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More formally analytical is the diagram, which may be subject to many iterations since it is the way a designer mind frames the context, challenges and requirements of the formal brief – an incredibly powerful representation.
After that come more prosaic formal propositions, dealing with feasibility and concept, where some of an architect’s true value lies. Unfortunately, even the RIBA work stages assume that this sort of drawn idea will be supplied for next to nothing, even though it may be the most valuable advice summary that informs the potential project. This work is undervalued; the drawings are thus undervalued too.
At later stages, there is more acknowledgement of the power and importance of visual representation, which may of course be entirely digital, but nevertheless entertains the idea that a human hand is involved. Hence the drawings used for public consultation and planning procedures, those semi-authentic representations of a future reality. Until this year, hand-drawn, digital and hybrid drawings have been eligible to enter the Architecture Drawing Prize. A new category has been added for 2019: the working drawing (detail), at the suggestion of a new award sponsor, the William Hare Group, a family-owned steel fabrication company founded in the 1880s.
![#](https://make-arch.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.makearchitects.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2019%2F07%2F2.The-tower-and-the-landscape-JuanAlberto-Arjona-Belmonte.jpg?auto=format&crop=center&fit=crop&h=297&ixlib=php-1.2.1&w=210&s=cabd24ec33aff079b133276d0c3fd1d8 210w,https://make-arch.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.makearchitects.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2019%2F07%2F2.The-tower-and-the-landscape-JuanAlberto-Arjona-Belmonte.jpg?auto=format&crop=center&fit=crop&h=594&ixlib=php-1.2.1&w=420&s=b8ddbcddbb8d7789f81589895e79a39a 420w,https://make-arch.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.makearchitects.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2019%2F07%2F2.The-tower-and-the-landscape-JuanAlberto-Arjona-Belmonte.jpg?auto=format&crop=center&fit=crop&h=1086&ixlib=php-1.2.1&w=768&s=3b009cebfd464e16ed6a3043b041c990 768w,https://make-arch.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.makearchitects.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2019%2F07%2F2.The-tower-and-the-landscape-JuanAlberto-Arjona-Belmonte.jpg?auto=format&crop=center&fit=crop&h=1448&ixlib=php-1.2.1&w=1024&s=7ef167fcade239f46acb1e6ab600eadb 1024w,https://make-arch.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.makearchitects.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2019%2F07%2F2.The-tower-and-the-landscape-JuanAlberto-Arjona-Belmonte.jpg?auto=format&crop=center&fit=crop&h=1980&ixlib=php-1.2.1&w=1400&s=5d7c36724495264032af9c823306bf09 1400w,https://make-arch.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.makearchitects.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2019%2F07%2F2.The-tower-and-the-landscape-JuanAlberto-Arjona-Belmonte.jpg?auto=format&crop=center&fit=crop&h=2262&ixlib=php-1.2.1&w=1600&s=b8e5ee6fcc51f09cd3208f2f37ef187d 1600w,https://make-arch.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.makearchitects.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2019%2F07%2F2.The-tower-and-the-landscape-JuanAlberto-Arjona-Belmonte.jpg?auto=format&crop=center&fit=crop&h=2715&ixlib=php-1.2.1&w=1920&s=a30f52451b6e4278d77700620f5ed374 1920w)
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How does one assess the merits of a variety of drawing types? They are related but separate, some an attempt to indicate a whole outcome, while the working drawing explains the process by which individual elements combine at a detailed level. These elements can be combined in certain specialist drawings, often the hallmark of a particular architect.
Years ago, it was always a pleasure to receive images from James Stirling, who would hand-write on drawings to indicate which way was up in the worm’s-eye axonometric which made the representation of his buildings so distinctive. Other architects have their methods of letting you know who the designer is – or at least who you think it may be. The examples of competitions won by architects whose drawings were taken by judges to be by someone else entirely would make an amusing chapter in any history of contemporary architecture. But they must have been pretty good.
![#](https://make-arch.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.makearchitects.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2019%2F07%2FCalendarHouse-LukeErickson.jpg?auto=format&crop=center&fit=crop&h=151&ixlib=php-1.2.1&w=210&s=36969b3ec3408b7b381295c34455de90 210w,https://make-arch.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.makearchitects.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2019%2F07%2FCalendarHouse-LukeErickson.jpg?auto=format&crop=center&fit=crop&h=301&ixlib=php-1.2.1&w=420&s=6d75c71fa6cea35ce26c1b6bb13f7b0f 420w,https://make-arch.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.makearchitects.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2019%2F07%2FCalendarHouse-LukeErickson.jpg?auto=format&crop=center&fit=crop&h=551&ixlib=php-1.2.1&w=768&s=a230dc7bca0eb30333492d57cab937d2 768w,https://make-arch.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.makearchitects.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2019%2F07%2FCalendarHouse-LukeErickson.jpg?auto=format&crop=center&fit=crop&h=734&ixlib=php-1.2.1&w=1024&s=15f758c5234c8e6af84a1ff9fce9dac7 1024w,https://make-arch.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.makearchitects.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2019%2F07%2FCalendarHouse-LukeErickson.jpg?auto=format&crop=center&fit=crop&h=1004&ixlib=php-1.2.1&w=1400&s=f2c6c42401392edbfd58aa0b9482def9 1400w,https://make-arch.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.makearchitects.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2019%2F07%2FCalendarHouse-LukeErickson.jpg?auto=format&crop=center&fit=crop&h=1147&ixlib=php-1.2.1&w=1600&s=eea875376794cab3bd6b866fe8ae480a 1600w,https://make-arch.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.makearchitects.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2019%2F07%2FCalendarHouse-LukeErickson.jpg?auto=format&crop=center&fit=crop&h=1377&ixlib=php-1.2.1&w=1920&s=b1583c6ab9ee222ef37221aab149eed0 1920w)
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. Entries for 2019 close 27 September.