Architect Drawings : A Selection of Sketches by World Famous Architects Through History

equired precise instrumentation, as did surveying and engineering construction. The earth
was no longer at the center of the universe, and writings by Copernicus and other
astronomers necessitated diagrams and various forms of recording. Machines, such as clocks,
contributed to this interest in the philosophical and natural world. The visual calculations of
algebra and geometry proliferated as knowledge was shared. This resulted in attitudes engaging
visual speculation and exploration of the unknown or newly proposed. These occurrences
invariably affected and enhanced the visual speculation of architectural sketches at the
threshold of the profession.
The building techniques and the practice of architecture affected the development of
sketches for Renaissance architects. When the writings by Vitruvius were rediscovered (he had
been known in the Middle Ages but was rediscovered as interest was revived), architects of the
Renaissance had a model for practice (Kostof, 1977). Vitruvius had paired theory with practice,
the knowledge of building and the ability to understand why. He advocated the architect
as scholar, understanding art and culture, and the activities necessary to architecture such as
law, music/acoustics, astronomy, and philosophy (Vitruvius, 1934). As a person of science the
architect could maintain theoretical knowledge of proportion and perspective (Kostof, 1977).
Thus, these architects needed to acquire an education by sketching directly from antiquity. In
Spiro Kostof ’s book The Architect, Leopold Ettlinger explains how the Renaissance architects
engaged drawings (1977). They employed drawings to record the physical shapes of the artifacts,
to measure and calculate proportions, to explore building construction and to represent
these buildings in drawing form. The desire to record what they observed made the sketch
invaluable as an extension of the pattern books of the Middle Ages. Although architects were
not organized into guilds, the prestige of the architect was elevated. They were responsible for
the work on the site and could choose the craftsmen. These architects clearly used drawing to
conceive of the designs for their architecture. The early Renaissance architect Sanzio Rapheal
advocated the use of two types of architectural projection: plans and elevations (Kostof, 1977).
Drawings that remain from the Renaissance include plans, elevations, sections, perspectives,
both conceptually describing early ideas and exploring a tremendous quantity of details. It is
difficult, however, to trace drawings through the construction process which puts their use on
the site or their role as construction documents into question. Ettlinger speculates that these
drawings (especially of antique details) served to inform builders of a new paradigm for construction.
The functions of sketches are more obvious as they act to show how these architects
conceived and tested ideas. Depending less on traditions, having control over the construction
process, and convincing their patron of the project before construction began encouraged
architects to include sketches in their vocabulary.
Giorgio Vasari certainly had a role in the retention of architectural sketches during the
Renaissance. Vasari believed in the relationship between the architectural inception and the
sketch. The sketch, as the best example of architectural expression, became associated in value
with the individual architect. Vasari, perceiving this relationship, began collecting architectural
sketches. He gave mythological stature to these Renaissance architects with his publication
The Lives of the Artists. Ernst Kris and Otto Kurz discuss the ascension of artists and
architects to mythical status. They write that while the Middle Ages respected craftsmanship,
the Renaissance viewed beauty in the unfinished remnants of inspiration: ‘The Cinquecento
no longer regarded the imitation of nature as the acme of artistic achievement, but rather
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