Architectural Drawings: History, Present, Future

Abstract

The history of the teaching of architectural drawing can be traced back to the Accademia di San Luca in Rome, where drawing played a key role in the architect’s toolkit. Over time, the Academy became a model for architectural education in Europe and, until the 20th century, freehand drawing was afforded special significance.

The present day is a period of digitization, of a fascina- tion with new means of graphical presentation, and it would appear that the role of freehand drawing is losing its impor- tance. The impressive capabilities of computer-aided design programs suggest that the contact hours of teaching students the manual skills of the art of representing designs can either be decreased in number or outright reduced to zero. On the other hand, the final decades of the 20th century saw an exceptional appreciation for freehand drawing as a form of conveying ideas, intents and ambitions of architects and architectural adepts. It thus appears that the task of teachers in today’s architecture schools is to include methods of illustrating the design process via the use of digital media, drawing and traditional modelling in their curricula. This is because the future is full freedom to create either traditional images or digital projections, including AI-assisted ones.