“The plan is the generator” - Le Corbusier, 1920

“The phenomenon of drawing lies prominently between the imagination of the

architect and the design of the building. It is an activity at once highly
conventionalized and very personal, shared but private, involving the discovery of
forms, their communication both internally and externally, and their resolution of
three-dimensional complexities, through a two-dimensional format.”
- Iain Frazer, 1994

“[T]he drawing is the companion of the architect.” - Jan Van Vylder, 2010
“Theories that elaborated on Euclid’s demonstrations dealt mainly with three
aspects of vision: physical or philosophical questions about the propagation of
images towards the soul; mathematical questions about the geometric perception
of objects in lived space; and particularly during the Middle ages, medical
questions about the anatomy of the eye, whose answers would aid in treating
disease.”

-Alberto Perez-Gomez
 During the Gothic period, the search for accurate methods of representation of
light were still in progress. The representation, though, was not architectural in
nature and was largely bound up in a metaphysical quest. The use of orthographic
or projection drawings, as a method of translation or representation, was still
unknown. The process of construction relied largely on the knowledge of the
master-mason and on-site geometry to shape form and structure. This knowledge
was embodied, experienced and handed-down through the generations.

The mason was imagined as the conduit through which God’s will (with regard to
building) was carried out on Earth. At that point of time, the master-mason was
the tool of translation.

God as Geometer’ from The Frontispiece of Bible Moralisee (mid 13th century).
Image Courtesy:Wikipedia.
Grossteste defined light as the greatest and best of all proportions as
it was proportionate with itself. This identity was the basis for the
indivisible beauty of God,“for God is supremely simple, supremely
concordant and appropriate to Himself.”
- Grosseteste in Alberto Perez-Gomez

“Only God has access to a ubiquitous center of convergence, and

therefore, only He can possess the vision of truth.” - Nicolas of Cusa
as quoted by Perez-Gomez

Connections drawn between God and Light

Search for appropriate methods of representation still largely
metaphysical
Seeds sown for what will become the ‘modern’ way of understanding
representations and viewership
 ‘Discovery’ of Perspective- Perspectiva artificialis- by
Brunelleschi (1420).

Shift towards ‘objective’ representation.

Enables a building to be envisaged in the ‘mind’s eye’ viz. same

as that of God.

Serlio, Sebastiano. The Tragic Stage in Five Books of Architecture, 1545.

Durer, Albrecht (1471-1528), Draftsman Drawing a Lute (1525). Image courtesy:ArtStor Plate by Jacopo Barozzi da Vignola demonstrating problems created for perspective by
binocular vision, 1583.
From Perez-Gomez, Alberto, and Louise Pelletier. Architectural Representation and the
Perspective Hinge. Cambridge, Mass.: Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1997.
Leonardo da Vinci: pen-and-ink studies of human fetus, c. 1510. Leonardo da Vinci: Vitruvian Man, c. 1490; in the Gallerie dell'Accademia, Venice.
Plate from Barbaro’s Practica della Perspetiva demonstrating how the plan, section and elevation belong together
(1569). From Perez-Gomez, Alberto, and Louise Pelletier. Architectural Representation and the Perspective
Hinge. Cambridge, Mass.: Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1997.
1751-55 : Stuart and Revett make their way to Greece, The Antiquities of Athens will be published in 1762
Piranesi:The Colosseum, 1757 Le Carceri d'Invenzione, plate X: Prisoners on a Projecting Platform. Prov.:
1745-50
Boullée, Cénotaphe à Newton (1784) Ledoux's second design plan for Royal Saltworks at Arc-et-Senans. 1772-73
Claims of :
Historicity
Autonomy
Originality
Daniel LibeskindChamber Works: Architectural Meditations on Themes from Heraclitus1983. MOMA
Le Corbusier. Plan Obus. 1931
Le Corbusier. Plan Obus. 1931
Ludwig Mies van der Rohe German Pavilion, International Exposition, Barcelona, Spain, Floor plan, second preliminary scheme1928-29. Image: MOMA
Terragni, Guiseppe. Danteum Axonometric View. 1938. Image: https://archeyes.com/the-danteum-giuseppe-terragni/
Often the spatial metaphor is itself already a metaphor of time, but in this instance
space and time are interchangeable. Beneath and behind translate easily into a a
chronological before. Time passes; we look back. Sediments accumulate, we dig.
The face-to-face relationship, no longer possible across time, is replaced by an
equivalent arrangement in which the present is construed as a projection of the
past, an accessible reality offering evidence of previous events that can be only be
recovered through it. Extending from the past it eclipses, the present is turned into
the façade of history. - Robin Evans

Architect at his drawing board. This wood engraving was published on May 25, 1893, in TekniskUkeblad, Norway’s
leading engineering journal
Left: Allan, David. The Origin of Painting, 1773. Image Courtesy: www.nuno-matos-duarte-textos.blogspot.com.
Right: Schinkel, Karl. The Origin of Painting, 1830. Image Courtesy: www.emeraldinsight.com
Left: Allan, David. The Origin of Painting, 1773. Image Courtesy: www.nuno-matos-duarte-textos.blogspot.com.
Right: Schinkel, Karl. The Origin of Painting, 1830. Image Courtesy: www.emeraldinsight.com
Renzo Piano and Richard Rogers used pencil to draw this 1971 image of the Pompidou Centre. Image: https://www.architecturaldigest.com/story/drawing-architecture-book
https://wc-studio.com/journal/2019/7/5/working-with-an-architect-understanding-phases-of-design-construction
https://content.aia.org/sites/default/files/2017-03/EPC_Design_Development_2E.pdf