CHAPTER 8
CONTEMPORARY (1980–)
In a different approach from the previous chapters, selected prominent designers who are currently practicing were asked to submit a sketch of their choice for inclusion in this book. They were also requested to send a brief biography and a short description of their thoughts while completing the sketch. In most cases, the architects sent biographical materials and a paragraph or two describing the architecture or the impetus for its design. Very few replied with discussion of their thoughts concerning the sketch during the design process. It may have been difficult to remember specific processes; or, perhaps this activity was hard to translate into words, and thus the process remains elusive even to those who constantly use sketches.
It is always challenging to distance oneself to assess a current condition; this is the case with architectural sketches and likewise with architectural style. Viewing contemporary conditions echo this concern. Without the advantage of historical perspective, there are several trends and movements at the turn of the twenty-first century that elucidate a discussion of architectural sketches.
Contemporary architecture is as diverse as the architects practicing. Architects such as Frank Gehry have been building signature buildings around the world, while Daniel Libeskind was recently awarded the re-construction of the World Trade Center site. Japanese architects, such as Kazuyo Sejima, have been designing minimalist architecture with ephemeral and illusionary materials. Elizabeth Diller and Ricardo Scofidio question the built environment with their thought-provoking and theoretical installations. Many architects have been exploring newly developed building materials to be more energy efficient, create diverse visual expression, and lighting effects. Still other practitioners have been exploring the design and fabrication of buildings through use of digital media. One development common to all these contemporary architects concerns the question of how digital technology influences their practice and the buildings they construct.
SKETCHES; DIGITAL MEDIA
Computers are a vital component of contemporary architectural practice, and very few firms can successfully build without their use. Digital representations are employed in all phases of architectural production, from early conceptual ideas to construction management. They are particularly effective for contract documents, as details can easily be carried between drawings. They are vital to structural analysis, tracking the performance and integration of building systems, and presentation renderings, to name a few. For many years the contribution of the computer was limited to CAD documents, but the digital world has expanded to infiltrate every aspect of the building process.
One of the last areas to embrace the computer has been the conceptual stages of the project – the initial sketches. Hand sketches, so representative of the intent and personality of architects, have long been considered sacred. Recently, new digital programs have become available to facilitate this intimate thinking process. Digital sketching programs such as Sketch-Up have attempted to imitate conceptual thinking. If a sketch is defined as being preparatory to something else, and also consists of simple forms similar to an outline, then these digital images may indeed be viewed as architectural sketches. The digital medium easily and quickly forms primary geometric shapes, similar to architects’ hand-constructed diagrams. The shapes, devoid of detail, could also be considered preliminary because they provide basic conceptual information prior to design development. The more these programs increase their speed and ability to manipulate (form and deform) shapes, the more they replicate the creative impulses of hand sketches. Whether they are truly as effective, only their extensive use will determine.
It is obvious, however, that computer sketches of even simple shapes can be limiting. In most cases, it takes substantially more time to render details digitally, especially perspectives. Digital programs tend to create straight-sided objects more easily than rounded, although this problem is quickly being rectified. A digital program that will stretch the shapes and then allow them to be viewed from numerous perspectives certainly has advantages. In many cases, the ‘true’ look of the image depends upon the needs and intent of each architect. In some situations, the more ambiguous object encourages architects to derive inspiration from the undefined form.
The interpretive qualities of the imagination sort the undefined as the human mind wishes to make sense of the fragments. The philosopher and psychologist James Gibson found that ‘a picture cannot at the same time possess high fidelity for something concrete and high univocality for something abstract’ (1982, p. 248). In the same line of thinking, but in different words, Richard Wollheim supports this theory: ‘we cannot, at one and the same moment, see a picture as configuration and as trompe l'oeil’ (1974, p. 29). Providing absolute clarity early in the process may not always be possible or even desirable. Similar to a caricature, the deformation or exaggeration might prove to be more insightful. The use of the computer for sketching may therefore suggest an inherent conflict between precision and imprecision.
The digital image can be seen but not felt. The direct relationship between the pen/pencil and the paper may, for some architects, provide an intimate connection to the object of their creation. The hand gestures of the drawing instrument add expression to their sketches. Although technology has replaced keyed coordinates with the stylus and more responsive mouse controls, the human body is still separated from the image emerging on the screen. The immediacy and personal control of the hand sketch may encourage thinking in a way that digital technology cannot.
The advantages and disadvantages of both media are numerous and the success of each of these forms of sketches may be determined by their time, place, and intention. As mentioned earlier, when solicited for sketches to be included in this volume, nearly all of the contemporary architects contacted sent in hand sketches. This is surprising, since they were given the opportunity to send either digital or hand sketches. This may be particularly revealing, since many of these architects use computers extensively in their design process and throughout the development of the project. Either they still use hand sketches for initial design thoughts, or when a ‘sketch’ was requested they thought first of one completed by hand. Very few of the architects sent a statement explaining what they were thinking when sketching. This brought to light several issues in the making of sketches. First, these prominent and busy architects had little time to explain their design thinking. Second, it meant that remembering or writing down a visual thought process was difficult for them, considering the time that has passed.
Whatever their form, sketches take other roles in the design and construction process besides conceptual discovery. As suggested in the general Introduction, architects additionally use them for recording impressions, evaluating and communicating ideas, as a way to facilitate observation, and because they enjoy the activity and learning that comes from sketching. Architects also employ sketches in various stages of process, such as exploring details, making changes during construction, or during intra-office visual communication.
Architects such as Greg Lynn utilize advanced technologies to invent fluid, amorphous forms. These abstract forms can be more easily viewed in perspective and analyzed (such as a section cut) with computer rendering. Frank Gehry, although using sketches extensively for early ideas, relies heavily on the computer to develop and visualize his complex shapes. Zaha Hadid provokes theoretical constructs with paintings and digital images as a starting point to locate form.
THEORETICAL EXPLORATIONS
Postmodern philosophy has influenced the drawings and sketches used by contemporary architects. The investigation of process is being explored as the item in constant flux, and as a factor of transition. This constantly evolving mode of communication leaves open the opportunity for translation and interpretation. A movement called genetic criticism is exemplary of this thought ( Jenny, 1989; De Biasi, 1989; Robinson-Valery, 1989). Investigating the rough draft as a process is not easily compared to the final product, the genetic critic must interpret the transformation of the text through stages of editing and revising. This method finds value in the unfinished remnants of the thought process caused by refinement and development. Not necessarily a linear process, this study is interested in the fluid, interpretive state of the text. Recent interest in the concept of the grotesque stresses similar ideas such as transitory and constantly moving meaning, the object of the grotesque as hovering between the known and the unknown, and the paradoxical qualities that elude interpretation (Harpham, 1982). Writings by philosophers concerning deconstruction and the constantly interpretable text can view the image as fluctuating in meaning (Hans, 1980, 1981; Kearney, 1988).
Architects have always been curious about process. The transformation of conceptual inspiration into form (a building) is both elusive and magical. Difficult to define, creativity seems to appear at random in certain people. The ability to sketch and to visually represent concepts is a coveted skill. Humans are not impressed by the ability to speak, but the ability to draw may be compared to the talents of writing poetry or charismatic public speaking (Eco, 1976). From the Renaissance, prominent architects’ and artists’ skills were assigned mythical proportions. They appeared to have superhuman talents and became Godlike in their reputations (Kris and Kurz, 1979). Their ‘divine’ abilities were considered magic.
Several contemporary architects have gained a reputation through theoretical investigations. Architects such as Daniel Libeskind began his career disseminating his beliefs through drawings. These fragmented and complex drawings became visual debate. Upon becoming a common name in the architectural realm, he began to receive commissions for buildings. Architects such as Aldo Rossi and Massimo Scolari have published fantasy drawings as a way to purport theoretical investigations. The question of the text, again referencing postmodern philosophy, may suggest the blurring of the terms architecture and architectural. The question arises whether a drawing that is architectural can be considered architecture. Since drawings and sketches can represent theory and themselves be an act of theory, it would be consistent to conclude they are representative comparable to the representational qualities of architecture (buildings).
Contemporary architects are exploring the design process and conceptual thinking, utilizing new media to manipulate images in new ways. Regardless of the medium used, architects still rely on the image to evoke a dialogue. This book has explored the media techniques, uses, and meaning behind the images architects use in the process of design. Not surprisingly, the freehand examples from Renaissance architects differ little in technique with those from contemporary architects. This is primarily because most architects, contemporary and historic, use graphite pencils and ink pens to explore their thoughts. Far more differences begin to surface when comparing various movements and the architects’ educations or styles. It may be argued that the greatest development in the evolution of sketches has been the emergence of the computer. This is not necessarily true, however, since the sketches’ intentions remain constant, although the media has changed. Sketches have been and will continue to be conduits of dialogue.
Agrest, Diana (1945)
Sport City, Design process: plan study, overall view, October 18, 2003, Sport City, Shanghai, China, Aerial view: 13 × 9.5in., Plan: 13 × 10.5in., Black ink on trace paper
An educator and theorist in addition to her practice, Diana Agrest has studied semiotics and film as ways to question the ability of architecture to represent. She has worked extensively with urban issues winning the competition for a Master Plan and Urban Design Proposal for five square miles in the center of Shanghai, China, and was a Fellow at the Institute for Architecture and Urban Studies in New York where she was also the Director of the Advanced Workshop in Architecture and Urban Form.
Argentine born, Agrest graduated in architecture from the University of Buenos Aires in 1967. She continued her studies in Paris at the Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes and the Centre du Recherche d'Urbanisme. A Professor of Architecture at the Cooper Union in New York City, she has also taught at Columbia, Princeton, and Yale Universities and the UP 8, Paris, France. She is a principal of Agrest and Gandelsonas, founded in 1980 and of Diana Agrest Architect in New York City. A few of their most recent projects include the Melrose Community Center, South Bronx, New York (1998–2000) and the Breukelen Community Center, New York (2002–2005), and urban master plans such as the Vision Plan for Red Bank, New York (1992–1997).
Using the tools of a theorist, Agrest has published numerous books and articles. Her books include The Sex of Architecture (editors, Agrest/Conway/Weisman), Agrest and Gandelsonas, Works, and Architecture from Without: Theoretical Framings for a Critical Practice.1
Incredibly facile with ink, this pair of sketches (Figure 8.1) conveys Agrest's exploration of the design for Sport City, located in Shanghai, China. The black ink is bold and expressive. As a result of its heaviness, she needed to further intensify the contrast between the buildings and their surroundings by solidly filling in the buildings in the plan. Devoid of erasures, the confident lines narrate the entire story of the project with efficiency. The site has been rendered with paths and stippling most likely replicating grass. The marks giving texture to the grass have been placed hurriedly as they become commas. Out of scale, certainly they were not to represent grass but instead to provide an alternative texture to the buildings to make the sketch easier to comprehend. The textured articulation ends at the boundaries of the project, without providing context. On the plan Agrest has identified portions of the program with words, such as golf, swimming, and roller-blades. The buildings were easy to distinguish by their shapes but in the abstraction of the small sketch it would have been difficult to render the swimming pool so that it was recognizable in plan. Thus, the notations clarified the details less easy to recognize.
The sketches in plan and overall view intensify the relationship between forms on the site. The white of the paths surrounding the buildings help them to appear as floating islands. The three-dimensional view shows the negative space between the structures in a very different way. Here the foreshortening of the space suggests the dynamic nature of the cylinders as growing out of the landscape. Possibly used for comparison or in reference to each other, both sketches have been viewed from a corner. This may indicate that Agrest found significance in the orientation, either a reference to north or viewed from a point of distinction.
This design sketch appears both vague and precise simultaneously. The simple geometric shapes act as placeholders in the master plan, whereas Agrest did not want to forget the sports aspect of this complex.
Ando, Tadao (1941)
Preliminary design sketch, light slit on the altar, 1987, Church of the Light, Ibaraki, Osaka, Japan, 11.7 × 8.5in., Felt pen on Japanese paper (washi)
Self-educated, Tadao Ando is one of the most widely regarded architects currently working in Japan. He was born in Osaka, Japan, in 1941, where he established his architectural office, Tadao Ando Architect & Associates. Through his career he has won numerous awards for design, including the Pritzker Architecture Prize (1995), the Royal Gold Medal from the Royal Institute of British Architects (1997), and the Person of Cultural Merit (2003). He has taught in several universities including visiting at Yale University, Columbia University, and Harvard University, and he holds a professorship at Tokyo University. A few of his best known works include: Rokko Housing I, Kobe (1983); Water Temple, Awaji Island (1991); FABRICA Benetton Communications Research Center, Treviso (2000); and Sayamaike Historical Museum, Osaka (2001).2
This page (Figure 8.2) displays preliminary sketches for the Church of the Light in Ibaraki, Osaka, Japan. It was designed in 1987–1988, and underwent construction during 1988–1989.
It consists of a rectangular volume sliced through at a fifteen-degree angle by a completely freestanding wall that separates the entrance from the chapel. Light penetrates the profound darkness of this box through a cross which is cut out of the altar wall. The floor and pews are made of rough scaffolding planks, which are low cost and also ultimately suited to the character of the space. I have always used natural materials for parts of a building that come into contact with people's hands or feet, as I am convinced that materials having substance, such as wood or concrete, are invaluable for building, and that it is essentially through our senses that we become aware of architecture. … [O]penings have been limited in this space, for light shows its brilliance only against a backdrop of darkness. Nature's presence is also limited to the element of light and is rendered exceedingly abstract. In responding to such an abstraction, the architecture grows continually purer. The linear pattern formed on the floor by rays from the sun and a migrating cross of light expresses with purity man's relationship with nature.
The sketch has been rendered with black ink on heavy (Japanese) paper. The black ink is very dense in places (such as the crosses), while in other areas it skips off of the heavy paper in haste. The ink shows strong contrast to the white paper and is very definitive. Architects, artists, and authors have feared the blank page because the first stroke sets the stage for what comes after: the entirely white paper can be intimidating. The blank sheet expects something profound, and any marks stand out strongly in the vast whiteness. Ando does not erase or scratch out any images, but he finds a blank space in which to draw. He sketches confidently, allowing the forms to overlap as his ideas flow.
The page contains several sketches in plan and axonometric. One small sketch appears to be a plan for the organization of the pews in the chapel or the processional movement, a rectangle with many horizontals. The shaded sketches are details showing the thickness of the walls and how the light would glow through the cross opening. The ink used to make the crosses creates a reversal; the wall was meant to be dark and the cross glowing with light.
The minimal forms tell the story of a conceptually strong approach to the light in a small chapel. In writing about the importance of sketches in design process, Ando writes: ‘my sketch[es] usually help me to clear and refine the initial image and to integrate it with architectural space and details.’
Botta, Mario (1943)
Studies for the ground floor plan and verifications of the building's volume and shape, 1996, The Cymbalista Synagogue and Jewish Heritage Centre in Tel Aviv, Israel, 1998, 31 × 50cm, Pencil on white sketching paper
Mario Botta's reputation is international, his architecture is both modern and contemporary. Christian Norberg-Schultz writes that he infuses his buildings with a strong sense of place and meaning (Botta, 1984).
Born in an area of Switzerland near the Italian border (Mendrisio, Ticino), Botta's first experience with architecture was an apprenticeship in the architectural firm of Carloni and Camenisch in Lugano. He left this office to attain further education at the Art College in Milan and the University Institute of Architecture in Venice. He was directed in his studies by Carlo Scarpa and Giuseppe Mazzariol, and had the opportunity to meet and work with Le Corbusier and Louis I. Kahn.3
Beginning his own private practice in 1970, Botta found distinction with his designs for houses, museums, and churches near Ticino. Several of his most recent and celebrated projects include: Theatre and Cultural Center André Malraux, Chambéry, France (1987); SFMOMA Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco (1995); Kyobo Tower, Seoul (2003); and Office building Tata CS, New Delhi (2003). Botta has been honored with awards such as the Merit Award for Excellence in Design by the American Institute of Architects.
Botta likens his sketches to fragments of a large mosaic of possible designs, from early concepts to the final details. They are the notes throughout the process, traces of particular solutions, and messages to help find conclusions. For Botta, sketches are the memories involving intuitions and alterations behind a definitive design.4
Botta clearly maintains a constant dialogue with his sketches. This image (Figure 8.3) is a sketch for the Cymbalista Synagogue and Jewish Heritage Centre in Tel Aviv. The organization of the project was to consider two spaces of equal size and importance, a synagogue and a lecture hall. On the campus of Tel Aviv University, these two spaces, expressed on the exterior by two towers, speak of a combination of the religious and the secular. On the plan are many changes and corrections that reveal how Botta responded to the information the sketch provided. The rectangular shape has been divided into symmetrical spaces. Many faint lines extend across the plan to indicate either elements above or guidelines for the proportions of the parti. One can imagine how he visualized the space as he walked through the sketch. Doors have been indicated with arrows for their movement, and walls are given their thickness through many parallel marks. As he drew the plan, Botta was acutely aware of the towers and their placement above, sketching them lightly over their locations.
The two perspectives to the right of the page demonstrate how easily Botta moved between the plan and the rendering of volume. As variations for the exterior, the three-dimensional sketches illustrate how a plan can be interpreted in different ways. He recognized the need to move between the two types of drawing conventions. It also shows how he was thinking, trying something in plan and evaluating the ramifications with perspectives.
This sketch represents not the first thoughts, but the development of an idea. Beginning with the clear program of two towers, Botta was able to refine and visualize the design with this sketch. Although not an exact replica of the finished building, the concept developed here shows through in the final outcome.
Calatrava, Santiago (1951)
Sketch plan (05), 1999, Tenerife Concert Hall, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain, 30 × 40cm, Watercolor
An architect and engineer known for his anthropomorphic structural systems, Santiago Calatrava designs pavilions, bridges, and canopies that are both elegant and efficient. Calatrava was born in Spain in 1951, traveling to Paris and Switzerland as an exchange student in his youth. Intending to study at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts, he instead enrolled in the Escuela Tecnica Superoir de Arquitectura in Valencia. Finding an interest in the mathematical rigor of certain great works of architecture, he pursued post-graduate studies in civil engineering at the Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich. He began his career by winning the design and construction of the Stadelhofen Railway Station in Zurich in 1983. Other notable projects are the Bach de Roda Bridge, commissioned for the Olympic Games in Barcelona; the Alamillo Bridge and viaduct (1987–1992); Campo Volantin Footbridge in Bilbao (1990–1997); and the Alameda Bridge and underground station in Valencia (1991–1995). A few recent projects by Calatrava include the expansion of the Milwaukee Art Museum (2001); Athens Olympic Sports Complex (2004); and the Palacio de las Artes in Valencia (2004). He has received numerous honors and awards such as the Gold Medal of the Institute of Structural Engineers, London, and the Gold Medal of Merit in the Fine Arts, Ministry of Culture, Spain.
This sketch (Figure 8.4) is from a series of design sketches for the Tenerife Concert Hall. The ‘Concert Hall is the gateway to a new park in the western part of Santa Cruz, designed to help revitalize a coastal strip that had been the site of industrial plants and oil refineries. The building is the result of a specified desire for a dynamic, monumental building that would not only be a place for music and culture but would create a focal point for the area.’5
’The all-concrete building is characterized by the dramatic sweep of its roof. Rising off the base like a crashing wave, the roof soars to a height of 58 meters over the main auditorium before curving downward and narrowing to a point. The building's plinth forms a public plaza covering the site and allows for differences in grade between the different levels of the adjacent roads. … Geometrically, the roof is constructed from two intersecting cone segments. By contrast, the symmetrical inner shell of the concert hall, which is 50 meters high, is a rotational body, generated by rotating a curve to describe an ellipse.’
The plan, section, and elevation sketches for this Concert Hall have been explored with graphite and watercolor in hues of blue and yellow. The plan sketch on the opposite page is not a typical floor plan that could be used for construction, but rather an instrument for design. Without the written explanation of the building, it would be difficult to understand the abstraction of the plan. It appears to show several levels and the exterior of the structure all at the same time.
The graphite under the watercolor has been sketched freehand. The form being slightly asymmetrical did not prevent the sketch from assisting Calatrava in visualizing the building's organization. The slow, careful, and controlled strokes of the pencil imply a sketch in the development stage, rather than the first fleeting concepts. The specifications for the project list white concrete and broken ceramic tiles among the building materials.
For the interior, the principal materials include platinum blue granite and structural wood. Although the sketch appears to illustrate the refinement of form, Calatrava was also employing color to help him imagine the space and, possibly, represent the building materials.
Chen, Shi Min (1935)
Section sketch, October 24, 1982, Nan Hai Hotel, SheKou, ShenZhen, China, 8.3 × 11.7in., Pencil on tracing paper
Chinese architect Chen Shi Min has completed many celebrated large-scale commercial projects. The firm that carries his name has offices in ShenZhen and Hong Kong. He was born in Ya-An town of Sichuan Province in 1935. He attended Chongqing Institute of Architecture and Engineering, graduating in 1954. Chen has had two books published about his work, Era and Space (1996) and Chen Shi Min (1997). A few of his more renowned projects, all in China, include: Hongji Commercial Center, Tianjin (1994–1999); Daxin Building, Chongqing (1997–2000); New Downtown, Shenzhen (1996); Shenzhen Railway Station (1989–1992); Architectural Cultural Centre, Beijing (1995–1999); and the China Construction Corporation Complex, Chongqing (1996–1999).6
This sketch (Figure 8.5) shows early explorations for the Nanhai Hotel in Shekou, ShenZhen, China. Chen writes that the project was being designed during a period when China was moving towards modernization. At this time, most buildings were of high-rise construction; this was a low-rise design, with respect for environmental resources and its site features. The organization presents five volumes, spread along a curve, to form the complex – referencing Chinese traditional architecture by linking volumes. Inside the hotel, the space is organized in a fan shape, in accordance with the curved enclosure resulting from the composition.
Chen describes the site as having a backdrop of hills and facing the open sea, as the Nanhai Hotel is located away from the city's busy traffic. The priority of the design was to ensure harmony between the hotel and its beautiful environment. The master plan of the project was formed by five rectangular building blocks, evenly distributed along a curved line that echoes the lines of the seashore and the hills. The main feature of the hotel buildings is their terraced forms. This not only maximizes natural light and fresh air to the hotel rooms, but also harmonizes with the outline of the hill. The green space of the hotel blends with the foreshore vegetation to form a single open space. To gain the full benefit of the location, the ground level has been raised so that visitors can enjoy the ocean view (with Hong Kong visible in the distance) from the lobby, café, restaurant, and other public areas.
The sketches show a perspective view from the water and a diagram section through the site. As Chen has described it, one can see the connected volumes in the minimal sketch. Done by a controlled hand, the small sketch is composed of few lines representing the salient features of the hotel. In many cases, an architect's hand does not waver in the distance of a short line and the gesture is within the size of a hand stroke. Both sketches appear to envision the whole project in relation to its parts to visualize the look of the complex and the volume relationships through the site. Many of the lines have been left gaped since they need not cross each other to achieve the intended effect. This ambiguity helps to understand the totality of the project in its early stages, before final details have been determined. In like manner, the windows and roof have not been completely rendered, giving a brief impression of openings and the shape of the roof.
The section diagram identifies important features and specific views with arrows. Chen has used written notes to comment on these design factors for spatial relationships or identifying elements. The two sketches communicate a thinking that requires visual notes.
COOP HIMMELB(L)AU
Prix, Wolf D. (1942) and Swiczinsky, Helmut (1944)
Untitled sketch, 2001, BMW Welt, Munich, Germany, 29.7× 21 cm, Black felt pen
Wolf Prix and Helmut Swiczinsky co-founded the practice COOP HIMMELB(L)AU in 1968. First based in Vienna, Austria, they have opened offices in Los Angles, United States of America (1988), and Guadalajara, Mexico (2000). Known for their innovative juxtaposition of forms and materials, they have a substantial repertoire of built work.
Prix was born in Vienna and educated at the Technical University. He also studied at the Architectural Association in London and Southern California Institute of Architecture in Los Angeles. Swiczinsky was born in Poznan, Poland, and also attended the Technical University. Like Prix, he went to the Architectural Association in London to study architecture.
Highly sought after critics, Prix has been the Professor of the Architecture 3 Masterclass at the University of Applied Arts in Vienna since 1993. They have taught as visiting critics at many schools in Argentina, Great Britain and the United States. They are both members of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts, headquartered in Vienna. Working together for many years their work has received awards such as the Erich Schelling Architecture Prize (1992), the European Steel Design Award (2001), and the Gold Medal for merits to the federal state of Vienna (2002). A few of their most recent commissions include the Groninger Museum, Netherlands (1993–1994); Musée des Confluences, Lyon, France (2001–2007); Great Egyptian Museum, Cairo, Egypt (2002–2003); and the Opera House, Gunagzhon, China (2003).7
This remarkably cryptic sketch (Figure 8.6) was part of the process of design for the BMW Welt, Munich, Germany. The building sited near the BMW headquarters was programmed to be a center for brand experience and vehicle delivery. Under a sculptural roof, the large hall acts as a multiuse market. At the center of the building is placed the ‘Premiere’ vehicle delivery area surrounded by suspended customer lounges that look out onto the event space and provide views to the BMW Headquarters.
The long, undulating, and heavy felt pen marks outline the form of the building. Very seldom lifted off of the paper, this line composes the whole shape with efficiency and perception. The continuous line demarcates the space without reference points. The image gives few hints of a ground line or datum from which to understand the orientation. The identification at the lower right is the best clue to ‘reading’ the relationships between the forms.
As an early design sketch, the floating shape could be describing both plan and section simultaneously. The gentle arc of the top piece, wavering underneath, could represent the roof supported by an hourglass structure and replicates an elevation view. The lower shape may reflect the plaza in front of the building acting as a plan.
This sketch was probably a personal thought since it makes no attempt to be explanatory. Although evoking the conceptual concerns for the BMW showroom, it is the type of sketch looking for relationships rather than communication to the clients. A similar version has been posted on the COOP HIMMELB(L)AU website which may indicate that after the project reached a more final stage the firm felt this sketch was the most representative diagram of the project. As a diagram it may hold the essence of the building as it was conceived, pure its ideal and prior to the gravity necessary for construction.
Correa, Charles (1930)
Housing sketch, 1999
An architect, planner, activist, and theoretician, Charles Correa ‘has done pioneering work on urban issues and low-cost shelter in the Third World.’8 ‘He was Chief Architect for “Navi Mumbai,” the new city of 2 million people, across the harbor from Bombay, and in 1985 Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi appointed him Chairman of the National Commission on Urbanism.’
Correa studied architecture at the University of Michigan and at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He has maintained a private practice in Bombay since 1958. Continually interested in education, he has taught at universities in India and abroad, including Harvard University, University of Pennsylvania and Cambridge University; he currently holds the position of Farwell Bemis Professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. His biography lists that he has received numerous honors and awards, including an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Michigan (1980), the RIBA (Royal Institute of British Architects) Gold Medal (1984), and the Praemium Imperiale of Japan (1994).
The work from Correa's architectural practice is varied with such projects as the Mahatma Gandhi Memorial at the Sabarmati Ashram, the Jawahar Kala Kendra in Jaipur, and the State Assembly for Madhya Pradesh. He has also designed numerous housing projects for Delhi, Bombay, Ahmedabad, and Bangalore.
Correa says his sketch (Figure 8.7) ‘is about housing – an area sadly neglected by architects today, but one of vital importance to us in India. It illustrates some of the key issues (and compulsive imagery!) that have been seminal to my own work.’ He explains how the sketch explores issues such as open courtyards that act as additional rooms in a warm climate, and points out that the ‘casual and rhythmic layering’ of domestic architecture is very flexible. Correa views this building as revealing the movement of the human occupants within it.
The minimal sketch is rendered with a blunt pencil on a fairly rough surface; this can be seen in the thick lines that leave white texture. The pencil mark is not dense because the graphite skips over the valleys in the paper. The relatively slow lines describe the edges of the forms. Surprisingly controlled, the sketch seems to be comprised of very few marks. It appears Correa rarely lifted the pencil off the paper; he had a strong concept in mind before he began. The diagrammatic qualities of the image seem to represent his thinking quite succinctly. Since he was concerned with the ‘malleable,’ or flexible, use of the building, his sketch (as an analogy) may have acted as a blank slate, allowing the humans to participate with the architecture. The minimal technique may reinforce this notion.
This beautiful sketch is fascinating. Those with little artistic skill or dexterity have historically envied the image-making abilities of artists and architects; most specifically, the ability to draw a freehand representation that matches the intended image. Without guidelines and with a precision hand, the sketch was drawn from either observation or a very clear image in the mind's eye. Correa's remarkably precise imagination springs from his enormous experience and talent. Seeing the outline of the design was enough for Correa to place himself in the sketch and imagine the look and function of the building. His ability to view the potential of an idea with a simple sketch is a remarkable skill; it requires much practice as well as a thoughtful relationship with his sketching instruments.
Diller, Elizabeth (1954)
Blur process sketch, December 28, 1998, Blur Building, Swiss Expo 2002, 7.5 × 7.5 in., Ink on napkin
Elizabeth Diller has constantly questioned the state of architecture. First collaborating with Ricardo Scofidio, their interdisciplinary studio now includes Charles Renfro and bears the name Diller + Scofidio + Renfro (D + S + R). Their work merges architecture, the visual arts, and the performing arts, which take the form of architectural projects, temporary and permanent site-specific art works, multimedia theater, electronic media, and print.
‘Diller was born in Lodz, Poland, in 1954. She attended The Cooper Union School of Art and received a Bachelor of Architecture in 1979 from The Cooper Union School of Architecture.’9 The studio is currently designing the public spaces of Lincoln Center in New York and two architectural projects as the result of international competitions. Other completed projects, of various scales, include: X,Y, a permanent installation for a pachinko parlor in Kobe, Japan; Travelogues, a permanent installation at the new JFK International Arrivals Terminal in New York; and two dance collaborations with the Lyon Ballet Opera and Charleroi Danses. They have been honored with numerous awards such as the MacArthur Foundation Award and the Arnold W. Brunner Memorial Prize in Architecture from the American Academy of Arts and Letters.
The page opposite (Figure 8.8) is a conceptual sketch by Diller for Blur Building. ‘Blur Building is an exhibition pavilion for the Swiss Expo 2002 on Lake Nuechatal in the town of Yverdon-les-bain. [It] is an architecture of atmosphere.’ The building is made of a lightweight tensegrity structure and water. ‘Water is pumped from the lake, filtered, and shot as a fine mist through a dense array of high-pressure mist nozzles. The resulting fog mass produced is a dynamic interplay of natural and manmade forces. … Upon entering the fog mass, visual and acoustic references are erased, leaving only an optical ‘white-out’ and the ‘white-noise’ of the pulsing nozzles. … Unlike entering a building, Blur is a habitable medium – one that is spaceless, formless, featureless, depthless, scaleless, massless, surfaceless, and dimensionless.’
The sketch taped into a three-ring binder is a combination of diagram and written text. It has been sketched on a paper napkin with ink. The paper napkin suggests a discussion over a meal, where two or more people were brainstorming and reached for the most convenient writing surface. With this sketch they are showing the architecture of atmosphere, listing all of the qualities of architecture that can be ‘blurred’ with this project. To the left is a simple yet poignant diagram of the ephemeral cloud. A vertical line divides the words from the diagram and also acts as a ground line for the fog mass. The ‘less’ points have been bulleted to separate their importance as conceptual ideas. The strong theoretical nature of this project shows in how the words and the cloud are given equal space on the napkin.
The lines forming the mist sketch are bold and constructed of nearly single line weight. They overlap where they join to close the shape and at the points where the pen caught on the soft paper of the napkin. With a few vertical lines to represent the structure and water source, the succinct description was complete. The diagrammatic qualities of this sketch show the pointed thinking of Diller and her colleagues. The idea was so ‘dimensionless’ that its physical manifestation may not have been necessary. As a conversation the diagram assisted to understand the words and the form (or formlessness). One might speculate that the paper napkin was retained more for the words than the cloud.
Gehry, Frank (1929)
Process elevation sketches, October 1991, Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, Spain, 12.3 × 9.2 in.
Frank Gehry, famous for the dynamic forms of his signature buildings, is probably the most known and respected architect currently practicing in the United States. Gehry was born in Toronto in 1929 and moved with his family to Los Angeles in 1947. He studied at the University of Southern California and Harvard University before entering practice in 1962. His office, Gehry Partners, LLP, is a full service firm with broad international experience in museum, theater, performance, academic, and commercial projects. A few of his most celebrated include: Guggenheim Museum Bilbao in Bilbao, Spain; Experience Music Project in Seattle, Washington; Nationale-Nederlanden Building in Prague, Czech Republic; Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angles, California; and the Vitra International Headquarters in Basel, Switzerland.
Gehry and his architectural work have won awards from international foundations. He won the Pritzker Prize in 1989, the Arnold W. Brunner Memorial Prize in Architecture from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and the American Institute of Architects Gold Medal in 1999. Gehry commonly uses sketches for first conceptual ideas and throughout his design process. He also depends on physical models in all scales and ‘CATIA, a highly sophisticated 3-dimensional computer modeling program originally created for use by the aerospace industry, to thoroughly document designs and to rationalize the bidding, fabrication, and construction process.’10 This program allows him to accurately model and fabricate the expressive and irregular shapes distinctive of his architecture.
The sketches that Gehry uses to begin his process are fluid and expressive. These sketches have been included in numerous publications and exhibitions of his work. Although they are private notations, he is not averse to making public his design process. Many of these first expressions of the building represent the search for form and volumes as can be viewed in this sketch for the Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao (Figure 8.9).
On the page are three freehand sketches rendered in ink on white paper. They appear to be elevation views since the volumes extend horizontally. Most likely, Gehry was studying the same elevation because each image displays a similar horizontal wing to the left with a more articulated shape to the center and right. He was holding the pen lightly as the ink line moved smoothly across the page. In some areas, it appears that the lines are continuous; Gehry seldom picks the pen up off the surface of the paper. Similar to a technique from fine art, gesture drawing attempts to capture the essence of the human form with the buildup of lines describing the interior muscles, not necessarily the exterior edges. This comparison is fitting, since Gehry's architecture contains a tremendous amount of internal energy.
The roof and center shapes seem to be alternatives, with three different approaches. The sketch to the right exhibits triangular elements on the roof, while the top sketch shows arced pieces and a stepped façade. The center feature shows aggressive diagonal lines on top of what appears to be openings. The fast strokes may mean that he was unhappy with the solution and considered eliminating it as a possibility. They could also suggest that he was shading a part of the façade, to view it more three-dimensionally. The wavy roof-lines show a fluidity that might represent a conceptual theme. Having a conceptual idea in mind, he was allowing his thoughts to flow, evaluating possible forms as he worked on each sketch. The exuberance of his style and the quick way he explores form are indicators of his fresh and expressive architecture.
Hadid, Zaha (1950)
Preliminary sketch, 1991, Vitra Fire Station, Weil Am Rheim, Germany, 11.7 × 16.5 in., Acrylic and ink on tracing paper
Zaha Hadid continually stretches the boundaries of architecture and urban design. Dividing her concentration between practice, teaching, and research, ‘her work experiments with new spatial concepts intensifying existing urban landscapes in the pursuit of a visionary aesthetic that encompasses all fields of design.’ The 2004 Pritzker Prize winner, Hadid's design is both innovative and provocative.11 As published in the jurors' comments, the architectural critic Ada Louise Huxtable writes: ‘Hadid's fragmented geometry and fluid mobility do more than create an abstract, dynamic beauty; this is a body of work that explores and expresses the world we live in.’12
Born in Baghdad, Iraq, Hadid began her architecture studies at the Architectural Association in London and was awarded the Diploma Prize in 1977. Starting her practice in the Office for Metropolitan Architecture, she taught at the Architectural Association until 1987. She has been teach-ing at various schools in Germany, Austria, and the United States.
Articulating her theories on architecture, Hadid has won numerous competitions, including: The Peak, Hong Kong (1983); Cardiff Bay Opera House, Wales (1994); Bergisel Ski-Jump, Innsbruck (1999); Maritime Ferry Terminal, Salerno (2000); and BMW Central Plant Building, Leipzig (2002). Her work has been widely published in periodicals and monographs. She has received numerous awards, such as the Honorable Member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters (2000); Honorary Fellowship of the American Institute of Architects (2000); and the Commander of the British Empire (2002).
Hadid consistently uses drawings and paintings as exploration in her design process. These often abstract slices and shards represent her approach to architecture. The images become the impetus for conceptual stages. This sketched image (Figure 8.10) demonstrates a beginning for the Vitra Fire Station in Weil am Rhein, Germany. The commission was to build a fire station, and the program extended to include the boundary walls of the site, a bicycle shed, and an exercise pavilion. The building was developed to define the landscaped zone of the linear site. This resulted in a long narrow building alongside the street. The structure has been cut and bent to portray a ‘collision of directions.’ ‘The space-defining and screening functions of the building were the point of departure for the development of the architectural concept: a linear, layered series of walls. The programme of the firestation inhabits the spaces between these walls, which puncture, tilt and break according to the functional requirements.’
The sketch, although minimal, reflects these concepts. The page shows several angled lines, primarily extending from the lower left to the upper right. Most appear to be rendered with ink or water-color and a brush. This gives a hazy, indefinite shadow to the lines, softening them and accentuating the differences in thickness. Many of the lines are straight, although several have distinct kinks in them to evoke the change in directions Hadid describes in her concept statement. The marks have been layered nearly parallel to suggest motion, creating a tension in the spaces between.
This sketch is a beautiful and succinct diagram of Hadid's thinking. The images, although brief and abstract, present the clear concept of the walls that ‘puncture, tilt, and break.’ It is preliminary, preparatory, and describes an outline of her design process.
Hara, Hiroshi (1936)
Mid-Air City sketch, 1989, Umeda Sky Building, Kita-ku, Osaka, Japan, 1993, 36 × 21 in., Air brush, colored pencil
An innovative architect, Hiroshi Hara is known for his fanciful and emotive buildings. He often uses building materials to achieve unique effects, such as the cloud-like walls of the Tasaki Museum of Art. Hara was born in Kawasaki in 1936. He attended the University of Tokyo for his BA and MA studies, receiving a Ph.D. in 1964. He immediately began teaching at the University of Tokyo, where he continues today as a Professor Emeritus. He has collaborated as a designer since 1970, with such projects as Tasaki Museum of Art in Nagano (1986); Iida City Museum, Nagano (1988); and the Kyoto Station Building (1997). Since 1999, Hara has headed the firm that bears his name, Hiroshi Hara + Atelier. Several of his most recent works include: Hiroshima Municipal Building (2000); Komaba Campus, Meguro-ku (2001); and the Sapporo Dome (2001). Hara has been the recipient of numerous awards for architectural design, including competition project awards.13
One of Hara's most published buildings is the Umeda Sky Building in Osaka. This beautiful glass and steel high-rise building was built in 1993. It was conceived as two paired towers, connected by glass escalators with a balcony stretched between them. The platform in the sky has a circular cutout crossed with thin ‘catwalk’ passages. The flush glass curtain wall is reflective and appears blue.
This sketch (Figure 8.11) appears to be an early ‘ideogram,’ in that it shows a large complex of tall buildings connected by ramps, walkways, and escalators. The fantasy image reveals platforms of potentially occupied space (implied by small windows), dotted with several large oculi opening a view to the sky. The horizontal slabs are vaguely sketched in pencil over fluffy clouds and the light framing seemingly floats above a large, historic building. Without articulated structural support, the walkways and cutouts integrate with the clouds to cover the city. The ring of high-rise buildings lends some support to the framework, but maintains a certain amount of transparency since the buildings are abstractly defined.
The smooth underside of the frames morph into clouds on their upper sides. Their light color assists in their cloud-like nature and weightlessness. The sketch's ambiguous forms and tenuous con-nections provide a surreal impression, as if Hara is designing an ideal future at the same time he is designing for Osaka.
Eerie light, emitting from behind the dark historic building, creates an atmospheric quality of an active and glowing city. Its industrial look and exposed structure mix the technical with the ephemeral. Hara's sketch describes the idea of the Umeda building, rather than the reality of its final construction. The image is both an illusion (speculating on a possible future) and an allusion (referring to conceptual notions of urbanism).
In comparison to the sketch, the building, as constructed, retains the thin skywalks and an oculus but only part of the sketch's vast urbanism. The two towers resemble the sketch's towers, achieving a certain transparency. The sky-platform effectively evokes the tenuous qualities of residing in the sky (the theme of the sketch). The steel and glass add to the illusion and dramatic impression.
Hecker, Zvi (1931)
Spiral sketch, 1986, Spiral Apartment House, Ramat-Gan, Israel, 21 × 29cm, Black ink on white paper
An architect with an international practice, Zvi Hecker approaches architecture from strong conceptual symbolism. Using the shape of a ‘sunflower’ as impetus for such projects as the Jewish Primary School in Berlin (1991–1995) and the Sunflower of Ramat Hasharon in Tel-Aviv (1986–1995), he creates distinctly emotive buildings. Other of his renowned projects include the Palmach Museum of History in Tel-Aviv, the Holocaust Memorial in Berlin, and the Jewish Cultural Center in Duisburg.
Hecker was born in Poland and lived in Samarkand and Krakow until he emigrated to Israel in 1950. His architectural education began at the Krakow Polytechnic (1949–1950), and he graduated from the Israeli Institute of Technology in Haifa with a degree in engineering and architecture (1955). In addition to his training in architecture, he studied painting at the Avni Academy of Art in Tel-Aviv (1955–1957). While working with Eldar Sharon and Alfred Neumann, Hecker began his private practice now known as Zvi Hecker | Architect | Berlin, with offices in Tel-Aviv and Amsterdam. In addition to his active practice, he has held positions of visiting professor at schools in Canada, Israel, Austria and the United States.14
The stimulus for this sketch (Figure 8.12) came from the program for the Spiral Apartment House in Ramat Gan. Hecker's beautiful and astonishing construction is formed with masonry and tile, exhibiting a porous weave of fragmented spiral columns defining inhabitable space. He writes about the concept of the spiral as it pertains to this building and the sketch. ‘The Spiral's incompleteness is also its poetry, because poetry is the most precise expression of our need for precision. Expressive as it is, the Spiral can't be fully understood. It speaks to many languages at once and at the same time. It speaks Arabic about human condition. It argues in Hebrew in the sheer necessity to bring the muscles and materials together, but it is quite fluent in Russian when construction becomes architecture. Its Italian is very Baroque, as spoken in Piedmont by Guarino Guarini. The Spiral is a tower of Babel in miniature.’15 Hecker is describing the fluidity of a spiral and his reasons for using it as impetus for this building. Its inspiring nature carries many facets and allusions that can be translated into architecture.
By Hecker's own admission (recognized after its completion), the sketch resembles the complex layering of spaces in Piranesi's carceri. With similar hatched lines, the sketch contains the fragmented and ambiguous spatial illusion as Piranesi's etchings. The very dense page overlaps cylindrical shapes. Blending pieces of architectural form, such as windows and stairs, with abstract contours, he suggests an impression of movement and transition. This collage of architectural notations was not meant to produce a faithful view of the proposed building but rather an allusion. This sketch is both an illusion and an allusion. Both words with roots in play, the sketch is a fabricated (thus not realistic) view of the building at the same time being a reference to an abstract idea.
The fragmented pieces have been rendered to help Hecker visualize the concept in three dimensions. Constantly moving between positive and negative space, the sketch also transitions between elevation and plan, seen markedly in the stairs to the left. The connected, but still disjointed, pieces fill the entire page with nervous activity.
Hollein, Hans (1934)
Museum in der Rock of the Mönchsberg Competition 1989, 1st prize, which became, the Guggenheim Museum Salzburg 1990, 1989, Feasibility study and 2001 updating of project as Art Center Monchsberg, 75.5 × 55.5cm, Pencil, crayon on transparent paper
The Pritzker Prize-winning architect Hans Hollein is also an artist and educator. His postmodern building, the Museum of Modern Art in Frankfurt, launched his international reputation.
Born in Vienna, Hollein's first architectural education was from the Academy of Fine Arts. Receiving the Harkness Fellowship, he traveled to the United States, where he began his graduate studies at the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago and graduated from the University of California at Berkeley in 1960. Acquiring apprenticeship in Sweden and the United States, he began his private practice in 1964.
Hollein has been continually involved in architectural education. He taught at the Academy of Fine Arts in Düsseldorf from 1967 to 1976. Since then he has been a professor at the University of Applied Arts in Vienna. He has taught as a visiting professor in such American universities as Washington University and Yale University.
Hollein has completed many buildings including the Municipal Museum Abteiberg in Monchengladbach near Düsseldorf (1983–1991); Haas House, Vienna (1985–1990); the Austrian Embassy, Berlin (1997–2001); and Interbank, Lima (1996–2001). In addition to the Pritzker Prize in 1985, he was awarded the Grand Austrian State Prize in 1983 and the Chicago Architecture Award in 1990.
The sketch illustrated here (Figure 8.13) is an early study for the Guggenheim Museum in Salzburg. The project was initially designed in response to an architecture competition for a museum in the rock, and was envisioned to connect the lower level of the Old Town with the plateau on top of the Mönchsberg. The depression in the surface emits light into the lower public spaces, while the exhibit rooms are artificially illuminated. In an area of Austria accustomed to mining, the tunneling permits an unusual combination of rooms. As Hollein writes: ‘In contrast to conventional additive-tectonic forms of construction, subtractive “building” into the rock allows more freedom, a plastic, more complex spatial conception and expansion – a genuine three-dimensionality.’
The sketch exhibits these excavated paths which connect the skylit spaces and the entrance. Rendered with pencil and crayon, the rock has been loosely pochéd to emphasize the outline of the voids/passages. This describes the essence of the project, as Hollein writes: ‘The sketches show exactly the total design of this project, which is also one of the project of creating space by subtraction.’16 The freeform sketching technique of the underground spaces are in contrast to the more carefully constructed lines of the architecture exposed to the exterior. Recognizing the freedom of boring into the rock, the excavations were less confined and could be represented with more abstraction. Two variations of the light shaft indicate that this sketch was preliminary. Hollein used colored crayons to emphasize several of these details; the blue of the skylight and red for the opening in the mountain's depression.
The best method to visualize this building was through section sketches and drawings. Sections more efficiently express the subtractive qualities of this design, showing the cuts into the rock and the fit of the structure into the depression, called the ‘sunk.’ The section allowed Hollein to understand the whole project, conceiving from the inside-out and viewing the distances between the spaces which normally are studied in plan.
Krier, Rob (1938)
Spatial sequences sketch, 1978, Prager-Platz, Berlin, Germany, 26 × 30cm, Oil chalk with pencil on canvas
Rob Krier is an architect, sculptor, and urban theorist with a broad range of talents. Krier was born in Grevenmacher, Luxembourg. He studied architecture at the Technical University of Munich, Germany. Upon finishing, he entered into collaboration with O. M. Ungers and Frei Otto in Germany. Krier has long been associated with academia, teaching at schools in Germany, France, and Austria. Krier has also continued to practice with offices in Vienna, Montpellier, and most recently in Berlin, in partnership with Christoph Kohl.17
Krier's recent projects in collaboration with Kohl have revolved around their interests in New Urbanism. Several of their recent urban projects include: Batavia Haven, Lelystad, Netherlands (a waterfront development); Brandevoort, Helmond, Netherlands (an urban development plan); and Citadel Broekpolder, Beverwijk/Heemskerk, Netherlands (a community masterplan). Supporting this interest in city spaces, Krier has authored books on urban theory and architectural composition, a few being Town Spaces: Contemporary Interpretation in Traditional Urbanism and Urban Space.
This page (Figure 8.14) contains sketches exploring the Prager-Platz project in Berlin. From 1978, this series represents Krier's method of visual analysis through the use of sketches. Eight of the nine sketches illuminate visions of a historic town center in both plan and perspective. The center sketch conveys the overall oval theme and the other images are detail perspectives, evaluating more specific public and private spaces intended for this proposal.
Krier describes the rationale behind his thinking while working on this project:
’The traces of the war that are here to be seen from the starting point for the project begun in 1978. We proposed an extensive reconstruction of the original oval ground plan. The points where the streets meet the square were to be architecturally accentuated. The best flats were to be situated at these corners. In the interior of the block, we planned to put an adult education facility, a kindergarten, a library, and restaurants, as well as a large swimming pool. The designs for the individual buildings were to be created in collaboration with other architects. Cupolas, vaults, and gables of glass supply above-average natural lighting to the primary spaces. Public spaces generally make a transition from solid wall to void through semi-solid colonnades and galleries. According to our design philosophy, street façades are treated as continuous surfaces, intended to conserve the historic urban fabric.’
As Krier has intended the buildings to be constructed in collaboration with other architects, these sketches may be suggestions for the ‘flavor’ of the space or designs for the public spaces in the new construction.
The page, densely covered with sketches, reveals Krier's enjoyment in thinking with the pencil. The vignettes fill the page without spacing between the separate scenes. They have been rendered in hues of blue, pink, yellow, brown, and orange colored pencils. Although blue has been chosen for water and the skylights, Krier has playfully rendered a pink plaza and bright yellow walls.
The series appears to be a method for Krier to visualize a walk through the spaces. Since the project was designed to have continuous street façades, the design could be best understood through snapshots of the internal ‘rooms.’ Whether these sketches were meant to represent specific buildings may be irrelevant. Since perspectives (besides models) are the most effective way to view interior space, these sketches bring the observer inside and successfully seduce an overall impression conveying the ‘feeling’ of the buildings.
Larsen, Henning (1925)
Sketch featuring many of the studio's most important buildings, Various projects, 21 × 29.7cm, Fountain pen on paper
Henning Larsen has built remarkable architecture in Denmark and around the world. Particularly adept with steel, glass, and stone, his structures exhibit clean lines and a sensitive balance between solidity and transparency. Born in Jutland, Denmark, he attended architecture school at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen, the Architectural Association in London, and Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Boston. In 1952, he began apprenticeships in the United States and Denmark. In 1959, he founded his architectural practice Henning Larsen Tegnestue A/S.
A dedicated educator, Larsen has taught as a visiting professor at Yale and Princeton Universities in the United States and the School of Architecture, Aarhus, Denmark. Long associated with the Royal Academy of Fine Arts, Copenhagen, he was a Professor of Architecture (1968–1995). His architecture has been recognized with such honors as the C.F. Hansen Award (1985); the Aga Khan Architectural Award (1989); the Kasper Salin Award (1997); the Margot and Thorvald Dreyer Foundation's architectural award (1999); the Stockholm Award (2001); and the Rostocker Architekturpreis (2004), in addition to being the founder of the periodical SKALA.18
This sketch by Larsen (Figure 8.15) conveys a thought process that relies on the analysis of past projects to influence the design of a building complex. Rendered with similar line weight and crowded on the page, the images consist of plans, perspectives, and diagrams. On the upper portion of this page are several plans and axonometric-like studies exploring a series of connected buildings. These buildings are zigzagged around a central open space and surrounded with a border of foliage. Larsen appears to be visually testing alternatives for this complex, some within a circular boundary, others in a square. In his description of this project, Larsen indicated that the sketch includes images of numerous of his extant structures. Although not all-inclusive, the projects illustrated are as follows: Gentofte Central Library (1970–1979); Copenhagen Business School (1980–1989); Churchill College (1980–1989); Engh¿j Church of Randers (1991); Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek (1991); BT-House (1992); Concert Hall at Copenhagen Harbor Waterfront (1993); H¿rsholm Parish Community Centre (1993); and Opera in Copenhagen (2000). An interesting archive of his former projects, Larsen may have been sifting through the organization of each of these buildings as precedent. The small diagrams act as a ‘visual dictionary’ of possible (and successful) organizational solutions. They may also represent for Larsen the relationship between the project and its parti.
Larsen depends on his sketches for design inspiration. On the website arcspace he is quoted describing his relationship with sketches. ‘I can be inspired by a sudden image. My mind works like mad. The light strikes off some curbstones, it looks lovely. It's a detail. One never stops discovering new facets of something: contrasts, dimensions. It's all processed by the mind, you can't set it out like a column of figures, but still it falls into place. You can worry and worry over a problem without finding an answer, then in the morning when you wake up, there it is. Suddenly it's all so obvious. That's how to do it. That's how it will look. There are all sorts of problems I can't sort out. When that happens I sketch it all out on a piece of paper, solely in order to remind myself of the essentials.’
Legorreta, Ricardo (1931)
Section sketch, UCSF Mission Bay Campus Community Center, San Francisco, California, Felt marker on paper
Ricardo Legorreta is a contemporary Mexican architect whose work reflects the bold geometric forms of the international style, introducing elements of regionalism with his sensitive use of color and natural light in a fresh approach to architecture.
Legorreta was born in Mexico City and studied architecture at the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de México, graduating in 1952. He began an apprenticeship with the architect Jose Villagran Garcia in 1948 and became a partner in 1955. After freelancing for several years, he opened his own firm in 1963 entitled Legorreta + Legorreta. An educator, he has taught at schools of architecture in such countries as Japan, Argentina, Colombia, Guatemala, England, France, Israel, and the United States, to name a few. His incredible talent has been recognized with honors and awards including: two Silver Medals in the First Biennial of Mexican Architecture (1990); two Gold Medals in the Second Mexican Biennial of Architecture (1992); UIA Gold Medal, given in Beijing (1999); and the American Institute of Architects Gold Medal (2000).19
Legorreta completed buildings of various types and scales, they include: IBM Offices, Mexico City; Museum of Contemporary Art, Monterrey, Mexico; Children's Discovery Museum, San Jose, California; Cathedral in Managua, Nicaragua; San Antonio Library, Texas; and the Chapultepec Zoo, Mexico City.
This concise image (Figure 8.16) is a sketch for the University of California, San Francisco Mission Bay Campus Community Center. The building was created to bring the campus community together with a gymnasium, swimming pools, food services, auditorium, and retail space. Built in 2000, the structure is organized around a central atrium that ‘will serve as an orienting point, assembling the different spaces and helping the users to establish a visual connection within the building.’
Rendered in ink with yellow and violet felt tip pen, this sketch is a study for the 400 seat auditorium. The space has been articulated with a flat roof and a vaulted skylight. The sketch appears to be an early exploration since the final solution does not show this type of roof. The interior features blocks of tiered seating on both sides. The right side of the sketch shows the auditorium in elevation, viewing the front of the barriers. Legorreta has included people for scale; the seated audience have been suggested with brief dots for heads. On the right is a passageway for ‘backstage’ or exit/ entrance accessibility. On the left side of the sketch is a section representing the rise of the stairs. The stair's location has been guided by a sloped line overlaid with a wavy line to replicate steps. The far edges of the seating boxes are minimally indicated as horizontal marks. In the center of the sketch stands both a tall central feature and a scale figure on the stage. Lines have been drawn from the figure's head to the top tier of the seating and the vaulted ceiling. These arrows suggest Legorreta's concern for acoustics and sight lines within the space. A pale yellow arrow waves down from the ceiling, possibly indicating the admittance of sunlight.
The lines of the sketch are minimal and considered. It appears the single line thickness for exterior walls was reinforced with a heavier pen. Drawn relatively slowly, the lines undulate slightly with the movement of the instrument. They suggest Legorreta was holding the various pens quite loosely, concentrating on the accuracy of their location. Dots in the dome/vault may indicate texture or a perforation of the ceiling.
Lynn, Greg (1964)
Preliminary exploratory museum sketches, March 3, 2002, Ark of the World Museum and Interpretive Center, San Juan, Costa Rica, 11 × 14 in., Ink on Bristol paper
’The studio of Greg Lynn FORM has been at the cutting edge of design in the field of architecture when it comes to the use of computer-aided design.’ This statement from Lynn's publicity materials is important when considering the vast number of his publications, exhibitions, and lectures. Experimenting with advanced technology for design and fabrication, he has been innovative with ‘smooth, shiny, undulating, unarticulated, and seamless’ digital forms for his design process.20
Lynn graduated from Miami University of Ohio in 1986 with Baccalaureate degrees in Philosophy and Environmental Design. He attended Princeton University for his Professional degree, Master of Architecture. He worked briefly in the office of Antoine Predock Architect in 1987 before his employment with Eisenman Architects from 1987 to 1991. With his own practice, Lynn began working on competitions and theoretical projects. Although continuously involved with competitions, in recent years he has also collaborated on several built works, including the Korean Presbyterian Church of New York (1999); Cincinnati County Day School (2001); and Ark of the World Museum and Interpretive Center, San Juan, Costa Rica (1999).
Considering his theoretical approach, Lynn has taught at Universities in Europe and the United States. Much of his time is spent with exhibitions of his work and writing. His most recent books are Predator, published by the Wexner Center, and Embryological House, published by Princeton Architectural Press.
In some of his writings, Lynn has speculated on the sketch, especially concerning how he uses the digital medium to sketch. He discusses three forms of sketches. First, the sketch as expression, where the image envisions the future architecture and communicates design intent. The second is the diagram, which can be ‘used for disciplining complexity into legible spatial simplicity.’ The third sketch he titles the plexus, and is depicted as ‘a centralized organization defined by a cloud or collection of points’ that can be ‘a network of curved vectors that imply a relative center without an exact point of origin or radius.’ Lynn recognizes that the computer sketch has tremendous preci-sion, but instead of finding limitation in this medium, he employs its properties to experiment with digital fabrication and calculus-based form.
This freehand image (Figure 8.17) appears to be from a computer-generated exploration of tubular form. The geometries of the shapes, although repetitive, are each slightly irregular. On the page Lynn has identified the various bundles of shapes in organic terms: bloom, orchid, and petal. Strikingly, these forms appear to be sketched with construction in mind. Although perspectives dashed lines within their shapes show the form in its entirety. This use of see-through glasses to view what is behind suggests this sketch is not about viewing the finished composition, but rather inspecting the joining of the shapes. Although a common drawing convention, the dotted line technique helps to clarify the relationships between the pieces and adds to the three-dimensional impression.
Rendered in blue ink, the sketch is remarkably precise – very necessary when viewing such complex combinations. Often, drawing can be a factor in understanding, and although rendered easily with a computer program, the hand sketches may have allowed him a chance to analyze during the action of sketching.
Miralles, Enric (1955–2000)
Preliminary plan sketch, 1992–1995, Mollet del Valles, Park and Civic Center, Barcelona, Spain, Graffiti and crayon on paper
The Spanish architect Enric Miralles, in his short life, influenced the urban fabric of his home city, Barcelona. His architecture utilized a layered mosaic of materials to create playful façades.
Miralles began his architectural career when he graduated from the Escuela Técnica Superior de Arquitectura de Barcelona. He first worked with the architects Helio Piñon and Alberto Viaplana (1973–1985), and opened a firm with Carme Pinós in 1984. In 1993, he joined with Benedetta Tagliabue to form the practice EMBT Arquitectes Associats SL.21 Their urban spaces, Plaça dels Paisos Catalans and the Park in Besós in Barcelona, use color-ful active screens to enliven these public parks. Kinetic in nature, these sculptural constructions also act as shading devices for a perpetually sunny city. Other projects from the office of Enric Miralles and Benedetta Tagliabue collaborative include: the Scottish Parliament Building on the Royal Mile in Edinburgh's Old Town (1998); Construction of the Reader's Circle Headquarters in Madrid (1991); Utrecht Civic Center (1995); first prize for IUV Headquarters, Venice (1999); and the Mollet del Valles Park and Civic Center in Barcelona, Spain (2000). The Parliament Building grows out of the site resembling a collection of upturned boats and seashore imagery. The design employs a leaf theme (based on a flower motif by Charles Rennie Mackintosh) accented by a steel and glass roof with laminated oak beams. Miralles was a visiting professor at universities in the United States, Britain, Italy and Austria. He directed postgraduate studies at the Städelschule in Frankfurt, Harvard University, and the Architectural University in Barcelona (Zabalbeascoa and Marcos, 1999).
This is a sketch for the Mollet del Valles Park and Civic Center (Figure 8.18). Colorful and expressive, this image uses crayon to form crucial relationships between concepts or representational spaces. The sketch portrays primary colors as indicators. Bold patches of orange and yellow fill in circles on the left. Green and blue linear strokes extend upward and out to the right and left of the central forms. Seemingly random shapes in the form of lozenges and arcs work their way across the page to provide interludes between the areas of color. A very quick sketch, the vibrant strokes zigzag tightly to fill in shapes or loosely form the linear extensions. The poché spaces are conveyed with straight and parallel lines contrasted by the sparsely nervous lines that cover a larger area. This diagonal movement indicates the way the squiggled lines, not lifting the crayon off the paper, ultimately create areas of potential form.
The pressure on the sketching tool varies across the page; sometimes light, at other points strong and forceful. Appearing as plan or elevation relationships, the sketch reflects conceptual intentions. When Miralles and Tagliabue wrote about this project they were also describing the ephemeral and exploratory nature of the sketch. ‘The main interest of this project is, maybe, not directly in it, but in the “themes” it contains; the suspension of the building, of graffiti becoming architecture, of the colors of a painting becoming places, of the suspended spirit of the users, of unexpected connection. … We like to think that this project could be a project for the “near future,” being a more subtle conception of architecture. Architecture of the future will be lighter, especially in its concept.’ The sketch helps to define the idea of the future project.
Murcutt, Glenn (1936)
Sketch plan, 1992, Glenn Murcutt Collection: Marika Banduk [Alderton] House, Yirrikala (PXD 728/Roll 230/A 135), 26 × 37cm, Pencil sketch on butter (trace) paper
Glenn Murcutt has a private practice, designing mostly houses that are environmentally sensitive. His architecture expects buildings to respond to their climate and landscape. Awarded the Pritzker Prize in Architecture in 2002, Murcutt works alone, concentrating on small projects where he has greater control of the outcome.
During a family trip, Murcutt was born in London. The family returned to Australia in 1941, where he has lived since. He studied architecture at the University of New South Wales, graduating in 1961. After travels to Europe, he served an apprenticeship with the architectural firm of Anchor, Mortlock, Murray & Wooley until 1969. Strongly influenced by Mies van der Rohe, Murcutt has also studied the vernacular architecture and culture of the indigenous people of Australia. His carefully detailed buildings limit the environmental impact on their sites, ‘touching the earth lightly.’22 A few examples of his published work include: Marika – Alderton House – Yirrkala Community, Eastern Arnheim Land, North Territory; Laurie Short House, Terrey Hills, Sydney; and projects in New South Wales: Magney House, Bingie Bingie; Minerals and Mining Museum, Broken Hill; and Bowral House, Southern Highlands.
This sketch (Figure 8.19) describes a section study for the small Marika Banduk (Alderton) House.23 Rendered in pencil on ‘butter paper’ (yellow tracing paper), Murcutt envisions the complex integration of structure, environmental controls, and interior space for humans. The techniques show a slow and contemplative hand; expressing the winds as wavy lines becomes an analogy for the movement of air and the movement of the pencil. The deliberate lines study the intensity of the sun and the structure of the roof. The roof has been structured with beams, showing the space between the roofing material and the bracing. The floor, in section, indicates the joists and foundations. Two footings have been ‘called out’ and a third was added later. This sketch reveals how the building will sit lightly, lifted off the ground.
Other environmental issues are considered throughout the page. Winds from the southeast and northwest have been designated as wavy lines and arrows. Sun angles have been approximated for several times of the year (December 22, March 22, June 22) to help Murcutt design the widths of the overhangs. He was visually testing the amount of shade that would protect the interior of the house. Conscious of the sun's azimuth and altitude, he has noted the ‘Latitude 12½° South, 137 Longitude’ as a reminder.
The sketch primarily shows the relationship between interior space and the porch. By drawing one figure sitting on the porch, Murcutt reinforces the inside/outside continuance. The figures remind him of the inhabitants, the feeling of the space and the conditions of climate control.
The sketch represents a device to remind Murcutt of pertinent information, to evaluate the information visually, and record the thought process of design. There is reason to believe that the page was sketched while he was traveling. On the lower right, notes describe his location and musings about his state of mind. He writes: ‘Flying 39,000ft. over Ankara Turkey; listening to Bach; clear sunny day; 22:50hr Sydney time.’ The sketch can take him to the plains of Australia as a substitute medium and be a companion for thoughts wherever he travels.
Piano, Renzo (1937)
Elevation sketch, 1991, Cultural Center Jean-Marie Tjibaou, Nouméa, New Caledonia, 8.3 ½ 11.7 in., Felt pen on paper
Ever since his partnership with Richard Rogers and the unveiling of the celebrated Centre Pompidou in Paris (1977), Renzo Piano has been a major figure in contemporary architecture. Born in Genoa, Italy, in 1937, he graduated from the school of architecture of the Milan Polytechnic. While a student, he worked under the design guidance of Franco Albini. Between 1965 and 1970, he met and began a friendship with Jean Prouvé, who had a deep influence on his professional life.
In 1971, with Rogers, he founded the Piano & Rogers agency and in 1977 joined with the engineer Peter Rice in the firm of l'Atelier Piano & Rice. Recently, Piano founded Renzo Piano Workshop with offices in Paris and Genoa. A few of his best known projects include: office building for Olivetti, Naples (1984); Menil Collection Museum, Houston (1986); S. Nicola Football Stadium, Bari (1990); Kensai International Airport Terminal, Osaka (1994); the Debis Building (Headquarters of Daimler Benz), Berlin (1997); Lodi Bank Headquarters, Lodi (1998); and the Aurora Place, high-rise offices and apartment blocks, Sydney (2000).24
The winner of the 1998 Pritzker Prize, Piano has received many awards and honors from foundations around the world. He has been widely published in numerous catalogues, articles, and books about his work including the Renzo Piano Building Workshop, Complete Works, Phaidon Press in 1997. One of his most celebrated recent projects is the Cultural Center Jean-Marie Tjibaou, Nouméa, New Caledonia, completed in 1998.
This sketch (Figure 8.20) is an exploration for the Center. Piano has used a narrow, green felt pen to render a section cut through one of the exhibit spaces. The ground plane has been sketched more slowly, showing a heavier, controlled line. Wavy to the left and straighter to the right, it expresses his understanding of the natural site as it transforms into the building. The instrument has given him a bold mark that can be somewhat varied, thick or thin. The trees behind the building and the lattice of the back wall have been treated with similar horizontal strokes showing his concern for integration of the site. The lines of the building and the section cut are substantially heavier than the marks he used for proportioning and dimensioning. These lines are firm and decisive, with little hesitation except for the roof of the pavilion. Here Piano appears to be studying the beginning and ending of the roof and its angle.
This sketch also represents the concept of profile.25 A profile is an outline of an object but it can also reveal the relationship between inside and outside. This relationship allows architects to comprehend how the building meets the sky and how it meets the ground, and the solid/void relationships between the two. Piano's section sketch began a dialogue about how far the humans needed to step up into this building and what that meant for the experience of the space. He has included scale figures to further understand the height of the roof and the volume of the space.
The tall, fast strokes may represent Piano's thinking on the contextual aspects of the project. Since they may have been less defined as architectural elements, he could sketch them in tall, fast gestures. In the project as built, they became structural elements that define space.
Roche, Kevin (1922)
View of Central Administration Building, Headquarters of Banco Santander, outside Madrid, Spain
The Pritzker Prize jury was insightful when they cited Kevin Roche's architectural design work as innovative. Employing new technologies combined with sensitive design solutions, his architecture constantly questions in a way that is inventive. Roche considers the design of each project on all scales, from the site and interiors, to the details. His elegant solutions have made him one of the most celebrated architects in the United States.
Born in Dublin, Ireland, Roche emigrated to the United States in 1948 and began graduate work at the Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago. Completing his studies, he joined the firm of Eero Saarinen becoming the principal associate in design (1954–1961). After Saarinen's death in 1961, Roche and colleague John Dinkeloo completed the large number of projects in progress, including the TWA Terminal at John F. Kennedy Airport in New York and Dulles International Airport in Washington, D.C. In 1966 they formed the architectural firm of Kevin Roche John Dinkeloo and Associates.26
Besides being honored with the Pritzker Prize in 1982, Roche has been recognized with the Academie d'Architecture Grand Gold Medal (1977); the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters Gold ‘Medal’ Award for Architecture (1990); and both the American Institute of Architecture Gold Medal Award and Twenty-five Year Award (1993, 1995), to name a few of his awards. A selection of projects designed by Roche include: the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; the Oakland Museum, California; the Jewish Museum, New York; Bouygues World Headquarters, Paris, France; Shiodome Office Development Complex, Tokyo, Japan; and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Zesiger Sports and Fitness Center, Cambridge, Massachusetts.
In addition to all the media architects use to visualize design proposals, Roche writes that he finds ‘sketches very helpful in exploring ideas particularly in concert with study models.’ Similar to tech-niques employed by Saarinen's office, Roche studies the spatial qualities of his designs with many types of models, large models, full-scale mock-ups, and three-dimensional details.
This sketch (Figure 8.21) is an early study for the financial complex of Banco Santander outside Madrid, Spain. The complex of buildings has been arranged around a transparent circular structure. Horizontal layers of glass are framed by slender masses which create a contrast between the solid and transparent.
The sketch is small and bold. The few lines give a total impression without corrections or erasures. Roche appears to have outlined the forms in perspective, then to provide volume applied firm parallel lines on shadowed surfaces. The crisp corners of the boxes have been rendered before the pencil became dull, then using a blunt pencil, a few strokes articulate the rectangular planes. This change of texture acts to clearly differentiate the materials.
As a comprehensive view of the building, the sketch conveys a similar amount of detail over the whole image. Wavy lines, where the solid rectangles meet the glass cylinder, suggest the crenulated connection between the layers and the frame. Sketching too fast to define the stepped connection, the continuous line undulates seemingly independent of the horizon lines. This almost organic con-nection breaks the strong vertical and horizontal elements and reinforces the speed of Roche's thought process.
The sketch proved to be such a true and concise expression that the corporation, Banco Santander, chose to use it as a representative image for the project. It sums up the essence, relationships, and appearance of the building.
Safdie, Moshe (1938)
Exploration Place sketch, Exploration Place Science Museum, Wichita, Kansas
Beginning his architectural career with the celebrated master plan for the 1967 World Exhibition and Habitat ‘67, Moshe Safdie is an international figure in contemporary architecture, completing projects such as museums, airports, educational institutions, federal courthouses, performing arts centers, and libraries.
Moshe Safdie was born in Haifa, Israel. After moving to Canada with his family, he studied architec-ture at McGill University. Upon graduating in 1961, he apprenticed with Louis I. Kahn in Philadelphia. He then moved to Montreal, where he became involved with the World Exhibition. In 1970, he estab-lished a Jerusalem branch office participating in the rebuilding of that city. There he was responsible for major segments of the restoration of the Old City and the reconstruction of the new center, along with projects such as the Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum and the Rabin Memorial Center.
Safdie has taught at Yale, McGill, and Ben Gurion universities and was Director of the Urban Design Program and the Ian Woodner Professor of Architecture and Urban Design at the Harvard Graduate School of Design. He maintains offices in Boston, Jerusalem, and Toronto. A few of his most renown projects include: Quebec Museum of Civilization, Vancouver Library Square, Telfair Museum of Art in Savannah, Khalsa Heritage Memorial Complex, United States Institute of Peace Headquarters in Washington, D.C., and the National Campus for the Archaeology of Israel in Jerusalem. Safdie has published many books and been the recipient of numerous awards including the Gold Medal of the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada.27
This sketch (Figure 8.22) represents an early conceptual design for the Exploration Place Science Center and Children's Museum in Wichita, Kansas. The project is a one hundred square foot building of galleries, theaters, and exhibit space. It is located in downtown Wichita where the Arkansas and Little Arkansas rivers meet. Constructed of toroid geometries that form a series of concave roofs, the exhibition building becomes an ‘island’ extending into the river and, in contrast, the ‘land’ building has been inserted deep into the earth.
The sketch shows a series of unarticulated geometric shapes perched on a dark body of wavy lines. Safdie writes that this sketch ‘was done at the earliest design phases in which I had concluded that the museum should, in part, be an island within the river, expressive of the component parts of the individual galleries that make up the museum.’ The image appears to capture Safdie's first thoughts. Unsure of the shape the future structure would take, the sketch uses light lines to give the gesture of what the building will be. Because of the abstract form, he filled the shapes with color to articulate volumes, most likely to begin to view the combination of parts. The façades have not yet been given windows or materiality, but instead convey the shadows of planes. At this point the pieces could not be viewed as a building, but a suggestion that assisted Safdie in exploring the next iteration.
Rendered with ink and either chalk or crayon, in values of blue and tan, the lines are expressive and brief; few strokes of the pen outline a possible building. The river in the foreground is the most worked feature, showing waves and areas of deep blue. Sensitive to the site, Safdie has chosen to view the building from the river. This emphasizes the strong relationship the building has with its site, and is most likely part of the impetus for the design conception.
Siza Vieira, Álvaro Joaquim Melo (1933)
Process sketch, Galician Center for Contemporary Art, Santiago de Compostela, Spain
The recipient of numerous awards, including the 1992 Pritzker Prize, this architect is known to the world as Álvaro Siza. His architecture appears to reflect the white boxes of modernism, but upon further inspection, one can view how his buildings inspire through the conscious interplay of form and shadow.
Siza was born in Matosinhos, near Porto, Portugal. He studied at the School of Architecture, University of Porto (1949–1955). Beginning a practice while still in school, he completed his first project in 1954. Many of his early buildings were designed in collaboration with the architect Fernando Távora (1955–1958). Siza's practice, over the last fifty years, has specialized primarily in domestic pro-jects, schools, and exhibition spaces. A few of these buildings include the Bouça Housing Project (1973–1977); a high school, Setúbal (1986–1994); Meteorological Centre in the Olympic Village, Barcelona (1989–1992); Museum of the Serralves Foundation, Porto (1991–1999); and the Portuguese Pavilion for Expo 98, Lisbon (1997–1998). With honors too numerous to fully list, the Portuguese Architects Association gave him the National Prize of Architecture in 1993. Siza has also been awarded with the Praemium Imperiale by the Japan Art Association (1998), Premio Internazionale di Architettura Sacra by Fondazione Frate Sole in Pavia (2000), and the International Medal of Arts by Consejera de las Artes in Madrid (2002).28
This sketch for the Centro Galego Arte Contemporanea (CGAC – Galician Centre for Contemporary Art) reflects Siza's concern for the exterior massing and façade articulation of this building. He writes that the project represents a study of volumes, materials and language. In this project he is concerned with the small site, and the various scales and significance of the surrounding structures. The program that designated exhibition space, auditorium, and cafeteria and service areas is shown in the separation of volumes by the various functional spaces.
Having viewed several of Siza's design sketches, this sketch (Figure 8.23) conveys his typical process where he stacks numerous perspectives on one sheet. Several of the views show the building from a distance emphasizing how the building sits on the terrain. The variations on a theme overlap where a new thought possessed him, ignoring the image beneath. Not necessarily the result of scarce availability of paper, the dense proximity of the sketches probably allowed Siza to constantly reference either the overall form of the building or the earlier alternative solutions.
The sketches appear to be thoughtful studies rather than first abstract impressions. This shows in the techniques of texture (drawing the separate pieces of granite on the façade) and light accentuating the surface materials. The low perspective angle of the sketch on the upper left demonstrates the monumentality of the bold forms. This study sketch appears to have been concerned with the joining of the volumes and the understanding of solid/void relationships, not necessarily the first organizational diagrams. Each sketch has been thoroughly articulated as if he needed to participate with its construction. This intense ability to see as part of a design process can be connected to understanding as Siza writes: ‘There are two different words in Portuguese that mean “to look” and “to see and understand” (olhar and ver). The tool of an architect is to be able to see.’29 Less about an immediate impression the sketches contain a certain pondering that reveals their volumetric interaction.
Soleri, Paolo (1919)
Drawing of an early concept of Arcosanti, April 1971, (from the Paolo Soleri sketchbook #7, page 333), Arcosanti Foundation, Mayer, Arizona
An urban planning theoretician and visionary architect, Paolo Soleri is best known for his work on the Arcosanti, the prototype futurist city being constructed in Arizona. Based on the concept of ‘Arcology,’ his theory ‘advocates cities designed to maximize the interaction and accessibility associated with an urban environment; minimize the use of energy, raw materials, and land, reducing waste and environmental pollution; and allow interaction with the surrounding natural environment.’30 Born in Italy in 1919, Soleri was educated at the Ecole d'Art Industriel in Grenoble, France. He also attended the Torino Liceo Artistico, Academia Albertina and graduated with a Ph.D. from the Torino Politechnico in 1946. He has been conferred with many honors and awards including the Golden Lion Award, La Biennale di Venezia, and most recently the Commendatore della Repubblica Italiana. He has also received numerous grants and fellowships for research and development by such foundations as the Guggenheim and the National Endowment for the Arts. Soleri has published his provoking sketches in several books.
Soleri writes in his 1971 publication, The Sketchbooks of Paolo Soleri, that his sketchbooks
’are actually a visual archive of my daily work.’31 These books are approximately 400 pages each and rendered ‘with large ballpoint pens or laundry markers; occasionally pencils or wax crayons are used.’
Soleri writes about the design process evident in the use of his sketchbooks:
’A natural question arises: Has the procedure of a “bookkeeping” of the mind influenced the thinking and living process? Probably yes. There is an underlying structure to every life, a structure that can be driven deep into the recesses of the self but also one that can be brought to the surface, or better, can be brought “visually” into the process of life by various devices. The sketchbooks are one of these devices. … I do not know if I can explain why I work in series. That is to say, every time I develop an idea, I then proceed to conceive a series of variations on the theme. … Another explanation is that there is no such thing as the complete, final, or perfect response to any challenge, even when the challenge is specific and detailed. As soon as the first idea works itself onto paper, all its scarcely known relatives with different degrees of legitimacy are in close pursuit. So there they come, sketchy and naked, to be picked up again later for reassessment and characterization.’
Soleri has been constantly sketching his theoretical visions for cities. His books of sketches feature interconnected structures within large building complexes. This sketch (Figure 8.24) appears to be part of the structure for Arcosanti, and it is typical of the massive structures that are the foundations of the arcology for his city. The sketch has been rendered freehand with a nearly perfect semicircular dome as the dominant feature. The lines indicate a slow, thoughtful approach. Slightly wavering, they seem to achieve proportion and the relationships of forms to give a general impression of the structure and space. Although sketched carefully to show shadow and detail, many of the forms are misshapen to reveal less concern with the mechanics of the sketch, as some are reworked to find the optimum shape. Sketched in ink, a medium that discourages changes, there are very few ‘mistakes.’ One might conclude that this was not the first thought, but a sketch that evolved during the making.
NOTES
1. Biographical information provided by Agrest and Gandelsonas Architects.
2. Biography of Tadao Ando and information on the Church of the Light provided by Tadao Ando Architect & Associates.
3. Biographical materials and information on the Cymbalista Synagogue and Jewish Heritage Centre supplied by Mario Botta Architetto.
4. Schizzi di studio, in Botta, M. (1991). Mario Botta – Schizzi di studio per l'edificio in Via Nizzola a Bellinzona. Spazio XXI. Arti grafiche A. Salvioni. Sent by Mario Botta Architetto, translated and paraphrased by me.
5. Biography and descriptions of the Tenerife project has been quoted and paraphrased from a publicity statement sent by Calatrava's office.
6. Biography and information on the Nanhai Hotel provided by the office of Chen Shi Min.
7. Biographical and project information provided by COOP HIMMELB(L)AU.
8. Biography of Charles Correa from information provided by his architectural firm.
9. Quotes and paraphrased biographical material provided by Diller + Scofidio + Renfro.
10. Quote and above information from publicity materials provided by Gehry Partners, LLP.
11. Quotes, paraphrased biography, and information on the Vitra Fire Station taken from materials provided by Zaha Hadid Architects.
12. Juror's comments posted on the Pritzker Prize website.
13. Biography of Hiroshi Hara in publicity materials provided by Hiroshi Hara + Atelier.
14. Biography of Zvi Hecker provided by Zvi Hecker ? Architect ? Berlin.
15. Quote from information provided by Zvi Hecker.
16. Biography of Hans Hollein on the Pritzker Prize website. Information provided by the firm Hans Hollein, Architekt concerning the design for the Guggenheim Museum in Salzburg; articles ‘A Guggenheim Museum for Salzburg’ by Wieland Schmied, and ‘The Museum in the Rock’ by Hans Hollein from the publication The Guggenheim Museum Salzburg by the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, Zentrum für Kunst und Medientechnologie, Karlsruhe, and Residenz Verlag.
17. Quote and biographical materials provided by Rob Krier. Also information about their current projects from the Rob Krier Christoph Kohl website.
18. Biography provided by Henning Larsen Tegnestue A/S.
19. Information on Ricardo Legorreta, his biography and facts about the UCSF Mission Bay Campus Community Center from publicity provided by Legorreta + Legorreta and his roster of projects from the firm's website.
20. Facts about Greg Lynn's work and quotes by him from publicity and articles sent to me by Greg Lynn FORM.
21. Information on the firm EMBT Arquitectes Associats SL and this sketch from the arcspace website.
22. Biography of Glenn Murcutt on the Pritzker Prize website.
23. Thanks to the Glenn Murcutt Collection, Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales for providing this sketch. Copyright permission secured from Glenn Murcutt.
24. Biography and information on Renzo Piano's projects, awards and publications provided by the Renzo Piano Workshop.
25. Seminar with Marco Frascari discussing issues of cutting, breaking and peeling. Georgia Institue of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia.
26. Biography provided by the office of Kevin Roche John Dinkeloo and Associates. Additional information was collected from the Pritzker Prize publicity materials.
27. Biography, quotes concerning the sketch by Moshe Safdie, and information on the Exploration Place Science Center and Children's Museum provided by Moshe Safdie and Associates, Inc. Architects and Planners.
28. Biography provided by Alvaro Siza 2 – Arquitecto, LDA.
30. Arcosanti Foundation publicity materials.
31. Quotes and paraphrased text from the preface of Paolo Soleri's 1971 book, published by the MIT Press, provided by the Cosanti Foundation, 2004.
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