Hand Drawing: A thinking Tool

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Conclusion 'We use our hands as general purpose devices, to pick up objects, to point, to climb, to play musical instruments, to draw and sculpt, to communicate, to touch and feel, and to explore the world.'49 In a similar way, architects use hand-drawing to explore and develop a project with a variety of tools and techniques. From architecture to zoology and from heart surgery to structural engineering, the diagram, map, sketch, outline, all contribute to a long and complex process combining the eye, the mind, the imagination and the hand. 50 Hand-drawing with its peculiar powers allows one to think, observe, translate, perceive, explain and communicate architecture. All of these are skills which are necessary for architects, especially students and can only be developed by practising the hand-eye-brain coordination system through drawing. 'The ability to draw depends on the ability to see the way an artist sees, and this kind of seeing can marvellously enrich your life' as Edwards explained. 51 Therefore, in order to perceive architecture, one needs to learn how to see first and then how to draw. Consequently, the drawing becomes a thinking process that involves not only the brain but also the heart of its creator, his/her Kokoro (the Japanese word for mind/heart, the spiritual core, our soul) that brings it to life.52

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Christine L MacKenzie, Thea Iberall, The Grasping Hand, (Amsterdam: North-Holland, 19940, p. 4 Barry Philips, Lines of Enquiry: Thinking through Drawing (Cambridge: Kettle's Yard, 2006), p. 4 51 Betty Edwards, Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain: A Course in Enhancing Creativity and Artistic Confidence, (Los Angeles , J.P. Tarcher, 1979; London , Souvenir, 1981), p. 2 52 Patricia Cain, Drawing the Enactive Evolution of the Practitioner (Bristol: Intellect, 2010), p. 79 50

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