I dont think you are completely screwed. They like seeing the hand stuff, but I think that it is important to show at elast a little capability and familiarity with the 'puter.
Learn some cad, and do some photoshop you should be fine.

I never needed CAD in undergrad (with the exception of one group project in my Materials and Methods 2 course, final semester)..for that project I learned enough to be helpful...

fortunately, my current position allows me to work solely at the drafting board, pencil on vellum. When I apply to grad school in a year, I don't plan on having any CAD in my portfolio...I do, however, use the shit out of photoshop for a ton of different purposes...Not too big into 3-d computer modeling either, but hope to get better between now and grad...

yeah I think that the computer is important. It is a tool, it would be like trying to get into grad without model building or hand drawing. I think is key, and not that hard. Sounds like you guys have been lucky to find work without the digital skillz. I know every single job I have had has been because of the 3-d models in my portfolio. And then I usually do CAD. I dont mind it at all, I like cad, I like form-z and lightscape too, they are almost fun to use.
Lathough for my own portfolio (as AP knows) most of the drawings are by hand, I love to sit in front of vellum and make marks.... You can get better linewieghts and is just more fun.
LKately though I have had the smae feeling with 3-d model perspective making, you can have so much fun making crazy ass computer stuff.

i worked at a couple of high end residential firms that did everything by hand. they have both switched over however. in an interview i once had the guy thought my hand drawings were done on the computer. sweet.

when i started undergrad we had 4 macs, you know the ones with the screens built into the tower. i taught myself to use minicad and maybe 2 other students did too, but the profs weren't impressed. and rightly so. cad is just a tool. if you can do the same work by hand then it doesn't matter.

on the other hand...
my first office was all hand-drafting, but the whole office switched to computer within a year (this is about 8 years ago now) and since then i haven't worked for a firm that does hand drafting. nor have i any friends who do the pencil on vellum thing anymore either. so you will likely have to learn it to be marketable. it isn't that painful. even the old guys in my office learned to do it and they are ll in their 60's.

during the course of my years in undergrad... which is fairly recent...
i hand drew every project... then scanned it in and did some photoshopping...
but mainly did this because i loved to draw... however i kept in mind that i should learn as much as possible about other software... so i would use your hand drafted drawings to your advantage and try to also show some computer work... not just for grad school but for yourself... now that you know the measure of your hand drawn line you can understand or begin to dab into the measure of the computer [which is often so vast we lose ourselves to it]...

when you draw by hand you are thinking about architecture in a different way to drawing digitally.

neither are dispensable for me.

great thread. i love drawing by hand... it is the reason i became apart of this field.

I miss bippies.

Thanks for your posts everyone. I guess, I saw the thread with that Illinois guy's (girls?) grad portfolio and freaked.
I know and use Photoshop, InDesign, VectorWorks and AutoCAD.
But, 3dStudio Max, Form Z, Rhino, Maya . . . ack.
Is everything going to be spiffy 3d renderings from now on? I think they're beautiful, but, that's just not me. I'm I going to be a dinosaur?
It seems as though everyone is agreeing on the basic principal that it's not what program you use (or don't use) but, the strength and quality of the design and concept. Is it still possible to illustrate that without making a computer rendering? Or is that just what "is done" now?
Rebelliousz_poet: I totally agree with the statement "measure of the computer [which is often so vast we lose ourselves to it] . . ." Exactly! It is so easy to get stuck on absolute accuracy. Yikes!

as you surely know, samsonio (lucky you, having studied at the IUAV!), many examples of beautiful and thoughtful architecture exist in the absence of any computer aided design or construction documentation. I understand, however (before I get barated) that CAD is at least needed for CD's..., and, perhaps on larger projects, for earlier stages in the design process...

is it a necessity otherwise? to ask differently, can it be saved for the later stages of documentation, and if it is, does it detract from any validity or credibility in the project? serious questions i never really considered asking...

Area calculations must be a bitch without autocad.

I would say you are fine with the hand drafting instead of the computer, it will be nice to see it as opposed to all the CAD drawings, you should however try to incorporate models into your portfolio, durring all reviews I've had in grad school the model is the main focus of the critics. I would think they would pay attention to them in portfolios as well.

agree tagalog. my grad school wasn't ivy league and while we had advanced classes in cad and recently (according to the everpresent alumni magazine) a new facility that lets students go from computer to fabrication in a zip, not one of the profs gave a damn about the renderings if the work wasn't there. high end renders and no content would be ground to nothing by any of the profs at the drop of a hat. they would say nice rendering but rip the rest and hte guy would get a shit mark or a redo.

mind you we did have a guy who wrote a fiction novel as his grauate design project, so maybe we didn't have a normal faculty...

samson, you should be fine for grad school, but i think that you should definitely be comfortable with the computer before you graduate. i went from an undergrad school where the physical model and hand drawing were king to a grad school where slick computer models ruled.

my first pinup in grad school was kind of comical...almost everyone else had slick 36x48 presentation boards and i had a presentation of hand drawn plans, sketches, collages, a physical model and a watercolor rendering...the juxtaposition was kinda funny

for almost my entire 2 years in grad school i practically had to pick up my physical models and throw them at the jury to get them to look at them...quite a difference from undergrad when they would pick them up and look into them and often rip pieces off...i even had a fellow student come up to me the night before a midterm review and ask me why i was building a physical model since it was only midterm

looking farther into the future, employers LOVE to see portfolios containing some hand drafting work ... although most firms will want to know that you have the capacity to be productive (whatever that means) in autocad or microstation or whatever

in our firm, we see so many recent grads who seem to think the whole world exists within ram ... while cad is important, effective interaction with others typically requires the ability to communicate graphically on the fly, in informal settings ... we find the best candidates are those who can use the computer, aren't strangers to hand drafting and have some real ability to sketch, and develop, their ideas freehand

don't forget about the presentation programs, like powerpoint or apple's keynote. these were invaluable tools when i was in grad school. at that stage, it's not just about making architecture anymore but also about making arguments. craft your presentation and your argument, then add a little flash animation if you got the time, and you are well on your way to making juries drool...regardless of whether your drawings are in cad or by hand.

puddles - I think that's a great point about "making your argument" That's something I found to be the most important even as an undergrad. And, in any situation where you have to present an idea (scholastically or professionally)
architphil - I cannot imagine not building a physical model, and wow - people questioning why you'd be building a sketch model . . . yikes. I too came from an undergrad where the professors would pull things off models - one prof in particular. He was one of the best I had.

minor detour, response to j: actually i've found it not too difficult to leverage powerpoint to my needs. you just can't use the goofy slide change checkerboards, page turns, etc., nor their backgrounds or other graphic cheese. but if you bring in your own graphics and 'design' each page/slide, it's actually pretty workable.

ya, I'd have to agree, not per. In particular, during a faculty candidate search a few years ago, I witnessed at least 3-4 impressive presentations given via powerpoint. In these cases, strong content powered over Flashy graphics.

samsonio - be careful to distinguish what you need for grad school vs. what you need for a job. They're completely different.

I got a top tier graduate degree and did not learn CAD until I was finished at age 31. I took a weird twisted pride in this. I am very digitally proficient now, but was not at all when I began my M.Arch, and was entirely self-taught, having worked at an office that was 75% hand-drafting before school.

Also, I know a woman who got into a top graduate program with a portfolio entirely based on photography (not that I recommend this, but she presented herself and her capabilities well, and schools can see that).

I think it's important to have computer skills -- many people make the good point that it's unavoidable, good practice, synergistic with the profession, and illustrative of your design sense -- but this is not a job interview to see how well you can crank out CDs.

Rely on your strengths. If you don't know Maya it may be a disservice to learn it just so you're "covered", only to illustrate it may not be your strongest point. Leave that to the applications of people who spend their lives on Maya and provide 100% Mayan portfolios. Your portfolio should never be a checklist of skills, rather an evocation of talent.

Just my two cents.

just a related side note... Ken Roberts Delineation awards

i avoided the computer during school except for the occasional necessity to photoshop. i did everything analog, knowing that computer applications were independent to each firm and I would be able to pick up whatever I needed to when I needed to.
Basically I didn't want to learn computers in school, I wanted to learn architecture and design. Is working so far.

i love freehand drawings of floor plans...it gives the presentation a more human touch than cad. cad looks like it all came from a single factory it doesnt show any character at all. but then on the other hand i also love 3d models made in cad, it gives me more freedom to work with my massing, materials etc.

why not try the program [http://www.sketchup.com]sketchup[url] , even a 10 yr old can do 3d models using it. it also gives the presentation a sketchy look...just like freehand.

in terms of grad school, i would imagine you'd be fine

if you were applying for a job, maybe not, but maybe so

i was very good at hand drafting until my 4th year of school when i forced myself to learn CAD by doing a project with it

after one semester of the commands "copy", "stretch", and "trim" i said goodbye to hand drafting for(almost)ever, with just a couple of times since then when i had to hand-draft by necessity (i didn't own a computer but i had side work)

i just had a presentation where the owner was on his 4th architect for a project. his previous 3 architects showed only hand-drafted plans and elevations to him (for schematic design). very pedestrian and they were obviously more invested in the look of the drawings than the design. i put a set of autocad-generated drawings and a model on the table, apologized for my lineweights, and dove in to my presentation. he loved the design, the look of the drawings mattered not a whit to him, and i cost 1/3 what his previous three architects had each charged him -- because i did the actual presentation drawings in 2 hours with CAD.

all goes to show -- it's the ideas that count. it ain't architecture till it's built

My recent experience with new employees is that I find that if someone has great hand drafting / drawing skills they tend to have a stronger technical building understanding. Not trying to over generalize but the idea of cut and paste detail drawing assembly is not a good practice and have had to warn staff of even considering it. I have found and discussed with other Professionals the idea of handdrafting ensures a very true "measured sense of where a line starts and stops. Every line represents something and the act of drawing makes you keenly aware of its role in the entire drawing.

But I also would never knock the computers role in the office either its just a tool used in the process.

i had a supervisor and mentor who forced me to freehand (without even a scale) all my details at first (when i had just graduated). in this way i had to think about everything i was doing. after a few months i learned how to apply the same kind of rigor to CAD drafting. the unfortunate consequence is that cut-and-paste doesn't allow for that repetition.

I think everyone here is overlooking the fact that hand-drafting has not yet been proven successful in 3-d honeycomb technologies. Without the computer its just a bunch of useless fiddling.

but who wants the 3dh technos ALWAYS? hand drawing skills are basics for an architect. whistler has a good point there. in my opinion, anyone who uses the hand drafting tends to learn more construction details etc.

samsonoio- i say, go for it mate. i always prefer hand drafting. but i think you have a problem there by not having renderings or models. sketches and manually done views (if they look neat, artistic and conveys your thoughts) will work fine still.

i`m applying to grad school as well, but i (want to) have a balanced presentation. the final year works are all done in computer. but, the initial studio works were all done manually.