Drawn to Design: The Book

Drawn to Design: The Second Edition

I just finished up the final text edits for the 2nd Edition of my book, Drawn to Design: Analyzing Architecture through Freehand Drawing. 

The book is about sketching and how it helps designers explore and, in turn, envision. Sketching remains and, I argue, will remain part of design exploration and envisioning for the simple reason that it is part of who we as humans. As children we picked up sticks, pencils or crayons and started to draw, to create and to inhabit worlds. As adults, we usually draw less frequently and, when we do, it is usually "what is", yet we continue to draw "what might be". We continue to envision. We map and learn from our world as it is and yet, at the same time, we speculate and visualize what might be our world. The drawing act for child and adult is, in a real sense, a way of building: When we draw, we make.

 

            Since the publication of the first edition of this book in 2013, several things occurred that will continue to inform sketching, design education and design practice. The most obvious event was the COVID-19 pandemic that not only affected nearly all personally, and often tragically, but changed how designers interact with one another, with consultants and with clients. The pandemic thrust the profession into the potential afforded by virtual communication tools to made remote work not only possible but acceptable. Within this change was sketching itself. While informal, ad hoc sketching with colleagues or in larger meetings using trace paper and any available pen was now cumbersome, hand-held tablets, presentation software and, more awkwardly, meeting software annotation tools forced sketching into the digital realm. Sketching became more easily and immediately integrated and shared among team members and clients. Rather than a loss, there seemed to be a gain in design sketching.

 

            Lastly, a considerable change in the past 10 years has been increased interest in the role of sketching in communication, collaboration and learning across disciplines. As a result, I have updated some of the research that investigates the underlying reasons that sketching and diagramming are important for thinking, learning and design. The most substantial addition asks and tries to answer the question: What does sketching mean to today's design student, architect or urban designer in the first third of the 21st century? Embedded are related questions such as: how, if at all, does sketching play a role in contemporary practice? Who sketches and why? And what might be the future of sketching in the next 20 years? To help answer these questions, I interviewed architects, designers and principals at the top 25 firms in North America. Their thoughts as well as their sketches are part of the book's conclusion and, I hope, might contribute to a broader discussion about sketching in design education and practice.