![#](https://make-arch.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.makearchitects.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2018%2F08%2FDisappear-Here-5-RIBA-exhibition-designed-by-Sam-Jacob-Studio-c-Andy-Matthews.jpg?auto=format&crop=center&fit=crop&h=168&ixlib=php-1.2.1&w=210&s=e3cfccbe1d4cf4a167a70d0ea0455f19 210w,https://make-arch.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.makearchitects.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2018%2F08%2FDisappear-Here-5-RIBA-exhibition-designed-by-Sam-Jacob-Studio-c-Andy-Matthews.jpg?auto=format&crop=center&fit=crop&h=336&ixlib=php-1.2.1&w=420&s=0d4a6b9cb3f3e37dc79c0b71cce4d33f 420w,https://make-arch.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.makearchitects.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2018%2F08%2FDisappear-Here-5-RIBA-exhibition-designed-by-Sam-Jacob-Studio-c-Andy-Matthews.jpg?auto=format&crop=center&fit=crop&h=614&ixlib=php-1.2.1&w=768&s=2168b4a22840f3b6bae8b4e46bf55784 768w,https://make-arch.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.makearchitects.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2018%2F08%2FDisappear-Here-5-RIBA-exhibition-designed-by-Sam-Jacob-Studio-c-Andy-Matthews.jpg?auto=format&crop=center&fit=crop&h=819&ixlib=php-1.2.1&w=1024&s=1d6de8f4d73a069c990eea69d28f6c68 1024w,https://make-arch.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.makearchitects.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2018%2F08%2FDisappear-Here-5-RIBA-exhibition-designed-by-Sam-Jacob-Studio-c-Andy-Matthews.jpg?auto=format&crop=center&fit=crop&h=1120&ixlib=php-1.2.1&w=1400&s=706841b5779727c1974481f84d372fde 1400w,https://make-arch.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.makearchitects.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2018%2F08%2FDisappear-Here-5-RIBA-exhibition-designed-by-Sam-Jacob-Studio-c-Andy-Matthews.jpg?auto=format&crop=center&fit=crop&h=1280&ixlib=php-1.2.1&w=1600&s=920e0e2105c620a6ff8f1be632674659 1600w,https://make-arch.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.makearchitects.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2018%2F08%2FDisappear-Here-5-RIBA-exhibition-designed-by-Sam-Jacob-Studio-c-Andy-Matthews.jpg?auto=format&crop=center&fit=crop&h=1536&ixlib=php-1.2.1&w=1920&s=1014f34a1da65d86b38fca741adfc0fb 1920w)
![#](https://make-arch.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.makearchitects.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2018%2F08%2FDisappear-Here-13-RIBA-exhibition-designed-by-Sam-Jacob-Studio-c-Andy-Matthews.jpg?auto=format&crop=center&fit=crop&h=168&ixlib=php-1.2.1&w=210&s=a8cbe44c53ba0b69a7d4be6fbaa8ae2d 210w,https://make-arch.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.makearchitects.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2018%2F08%2FDisappear-Here-13-RIBA-exhibition-designed-by-Sam-Jacob-Studio-c-Andy-Matthews.jpg?auto=format&crop=center&fit=crop&h=336&ixlib=php-1.2.1&w=420&s=4b4160edd6a21ce18e26c7de23b51735 420w,https://make-arch.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.makearchitects.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2018%2F08%2FDisappear-Here-13-RIBA-exhibition-designed-by-Sam-Jacob-Studio-c-Andy-Matthews.jpg?auto=format&crop=center&fit=crop&h=614&ixlib=php-1.2.1&w=768&s=1d35cd43ba16b78a3e42780a5ea5d6b4 768w,https://make-arch.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.makearchitects.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2018%2F08%2FDisappear-Here-13-RIBA-exhibition-designed-by-Sam-Jacob-Studio-c-Andy-Matthews.jpg?auto=format&crop=center&fit=crop&h=819&ixlib=php-1.2.1&w=1024&s=91209dd6d146722ce801159b2ef59220 1024w,https://make-arch.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.makearchitects.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2018%2F08%2FDisappear-Here-13-RIBA-exhibition-designed-by-Sam-Jacob-Studio-c-Andy-Matthews.jpg?auto=format&crop=center&fit=crop&h=1119&ixlib=php-1.2.1&w=1400&s=f08319fea0ba0118226ade76a5071f07 1400w,https://make-arch.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.makearchitects.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2018%2F08%2FDisappear-Here-13-RIBA-exhibition-designed-by-Sam-Jacob-Studio-c-Andy-Matthews.jpg?auto=format&crop=center&fit=crop&h=1279&ixlib=php-1.2.1&w=1600&s=f03acf7ea8c468e85e0c813c406f365f 1600w,https://make-arch.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.makearchitects.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2018%2F08%2FDisappear-Here-13-RIBA-exhibition-designed-by-Sam-Jacob-Studio-c-Andy-Matthews.jpg?auto=format&crop=center&fit=crop&h=1535&ixlib=php-1.2.1&w=1920&s=e1018118c1f9a46a1d68325f9958c1e4 1920w)
In both the exhibition and the catalogue, the drawings are lined up, so the images share vanishing points. This allows the fictional space of one drawing to invade that of another which brings diverse drawing from different centuries into often surprising dialogues with each other.
One particularly amazing drawing on display is Boullée’s ‘Unexecuted design for a metropolitan cathedral’ 1782. This is rendered with incredible accuracy and lightness of touch. The formality of the image with its one-point perspective, Sam suggests, extends out of the frame making the viewer stand centrally and perhaps a little straighter than the casual informality of Lutyens’s ‘Unexecuted design for the memorial to the missing’ which could be glanced at obliquely and drawn on headed note paper, one feels that the great man’s pipe and spectacles have only recently left the scene.
![#](https://make-arch.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.makearchitects.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2018%2F08%2FEtienne-Louis-Boullee-1782-Project-for-a-metropolitan-cathedral-in-the-form-of-a-Greek-cross-with-a-domed-centre.jpg?auto=format&crop=center&fit=crop&h=112&ixlib=php-1.2.1&w=210&s=f3bd2b1f05482f4bd97b2499ff3d5355 210w,https://make-arch.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.makearchitects.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2018%2F08%2FEtienne-Louis-Boullee-1782-Project-for-a-metropolitan-cathedral-in-the-form-of-a-Greek-cross-with-a-domed-centre.jpg?auto=format&crop=center&fit=crop&h=224&ixlib=php-1.2.1&w=420&s=52dc74d077ad5cda9aec78d875f6b56f 420w,https://make-arch.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.makearchitects.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2018%2F08%2FEtienne-Louis-Boullee-1782-Project-for-a-metropolitan-cathedral-in-the-form-of-a-Greek-cross-with-a-domed-centre.jpg?auto=format&crop=center&fit=crop&h=410&ixlib=php-1.2.1&w=768&s=d6534719bdb0a1603a327c7924ea6372 768w,https://make-arch.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.makearchitects.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2018%2F08%2FEtienne-Louis-Boullee-1782-Project-for-a-metropolitan-cathedral-in-the-form-of-a-Greek-cross-with-a-domed-centre.jpg?auto=format&crop=center&fit=crop&h=547&ixlib=php-1.2.1&w=1024&s=79402c41495ad0aa3d1b8d3441d56b51 1024w,https://make-arch.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.makearchitects.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2018%2F08%2FEtienne-Louis-Boullee-1782-Project-for-a-metropolitan-cathedral-in-the-form-of-a-Greek-cross-with-a-domed-centre.jpg?auto=format&crop=center&fit=crop&h=748&ixlib=php-1.2.1&w=1400&s=21b4a7000219e509984f2a3f292b8839 1400w,https://make-arch.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.makearchitects.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2018%2F08%2FEtienne-Louis-Boullee-1782-Project-for-a-metropolitan-cathedral-in-the-form-of-a-Greek-cross-with-a-domed-centre.jpg?auto=format&crop=center&fit=crop&h=855&ixlib=php-1.2.1&w=1600&s=f35de57b0aefc4e0a29670724fb36414 1600w,https://make-arch.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.makearchitects.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2018%2F08%2FEtienne-Louis-Boullee-1782-Project-for-a-metropolitan-cathedral-in-the-form-of-a-Greek-cross-with-a-domed-centre.jpg?auto=format&crop=center&fit=crop&h=1026&ixlib=php-1.2.1&w=1920&s=9208da13ef83486ae5880aaf31434cf3 1920w)
![#](https://make-arch.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.makearchitects.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2018%2F08%2FSir-Edwin-Lutyens-1918-A-record-sketch-of-the-unexecuted-design-for-the-Memorial-to-the-Missing-at-St-Quentin-Nord-c-RIBA-Collections.jpg?auto=format&crop=center&fit=crop&h=263&ixlib=php-1.2.1&w=210&s=074990eddea74eb524a382a742343836 210w,https://make-arch.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.makearchitects.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2018%2F08%2FSir-Edwin-Lutyens-1918-A-record-sketch-of-the-unexecuted-design-for-the-Memorial-to-the-Missing-at-St-Quentin-Nord-c-RIBA-Collections.jpg?auto=format&crop=center&fit=crop&h=525&ixlib=php-1.2.1&w=420&s=8ef5c92293c9f57f297d56e8e4f8b576 420w,https://make-arch.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.makearchitects.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2018%2F08%2FSir-Edwin-Lutyens-1918-A-record-sketch-of-the-unexecuted-design-for-the-Memorial-to-the-Missing-at-St-Quentin-Nord-c-RIBA-Collections.jpg?auto=format&crop=center&fit=crop&h=960&ixlib=php-1.2.1&w=768&s=b9e3a38bca311162b14d52f6831d28be 768w,https://make-arch.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.makearchitects.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2018%2F08%2FSir-Edwin-Lutyens-1918-A-record-sketch-of-the-unexecuted-design-for-the-Memorial-to-the-Missing-at-St-Quentin-Nord-c-RIBA-Collections.jpg?auto=format&crop=center&fit=crop&h=1281&ixlib=php-1.2.1&w=1024&s=dcee89cfcc22fa708f048f411bd8e0be 1024w,https://make-arch.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.makearchitects.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2018%2F08%2FSir-Edwin-Lutyens-1918-A-record-sketch-of-the-unexecuted-design-for-the-Memorial-to-the-Missing-at-St-Quentin-Nord-c-RIBA-Collections.jpg?auto=format&crop=center&fit=crop&h=1751&ixlib=php-1.2.1&w=1400&s=7d4e2f4558c0897f75b0d1bdf19f7b23 1400w,https://make-arch.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.makearchitects.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2018%2F08%2FSir-Edwin-Lutyens-1918-A-record-sketch-of-the-unexecuted-design-for-the-Memorial-to-the-Missing-at-St-Quentin-Nord-c-RIBA-Collections.jpg?auto=format&crop=center&fit=crop&h=2001&ixlib=php-1.2.1&w=1600&s=0ee9ccdf392a29487bd63b744ad69b3c 1600w,https://make-arch.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.makearchitects.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2018%2F08%2FSir-Edwin-Lutyens-1918-A-record-sketch-of-the-unexecuted-design-for-the-Memorial-to-the-Missing-at-St-Quentin-Nord-c-RIBA-Collections.jpg?auto=format&crop=center&fit=crop&h=2401&ixlib=php-1.2.1&w=1920&s=d50a19ae0252588d4fb16e0a3feaf19d 1920w)
Despite the age of some of these drawings, this subject is highly relevant to current architectural practice. We are now moving to ‘complete’ knowledge of building through BIM and 3D CAD programs which fully integrate into the building’s specification, so everything is known about a building. It is, as Sam suggests ‘the exertion of the spread sheet into architecture’. The tool itself, like perspective, has an idea behind it which assumes a certain way of making architecture which precludes other approaches. The tools are not innocent bystanders, these programs are produced by vast multinational firms and now government projects are all done using BIM. The idea that a form of representation has a political and social content has never been more obvious. This exhibition tells us that ‘it was ever thus’ and we should recognise the power and limitations of the tools we use.
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 opens 10 July 2018.