Observation Through Drawing
TRACE
Composite Elevation 01-02 The Street in Perspective 03-04 Design Visualization 05-06 Concept Sketching 07-08 Understanding Site 09-10 Section Analysis 11-12 Conclusion 13 Bibliography 14
Composite Elevation Urban architectural design is a vital component in creating a dense, thriving sidewalk culture. Street elevation studies can be crucial to understanding the place where the building meets the sidewalk. The scene above shows a small scale urban street edge. It is reminiscent of the typical European sidewalk cafe culture that is often 1
romanticized in our American automobile culture. “An artist after long study can more or less represent these objects by means of light, and shade, and colour, selecting and leaving out all he does not care to show.� (Roberts 45) By deconstructing the elevation, using shadow, transparency, and texture, the scene is able to give the space a narrative that includes depth and volume, while also maintaining its technical accuracy in terms of scale and proportion.
Composite rendering. Ink and marker on velum. Entourage and textures added in Photoshop.
This rendering is a result of experimentation with both ink and pencil base drawings. The final product is a composite of an ink line drawing, Photoshop textures and elements, and photography.
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The Street in Perspective Sometimes an elevation is not enough to tell the complete story of an urban environment. This is where a perspective street section plays a crucial role. This snapshot technique gives the viewer a truer sense of volume. It is also beneficial in describing the relationship of a building to its neighbor across the street. 3
In this exercise, street section perspective was used as a measure of time and space. Four “snapshots� where taken moving down the street. The result is a collection of images providing a similar experience as seeing the street unfold through the windshield of a car. What is most revealing about these drawings is the volumetric information they provide about the progression of the street edge. Unlike two dimentional drawings, these perspective drawings provide a better feel of the composition of the urban experience. Subtle distinctions between private, semi-private, and public spaces become clear, and vertical compression of space is better understood.
Composite renderings. Ink and marker on velum.
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Composite rendering. Ink line drawing on white Strathmore paper. Entourage, materials, and texture added in Photoshop.
Design Visualization “Primarily visual rather than verbal or written, design requires a projection for this conversation. These visual tools help architects communicate with colleagues or engage a personal discussion with their images.” (1. Smith 2) Often, designing a building can become limited to two dimensional thinking. Plans are used to organize spaces, and sections and elevations are used to understand the volumetric characteristics of those spaces. However, it is not until a three dimensional image is rendered that the overall composition of the building becomes evident. In developing this building it became important to stop and “check” the progress of the composition. This was achieved with a basic volumetric study based on the proposed plan. The result is a rough conceptual idea of what this building would look like. As a result of this step, It was much easier to reshape the design to achieve the desired results. This drawing provided evidence of successful elements as well as those that required refinement.
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Concept Sketching The following drawings were an exercise that occurred in the middle of the semester. The assignment had little if anything to do with the core studio design project. However, it served as a mental break that allowed for a design diversion. The exercise required a quick study through photo analysis for an in-fill building to be designed on an empty corner in Downtown Orlando. The process required constructing the multiple vanishing points. Working with scale and proportion, this exercise became a good way to study the effects of a building on a dense urban edge and the effect it would have on that edge. Because the building was drawn from several different station points, the design decisions and their effects became clear not only in regard to the building’s immediate context but also its effect on the streetscape. These snapshot compositions are a quick and effective way to study how an intervention will impact the existing urban composition.
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Composite renderings. Photography, ink and marker on velum.
Composite rendering. Ink line drawings on velum. Photography, materials, entourage and textures added in Photoshop.
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Understanding Site Site Plans, diagrams, and analysis are an indispensable tool in understanding the context of a proposed intervention prior to, and after its design. Often, these drawings can inform the design as to views, patterns, rhythms, and nodes of interest that occur in and around the site. These two drawings were composed with completely different techniques. The drawing at the left was composed completely in Photoshop, while the drawing at the right was drawn by hand. While the character of the drawings is quite different, they both present the site as a composition of positive and negative spaces. Some are dense while others are sparce.
Composite Photoshop rendering.
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The drawings begin to create a three dimentional representation of the Creative Village. They depict the texture, density, and volumetric character of the site, and allow a comprehensive view of the patterns and rythms that are formed by the buildings, streets, trees, and green spaces to emerge. This technique is strengthened by adding shadows to inform the viewer about the light quality created between buildings and groupings of trees.
Composite rendering. Ink and marker on velum.
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Site Section
Composite rendering. Ink and marker on velum. Ink wash base. Digital skyline rendering added in Photoshop.
Section Analysis
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Sectional analysis of a building is useful in understanding the volumetric relationship of spaces and the way in which a building is constructed to achieve those spaces. When combined with a sectional analysis of the immediate site, as well as the outlying site, the sections inform the viewer of the relationship between the building and the site. The sections above and right were composed to develop the interior spaces of the building. Once combined with contextual images of the site and surrounding city, they became tools not only for understanding the interior of the building but in visualizing the relationships that those spaces have with the city and the site.
As a rendering technique watercolor was used to depict the ground, as well as the depth of the internal spaces of the building. This gives a distinct three dimensional character to the drawings and firmly grounds them to the site. As a final conclusion drawn from these images, the sections show the way in which the building touches the ground and helps in identifying key points at which the building will interact with its site.
Composite rendering. Ink and marker on velum. Ink wash base. Entourage added in Photoshop.
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Conclusion Drawing keeps the eye fresh, the mind alive, and intuition nimble. - Timothy Nero The drawings displayed in this book help to create an overall toolkit that a designer should employ in composing a building. Understanding a building’s design through several drawing types has taught me how to study all of the layers that go into a total design. These exercises have been instrumental in determining the final design for my Grad 1 studio project. “Sketches were a medium to explore the totality of the building, a method to under- stand proportions and regulating lines, a place to manipulate joints and material connections, and a way to calculate new structural systems.”(2. Smith 165). Refining textures and spaces, their composition, materiality, light quality and volumetric proportion for this project are all a direct result of studying the design using the drawing techniques displayed in this book. “... Architects employ sketches in many stages of the design process. These uses may fall into several areas that could be grouped as discovery, communication, visualization, recording and evaluation.” (1. Smith 18) These techniques have allowed me to see the effects of my design dicisions from several angles and perspectives. 13
Bibliography 1. Smith, Kendra Schank. Architects’ Sketches: Dialogue and Design. Amsterdam: Architectural/Elsevier, 2008. Print. 2. Smith, Kendra Schank. Architects’ Drawings: A Selection of Sketches by World Famous Architects through History. Oxford: Elsevier/Architectural, 2005. Print. 3. Roberts, H. W. Architectural Sketching and Drawing in Perspective,. London: B.T. Batsford, 1906. Print.
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ARC6116 FALL2012 Drawing Towards Architecture CityLab-Orlando
ANIEL
MDIKOLASCHEK