Where it all begins - Concept sketches of architects

"The sketch is the most simplified way to tell a building, in its simplicity far better than words."

The concept sketch is what bridges the conceptual thinking and design in the making.

The first phase of architectural process is the conceptualisation of the design and a good concept sketch provides a powerful means of communication for the architect to translate his ideas to his clients. 

Let's take a look at some concept sketches and of some architects and compare them to the actual building!

Steven Holl

Steven Holl is known for his distinct watercolour sketches that he uses so successfully to visualise volumes, forms and light.  

Sketch of Knut Hamson Hamaröy Center , Norway

Steven Holl's Knut Hamson Hamaröy Center , Norway

Dominique Perrault

Most of Perrault's sketches are drawn with the hasty strokes of a black pen to capture the idea in its most basic form. In some sketches, colour is used to show contrasting material effects.

Sketch of EWHA Womans University, Séoul, Korea

EWHA Womans University, Séoul, Korea

Louis Kahn

According to Louis Kahn, 

"Form precedes Design. Form is “what.” Design is “how.” . . . Design gives the elements their shape, taking them from their existence in the mind to their tangible presence. . . . In archi- tecture, it characterizes a harmony of spaces good for a certain activity."

Kahn called this type of sketch a “form drawing.” Kahn often used this kind of drawing as a tool for visualizing and explain- ing his thoughts about a project.
  

Concept sketch of First Unitarian Church of Rochester, New York 

First Unitarian Church of Rochester, New York 

Peter Zumthor

"Peter Zumthors buildings are powerful statements with minimal means, an approach even reflected in his sketches. Light can be seen to be pouring in to the building of Kunstaus as shown in his plan sketch." (CMU Architecture)

Sketch of Kunsthaus Bregenz, Bregenz, Austria

Kunsthaus Bregenz, Bregenz, Austria

Types of architectural drawings

While an architect's job is to design buildings, a large part of their job requires them to communicate their ideas out to others.
As the old saying goes " a picture speaks a thousand words". Before a building gets built, it is very hard for others to visualise how the building is going to look like with just verbal descriptions. Hence, architects need to depend a lot on visual communications to convey their ideas out to others.
Architectural drawings, henceforth, work as a means of communicating ideas, concepts and details.
They include drawings of different views of the proposed building. Here's a list of the basic drawings in a set of architectural drawings. The drawings of Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater house and Mie's Farnsworth House has been used as examples.

Floor Plan

It is a drawn-to-scale diagram of a view from above showing the arrangement of spaces at a particular level of a building.Technically it is a horizontal section cut through a building (at about 1 metre above floor level) showing walls, windows and door openings and other features such as stairs, furnitures and fittings below that level.

Site Plan

It is a specific type of plan that shows the building in relation to its site or surroundings. A site plan shows property boundaries and means of access to the site and nearby structures. 

Sectional Drawings

A section represents a vertical plane cut through the building. Sections are used to describe the relationship between different levels of a building.

Fallingwater sectional drawing

Elevations

An elevation shows the external view of a building seen from one side, a flat representation of one façade.

Fallingwater Elevation

Detailed Drawings

Detail drawings show a small part of the construction drawn at a larger scale, to show how the component parts fit together. 

Farnsworth House roof detail

Images taken from: 
http://blogs.qu.edu.qa/bach2017/modernist/failing-water/
http://www.columbia.edu/cu/gsapp/BT/GATEWAY/FARNSWTH/secccfl.jpg