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

Architectural theory proliferated and was widely distributed, with treatises such as Laugier’s Essai
sur l’architecture, advocating naturalness, simplicity, elemental geometric forms and lauding Greek
architecture; Claude-Nicholas Ledoux’s L’Architecture considéré sous le rapport de l’art, des moeur set de la
legislation, the first volume in 1804; Colin Campell’s Vitruvius Britannicus; and The Castle of Otranto: A
Gothic Story by Horace Walpole. These volumes were less about rules for the orders and the consequent
methods of drawing, and more about character and the expression of architecture. Two developments
of neoclassicism that directly influenced architects’ drawings and sketches were the Ecole
des Beaux-Arts, with strong rules for graphic representation, and the polemical fantasy images of the
visionary/revolutionary architects such as Claude Nicholas Ledoux and Etienne-Louis Boullée.
SKETCHES; EDUCATION AND DESIGN PROCESS AT
THE ECOLE DES BEAUX-ARTS
During the eighteenth century, academies of the arts were prevalent. State sponsored education of
architects began in 1671 when Louis XIV’s minister, Colbert, formed the Académie Royale
d’Architecture with Jacques-Francois Blondel as its chief professor. The pedagogical foundation was
built on the concept of ordered schemes and the aesthetic experience of buildings (Trachtenberg
and Hyman, 1986; Drexler, 1977). As a method to control building for the monarchy, it advocated
correct rules of proportion, harmony, order, and symmetry that would insure beauty (Egbert,
1980). After a period of turmoil in the late 1700s the school was transformed into the Ecole des
Beaux-Arts. Closed in the late 1960s, the Ecole’s method of education evolved; although rendered
in various forms its general methods remained constant. A student matriculated the second class
after successfully passing an entrance exam, usually a small design project. Students organized their
own studios under a practitioner, who was usually an architect holding an association with the
Ecole. These ateliers were the primary source of education, although lectures on theory and building
assembly were available to the students. Students progressed through the school by acquiring
points for placement in design competitions. These competitions consisted of several types –
monthly sketch problems, decorative sketch problems, those limited to a space of nine hours, and
several more formal competitions culminating in the most coveted competition: the Prix de Rome.
One student per year was given this award of a stipend to study in Rome.
The organization of the competitions was particularly important. It was representative of an educational
method and the development of drawing conventions. In the short monthly competitions,
specific issues such as interior decorative problems were explored. These projects were sketch problems,
completed within a limited time. The Prix de Rome, however, was divided into several stages
of competition. Although the stages and requirements evolved over the years, a short sketch problem
was given to a large number of students, usually thirty, to narrow the field to a group of eight.
Each of these remaining contestants, after receiving the program, was sequestered en loge (in a small
cell) to prepare a generalized esquisse. This consisted of an organizational parti usually presented in
the form of plan, section, and elevation. Embodying the conceptual solution, the parti was compared
with the final rendering for consistency. This method forced the students to make decisions
quickly and to express themselves clearly to the jurors ranking their solutions. The esquisse was used
to quickly visualize the solution, express the character of the building, and compose the page.
Although mostly freehand, the esquisse was not the loose first thoughts of a sketch, but a rough
rendered drawing that conveyed the essence of the solution. Prior to the esquisse, most students
sketched variations of possible organizations called ‘pre-esquisse’ or quick abstract explorations. The
esquisse was required to be drawn on opaque paper, although tracing paper could be used for design
exploration. The plan, section, and elevation were drawn to scale, and most competitors left time
to render these drawings with pale washes. As a generalized concept, the design was not about
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