Freehand: The Latest Architecture and News

If today technologies are emerging for different forms of representation and interaction with drawing, understanding how architects communicate through hand-drawn strokes can be essential to delve into the topic of architectural visualization. Through the simplicity of gestures, small texts or a collage of references, it is possible to translate ideas in an innovative way, unlike the ways that a render can present. For this reason, we highlight here the work of great names such as Lina Bo Bardi, Renzo Piano, Pezo von Ellrichshausen and Mikkel Frost, who, using different techniques, reveal different ways of representing a project.

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Facades are the first barrier outside a building. They weather rain, snow, winds, sun, and temperature changes. Their primary function is to keep interiors free of water, thermal bridges intact, and internal atmospheres as comfortable as possible. This reality is why the detailing of facades is usually done by experienced architects or specialized companies, who understand materials and construction methods well and are able to select the best solutions for each circumstance. But some projects have facades with such complex detailing, encompassing thousands and thousands of lines, hatches, and dimensions, that they inspire a particularly awestruck response. Making these drawings didactic, technical, and, above all, beautiful, is a task few can achieve to perfection. We spoke with Troy Donovan, the creator of the 188,000 follower Instagram account @the_donnies, who does this job like few others. Read the interview below.

To anyone enrolled in an architecture school, final year projects tend to be the perfect time to go all in. Whether you go for 3D visualizations or build remarkable models, your final presentation is the chance to display every conceptual and technical skill acquired throughout the years.

For his B.A. Final project, architect Mohammad Pirdavari of Ati-Naghsh Hamraz Consultants, presented his modernist stadium proposal in a series of freehand Airbrush drawings. His intricate graphics helped accentuate the stadiums’ raw material and detailed relationship between the main exposed structure, and the smaller covered one.

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