So far in design ive been hand-drawing. Simply, solely and Only hand-drawing. After a crazy search for a Mayline which took me into manhattan and left me scrounging for all the accompanying parts in studio i successfully re-installed my parallel-rule. I never thought i would say that again, nor have to use it (virtually every other second year studio is not only on the computer but taking scripting courses at that). With that said i ABSOLUTELY LOVE HAND-DRAWING. There is so much depth and thought put into a drawing when one uses pencil or ink on paper. The purpose of this series of drawings was; an analytical precedent study of OMA's Seattle Public Library. We did this aspect of the project in pairs- a first for me in a design class. I worked with a good/very talented friend of mine- brian (hoodie) schulman. Normally i would try to avoid working with someone im friendly with but this worked out quite well as we both learnt alot from each other- both in our processes and on an overall level. We spent hours pouring over books researching Rem Koolhaas' thought process and the execution of it. Since it was a very contemporary library (opened in 2004) there was a wealth of information on and about it. I was also fortunate enough to have visited the library only weeks before while i was in Seattle over the summer and i was able to use the pictures i took at the pinup. Our favorite book was aptly entitled "Seattle Public Library" by Verb publishers. The book was written in conjunction with OMA, Arup and Bruce Mao- The architect, Engineering firm and graphic designer respectively- to put together a wealth of not only photographs but useful drawings and diagrams ect. This is why, when researching architecture BOOKS, not the internet, are the most useful tool. The internet one may find some cutesy wikipedia page with two or three good photos (sometimes) while in books the publishers license the architects drawings and go out of their way to do the research for you.
Our challenge in doing the precedent study was that we had such a wealth of information. We did not want to simply copy or replicate the drawings or diagrams we found we wanted to have a succinct, conceptual and analytical set of drawings. Below are photos of the pinup following a few dozen hours of drawing. Nothing teaches one more about a building than having to draw it by hand, all the structural components, floor plans, ect; floor by floor, and section by section.