Architectural Drawing: Exercise 1 - A Tale of Skydiving

Welcome to a new series called Architectural Drawing, where I share with you what I have learned in regards to drawing in architecture. As of right now, each installment will feature an analysis and brief overview of my weekly homework assignments in my Intro to Architecture class, as well as my thoughts on it.

Before I was handed my class syllabus for Intro to Architecture, I had no clue what to expect. Very
briefly I imagined it being mostly classroom and lecture based. That initial thought turned out to be wrong--extremely wrong. In this class, we jumped right in to the practice of architecture. Actually no...let me give you a better analogy. 

Imagine you are 15,000 feet above the ground inside an airplane. Now imagine somebody has strapped a parachute onto your back. At this point, it's important to clarify that you've never gone skydiving. Ever. Sure, maybe you thought to yourself, "Hey, at some point it would be kind of cool to go skydiving." But you never thought you would be doing it very soon. 

In fact, you were doing it the next day. 

As the instructor goes through the very basics of what to do once you were out of the airplane, your heart pounds so hard you think you can hear it. You're not sure what to expect. As he continues on, multiple questions pop in to your mind. Yet there's no time to ask him. Before you can even say a word, he opens the airlock, and in comes the rush of air. The wind is so loud you can barely hear. The instructor grabs your shoulders. 

"You ready?!" yells the instructor. 

Your mouth opens slightly to try and get a word in as a look of concern comes over your face.

"Good! Have fun!!"

And out you go. You better have the skills to figure the rest out on your own.

While it's not a perfect analogy, I think it encapsulates the feeling everyone had the first few weeks. Most of us are now starting to get the hang of it. Expectations have been set. 

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The first six weeks are focused solely on architectural drawing. Drawing is foundational to architecture. If you can't express your thoughts through drawings, you future as an architect is almost non-existent. This does not mean you have to be a great artist when you first start out. Drawing, especially drawings of buildings, takes dedication and practice to perfect. 

Before we began drawing buildings, our first assignment was centered around introducing us to how architects write. Now writing in architecture is just as important as drawing. Communication, after all, is at the forefront of an architect's arsenal. It's what makes architecture possible. Bad communication can have some awful and even deadly consequences when it comes to spaces people live, eat, and work in. Therefore, the first thing an architect must know how to do is write--and write well. I'm not just talking about grammar. I'm talking about legibility and the quality of the penmanship. 

In diagrams, explanations, and other textual elements of architectural drawings, the penmanship has to be extremely legible so that anyone can easily read it. More than that, the spacing between letters, words, and lines has to be consistent as well. Once again, any chance of miscommunication should be avoided as much as possible. Through architectural lettering, miscommunication due to poor writing will never be an issue.   

For our first assignment, we had to write a full page of this type of lettering and copy the font type that was given to us. The process of architectural lettering involves a ruler, a sharp pencil, and a straightedge. (Most professionals don't use straightedges. Instead, they do it freehand.) The ruler is used to create guidelines. We had to make them 3/4 the height of a grid square so that each line would be spaced appropriately. The straightedge, or triangle, helps make the vertical lines perfectly vertical and the horizontal lines perfectly horizontal. The tool also helps train your hand, so that eventually, you can ditch the triangle and write freehand! 

My first time writing a full page took me many hours to accomplish. Here is most of my first assignment.

As you can see, the consistency in the curves is not perfect. In fact, it still needed a lot of work. But most of the spacing between letters and words is consistent. As people always say, "Practice makes perfect." Each assignment we have done in the past month has included architectural lettering. Whether we are drawing a structure or creating a floor plan, architectural lettering is used to describe what the drawing is about. So, we were able to get more and more practice with each assignment. And sure enough, the quality of the lettering has been improving. Take a look at my lettering just five weeks after that first assignment.

A paragraph of architectural lettering about a specific building's rhythm, or repetition.

The consistency of the curves has improved significantly. I'm also beginning to shorten the spaces between letters while providing ample room between words. Furthermore, the width to height ratio of each letter should be about 1:1. In other words, the letter C should be just as high as it is wide. I am beginning to improve on that as well, compared to assignment one.

And finally, the most recent example.

A near full page of architectural lettering, describing the hierarchy and datum of a building.

 Don't get distracted with the drawing of the building. We'll get to that eventually!

Architectural lettering, like drawing, is the backbone of architecture. Both involve communication and the expression of ideas into physical reality so that others can understand it. As I get more and more practice with lettering, I want to eventually lose the straightedge and write freehand. I tried doing that for my last assignment, but it didn't last long!

As we go through each assignment in the coming weeks, you will notice that these assignments are cumulative. For instance, the project last week involved all the things we had learned in our previous five assignments put into one assignment. Because of this, we are constantly improving through doing similar work in new exercises.

As of right now, our class has reached the sixth week of architectural drawing, and I am starting to get the feel for it. I never would have thought we would be doing so much drawing so early. This is not at all like art class. They do not teach you to draw here. We were shown the fundamental techniques, but not much else. Even though I had multiple questions throughout my assignments, I was usually able to answer them thanks to my classmates, teachers, and the internet.

But when it really mattered, at least I knew how to open my parachute.


Now time for an easy glide back to Earth.

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Want to know how I got into architecture? Check out my earlier post.

Where I've Been And Where I'm Going

I am now a freshman in college, and just as I had planned for a long time now, I'm studying Architecture. I have so much to discuss! But first, allow me to tell you the story of how I got here.

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I was sitting there. Just thinking. What elective should I choose? As I went through the different options in my head, I tried to visualize what each one would be like, and which one I would like the most. At the time, I loved computers. From a young age, I had used my dad's video camera to record home videos or skits and then edited them using Corel Video Studio, an amateur editing software. I was good at it too--mainly because of how much time I put into it. I also enjoyed playing video games. Lots of them. 

Racing games and first person shooters became fairly monotonous once they reached their replay value limit. But there were other games, more creative games, that allowed you--the player--to choose his or her own "destiny." In other words, they were sandbox games where you chose how you wanted to play. Because of that, they almost never became boring. Roller Coaster Tycoon 3 (RCT3) was one of those games, and it was one of my earliest experiences in sandbox titles. But it got me thinking: It would be so cool to become a roller coaster designer.

Wooden roller coaster from my final RCT3 post.

Those were my thoughts. Because of this reasoning, I chose to take the Advanced Media elective. This was in 7th grade. I would soon find out that we would be required to create our own blog.

The New York City skyline as seen from the Chrysler Building. (Also a long time background used on my blog.)

So, I picked my topic. RCT3 had sparked an interest in me regarding buildings and how they worked, so I chose Architecture as my blog topic. In January 2011, I began The Art of Architecture. My very first post covered the newly built Burj Khalifa in Dubai, the tallest building in the world. As time went on, my writing became much better. Thanks to this blog and my English courses at my high school, writing became an art I thoroughly enjoyed and still enjoy to this day.

Burj Khalifa

I had only been posting RCT3 content for a few months when I found Minecraft. Just a few days prior to that discovery, I wrote in one of my RCT3 posts that I wished I could find a game that allowed me to express architecture and design more freely and without limits. 

It was almost prophetic. (More like wish fulfillment.) 

Stoa of Doric

In any event, Minecraft became a primary creative outlet for design, and it fit perfectly with my blog. I wasn't just analyzing someone else's work. I was analyzing my own work. And that was very satisfying. From March 2011 to the summer of 2015, I played Minecraft off and on, showing my designs on this blog. Even though the first designs were not that great, all of those designs were like individual stairs on a never-ending staircase, with each step being a small hurdle I had to pass before moving on to something better. Once I built the Stoa of Doric and Barbarossa Cathedral, I felt like I reached a plateau. It truly felt like I had accomplished all I ever wanted to in Minecraft. 

Barbarossa Cathedral

Building a cathedral was a goal I had set for myself ever since I began playing. I just never knew when it would be fully realized.

Throughout my time playing Minecraft, I learned one thing: I had a mind of an architect. Balancing function and aesthetics quickly became a battle I had to wage every time I constructed a new building. I had to collect the materials, understand how they worked together, and not just think about the design in my head, but make it come to life in a physical three-dimensional reality. The work was worth it, and a lot of fun! At the end of these projects, I was always left with intense feelings of satisfaction, accomplishment, and wonder. But I didn't want to stay inside a game. I wanted my career to make me feel the same way, which brings me back to the present day.

Frost Bank Tower from Today's ArchiPic #96

I'm now in college, sitting here in my dorm writing my newest post. I've only been in school for a month, but I've learned so much about Architecture, especially drawings! In the coming weeks, expect posts about the work I have had to do in architecture class. I can't wait to show you what I have done! 

As I go along, I'll try to share my experiences on this blog. It could be a great learning opportunity for you, the reader, but also for myself--to reinforce the concepts I have learned. Just like how my Minecraft projects were stepping stones for future endeavors, each weekly Architecture exercise builds on the previous one.

Here's to the many years of The Art of Architecture. Let's press on!