![#](https://make-arch.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.makearchitects.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2018%2F08%2FMonet.jpg?auto=format&crop=center&fit=crop&h=178&ixlib=php-1.2.1&w=210&s=ddde7fb19a03d58b14e583c1d94ce736 210w,https://make-arch.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.makearchitects.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2018%2F08%2FMonet.jpg?auto=format&crop=center&fit=crop&h=356&ixlib=php-1.2.1&w=420&s=18da40f64c4689e39f2bf412aa7e5638 420w,https://make-arch.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.makearchitects.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2018%2F08%2FMonet.jpg?auto=format&crop=center&fit=crop&h=650&ixlib=php-1.2.1&w=768&s=f0dd48b0ff5b0d102dcdc5b70490175f 768w,https://make-arch.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.makearchitects.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2018%2F08%2FMonet.jpg?auto=format&crop=center&fit=crop&h=867&ixlib=php-1.2.1&w=1024&s=132e03505b4ca20c7e7e8c6c96439d76 1024w,https://make-arch.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.makearchitects.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2018%2F08%2FMonet.jpg?auto=format&crop=center&fit=crop&h=1185&ixlib=php-1.2.1&w=1400&s=9078285ad270b2fb5e7da50b1bf5af71 1400w,https://make-arch.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.makearchitects.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2018%2F08%2FMonet.jpg?auto=format&crop=center&fit=crop&h=1355&ixlib=php-1.2.1&w=1600&s=7d2cd6c0d571342b3f7f5ce953a983ef 1600w,https://make-arch.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.makearchitects.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2018%2F08%2FMonet.jpg?auto=format&crop=center&fit=crop&h=1625&ixlib=php-1.2.1&w=1920&s=e84461bb90dd3193c00796d0b3ce0962 1920w)
Sir Donald explains how he paints in the Impressionist style plein air, which is the French expression for “in the open air”. The paintings of Claude Monet, currently on display at the Monet & Architecture exhibition in The National Gallery (9 April – 29 July 2018), capture these moments of light and its changing, ephemeral qualities.
In the essay ‘Hapticity and Time – Notes on a fragile architecture’, architectural theorist Juhani Pallasmaa describes how ‘matter and decay strengthen the experience of time, causality and reality’. In the same way, Sir Donald’s “fragile” portrayal of ‘matter and decay’ invites tangible audience participation – this is the mover of its success. By contrast, my go-to digital designing tools have an aptitude for “realism”, which skips the “fragile” beauty of hand drawings, favouring to automate audience participation into an intangible idea of perfection instead. Both styles have merit in their own right.
![#](https://make-arch.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.makearchitects.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2018%2F08%2FDWI2.jpg?auto=format&crop=center&fit=crop&h=123&ixlib=php-1.2.1&w=210&s=9e720aaa4a2eacfee644e839d743fbc5 210w,https://make-arch.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.makearchitects.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2018%2F08%2FDWI2.jpg?auto=format&crop=center&fit=crop&h=247&ixlib=php-1.2.1&w=420&s=297fff004ab935da5e27d0c2a36bf6ed 420w,https://make-arch.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.makearchitects.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2018%2F08%2FDWI2.jpg?auto=format&crop=center&fit=crop&h=451&ixlib=php-1.2.1&w=768&s=9be7f3347b497f8d0f643cc583e9edd3 768w,https://make-arch.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.makearchitects.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2018%2F08%2FDWI2.jpg?auto=format&crop=center&fit=crop&h=601&ixlib=php-1.2.1&w=1024&s=063803bab7b434a14b0ceeb62057da31 1024w,https://make-arch.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.makearchitects.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2018%2F08%2FDWI2.jpg?auto=format&crop=center&fit=crop&h=822&ixlib=php-1.2.1&w=1400&s=d48b484d3ab6d9d44d32c10275c72bf7 1400w,https://make-arch.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.makearchitects.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2018%2F08%2FDWI2.jpg?auto=format&crop=center&fit=crop&h=939&ixlib=php-1.2.1&w=1600&s=1c4abfdba0984db78fe04ff7f25c120e 1600w,https://make-arch.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.makearchitects.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2018%2F08%2FDWI2.jpg?auto=format&crop=center&fit=crop&h=1127&ixlib=php-1.2.1&w=1920&s=c506d3e974608d2ed80f3dc43d06f924 1920w)
![#](https://make-arch.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.makearchitects.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2018%2F08%2Frealism.jpg?auto=format&crop=center&fit=crop&h=210&ixlib=php-1.2.1&w=210&s=e42bebade4d941270a58c515d5dc9b83 210w,https://make-arch.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.makearchitects.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2018%2F08%2Frealism.jpg?auto=format&crop=center&fit=crop&h=420&ixlib=php-1.2.1&w=420&s=d0c43e8be1d76c8f59965d20ff627fa5 420w,https://make-arch.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.makearchitects.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2018%2F08%2Frealism.jpg?auto=format&crop=center&fit=crop&h=768&ixlib=php-1.2.1&w=768&s=20c1b329a88af33324a7f3cd739aba97 768w,https://make-arch.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.makearchitects.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2018%2F08%2Frealism.jpg?auto=format&crop=center&fit=crop&h=1024&ixlib=php-1.2.1&w=1024&s=eef9b0c23f46bc8f7e59f4bb05257ca1 1024w,https://make-arch.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.makearchitects.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2018%2F08%2Frealism.jpg?auto=format&crop=center&fit=crop&h=1400&ixlib=php-1.2.1&w=1400&s=47c49f42b69e15a372b9fb0cf24f986d 1400w,https://make-arch.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.makearchitects.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2018%2F08%2Frealism.jpg?auto=format&crop=center&fit=crop&h=1600&ixlib=php-1.2.1&w=1600&s=567a2db685fd4508db50697db4a4c6ca 1600w,https://make-arch.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.makearchitects.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2018%2F08%2Frealism.jpg?auto=format&crop=center&fit=crop&h=1920&ixlib=php-1.2.1&w=1920&s=0139fe3fa895e43f0ecfc5dbe520d642 1920w)
Zaha Hadid progressed the plein air ethos of being in the moment by creating evocative atmospheres which were used as a tool for designing new buildings. The Peak, painted in 1982-83 progressed further into a virtual environment in 2017 at the exhibition ‘Zaha Hadid: Early Paintings and Drawings’. Audiences gained a ‘new insight and an intriguing continuity and expansion of the painting works and their vitality’.
Whilst virtual environments invite audience participation, the value of that participation must not be forgotten. Value does not solely lie in processes and techniques, but in the perception of people we design and build for.
A degree of critical thinking is therefore required so that we utilise digital technology to firstly understand our built environment and then communicate this knowledge within our proposals. This can inform design development within a digital environment so that analysis and ideas are distilled into reality. Hybrid Modelling offers a way to combine illustrative styles to describe what’s fixed and what is not in a design to provoke thought and reflection – not quite plein air à la the French Impressionists, but a way of immersing audiences within evocative atmospheres’.
![#](https://make-arch.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.makearchitects.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2018%2F08%2FHybrid-Model-Sketch.jpg?auto=format&crop=center&fit=crop&h=125&ixlib=php-1.2.1&w=210&s=d6dc75647e5ae849414a6413f6009f47 210w,https://make-arch.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.makearchitects.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2018%2F08%2FHybrid-Model-Sketch.jpg?auto=format&crop=center&fit=crop&h=250&ixlib=php-1.2.1&w=420&s=42713a1d64b9ba14189713621ee94036 420w,https://make-arch.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.makearchitects.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2018%2F08%2FHybrid-Model-Sketch.jpg?auto=format&crop=center&fit=crop&h=457&ixlib=php-1.2.1&w=768&s=dfe2811485150dfbf8d8c9c9eb65c851 768w,https://make-arch.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.makearchitects.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2018%2F08%2FHybrid-Model-Sketch.jpg?auto=format&crop=center&fit=crop&h=609&ixlib=php-1.2.1&w=1024&s=70757ae078e9c543d056b7010949f09a 1024w,https://make-arch.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.makearchitects.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2018%2F08%2FHybrid-Model-Sketch.jpg?auto=format&crop=center&fit=crop&h=833&ixlib=php-1.2.1&w=1400&s=489cd931c9d5973705f560bdb8b17c63 1400w,https://make-arch.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.makearchitects.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2018%2F08%2FHybrid-Model-Sketch.jpg?auto=format&crop=center&fit=crop&h=952&ixlib=php-1.2.1&w=1600&s=ea7188b345b459663640e9522706830d 1600w,https://make-arch.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.makearchitects.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2018%2F08%2FHybrid-Model-Sketch.jpg?auto=format&crop=center&fit=crop&h=1142&ixlib=php-1.2.1&w=1920&s=a8ab5a0d21b01601bcc0c91623017771 1920w)
Instagram: gwyn_arch
Twitter: gwyn_arch
Email: gwyn.roberts@insall-architects.co.uk
Image 4: ArtStation
This post forms part of our series on The Architecture Drawing Prize: an open drawing competition curated by Make, WAF and Sir John Soane’s Museum to highlight the importance of drawing in architecture. The next round of the competition will launch in July 2018.