THINKING THROUGH DRAWING
CONVENTIONS
REDRAWING
SEQUENCES AND LAYERING
TRANSLATION
FIELD DRAWINGS
DRAWING WITH LENSES
Auri Natalia Gómez Olavarría
TASK ONE: CONVENTIONS
REDRAWING
SEQUENCES AND LAYERING
TRANSLATION
FIELD DRAWINGS
DRAWING WITH LENSES
Instructions. Draw your breakfast or another meal in plan, section, and elevation. Refer to Enric Miralles’ cross-sections through a croissant, and how he encourages you to understand the form by cutting section after section through the complex form.
I took pictures of my breakfast, making sure to include various elements with different heights and textures to make the drawing more interesting in terms of composition.
Upon seeing Enric Miralles’ cross-sections of a croissant, I concluded that making some measurements and including them in my section drawings would be interesting.
Materials used: pencil and watercolour
Section.
I chose to cut the breakfast from this angle to show off the layers. Specifically, I wanted to include the depth of the plate and the beans as well.
To ensure these could be seen properly, I made part of the sausage slightly transparent.
CONVENTIONS
TASK TWO: REDRAWING
SEQUENCES AND LAYERING
TRANSLATION
FIELD DRAWINGS
DRAWING WITH LENSES
Instructions. Copy a drawing and make iterative changes to it; you will begin with the example of James Stirling’s Latina Library, where a sheet of gable studies have a variety of balconies . Select a drawing from the selection given to begin with, and work on variations of the original.
For this exercise, I focused on the window, the main ‘terrace’ or the shape that sticks out of the façade. also changed the type of tree that surrounded the library to explore how rounded and more angular shapes can alter the viewer’s perception of the library’s form.
‘Terrace’/shape that sticks out.
Window.
Surrounding trees.
Another building I chose to make iterative changes to via drawing is the Moore Street Electricity Substation in Sheffield. Due to its main visible materials being concrete and, to a lesser extent, sandblasted glass, the shapes are well defined.
Colour and texture do not distract the viewer. The structure’s typology is unusual as it was made to shelter heavy machinery.
Stage zero. This drawing depicts the structure as it is, unchanged.
Stage two. The vertical and horizonal elements of the structure are quite balanced. I decided to break this equilibrium by changing the component on the lower third.
Stage three. I continued to change vertical elements into horizontal ones. I also added a ‘wrinkled’ texture on the element that I changed during stage two. This is because the surfaces are flat, and I was looking to explore something more three-dimensional.
Stage three. The building’s façade is comprised of a lot of fenestration, which makes it look open and breathable even though concrete is the main material.
Stage four. added a chimneylike vertical component on the structure’s ceiling. I also added another horizontal section in between the two main existing ones. This was to create a sense of continuity for each flight of stairs.
Stage five. I added a second vertical component, larger and ending at the façade. I also took the terrace shape that was sticking out and brought it downward until it touched the ground.
Stage six. I extended the two vertical components. The building’s height is regular; this modifications breaks that aspect.
CONVENTIONS
REDRAWING
TASK THREE: SEQUENCES AND LAYERING
TRANSLATION
FIELD DRAWINGS
DRAWING WITH LENSES
Alternative A. This is what the start of my journey looks like when leaving from a Histories of Architecture lecture.
Instructions. Draw a series of perspectives describing a route based on the work of Gordon Cullen. Consider the serial nature of drawing and how they do not exist in isolation.
Serial perspective drawings, walking sections of the journey home from campus I depicted scenes from my journeys to the Manchester Technology Centre and the Roscoe building. The viewer is ‘looking back’, as if they were turning around to check if they are being followed, giving the drawings a sense of paranoia or longing.
In my case, it reflects how most of the time there is a feeling of having forgotten something. I tend to find myself wondering whether I left behind my favourite waterproof marker, or a sketch of my latest project’s floor plan.
All Saints library included in the drawing.
View from the back of the Roscoe building.
View from the walkway near Roscoe’s main entrance.
Walking towards the bus stop near University of Manchester’s University Place.
Alternative B. Leaving from John Dalton or the Manchester Technology Centre (Manchester Metropolitan University campus).
Entering Oxford Place from Winslow Road. To the right is a restaurant called Oodles n’Oodles a student favourite within my hall.
Crossing the road to the other side, where the entrance to my hall is. chose to include this due to how difficult it is to cross the road without causing any cars to slow down. It is a highlight.
Lecture Theatre – John Hartshorne. This is located inside Hulme Hall premises; movie nights happen here every Tuesday. As far as we know, no lectures have been carried out here since the nineties. Which is why this element is quite humorous.
All these views are from Hulme Hall, which is where I live. These are views that I see every time I leave the accommodation complex, and each of these scenes has become a landmark in my mind due to repetition..
These are places where I have talked with friends, parked my bicycle and taken shelter from the rain.
experimented with blurry and more welldefined styles as well as high and low contrast.
CONVENTIONS
REDRAWING SEQUENCES AND LAYERING
TASK FOUR: TRANSLATION
FIELD DRAWINGS
DRAWING WITH LENSES
Instructions. Copy a drawing using the ‘wrong’ instruments. This constitutes a kind of translation and offers an opportunity to interrogate the qualities of line which each different instrument offers you. Think about how the line changes from one medium to another, test different kinds of paper, and think about the gestures that are recorded by your drawings.
Edited photography. Original by Polish photographer Maciek Jeżyk (ONI studio). I edited this photo to make it look like a charcoal or digital drawing since I liked the view captured in this picture and could not find a drawing that captured this specific angle.
I used a mechanical pencil with sheathed lead to carve out lines in lighter colour
Wax crayons on water-soaked paper. Wax is oil-based, and so the water repels it. Drawing with these means attempting to capture a scene using materials that conflict with each other and do not want to cooperate. I rotated the crayons as I drew to increase saturation and colour concentration. I smudged the wax over the water to achieve a blurry, fragmented effect.
Source Flaf on Flickr.
Lipstick, mascara and eyeliner. The high pigmentation of these objects made them an ideal experimentation tool. The lipsticks are much smoother than the crayons, and so I had to use soft strokes to prevent damage.
The eyeliner was like a paintbrush: swirling shapes were its forte. Drawing straight lines was a difficult but necessary endeavour as it was the one that brought the most definition out of the five.
Olive oil and coffee. Similarly to the water and wax crayons from the first translation output, these materials repel each other.
The coffee must be forced into the paper and a lot of it must be used. As can be seen on the top right picture, the paper will get oversaturated with water, meaning that had to be careful with the way drew to avoid breaking the paper.
Ink on cork. I used cork as one of the main materials for one of my final models (left). I learned it was a versatile material, and so I wondered how it would perform as a drawing medium. It absorbed the ink instantly, so there was no room for smudging like on the other drawings. I had to be careful because there was no way of deleting or mitigating the traces I made.
Charcoal and black wax crayon on baking paper. The oil on the baking paper made the pigment glide and smudge smoothly; a bit too much. This drawing was messy and stained the table, but the materials allowed for more organic gestures. It was easier to depict the scene more expressively.
CONVENTIONS
REDRAWING SEQUENCES AND LAYERING
TRANSLATION
TASK FIVE: FIELD DRAWINGS
DRAWING WITH LENSES
Instructions. When on your field trip, keep a sketchbook or journal. Present 8 pages from this sketchbook as part of your portfolio along with some notes on what you were choosing to draw, how you drew it, and what you learned by making a drawing. Remember to use architectural conventions as much as possible.
Barker’s Pool, Oxford Road Station and Substation.
The small sketches helped me learn how to put my ideas down on paper in a quick visual way.
The diagram at the top represents the relationship between the roundabout and the substation in a way that is more objective.
The diagram on the left was a great tool to understanding how one can depict buildings and their interactions in a way that is like a mind map.
Former Manpower Building. This structure is interesting due to the variety of levels. It has stairlike sections, and different angles provide different forms. To show this, made a diagram that explores the different views of the building in perspective.
The Winter Garden. The main challenge of depicting this building, and what led me to drawing it, is showing its structural elements in a sophisticated way that is easy on the eye. There are several of them and they are layered, forming a complex web. I used different colours to achieve this visually digestible result.
City Hall, Sheffield. The classical influence is undeniable. The building possesses great symmetry, which made it an ideal subject for practice. The drawing served as an exercise in clean line drawing.
The watercolour drawing on the right was used to break down these classical elements.
St Mark’s, Sheffield. This renovated church’s fenestration immediately stuck out to me. Which is why I made a series of sketches that show the variance in style across the building.
The drawing above was useful to practice twopoint perspective.
CONVENTIONS
REDRAWING SEQUENCES AND LAYERING
TRANSLATION
FIELD DRAWINGS
TASK SIX: DRAWING WITH LENSES
Instructions. Compose a series of carefully taken photographs exploring a theme. The theme might be to photograph spaces where buildings once were - gaps in the urban fabric; or you might photograph doors or another feature... be inventive with what you select. Take a series of 8 to 12 photographs and discuss how they work as a sequence. Explore the architecture you find in the city. What organising principles did you use for the series, and how did you make the photographs?
1. 53°28'42"N 2°14'30"W
2 53°27'27"N 2°13'41"W
3. 53°28'35"N 2°14'33"W
4. 53°28'33"N 2°14'32"W
5. All Saints Library,53°28'15"N 2°14'20"W
6. Town Hall 53°28'46"N 2°14'37"W
7. 53°28'21"N 2°14'12"W
8. 53°28'00"N 2°13'46"W
9. 53°28'30"N 2°14'29"W
10. 53°27'29"N 2°13'28"W
11. 53°28'13"N 2°14'03"W
12. Stevenson Square 53°28'57"N 2°14'01"W
13. 53°28'21"N 2°14'12"W
For this task, I chose to think about architecture in a medical context. I saw buildings as patients at a hospital. Some of them are being born, others are in the process of dying or being ‘treated’ by specialists. That is, they are undergoing renovations.
When taking pictures, I took this into consideration. The photographs are from the perspective of an ‘architectural hospital’ apparent visitor: they overtly celebrate birth and mourn for what is dying. But they also steal a sheepish glance at those who are being tended to, curiosity having won over them. Just like someone briefly looking through the window and into a doctor’s office.
I included second-person narrative to emphasise the message the photos are trying to deliver. I chose second-person instead of first or third to make sure the viewer of the pictures sees themselves as the visitor.
One. You go through numerous corridors, peering into the patients’ rooms as you do so. You see patients that are recovering from varying states of disrepair. Some are actively undergoing medical treatment, and you look away instantly, not wanting to invade a stranger’s privacy.
Two. When you were younger, you wanted to be a surgeon. That dream never faded completely, and so when you catch a glimpse of a patient going through brain surgery, you cannot help yourself; you stop and stare in child-like wonder.
You start remembering the medical books you would religiously read when you were still in high school, and soon the anatomical diagrams started flashing on your mind’s eye. After a few seconds of rapture, your mind lands back on Earth. You are at the medical centre. Rapidly blinking, you remember what you were there for. You walk away, feeling shame for your creepy staring and the time wasted.
Nevertheless, it happens once again. Although this time it is more tragic, as, even with your limited medical knowledge, you can tell the patient is not going to make it.
Three. You walk into the waiting room and see a recovering patient chatting with a bunch of people who look like visiting relatives. People walk in and out of the room without sparing them a second glance, The relatives seem to almost shelter under the patient’s presence, as if avoiding some gloomy precipitation.
Four. You have never called yourself a fan of kids. Not during the last two decades, at least. But when you catch a glimpse of the structure that had just been birthed, you wonder how that was even possible in the same place. The newborn building is not fully developed yet, and beams and tubes are fully exposed.
Five. You look away as you see a patient being taken away. They are no longer living. You pause and take a moment to mourn for their loss. Then, you keep walking.
Six. There is a patient standing right outside the room, the one you have been trying to find all this time.
You notice they have a haunted look on their face. They do not notice you. You are not surprised by their state: you are aware of the news about this building. You purse your lips, sympathy and pity washing over you. This is someone whose life is going to end soon. They will be demolished and replaced.
Source: ‘ Hawkins Brown unveils plans for new Manchester Met library’, Building Design, Dave Rogers. This is a visualisation depicting what the idea for the new library looks like.
Seven. This. This is the room you have been looking for. You swipe your keycard and enter. The relatives of the patient are visibly relieved at your arrival. You inspect the patient’s stitches.
Eight. You ask the relatives to wait outside for a moment while you tend to the wounded building, memories of your training and previous cases you have tended to flashing in your mind’s eye.
You were not a simple visitor: you are a nurse, and you are here to improve this patient’s condition.
Nine. The relatives nod gratefully at you, and one of them even shakes your hand. But you are just doing your job. You step outside and stand in the hallway for a few precious seconds, considering what ‘your job’ exactly entailed.
Your thoughts get loud and overlayed, with past patients and bits of information seeming to float everywhere around you. You shake your head and walk down the hallway, knowing another task will be assigned to you soon.
You will have to tend to another building that needs your help.
Image sources:
Slide 6: https://www.bdonline.co.uk/news/hawkins-brown-unveils-plans-for-new-manchester-met-library/5126082.article
Slide 31: https://www.bdonline.co.uk/news/hawkins-brown-unveils-plans-for-new-manchester-met-library/5126082.article