There is a long tradition of painting and drawing workshops offered after the first year of studies at the Faculty of Architecture of the Cracow University of Technology. In view of the limited number of teaching hours devoted to painting and drawing throughout the academic year, workshops constitute an indispensable element of artistic education and prove useful in the course of subsequent professional activities. Classes are held outdoors, in various spots all over Kraków, and last for five days. For the past several years, plein-air workshops have been organized in Chełmno for groups of ten. During the plein-air workshop, which is not comparable to class-room painting sessions, students work in constant close contact with architects and visual artists, whose professional tips and advice enable them to expand their experience in drawing and painting.

Mediation in architectural drawing and its teaching, and in general in art and didactics, is a phenomenon that occurs constantly but with different intensity and at different periods of time. Then, the meta- prefix appears and we obtain ‘meta-art’, ‘meta-drawing’, etc. The article covers this issue in relation to the ever wider use of computers in present times. Due to external determinants it is sometimes perceived as pejorative; however, it does not necessarily have to be true. In this work the author analyses the above-mentioned phenomena in reference to manifold criteria of defining and the description of architectural drawing, as well as on the basis of theories concerning designing. Simultaneously, an attempt is made to include these ponderings and conclusions in an outline of the theory of choice that the author is currently elaborating. The theory assumes the possibility of a positive assessment of mutually contradictory theories, which, paradoxically, might lead to interesting results in the sphere of didactics.

Sketches are an irreplaceable method of recording thoughts and of correcting the design process. They are a means of discovering and examining reality which supports the development of imagination. Sketching is an essential element in the education of architects and in the double-loop learning process. Sketching opens two channels of communication: conversation and spatial-visual activity. Both traditional and new digital tools have important roles in the development of future architects. The primacy of computer design over freehand drawing in an architect’s work can lead to the disappearance of a designer’s individuality and creativity, limiting the role of his personality at the earliest stage of the design process.

Sketches are an irreplaceable method of recording thoughts and of correcting the design process. They are a means of discovering and examining reality which supports the development of imagination. Sketching is an essential element in the education of architects and in the double-loop learning process. Sketching opens two channels of communication: conversation and spatial-visual activity. Both traditional and new digital tools have important roles in the development of future architects. The primacy of computer design over freehand drawing in an architect’s work can lead to the disappearance of a designer’s individuality and creativity, limiting the role of his personality at the earliest stage of the design process.

Freehand drawing enables visualization of an idea in the form of a sketch. It is also a universal language designers use to communicate with other participants of a project. That is why freehand drawing ought to be an inherent element of a design process, especially in the first conceptual phase. In order to support this thesis I describe, using my work experience as a basis, the architectural and urban charrette workshop’s method, which is a design process in a nutshell. Among others I try to answer the following questions: To what extent should computer programs be used in the first design phase of a project? Where are the boundaries between freehand and computer drawing? Research results can be considered as general guidelines for a freehand drawing curriculum.

In the work of the architect, drawing representation is an essential means of communication as well as an important factor verifying the level of sophistication of the design process. It portrays the original vision aimed at viewers – an industry specialist, an investor and the creator themselves. It enables to confront the drawn idea with the design purpose. Idea ‒ drawing ↔ mirror – execution. Rich in artistic values and technical content, it transfigures an individual view of the art of shaping space, demonstrating the multidimensional perception of architecture and the interdisciplinary character of the profession.

This paper tries to identify the creative processes of Generative Art that brings to the construction of dynamic procedures of transformation, generative algorithms, by departing from interpretative logics. This structure becomes possible through a proactive approach to Geometry. In fact, overcoming the logic of the figures and related rules, this approach opens to the logic of the progressive processes and the dynamics of transformation inside the geometric space. This dynamic use of Geometry can be performed crossing the revolution operated by Brunelleschi, by Piero Della Francesca and Leonardo da Vinci again. This Renaissance revolution funds on the convergence of Art and Science and the discovery of the Perspective Logic.

The article discusses a series of paintings, on a vision of a modern city, inspired by the author’s recent visit to Siena, Italy. It describes an importance of architectural visions and its complementary role in relation to an architectural practice. The article presents the author’s experiences with the process of painting. It highlights the role of a quick sketch in the process of selecting and analysing a subject. Finally, it showsthe unique importance of traditional painting techniques in a realization of the subject, impossible to be replaced by a digital visualization.

Design studies in the field of searching for modern architectural space of a single family house led by Mies van der Rohe in 1920s and 1930s, have survived as drawings – sketches, plans, perspectives and photographs of models. Projects of the Brick Country House (1923) and the Concrete Country House (1924), the urban Court-house and the House with tree courts (1934) and drawing studies of the Moutain House (1934), although they have never been realized, had a great impact on development of modern architecture. The drawings illustrating the architecture of the houses are a breakthrough in thinking about a creation of a place, about living space, about a relation between inside and outside. They permanently went down in history of architecture, still being an ispiration for new generations of contemporary architects.

Looking at Le Corbusier’s works one cannot fail to notice how his drawings and paintings transformed into architectural projects to become the foundations for new objects, including the sculpted forms of sanctuaries which have a permanent place in the tradition of sacred architecture. He centered his original ideas on visions of his works which he put down on paper in an unconstrained manner as sketches and drawings. Le Corbusier proved that drawing and painting can be used as support for and in collaboration with the architectural design process in pursuit of an architecture that would satisfy the user’s need for aesthetic value and appeal to their senses. He introduced the two into the design process leaving behind abundant documentation.

Sketch is understood as a spontaneous, quick and synthetic drawing. Architectural sketches have a long history as well as numerous circumstances and reasons behind their creation. They were created as records of the reality – to emphasize key elements, as travelling notes, and also as preparation or study drawings before a finalization of a design or a painting. Typically they remained in private collections of their authors and were published only rarely. Nowadays such sketches and drawings provide a valuable insight into the methodology of work of well-known artists and constitute a source of knowledge of history and of the previous form of the objects they are depicting. The draftsmen can be divided into faithful and precise documentalists and artists expressing their personal, free vision and effects of their imagination.

Great masters expressed their architectural thoughts through lines drawn by hand on sheets of tracing paper. Will the new technology in the form of parametric design tools, computer models, 3D pens and spatial printing become a distinctive feature of our times? A concept presented in the form of an architectural design becomes most valuable when it is put down on paper through soul and hand, like a violinist transferring a melody to the strings with a sensitivity of an author. In spite of the development of computer technology, at the stage of impressive concept designing there is an even greater need for the return to hand-drawn designs. In view of electronic media, it shows a high quality of the architect’s technique, original and individual approach and specific value of handmade creation.

The starting point for the discussion concerning the role of drawing and painting in architectural presentation are the works of the Albanian creator Edi Hila, exhibited during the 14th International Architecture Biennale in Venice in 2014. In a series of paintings called Penthouse, the artist, using extremely poetic narratives, examines the specific archaeological research on Albanian modernism. Contemporary Albanian cities are full of uncompleted, abandoned buildings. In his paintings, the author transformed such architectural ruins into imaginary monuments. The poetic nature of the images and themes brought up ‒ as a search for identity and cultural heritage - are reminiscent of drawing and painting ideas from the past of the great artist Aldo Rossi.

The author discusses the process of deconstruction in architecture and the accompanying drawing process, interpreted as an architect’s medium rather than merely a tool for signification, a method of communication between an artist/architect and the world. The architect’s mind finds delight in space, a fleeting thought, idea, concept, a non-verbal shape of future material substance. Drawing, while being an immanent part of the work, is the work in itself, the language that allows for space to be described in its own categories. Drawing as a method of experiencing space reveals the mechanisms through which architecture is shaped.

The notion of drawing skills that an architect shall be equipped with has several aspects. First of all, drawing can be used as an instrument for learning the principles of defining space, its scale, composition and architectural detail. Sketches and studies of existing buildings help an architect understand the way they were assembled. These drawings represent, therefore, a compulsory phase in building up one’s skills as an architect. Such is the goal of the outdoor drawing, considered as an important teaching method since the 17th century, when the French king Louis XIV founded the Prix de Rome. This drawing scholarship has endured till the 20th century and is still being imitated in other lands, giving students a possibility to gain knowledge directly from the greatest works of architecture.

It is commonly considered, that baroque painting depicting architectural elements on face partitions of building in illusionistic way needed the painter to have deep knowledge of constructing perspective charts. Research conducted in Poland (in its current borders), according to the author, do not confirm this thesis. They show that our artists, most commonly used ready-made patterns from perspective tractates and pattern books, but most of all from tractate by unquestionable master of this kind of painting, the Italian Andre Pozzo (1642‒1709). The article it also presents the connection with selected paintings in Poland With baroque tractates and pattern books. Furthermore, comments on perspective rules education of baroque craftsmen and artists were included.

Renzo Piano believes that freehand drawing gives freedom, it is instinctive, and its imperfection provokes change and continuous improvement. The briefness of the sketch forces us into a synthetic way of thinking and to capture only the essence of things. Based on examples of Renzo Piano’s works from different periods, we can observe the evolution of his very personal vision of the museum, his thinking about form, the relationship with the environment, with the audience and finally his approach to issues of natural lighting in an exhibition space.

The article presents the changes that have taken place in the educational program in the field of fine arts at the Silesian University of Technology Faculty of Architecture since the 90s of the twentieth century to the present. They were caused by the new laws and rules relating to higher education, adapting it to the requirements of the European Union. There was a reduction of some courses of art and number of teaching hours while increasing the size of student groups Observation of change leads to the impoverishment for aesthetic sensitivity and artistic skills of students, which is essential in communicating your design ideas. The results of analyzes were obtained on the basis of participant observation of teachers lecturing on the above mentioned subject.

This paper presents the Chair of Fine Arts at the Faculty of Architecture at Białystok University of Technology. The article describes how this unit was established and presents some reflections on the teaching of arts courses, which, in the author’s opinion, help students to find their own technique of freehand drawing needed to record their creative thinking at all stages of architectural design.

This year we celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Faculty of Architecture at the Warsaw University of Technology. We would like to have a look at the term of the Warsaw School of Architectural Drawing that has been known for many years. It is present in the environment of the Warsaw architects and the graduate architects from the Warsaw university, however, does anyone use that term outside this group of people? Is the uniqueness experienced by us during plain air sessions, drawing exhibitions and celebrations at the Faculty of Architecture of the Warsaw University of Technology a fact or only our wish? How the Workshop of Drawing, Painting and Sculpture at WAPW was created and developed? These and other questions, after a hundred years of existence of the Faculty of Architecture at the Warsaw University of Technology need an attempt at answering.

Architectural drawing is a kind of practical tool for recording thoughts and working through design problems, a method of presenting our vision or explanation of things which are impossible to describe with words. The paper summarizes the problems concerning teaching freehand drawing to foreign students. Teaching drawing involves not only sharing information and understanding the process of recording ideas but aesthetic sensibility as well. Students from countries with different cultural backgrounds are demanding pupils. The article is an attempt to answer the question how the cultural background influences the students of architecture in their use of freehand drawing as a tool.

The paper describes the process and effects of two open-air drawing sessions organised by Department of Civil Engineering and Architecture, Faculty of Civil Engineering, Opole University of Technology. The open-air drawing sessions took place in 2013 in Opole and Gliwice, and in 2014 in Pavia. The aim of the sessions was to improve the ability of synthetical and analitical freehand drawing, a comprehensive communication tool, which also simplifies the work with computer. Furthermore, young architecture students had the possibility to broaden their knowledge about buildings and complexes in a wide range of revaluation and revitalization. Students and teachers from architecture and engineering studies from Poland, Italy, Denmark, Spain and Finland took part in those open-air drawing sessions. In this European Union project called “Let’s Exchange HERitage of our CULture – Drawing as a Communication Tool of Students of Architecture/ Engineers from European UniversitieS – HERCULES” freehand drawing was means of cognition and the main goal was to broaden the knowledge of cultural heritage.

The architectural drawing is a permanent part of the architect’s work – it is a bridge between vision and its realization. It cannot be clearly classified. It can be either a medium conveying information, as well as an end in itself and there are many opportunities to use its potential. This article attempts to answer the question of whether drawing can support architectural education of young children (3‒6). This period is very important for the development of a human being. Skillfully stimulated curiosity of a child allows to expand the possibilities of perception, which may lead to increased sensitivity to the shape and quality of the space.

Over a decade of conducting the open-air drawing and painting workshops by the university staff from the Faculty of Architecture at the Silesian University of Technology repeatedly makes us aware that every day passing by the gothic churches, a city hall, medieval ramparts we get accustomed to them and do not always perceive their beauty, monumental character or historic details. Sometimes the beauty of the city is noticed by someone else – a tourist who admires the panorama visible from the distance or the towers of churches overlooking the city. Similarly the works of students performed over the years enable us to rediscover the unrepeatable charm of such places as Gliwice, Tarnowskie Góry, Chełmno or Zakopane. Those works catalogued in albums and presented at various exhibitions convince of peculiarity of the places presented using diverse artistic techniques and means.

Drawing is the most natural way of recording a piece of architectural work. One line depicting the building has a huge narrative potential and that one line can communicate more and much more thoroughly than whole loads of paper full of verbal description, or than even the most suggestive pantomimic show. In my opinion, an architectural drawing is for architecture what musical notation system is for a musical work. It is a code that enables to move a piece of work in time and space. It tells about the architecture beyond linguistic barriers.

Drawing is the easiest language to communicate. It is the fastest and most personal way to write down fleeting thoughts, creative plans, ideas, impressions, or momentary revelations. It is also a tool needed for shaping sensitivity – a long-lasting process, irreplaceable with any computer. This sensitivity is needed to read works of art. Architectural masterpieces are also read through images - while images are captured in our memory with drawings. The author reflects on the role of drawing in recording and memorizing space in all of its scales: from the landscape interior to the architectural detail.

As you know, the first requirement faced by the candidate wishing to study at the Faculty of Architecture is freehand drawing; passing the examination in it is the basis for admission. Freehand drawing in both the teaching process, and then in the professional activity is an expression of artistic and spatial sensitivity of every student and architect. It also has a high priority in the design process, especially at the stage of an idea, concept and architectural creation. Before there appeared the possibility of using the computer, concepts and student projects had been performed manually during the teaching of all design subjects. It was a rule to prepare designs in pencil techniques, in ink, and other tools and techniques ‒ e.g. watercolor, tempera, feather, etc. The creative process required understanding and analysis of the developed vision or architectural issue in the context of brain ‒ eye ‒ hand relations. In the era of universal computerization these relations and correlations have been weakened, which, as can be seen in practice, does not always produce good ‒ expected ‒ results in the teaching process. First of all, probably, due to the deterioration of the function of imagination (including aesthetic one) among entrants and the strengthening of their tendency to laziness (including taking “shortcuts”), which in a sense is ‒ for artistic professions ‒ even murderous. Therefore, observing messages of creativity among students of architecture, one can state that the computer can, of course, be an aid, but it cannot be the main tool in mental, emotional and creative development process.

Three tendencies which go far beyond the narrowly understood technological issues seem to currently coexist in contemporary architectural practice. Some architects continue to regard hand drawing as being of primary importance at all stages of professional education as well as of the actual design process. Others, relying on the sensitivity and knowledge developed by their own personal experience with drawing, have accepted new technologies – perceiving the computer as an additional useful tool. At the same time the number of architects and students of architecture, for whom the era which preceded the information revolution constitutes a very distant past and the “analog” methods of imaging are pure exoticism, is continually on the increase. Trying to convince the skeptical representatives of the generation which has from the very beginning been shaped by digital media of the numerous benefits which can be derived from hand drawing – no doubt constitutes a fascinating challenge.

The interdisciplinarity of space creation opens up the opportunities for multifaceted research into sources, objectives and methods of expression. The reciprocal nature of relationships between illustrated visions and forms that capture imagination is an introduction to the subsequent design decisions. It is an excuse for transferring technical graphs into painting or drawing planes, which are closely linked to the quality of the design composition. Pure, abstracted artistic message inspires and encourages a different look at architecture while pointing to the unlimited possibilities for promoting architectural ideas. It also emphasises the importance of the impact the image has on viewer’s imagination, as well as stimulates and provokes further dialogue. “Architecture becomes an image – the image is read as architecture”.

My day-to-day observations made me reflect on whether the role of colour in architecture today is properly understood and whether it has not been pushed into the background. In this paper, I intend to show that painting classes in architectural schools aim at filling a certain gap. Using multiple examples and selected tasks, I hope to demonstrate the inseparability of the colour from the form, the influence of an appropriately selected colour on the architectural shape and the importance of combining colours depending on the form, space and light, as well as the way such combinations effect the perception of the shape and colour itself. This last variable inevitably makes us realise the significance of the so-called local colour. To conclude, the understanding of space, form, colour and light begins with practising the skills of “seeing”.

The sketch is an inseparable part of the process of creating an architectural space, being present at every stage of its development ‒ during the stage when an idea is formed, all the way to the moment of the work itself. It is useful as a means of writing down an architect’s thoughts, in presenting his work to a client, as well as a supporting tool during the process of overseeing the construction of a building. Thanks to its indeterminate nature it stimulates the imagination during the early stages of design, being at the same time the easiest means of communicating one’s thoughts on the construction site. The article outlines the usefulness of the sketch as a tool that an architect can use, basing on the examples provided by contemporary creators of architecture.

An architectural design is still the main means of artistic expression in illustrating the elements of the world invented by architects. For the last two decades this elementary way of expressing artistic intentions has been consequently replaced by new devices – a computer and software which enable digital modeling of the designed objects. This phenomenon proceeds mainly in the issues connected with presenting an architectural idea, so that it concerns the analyses that finish the artistic process of an object designed. Even at the level of competitions more and more often visualizations and not the drawings of an object are becoming the obligatory element of the work submitted. The article discusses today’s role and importance of an architectural drawing in the artistic process and architect’s artistic workshop.

The creator of a drawing in the process of unifying idea and architectural material is giving that relation a suitable aesthetic dimension, trying to see in it a clear unity of form and matter. Recording, sketching, drawing – in the face of such delimitation, establish an appropriate range of imagination and organize thinking about architecture ‒ from the idea of illustrating the shape of the intention to making it materialize. Drawing requires an effort of mind and thoughts, matter- that of ordering and selection.

As a discipline, architecture constantly needs to take on new challenges. Currently, a significant share of them regards presenting architectural ideas in the face of the IT revolution. In this context, it is reasonable to return to the question of why architects (still) draw. What – especially now – really is architectural drawing? What is the array of its unique features like in comparison with computer techniques? What is the unique potential of the latter, and is there a choice between them or are theymutually exclusive? One of the provided answers is to indicate a need for a critical analysis of the methods to present design ideas, regardless of the means used.

Apart from learning experience and reinforcement of knowledge required to pass tests and exams, the sketchbook enhances students’ understanding of architectural forms and helps them develop the ability of conveying complicated historical spatial and urban facilities. Despite the common use of computers in the profession of an architect, this form of improving drawing skills is invaluable and fully justified. The maintaining of a sketchbook builds up students’ skills and teaches them how to freely express themselves while conveying their objectives, ideas and designs.

The article describes the importance of freehand drawing in the daily practice of an architectural design office. It presents the areas of activity in which freehand drawing is essential as well as those in which its importance has decreased. It presents the function of freehand drawing in communication with both an investor and other entities participating in the design process. The author emphasizes the individual character of every creator’s freehand drawing as well as the easiness and freedom of thoughts expression offered by this tool in daily professional work.

What was and still is free hand drawing as an architect’s tool for conveying the vision of an object, presenting the concept of creating, shaping the balance between the constructive matter and the creative abilities of the maker? Drawing serves as a presentation of an idea. The architect’s draught is the result of a dialogue between thought, hand and an idea. Creating without emotion is not art. Drawing is only a form of recording. It is an endless act of perfecting the author’s work. This text presents the main stages of development, examples of artistic narration, which is an alternative to the individual form of constructing conceptions of space and its critical factors. This article aims to explain the relations between life and art, which are analysed through two similar problems: how to successfully influence the investor’s senses through the use of the drawing art. The author (through presenting the rank of drawing in his profession) aims to prove, that the architect’s freehand drawing stimulates imagination, sensitivity, spirituals values, traditional aesthetics. It emphasizes colour, rhythm, order and dynamism. A work doesn’t have to be created in the virtual world to become the full interaction between the inner and outer factors. The architect’s freehand drawing reflects the unconstrained creation of the mind concerning the status of the form in space as an artistic event.

Perspective, as a term used in the fields of architecture and photography, describes a method of depicting three dimensional objects within a space. The designer has the possibility of creating attractive perspective views within an urban composition of a residential complex, as well as views that have aesthetically pleasing foreshortenings and openings towards open vistas of the surrounding environment, or the creation of such an environment within the public spaces of a complex. During the various stages of the real property development process, the composition of a sequence of urban interiors is one of key elements, one that does not often suffer from bad influence on the part of the client, local zoning law or the restrictions of the building code. The aforementioned composition of a housing complex is largely left in the hands of the architect. A precision tool for supplementing one’s spatial ability is offered in the form of computer aided design programs, which can help in the creation of a pseudo-photographic image, which becomes the best possible carrier of information regarding the appearance of a housing complex to its future residents. The level of meticulousness with which an architect must balance out the requirements of the market against the need of a user-friendly public and private space that should be designed for the residents of a particular housing complex can prove to be a challenge. The article is thus an attempt at finding a set of rules to be followed by designers in the creation of interesting public spaces of housing estates, based on contemporary examples of residential complexes of Germany.

Green facades are becoming more and more frequently used tools in the process of urban transformation. They are treated by architects and town planners as a new material which allows them to transform grey and unattractive urban environment. Their final look, however, requires careful decisions and selecting adequate floral arrangements. Graphics, paintings and drawings backed by the knowledge of botany may result in creating green walls which can be veritable floral masterpieces. Virtual 3D models, on the other hand, enable us to understand better the mutual interaction between the ‘green facades’ and the surrounding urban environment. When designing vertical gardens and green murals, it is worth remembering about all the possibilities offered by sketches and the computer in order to transform urban areas thoughtfully and consciously.