REAL WORLD TRANSPARENT DRAWING

I thought it would be fun to show a couple of real world Transparent Drawings.

As long time readers know, I use Transparent Drawing on a daily basis in my office.  I think transparently on paper.  I make Transparent Drawings.  And then I incorporate those drawings into design presentations to clients.  And I don’t get fired.

As I have said before and I will say again, clients love it when you can draw.  They love to see hand drawings.  They may not say, oh, what a beautiful analogue drawing you made.  The communication that an (analogue) drawing provides is much deeper than any digital regurgitation.

The sketch at the top of the page is for an addition to a colonial house.  And it shows the integration of the interior spaces as they work with the exterior forms.  It shows a curvilinear interior structure with a faceted exterior expression.

The sketch above is for an addition to a Second Empire residence.  The drawing is endeavoring to communicate the employment of skylights, both existing and new, so as to bring natural light into the house during the long and dark winters.  The drawing also suggests a new family room structured as a pavilion.

And, actually, regarding the drawing at the top?  I lied.  I did not show that to the clients.  For if I did, I would have been fired.  The drawing at the top is one of my Drawing From Drawings that I do way after the dust has settled from a design presentation.  Instead, the drawing directly above is one of many that I did for the first design presentation for this project.  The drawing demonstrates the basis program requirements;  a new entry (shown at the lowest level), a new kitchen (shown at the middle level, and an expanded master bedroom (shows at the upper level.)  The scoop like form near the roof is designed to bring natural light to the center interior of the house.

The important thing to understand is that drawings like these do a lot of work.  They include a large amount of information.  They show parts of a solution while at the same time they evoke and suggest other possibilities.  They begin to address the conflation of interior space and exterior form. They begin to suggest light, shade and shadows.

And all of this information is included within one, simple, drawing.