3.5 THINKING THROUGH DRAWING

uniform connection of two points.46 Each line looks like the one next to it and the image remains flat; there is no depth, no character, no life.

3.5 Thinking through drawing

'What is sketched as well as the choice of the sketching material, the pencil and paper, directly influences the idea that grows more concrete in the course of drawing – only very few architects go to their drawing board with a complete concept in their mind, most develop their concepts through the interaction between an initially vague idea and the concrete lines made on the paper' --Robin Edwards (143)

Usually, when starting a drawing, one has the image in the mind but doesn't know yet how to draw it, so it is the pencil's duty to do the drawing instead. Although there are many tools to draw with, I personally prefer the pencil and mechanical ink pens. Pencil is a tool that moves smoothly and quickly on the paper, which is suitable for quick sketches and developing initial ideas. Also, a single pencil can create a variety of line types, even with one stroke, as explained earlier. Hence, it is appropriate for quick investigation of texture and atmosphere, for light and shadow. Another benefit of the pencil, is that it can be easily erased and re-drawn over; though personally, I'd rather not use the rubber since I like having all of my thoughts on the paper so I can refer back to them. A wrong line, probably of an initial idea, can be inspirational on a later stage. Besides, erased lines of sketching are part of the final drawing, and they

46 Juhani Pallasmaa, The Thinking Hand: Existential and Embodied Wisdom in Architecture (Chichester: Wiley, 2010), p. 100

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reveal the sequence of the trial and error and suggest a dimension of time and spatial depth.47 Initially, light, unlinked lines, driven unconsciously from the mind are drawn on the paper with pencil. One needs to step back, in order to see the drawing from a distance - in a different scale, as a whole- and give the required time to the brain to manipulate the information given. This is when the drawing speaks back to me. Because the lines weren't random at all, they meant something; something that couldn't be seen from the beginning, but then it made sense. The freehand lines are the result of the translation process of the image from the mind to the paper.

The following step is to observe the drawn space -like a surgeon who is preparing for a surgery- by drawing more consciously. By the time a detail or a part of it is determined, the pencil line is being drawn over with a thicker version of it or ink; not to show that it is permanent -the design process never ends- but to differentiate it from the rest and start developing its atmosphere further. A variety of tools -even papers- can be found on the same drawing to describe materiality and atmosphere. The drawing then becomes a threedimensional piece of art that does not represent the design of the building, it rather becomes the design itself that is being worked and re-worked over and over again in different scales and types. In creative exploration the action of the hand, eye and mind fuse into a singular process of semi-unconscious scanning. Here the architect's attention keeps shifting from the floor plan to section and various details, back and forth. 48

47 Juhani Pallasmaa, The Thinking Hand: Existential and Embodied Wisdom in Architecture (Chichester: Wiley, 2010), p. 109 48 Juhani Pallasmaa, The Thinking Hand: Existential and Embodied Wisdom in Architecture (Chichester: Wiley, 2010), p. 71

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Figure 11: Rehabilitation Centre -

Entrance Hybrid drawing for design development, plan and section by author. (Material: pencil, marker pen on tracing and cartridge paper). D.V. Portfolio. 2015

Thinking through hand-drawing. Working on layers of tracing papers so that all of the ideas are shown on the paper to inspire the design. One of the initial sketches is clipped on the angle for reminder, to avoid losing control of the thoughts. After several plans there is a need for a section. Interpretation of different types of drawings.

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