Architects’ Sketchbook
![Architects’ Sketchbooks](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/bAqKaukuSezNPUX8MYs5Na-415-80.jpg)
Ask any architect about the genesis of their work and they'll usually say something about the importance of drawing. In the digital era, the sketch is perhaps the last bridge between the architect and artist, an umbilical cord that reasserts their claims to creativity. Architects' Sketchbooks is a new monograph that brings together the thoughts, squiggles, sketchbooks and first drafts of a huge number of prominent contemporary practitioners. Contributors include Will Alsop, Shigeru Ban, Tony Fretton, Sean Godsell, 3Deluxe, Eva Jiricna, Norman Foster, Alessandro Mendini, Narinder Sagoo, Paul Raff and Terry Pawson.
The term 'sketch' is pretty loosely interpreted. Some of the imagery is computer-generated, some of it is three-dimensional models, some painting and collage. Working methods are rarely laid completely bare, but aptitude and spatial sense is more apparent in some entries than others. Shigeru Ban's precise diagrams for the Centre Pompidou-Metz imply the formal elaboration was already fixed and immutable, while Will Alsop's characteristically abstract paintings give little indication of architectural form. Other examples are most linear, like the heavily worked tracing paper roughs by Boidot Robin Architects which eventually evolve into neat card models. Or Brent Buck's densely layered pen sketches and meticulous notebooks or Sean Godsell's obsessive, small scale form-making.
The era of the grand measured perspective, along the lines of Frank Lloyd Wright or Paul Rudolph, are probably over for good. But Architects' Sketchbooks offers convincing proof of the role of drawing in architecture, be it as a playful means of expressing ideas (Narinder Sagoo's elegant, cartoon-like project descriptions for Foster + Partners, for example) or as an expressive way of exploring form.
One of Narinder Sagoo’s elegant, cartoon-like project descriptions for Foster + Partners
Sketch
Heavy pencil sketch
Watercolour by Rafael Vinoly of the Kimmel Centre
Sketch of the Tokyo Hall
Sketch
Drawing
Drawing by Point Supreme Architects of the Flowershop axonomic
Computer rendering by Point Supreme Architects for the Benetton Competition
Sketch
Coloured pencil drawing
Sketches by
Computer rendering by Junya Isigami & Associates
Wallpaper* Newsletter + Free Download
For a free digital copy of August Wallpaper*, celebrating Creative America, sign up today to receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories
Jonathan Bell has written for Wallpaper* magazine since 1999, covering everything from architecture and transport design to books, tech and graphic design. He is now the magazine’s Transport and Technology Editor. Jonathan has written and edited 15 books, including Concept Car Design, 21st Century House, and The New Modern House. He is also the host of Wallpaper’s first podcast.
-
Feel at home at Auberge, Château La Coste's new inn for culture lovers
Auberge La Coste sits at the heart of the art-filled estate, minutes away from the joyful town of Aix-en-Provence
By Harriet Thorpe Published
-
This Nova Lima apartment is a Brazilian family oasis with striking Minas Gerais views
A Nova Lima apartment designed by Jacobsen Arquitetura celebrates its long, natural Minas Gerais vistas
By Ellie Stathaki Published
-
Commune’s sustainable personal care products look ‘quite unlike anything else’
Commune’s Somerset-made products stand out in the sustainable skincare crowd. Madeleine Rothery speaks with the brand’s co-founders Kate Neal and Rémi Paringaux
By Madeleine Rothery Published
-
‘A Time ⋅ A Place’ is a lovingly compiled photographic portrait of cars and architecture
‘A Time ⋅ A Place’ is a celebration of the European Car of the Year and changing perceptions of modern design, pairing the best buildings of the age with their automotive contemporaries
By Jonathan Bell Published
-
Álvaro Siza’s new monograph through the lens of Duccio Malagamba is impactful and immersive
Álvaro Siza and photographer Duccio Malagamba collaborate on a new monograph by Phaidon; ‘Before / After: Álvaro Siza Duccio Malagamba’ celebrates the Portuguese architect's work
By Michael Webb Published
-
Marcio Kogan’s Studio MK27 celebrated in this new monograph from Rizzoli
‘The Architecture of Studio MK27. Lights, camera, action’ is a richly illustrated journey through the evolution of this famed Brazilian architecture studio
By Jonathan Bell Published
-
‘Interior sculptor’ Christophe Gevers’ oeuvre is celebrated in new book
‘Christophe Gevers’ is a sleek monograph dedicated to the Belgian's life work as an interior architect, designer, sculptor and inventor, with unseen photography by Jean-Pierre Gabriel
By Tianna Williams Published
-
Flick through ‘Brutal Wales’, a book celebrating concrete architecture
‘Brutal Wales’ book zooms into a selection of concrete Welsh architecture treasures through the lens of photographer Simon Phipps
By Ellie Stathaki Published
-
Architecture books to inspire shelf love
Here at Wallpaper*, we’ve got architecture books piling up; among them, these are the photographic tomes, architects’ monographs and limited editions that we couldn’t resist
By Ellie Stathaki Published
-
Pioneering modernist Henry Kulka's life and career tracked in limited-edition monograph
Czech-New Zealand architect Henry Kulka, a man who spread modernist ideals half way around the world, is celebrated in Giles Reid and Mary Gaudin’s richly illustrated monograph
By Jonathan Bell Published
-
Nordic architecture explored in Share, a book about contemporary building
Discussions about Nordic architecture and contemporary practice meet in a new book by Artifice, Share: Conversations about Contemporary Architecture – The Nordic Countries
By Ellie Stathaki Published