also include an initial aesthetic exploration: should a building be highly contemporary, with lots of glass and exposed steel, or more traditional with columns and masonry? Suggested changes can be visualized almost instantly. It’s the same process our team members use to collaborate internally on the early stages of every project.

Rob Douglass, Senior Associate, also finds it helpful when a project is in construction. “Hand sketching on a tablet can be a really quick and practical way of communicating a visual idea, especially out on a job site when you’re talking details with a builder.” The builder may have a question on how a particular detail should be completed or the team may need to address unexpected site conditions. Producing results on the spot can help protect the design intent and keep the project on schedule. Sometimes this is on a sheet of gridded paper – a standard part of our site visit kit – but more and more, our staff rely on sketching their ideas on a tablet instead. What you lose in flexibility, you gain in efficiency.

It takes a certain amount of practice, though, to become proficient in hand-drawing – that’s why sketching existing buildings was historically the touchstone of architectural training. Researchers continue to study the ways human brains perceive reading paper and using physical objects versus looking at screens and clicking a mouse, but many architects personally believe in the benefits of sketching to their professional development. Scott O’Barr, Senior Associate, is one of these: “I do think there is a loss of ultimate control in the click of a keypad to draw a line on a computer as opposed to the connection of brain, to eye, to hand, then to paper.” He has led sketch tours for architects and laypeople alike for organizations like the Institute for Classical Architecture & Art and the Tradition Building Conference.

Don’t assume that the next generation of architects have entirely abandoned hand-drawing – we have interns and staff who can attest otherwise! And they are forever bringing new ideas for advancing this skill in innovative ways. Scott is certainly optimistic about the continuation of our industry’s traditional craft: “While hand sketching may be not be as prevalent today, and hand drafted working drawings is basically nonexistent, hand sketching is not a lost art yet!”