Reaffirming the Essential Role of Drawing in Design


Early 16th Century drawing by Baldassare Peruzzi. Image Courtesy of ORO Editions

Early 16th Century drawing by Baldassare Peruzzi. Image Courtesy of ORO Editions

This article was originally published on Common Edge.

In 2012, the Yale School of Architecture held a conference on the topic of drawing. It posed a couple of provocative questions: Was the study and practice of architecture already beyond it? Was it is even necessary to draw in order to be an architect? Mark Alan Hewitt’s new book, Draw in Order to See (ORO Editions), is a resounding affirmation that not only must architects draw, they cannot help but do so—it’s like breathing. The connection between the hand and the eye, between a soft pencil and a toothy sheaf of paper, is how architects, in fact, “see.”

Read more »