ARC 392D, ARC 328D, ARI 381R.1, ARI 350R, LAR 381S, LAR UG, U D 380C
TH 2:00PM-5:00PM, WMB 6.126
Open to ARC, ARI, LAR, U D, Arch Studies minors, Interior Design minors, and Landscape minors
Instructor: John Blood
This course asks students to critically examine the relationship between design values, processes, and aspirations through the graphic language of architectural representation. Architectural drawings are not simply descriptions of buildings; they are instruments through which architecture is imagined, constructed, and communicated. Whether produced manually, digitally, or through hybrid methods, drawings give form to an architecture that is yet to exist— an architecture that occupies the space between imagination and material realization.
The course considers graphic representation as an active part of the design process rather than a means of simply documenting its outcomes. Through the production and analysis of drawings and images, students will investigate how choices of medium, technique, composition, and graphic language shape the ways architectural ideas are conceived and understood. The drawing becomes both a record of design thinking and a means through which new possibilities can emerge.
Students are encouraged to approach representation as a field of experimentation and inquiry, developing greater intentionality in how they construct and communicate architectural ideas. Through an iterative engagement with process and media, students will refine the quality, specificity, and expressive potential of their work while identifying a distinctive graphic language and position within architectural practice. The course ultimately asks students to consider not only how they represent architecture, but how representation itself can become a way of thinking, designing, and imagining architecture.