![#](https://make-arch.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.makearchitects.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2017%2F12%2FCharlesHind2.jpg?auto=format&crop=center&fit=crop&h=154&ixlib=php-1.2.1&w=210&s=0cd4bcfbefbc62b6a3a26803314cfd23 210w,https://make-arch.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.makearchitects.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2017%2F12%2FCharlesHind2.jpg?auto=format&crop=center&fit=crop&h=308&ixlib=php-1.2.1&w=420&s=0913b52a2802c05c37332bc72f4ae26a 420w,https://make-arch.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.makearchitects.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2017%2F12%2FCharlesHind2.jpg?auto=format&crop=center&fit=crop&h=563&ixlib=php-1.2.1&w=768&s=0b24e6165d7a9eca7774110b2fd31d55 768w,https://make-arch.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.makearchitects.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2017%2F12%2FCharlesHind2.jpg?auto=format&crop=center&fit=crop&h=751&ixlib=php-1.2.1&w=1024&s=9e0dd97edc37d9720f7968018e182b51 1024w,https://make-arch.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.makearchitects.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2017%2F12%2FCharlesHind2.jpg?auto=format&crop=center&fit=crop&h=1027&ixlib=php-1.2.1&w=1400&s=44d8e0dcffc8dd26658a146a622e2694 1400w,https://make-arch.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.makearchitects.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2017%2F12%2FCharlesHind2.jpg?auto=format&crop=center&fit=crop&h=1173&ixlib=php-1.2.1&w=1600&s=06c000e46af058ad9de9d0ad3c3ca0ce 1600w,https://make-arch.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.makearchitects.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2017%2F12%2FCharlesHind2.jpg?auto=format&crop=center&fit=crop&h=1408&ixlib=php-1.2.1&w=1920&s=00677ffbea4fb4865f9bb120b902671a 1920w)
A properly trained architect these days needs to master both skills. Some architects then present supported the view that you cannot really understand a space that you are designing if you do not link the vision in your head to your hand and, via a pen, pencil or brush, transfer it onto paper. There was also agreement amongst the older architects present that it is sometimes embarrassing for a practice when a young project architect, faced with a question from a client, cannot quickly explain what is intended by means of a hasty sketch and needs to call in a senior colleague to do it instead. One major practice has introduced life classes!
The value of hand drawing as a topic regularly pops up in my world. Recently, for example, an architectural student complained to me that he had been criticised by one of his tutors for devoting too much time to hand drawing when he should be focused on his computer instead. Currently on display at the RIBA is a body of drawings by George Saumarez Smith that is centred around drawing as essential to the making of architecture (until 26 November).
![#](https://make-arch.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.makearchitects.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2017%2F12%2FCharlesHind5.jpg?auto=format&crop=center&fit=crop&h=140&ixlib=php-1.2.1&w=210&s=ad244ff29f21a7c3716895b5a181fdc3 210w,https://make-arch.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.makearchitects.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2017%2F12%2FCharlesHind5.jpg?auto=format&crop=center&fit=crop&h=281&ixlib=php-1.2.1&w=420&s=5036e3d9c302bf8314e1c5c9370a5874 420w,https://make-arch.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.makearchitects.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2017%2F12%2FCharlesHind5.jpg?auto=format&crop=center&fit=crop&h=514&ixlib=php-1.2.1&w=768&s=57b2fb941b8ba64e9b7d28ca5e4023f3 768w,https://make-arch.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.makearchitects.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2017%2F12%2FCharlesHind5.jpg?auto=format&crop=center&fit=crop&h=685&ixlib=php-1.2.1&w=1024&s=aa344615e01729a4c0383d362887a4fc 1024w,https://make-arch.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.makearchitects.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2017%2F12%2FCharlesHind5.jpg?auto=format&crop=center&fit=crop&h=936&ixlib=php-1.2.1&w=1400&s=d47c6345a0104e3836a5200826b8846b 1400w,https://make-arch.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.makearchitects.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2017%2F12%2FCharlesHind5.jpg?auto=format&crop=center&fit=crop&h=1070&ixlib=php-1.2.1&w=1600&s=8a2bd279d296c5a808532b5bd1d3b66f 1600w,https://make-arch.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.makearchitects.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2017%2F12%2FCharlesHind5.jpg?auto=format&crop=center&fit=crop&h=1284&ixlib=php-1.2.1&w=1920&s=1f456e3c9c39bf061cc8fc635ea147cc 1920w)
Two very different types of contemporary drawing have just entered the RIBA Collections, both American. Steven Holl has presented a group of drawings for the new Maggie’s Centre that will open in Bart’s Hospital, London, next month. Holl works out all the significant aspects of a new design, its planning and appearance in a sketchbook and on small sheets of paper before handing them over to colleagues in his office to work up digitally.
![#](https://make-arch.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.makearchitects.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2017%2F12%2FCharlesHind4b.jpg?auto=format&crop=center&fit=crop&h=144&ixlib=php-1.2.1&w=210&s=d490c4ef4d7a4069705b84f5e1060b0c 210w,https://make-arch.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.makearchitects.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2017%2F12%2FCharlesHind4b.jpg?auto=format&crop=center&fit=crop&h=288&ixlib=php-1.2.1&w=420&s=a2a3dcae7bf3961fb75e3ffc4db88d34 420w,https://make-arch.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.makearchitects.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2017%2F12%2FCharlesHind4b.jpg?auto=format&crop=center&fit=crop&h=527&ixlib=php-1.2.1&w=768&s=9ec2264183f7af33601a5483b58b37ee 768w,https://make-arch.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.makearchitects.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2017%2F12%2FCharlesHind4b.jpg?auto=format&crop=center&fit=crop&h=703&ixlib=php-1.2.1&w=1024&s=14a9ff4d3140acac87c0071658832242 1024w,https://make-arch.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.makearchitects.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2017%2F12%2FCharlesHind4b.jpg?auto=format&crop=center&fit=crop&h=961&ixlib=php-1.2.1&w=1400&s=9f44526d72c387477bb2ab2eefd29a6e 1400w,https://make-arch.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.makearchitects.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2017%2F12%2FCharlesHind4b.jpg?auto=format&crop=center&fit=crop&h=1099&ixlib=php-1.2.1&w=1600&s=885ae695c1ae5c3cff75a8dafaf55fd6 1600w,https://make-arch.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.makearchitects.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2017%2F12%2FCharlesHind4b.jpg?auto=format&crop=center&fit=crop&h=1319&ixlib=php-1.2.1&w=1920&s=8ae39f0c8d15b3d600a779e0bb4f8f47 1920w)
Although largely traditional in style, the building is revolutionary in its use of technology to alter the configuration of the building to allow opera, theatre, ballet, musicals and symphony concerts to use the same auditorium but with the appropriate acoustic background and ceiling. The drawings, by Jeffrey Loman, are beautifully rendered and are very much in the 18th to 19th-century tradition.
So much for the practical and aesthetic qualities of hand drawing. We must also consider the archival aspect of digital design, which is already proving vastly more complex and expensive a solution than was predicted. Like the RIBA’s Palladio drawings, which are already nearly 500 years old and are in great condition, these drawings by Holl and Loman will be around in another 500 years. The challenge is to find a way to make the digital as enduring as paper.
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Steven Holl’s drawings will be on display on the first floor landing of the RIBA at 66 Portland Place, London W1B 1AD from 1 December–23 December.
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 winning and shortlisted drawings will be exhibited at the World Architecture Festival 15-17 November 2017.