CHING 1

Francis Ching, in his book Architectural Graphics, has been another huge influence, to architects at least. He writes that “Drawing is…a cognitive act that involves visual perception, judgement and reasoning of spatial…relationships.” page VIII.  I like the combination of the terms visual and reasoning. This term could apply to architecture, product design, etc. We don’t think of reasoning as visual. Reasoning is logical. And logic employs the use of words. Here we are again at the literary / graphic duality which other authors have dealt with here and here.

As we expect, Ching teaches us to draw representationally. If we take the axonometric as presented in Ching, all of these drawings are opaque. When you do these drawings, you have to pay attention to what is hidden behind the planes and objects in the foreground. So even in these modest pencil drawings, you are expected to think representationally, not rationally and not functionally.

The word transparent is used rarely in Ching. It is used in the phrase “Transparent Picture Plane Box” on page 27. A Transparent Picture Plane Box (T.P.P.B.) is the box that you draw around the object. In essence, your object fits within the T.P.P.B. This helps you to then organize the elements of your drawing by projecting from the T.P.P.B. The T.P.P.B. is a good idea and can be applied to any drawing exercise. For example, if you were to draw a coffee cup, you could draw a T.P.P.B. around the cylindrical shape of your cup, and this will help you to organize your graphics so that the resultant object will look representationally correct.

What is amazing about that axonometric in Ching on page 27 is that it is more or less a transparent image! This is due to the projections of the elevation elements on the T.P.P.B. Nevertheless, there is an interesting dynamic. In a way, this drawing says everything we are trying to say. Yet Ching discards it as a process drawing! This will not be the last time that transparent drawings are discarded in the onward march toward representation.

Ching also uses another term that is important to this study, multiview. He writes, “The mind must be able to read and assemble a set of multiview drawings to fully understand the nature of the three-dimensional subject.” Technically, Ching is talking about assembling a three dimensional drawing from a plan and two elevations. And he is entirely correct. We do need to be able to synthesize in our minds a three dimensional understanding from a series of disparate images.  Of course, he stops short of the production of a true transparent drawing.

I won’t bother producing drawings that explain Ching’s concepts. I also won’t bother posting images from the book due to possible copyright infringement.  Besides, there are any number of sources on the web in which Ching’s Architectural Graphics can be viewed in PDF format for free.  To which I ask, if anybody is paying attention to copyright infringement, then how can there be complete digital versions of books online which you can download for free?