ACADEMIC BOOK REVIEW – DRAWING THE MOTIVE FORCE OF ARCHITECTURE
BOOK REVIEW THE IMPACT OF DRAWING ON ARCHITECTURE
Journal of Experimental Botany 2020, Vol.01, Pg. 2 Www.jxb.oxfordjounals.org
Peter Cook Drawing the Motive Force of Architecture, Wiley; Edition 2, Italy, 2014 , Pg.251, Paperback, 32,00 €. ISBN-10: 1118700643.
REVIEWED BY: González, Yerson; Brito, Adrián. abrito.arq@uisek.edu.ec, ygonzalez.arq@uisek.edu.ec INTRODUCTION The book Motive Force of Architecture written by Peter Cook, he was one of the founding members of the Archigram group and was very influential in the sixties for his futuristic designs where drawing was very important. In the course of time up to the present day in his projects he tries to achieve a contrast between the new object and the historical objects. In the beginning it states that the drawing and the paper are important elements for the development of creativity this is because this is where all the ideas that are then to be taken to reality is embodied. Additionally, he also held discussions about technology which later led to architectural drawing with emphasis on the new programs that have been implemented for drawing and representation. For example, architect Frank Lloyd Wright in the Broadacre City (1932–58) used techniques like color pencils and resources available to his disposition to explain the futuristic cities. In the past architects used magazines as a primary means of communication. The main argument of the book is about how the representation of architectural drawing should not be a simple representation of plans or an artistic representation, but the meaning of the building itself and on the site where it is located should be given importance. Also drawing is not only based in technique, it has other factors, it has a connection with the style, epoch, places, thoughts, and the motive. In which can lead us to the emergence of an ideal and is subsequently translated into lines that can be understood and enjoyed by the public. The drawing process arise arguments as well about the union between pencil tools and the computer programs because this method has not been given much importance. At the beginning of this stage, the union of these two techniques caused several debates since digital work has not contribute much because its very rigid with orthogonal lines, as well as the basic tools that it has, but throughout the years the advancement of technology and updated programs for drawing have implemented more tools that allowed combining many techniques to approach the process of drawing. For example, in the book The motive force of Architecture there is a representation in the Architect Kenny Kinugassa-Tsui, where he performs modeling in a digital medium and its structure is represented by the use of colored pencils and watercolor strokes. Another architect example is Andrea Branzi and his art is called Residential Park, No-Stop City, 1969, this canvas was made out of ink, cut self-adhesive polymer sheet, and pressure transferred printed film on tracing paper, taped to paper. To summarize, after reading the book The Motive Force of Architecture its many ideas and concepts that has been debated and reflections about drawing representation, goes beyond the techniques yet contains other aspects like style, drawing motive. Despite the advance of technology, we should always taken into account not only the medium or the tool but all the elements, from the technique to the historical memory, as well as achieved successes in the composition of the drawing and that is not just a simple representation of a building.
BOOK REVIEW It is interesting that the author begins his book with a concept and since this helps to understand the central theme in this case the bases for making a drawing representative and not something formal. Nonetheless, the book is a bit complicated because it is difficult to assimilate its contents since it requires all the attention of the reader and previous knowledge, because it contains analogies that get a little out of context that can make the reader lose sense of what he is reading. However this is important because it tells us certain strategies to be able to develop an idea on paper and that this is not taken as a final product at the beginning because it is not something that is achieved in haste, on the contrary it is a gradual process in which they are implemented more ideas, and the use of different materials to highlight certain objects or to particularize details representative of the idea. It can also be the representation of necessary changes that are given by an affectation to the context or other factors, in order to be able to express in the drawing the main idea, thus showing a simplicity to the public, but also showing the creativity and spontaneity of the same. For example, in the book the author places drawing of the architect Miroslav Šik, suburb of Tolbiac, Paris, France, where he uses color pencil and pastels to give more importance to a more traditional architecture. This creates a feeling of melancholy with the use of his technique by giving more eccentricity to its roofs as to its chimneys, in which he makes us understand the importance of the representation of architecture and its relationship with the context. He achieves this by creating these two types of realities within the same city, thus expressing in the drawing a quieter zone against a more chaotic city represented in a more diffuse way. The author’s insights into the forms of representation are quite valid, such is the case in which the architects make the representation of materiality that is not something superficial but expresses the intention of the project and helps it. It is certainly something that must always be taken into account in the representation of the projects and not place elements without an intention because a drawing is not a simple diagram but a set of elaborate ideas that propose a true architecture. Knowing how to choose a type of drawing is important since it is not always the same for all, but these differ according to the target audience. Such is the case in where it is intended to show historical movements can use an image of the project with color in its materiality and thus manage to emit the main idea, it is also important to examine the forms of representation, since a drawing according to its shape has the power to distort and sometimes completely reinvent the project, However I disagree that the drawing is not accurate as the author says it is if necessary so that it does not make the public dream about what it is seeing. For example we can find the representation of Christine Hawley in the project Shadow Housefrom 1980 that was made with pencils and tracing paper that represents as the design process part of a representation of lines to which a variation of colors is added to his spaces and at other times defining their materiality that go according to the intentions of the project, which aims to show elements like water at the lowest levels , solidity in the project as a whole , the essential, the incidental and what fades around it. It is correct that the author emphasizes that the new tools have been useful in the precision for the representation of the drawing since it is of great help for the architects in formation, such is the case of the application of computer programs that have gained strength by turning them into objects of great help for the emission of project ideas. These allow to place a variety of elements and in turn to combine them with techniques by hand, thus achieving perfection in the representation of the drawing. In some cases, it is almost impossible to distinguish one from the other, and it is also important to mention that thanks to computer programs and their fusion with manual methods architects have been allowed for more flexibility in drawing. This means that this has to more defined strokes as freer strokes at times a little rough and a broader development of creativity on it. In the same way it is important that the author emphasizes that despite all the tools available for drawing, who makes the decision or the choice to use these tools is always in the hands of the draftsman and what is best way to express the ideas and intentions in projects. For example we can find the representation of the Cultural Waterfront project of the architect Kenny Kinugasa-Tsui, in the year 2011 in Universidad Internacional SEK – 2020-3
which he explores in his sketch a great variety of techniques like strokes with colored pencils, a modeled in 3d, the use of a scanner, as well as digital techniques that complemented and helped the editing of the drawing. In this representation the scanner was used as a means to superimpose layers and achieve a smoothness in the environment, while the colored pencils were used for more defined lines, thus showing the intentions of the project and its flexibility in drawing.
CONCLUSION The book Motive Force of Architecture although it is not an essential book for academic training, this book contributes with several aspects that can be useful for a better development both academic and professional because in a certain part it is a practical text that contains graphic and informative aspects which contribute with a series of quite useful concepts since these can serve us as a basis for the Development and representation of architectural drawing as it explains to us that there exist diverse processes which are affected from an environment in which it is implanted to the very reason of the project these processes contain a variety of elements to achieve an objective and non-formal expression in the drawing, that is to say that they are not simple strokes, despite their difficult understanding. In the same way throughout the book the author establishes a relationship between the conceptual part and the graphic part that is to say that the expression of the drawing is always accompanied by a clear and understandable concept for the public so it highlights certain important aspects such as the use of different tools for the representation of different elements in a project such as materiality with the aim of making these tools work as a contribution to the drawing and its expression to the public, the author also highlights that a good representation can be achieved using a tool but if it is combined with other, for example, manual techniques such as the use of colors and other materials combined with computer programs can further enhance the representation of drawing, thus achieving the correct emission of a project idea. After its reading the book can be recommended mainly for its content as it is not strictly technical or a drawing manual for this reason would be ideal for students who are in the process of training and who have prior knowledge in both the theoretical and the I practice it by referring to academic projects in which techniques and programs are used for its development because in these the advice mentioned in the book can be applied.
Universidad Internacional SEK – 2020-3