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

philosophy seeks intellectual formulas of balance between the “medieval faith in God and the
self-confidence of Renaissance man”’ (1963, p. 76).
SKETCHES
Renaissance ideals, supportive of creativity and speculation, allowed sketches to become a common
media for recording, communicating architecturally, visualizing, evaluating, and designing. As a brief
preamble, this discussion presents some commonalities between the techniques and intentions of
architects’ representational media that can be observed through their sketches.
Drawing became the basis for the artistic endeavors of Renaissance architects. It was through the
act of drawing that advancements in visual perception were developed. Brunelleschi’s lessons, which
described perspective construction, changed the way architects presented their proposals. It also
changed their conception of the architectural artifact and, subsequently, architectural space. It
proved easier for them to visualize the spaces they intended, since these were three-dimensional
views rendered with relative spatial accuracy. The new (or renewed) codification of perspective
construction greatly influenced painting as well as architects’ methods of design.
The ‘elevation’ as a drawing convention dates to the early 1400s. It revealed the dominating features
of the façade and made proportioning easier to explore with drawings (Murray, 1978).
Remnants from medieval forms of representation, these drawings did not have contemporary concepts
of construction as part of their language. In the mid-1500s, Leonardo was producing a prolific
number of sketchbooks, evidence that the Renaissance artists/architects accepted drawing and
sketching, and many practiced their skills with intense regularity. These skills were attained through
maturity, allowing eye–hand coordination to be developed with practice. These architects recognized
the value of such skills in allowing them to visualize unseen aspects of their architecture, but it
was not until the end of the century did architects begin to draw monuments from antiquity for evaluation
or recording (Murray, 1978). ‘The development of such a technique of descriptive drawing is
of fundamental importance to the way in which an architect visualizes buildings – to the very process
of his thought – and the technique of architectural (as distinct from pictorial) drawing was in a critical
stage of development at the end of the fifteenth century’ (Murray, 1978, p. 12).
Humanism encouraged architects to believe in their identity as God-given rather than Godinspired;
thus, they were less inhibited in the use of sketching as a creative act. As an artistic community
they continually shared information and skills through the publishing of treatises, which
were basically books of rules and advice for practice and theory. Through this collaboration, they
perpetuated a collective interpretation of classicism. The rules supplied them with the basic elements,
but drawing encouraged their interpretation and manipulation of these elements. The treatises
prescribed architectural rules such as the orders – but they were indirectly advocating a theory
of drawing.
The Renaissance architects obtained large commissions that they could complete in the span of
their lifetime; thus, they needed the forethought provided by sketches and drawings to command
many craftsmen and masons. The necessity to conceptually understand a building before its erection
defined a new role for the master builder. Unlike the craftsmen of the gothic cathedrals, the
Renaissance architect supervised construction partially because the project could not be finished
by relying entirely upon traditional methods – innovative elements and details required intellectual
foresight.
The Renaissance architects held allegiance to their individual patrons who were responsible for
funding such large projects. The educated clients expected to be convinced of the validity of a project
before it was undertaken. This required the architect’s skills to both convey conceptual ideas and
delineate convincing presentations. Comparatively, the patrons also felt the pressure of competition;
their personal prestige was often tied to self-aggrandizing monuments of their accomplishments.
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