Design Communication

Floorplan, check. Sections, check. Elevations, check. Sound familiar? I've always wondered why professors made these requirements for projects, at least in the traditional format of construction drawings. Do professors really investigate every line of every drawing for every student in the class? Probably not. I question their necessity in our education where it seems to me that the most important part of any studio project is the [process involved and the ideas being presented].  I guess what I'm saying is we as students don't question traditional practices and what we have to gain in our education from doing these types of drawings enough.

You don't need a 5 year professional degree to do CAD drawings (I got a job pretty easily with an associates degree). Honestly, I don't even think you need a high school diploma as long as you know how to use CAD, since most new employees learn on the job anyway. You would be cheaper to hire and I'm sure they [architects and engineers] prefer that.

I'm not saying this skill is unimportant. Its very important, its our way of communicating how something gets built but for design education  is it ultimately necessary to have students spend time checking off these requirements? Are they learning about new ways of thinking or becoming more creative by doing these drawings? 

Most importantly, are they the best way of communicating a designer's ideas to an audience of people?

A perfect example that comes to mind is what is currently happening with the second year studio I assist in teaching with. They only see requirements on a piece of paper for scaled drawings, models, etc. They wonder why we can't see their conceptual ideas and I say it is because of the limitations of the medium they think they have to work in. 

How is it that so many of us have turned a blind eye to the arts and other avenues of conveying information? These areas have so much influence to offer on our process work and presentations.

I read a lot about Cubism last year in Stoel's furniture studio. Picasso and Duchamp were making paintings about how paintings work. They were showing what the mind knows rather than what the eye sees. Since I am a cubist fan its not a surprise that I am also a huge fan of Zaha Hadid's work. Her paintings and ways of conveying architecture, not only as eye candy, but as true conceptual ideas and physical concepts [her models are just as spectacular] are a breath of fresh air. She is only one but I'm sure there are many that push and pull in different ways to get their ideas across to the masses.

In time I hope to develop my own signature style and poor attempts at recreating someone else's will do for now as a learning experience. I suppose it helps to know there is a place for that in the world.

(The first two images are my own but the other three are Zaha Hadid's)