The Art of Architectural Drawing

Chicago in The Future. (1993) Artist/Designer: Manuel Avila. Black ink and technical pen, 28.2cm 43.5cm The simple ink line is an expressive tool in the hand of this gifted artist.

Madison Stuare Garden Redevelopment Competition, New York (1987) T.W. Schaller. Architects: Skidmore Owings & Merrill and Frank O. Geary. Pencil, 70.2cm 93.6cm Very gestural and investigative, this sketch relied almost solely on a few rapid-fire lines of perspective construction to expeditiously convey the essentials of volume and form.

Dakota Interior Perspective. (1994) Gregory T. Koester. Architects: Johnson/Wanzenberg. Pencil, 46cm 46cm Simple, elegant line work conveys perfectly the essential design information of form and object in this sophisticated residential space. Exactly enough information is shown to effectively tell the story.

Telecommunications Tower, Jakarta (1995) T.W. Schaller. Architects: Skidmore Owings and Merrill. Watercolor and pencil, 42.9cm 66.3cm The "negative" of space, sky, and environment in this image were modelled to define the initial "positive" form of the evolving scheme.

U.S. Federal Courthouse Competition, Foley Square, New York City, Rendered Elevational View. (1993) Elizabeth Ann Day. Architects: Kohn Pedersen Fox. Watercolor, 102.5cm 76.9cm "Without the visual clues available to the artist in perspective drawings," writes Day, "it is essential to optimize, even exaggerate, the limited range of spatial cues in a rendered elevation to imply the three-dimensional form."

Singapore Performing Arts Center Competition, lobby view. (1992) T.W. Schaller. Architects: Kohn Pedersen Fox. Watercolor and pencil, 28cm 43cm A gestural treatment of architectural form emphasizes the great expanse of light-filled interior spacethe focus of this design.

American Museum of Natural History, Hayden Planetarium, entry vies, New York. (1995) T.W. Schaller. Architects: J.S. Polshek and Partners. Watercolor, 28cm 43cm This vignette was one of a larger series of "intimate," hand-done drawings which were deemed the most effective way toexplore the approach and entry sequence experience of this site-sensitive proposal.

Megaworld Place, Manila. (1996) T.W. Schaller. Archtiects: Skidmore Owings and Merrill. Pencil, 43cm 33.15cm This preliminary pencil sketch was quickly completed as an overlay of a CADD image to readily communicate the primarily design intent prior to a more "finished" presentation.

Fixing Our Future. (1996) Artist/Designer: Gordon Grice OAA, MRAIC. Ink on mylar, 46.8cm 46.8cm; Courtesy of Rod Morris, Morris Marketing; commissioned as cover piece for Toronto Business Annual. This exuberant work takes a decidedly editorial approach to the use of architectural imagery as directly expressed in pen and ink, animating those typically static forms to convey informationand opinion with skill, humor, and utmost clarity.

The Tomb of Merlin. (1814) Artist/Designer: Joseph Michael Gandy. Watercolor, 76cm 132cm; Courtesy of the Trustees of Sir John Soane's Museum and The British Architectural Library, RIBA, London. Light was the "essential" idea, the emotional touchstone, of much of this great Romantic artist's output and never more evident than in this astonishing work of art inspired by Ariosto's Orlando Furioso. The cold, dark stone of the tomb is transformed here into a great source of light, warmth, and life which is visually and symbolically rich in meaning.

BMC Real Properties Building, Houston, Texas. (1993) Douglas E. Jamieson. Architects: Keating Mann Jernigan Rottet, Los Angeles. Airbrush, 102.5cm 76.9cm Despite this artist's great facility with color, the subtle tonal variations of the design scheme suggested this deft treatment in black and white. Note the inclusion of the orthogonal levation used as backdrop for the perspectivea brilliant mix of the rational and the romantic.