What’s that drawing about anyway?
This morning I attended an exhibition run by Objectspace Auckland called ‘Rendered Futures: Drawing architecture’. As someone who’s not an architect, if the drawing didn’t resemble some sort of building, I didn’t really understand it. It wasn’t until the architects spoke about their work that I suddenly became hugely inspired about the power of these somewhat abstract visuals. My key takeaways are below.
Communicating architecture
Design, architecture, etc can feel really esoteric, but under-the-hood are beautiful, deep, and transferable thinking patterns applicable to arguably everyone. I took some photos, but what I especially want to share is what the architects were aiming to do ‘through drawing’.
Thought processes and concepts we can leverage
So, what’s behind all these drawings? They’re about…
Problem solving
Imagining spaces and how different worlds might be
Exploring ways to adapt to the restrictions of xx (e.g. the footprint, city planning regulation, budget)
Looking for patterns
Documenting spaces that belong to xx group (e.g. indigenous), in relation to the idea of xx (e.g. social mobility)
Looking at spatial relationships
Experimenting with different connections and creating new relationships
Increasing ability to see detail
Using gestures (drawing expressions) to communicate details about the environment and context - like how it feels, the atmosphere, movement, and function.
Using xx medium (charcoal, ink, etc), to reflect on xx subject (e.g. texture, randomness, connections).
Understanding intangible influencers
Documenting the intangible relationship to space
Capturing the physicality of time so that we can observe how it influences the shaping of space
Making the invisible tangible
Staying human-centred
Articulating the experience of living
Observing how spaces have been designed through living (in contrast how we design spaces for living)
Improving processes
Exploring different methodologies for types of work
Critiquing architectural production which is influenced by the tools we use (like digital software). Extending and exploring new tools, considering limitations, possibilities, and influences on architectural output.
Co-design vs Co-thinking
Today the organizer asked a good question: a lot of the work on exhibit is invisible to the outside world. If it were more visible - what would that communicate and how would that influence the way we build?’.
In design we often talk about co-design. But purely sharing thought process can also be valuable. Just hearing how architects thought through various topics prompted some new ways of thinking for me. I hope you’ve also taken some inspiration from them.