As computers have increasingly eclipsed the notion of pencil-in-hand, has the art of the architectural sketch been lost to the ages? Drawing from Practice, Architects and the Meaning of Freehand(Routledge, $55) , a new book out this month by author and journalist J. Michael Welton, argues that despite never-ending technological advances, freehand is still very much a part of the architectural profession today.
Featuring both newly minted architects and those with star status, the book profiles 26 international practitioners and explores how freehand factors into their work, outlining projects from initial sketch to completed structure through a series of drawings, photographs, and explanatory text.
From the sketches of Tom Kundig, Daniel Libeskind, Richard Meier, and the late Michael Graves, to illustrations by the young multidisciplinary studio Höweler + Yoon and the North Carolina–based architect Frank Harmon, the book includes more than 200 drawings that reveal the diverse group’s hugely varied techniques and specialties, and confirm that drafting by hand will never become a redundant skill in architecture, design, and beyond.
For more information, visit routledgeom
