The principal of two-point perspective is essentially the same as one-point perspective except there will be two vanishing points on the horizontal line as the name suggested. The vertical line remain vertical and parallel in the drawing. All the horizontal lines will appear to converge to two vanishing points on the horizontal line.
Depending on the location of the object in relation to the vanishing points, the pictorial outcome will be varies.
Two-point perspective is commonly use in a perspective drawing. Due to the its nature, two-point perspective helps reveal three-dimensional quality of an object very well such as depicting a three-dimensional ideas of a building. This type of perspective can be used to display three-dimensional quality of interior spaces or courtyard area in architectural design.
When constructing two-point perspective, and to get a better result, it is better to place one of the vanishing points further away from the object, normally somewhere that is not in the drawing area.
Being able to draw a perspective drawing is one of most important skill for people who engage in drawing as part of everyday life. Particularly for observational sketching, a perspective drawing plays a significant role when one wants to convey the scene to represent depth in drawing. There are several types of perspective: one-point, two-point and three-point perspective, and each type of perspective is also divided into normal eye view, worm’s eye view, and aerial view. Constructing a freehand sketching perspective can be tricky particularly with a limited time window when you are doing outdoor sketching.
A normal eye view perspective is commonly used when doing observational sketch since it represents the actual human eye level that we normally perceive our surrounding environment. The examples below show a process of constructive a one-point perspective for rapid outdoor sketching.
Establish Horizontal line and the vanishing pointEstablish the building proportion by using door fame as a starting pointEstablish objects’ depth by using foreshortening lines that are drawn into the vanishing pointGiving scale to the building by giving more detail such as window and mullionsAdding scale figure will help giving a building scale in relation to a surrounding environment
If necessary adding trees may help make a perspective becomes more realistic Finally adding shade and shadow will convey a better depth to the drawingYou can finish this type of drawing in 10-15 minutes.
Next time, I will talk about two-point perspective.
Why is it important to learn and practice on site sketching?
Students often ask this common question when I take them out for on-site
sketching. In situ sketching is a
process of re-creation of a space in which we situate ourselves within the
building and its environment. Such activity spurs us to have immediate embodiment
and interaction with the building, site and surrounding environment. While
sketching, we engage ourselves with not only seeing, but we also interact with
the building and its surrounding environment through its materials, volume,
smell, texture, temperature, existence. With all of our senses activated
through the act of sketching, the particular moment allows us to develop perception
both consciously and unconsciously. The experience develops our perception by
focusing in on the link between line, form, texture, proportion, space, light
and value, color and material. Additionally,
in situ sketching engages us through the physical act of drawing when representing
our thoughts and perceptions on paper. An act of on-site sketching fosters the
critical correlation between mind and hand as a process of design thinking.
Yet, the action of sketching cultivates a development of muscular facilitation
such that sketching becomes unconscious in the creative process. While
sketching a building, we see and experience a three-dimensional quality via
walking through an actual building. We begin to learn, and piece together these
perceptions to form a holistic understanding that goes beyond sight-seeing.¹Understanding
architecture through drawing demands a certain activity from the observer. First,
one needs to look at overall shape and proportion of observed architecture, and
then create a rough sketch of form and shape by simple lines. Later on, one
elaborates light and textures. The observation and re-creation process is an
intuitive but necessary experience in order to fully understand the thing seen.
In Experiencing architecture, Steen
Eiler Rasmussen described a group of boys playing soccer in front of the
enormous church of S. Maria Maggiore in Rome in comparison to tourists who
visited the church for sight-seeing:
“I do not claim that these Italian youngsters
learned more about architecture than the tourist did. But quite unconsciously
they experienced certain elements of architecture: the horizontal planes and
the vertical wall above the slope. And they learned to play on these elements.
As I sat in the shade watching them, I sensed the whole three-dimensional
composition as never before.”³
¹Jenkins, E. (2013)
Drawn to Design: Analyzing architecture
through freehand drawing. Basel, Birkhauser: 46.
² Rasmussen,
S. (1993). Experiencing Architecture.
MIT press: 17-34.
If one sees learning architecture as a distant journey,
travel is a key ingredient of this journey. Travel in this sense is not a
vacation, but rather a journey to experiencing the world and building up our
design repertoire. Drawing and writing
perhaps might be media to reflect our exploration and to imprint our
architectural experience into our own memory. Travel is a way to school
ourselves after school years. If a desire to learn is infinite, the world is
wonderful place for this exploration.
Besides practicing and reading, traveling and sketching can be a way to
experience the world of architecture. It is a means of immersing ourselves in a
place and experiencing the very moment with all of our senses. One example from
my own life is hearing a bell sound from a cathedral while rapt in deep
concentration, striving to capture the last beautiful sunray that bathes the
building surface via watercolor sketching. This is the kind of experience that
will be engrained to our lasting memory, and this very vivid moment worthy of
our time can be recalled in the future.
An architecture idea begins with a mental image. To materialize a mental image is to draw. Drawing is a process of forming a mental image to embody thoughts as a way of communication to oneself and others. Daily ritual of practice is crucial to strengthen this ability. The more one practice the better one will be able to do so. Learning to see via drawing is an important step to master this ability. As Kimon Nicolaaides mentioned “learning to draw is a matter of learning to see”. It is a process to foster one’s ability of seeing beyond a superficial way of looking with the eye. Practicing drawing is slow and requires a lot of patient. If one does not lose sight of focus, one may be able to do so. A true observation utilizes various senses through the eye at one time.
“The tactile, kinesthetic nature of drawing in direct response to sensory phenomena sharpen our awareness in the present, expand our visual memories of the past, and stimulates the imagination in designing the future” Francis D.K. Ching
By far, using AutoCad and Adobe Illustrator as a drawing tool set to control line quality is the most effective method in my digital drawings. For the basic 3D objects, I normally use AutoCad 3D or Rhinoceros 3D. Then, I finalize the line quality of my drawings in Adobe Illustrator. Implementing line weight theoryh into my digital drawings. The drawing above is one of my furniture design that utilized the method as mentioned to complete the digital workflow process. Not only using this technique with an object design, I use it with architectural drawing as well.
Up to this point, it is hard for me to imagine traveling without a sketchbook. Training myself to sketch while traveling has been an integral part of my architecture studies. I learned to sketch as part of school assignments without noticing the benefits of sketching while traveling. Slowly but surely, this habit has grown on me. It has become part of my life. Going through a day without picking up a pencil to draw seems like something is missing. Drawing and sketching are my essential skills in practicing and teaching architecture. Sketching has helped me to reconnect my perception between my hand and mind, and then to the tip of my pencil to express my imagination fluently. I see sketching via traveling as a process of observation and expression as well as a way to build up my design repertoire. I enjoy the moment when I can fully submerge myself into that environment in that particular time that I am sketching. I spend sometimes a few minutes and sometimes whole hours observing and drawing.
Observing my travel experience via sketching has helped imprint and engrave these moments in my mind more than other kinds of methods. These memories always remain vivid in my mind and seem to never fade away. I also see this sketching habit as a meditative practice that helps to expand the span of my concentration. As well-respected architect and writer, Juhani Pallasmaa, mentioned in his book The Thinking Hand, “Sketching and drawing are spatial haptic exercises that fuse the external reality of space and matter, and the internal reality of perception, thought, and mental imagery into singular and dialectic entities.” I still see the invaluable benefit of practicing free-hand sketching as well as seeing it as an essential art of practicing architecture, especially in an era of simulation, when computational methods have dominated the practice of architecture. I always encourage my students to practice and integrate it into their lives as part of everyday practice. I often integrate the practice into courses that seem to be a good fit for free-hand sketching practice.
The best way to practice free-hand sketching is to find a simple sketchbook and a pencil, and then begin to draw and keep track of your thinking via drawing and writing. When your skill begins to improve, you can also try various types of media such as charcoal or watercolor, which I see as a joyful medium for practicing. The most important part of practicing drawing is to break through the judgment of others. Aesthetic is not the ultimate goal of practice sketching. The aesthetics of your sketch will gradually improve when you gain more experience. The process of free-hand sketching takes time, so please be patient.
There are countless scientific research studies which indicate the benefits of practicing mindfulness regularly. It could help improve our well-being in various aspects such as reducing stress and anxiety, expanding our concentration span and ability to focus, being calmer and many more. Practicing mindfulness can occur through various forms such as meditating in the conventional method. For people who like to draw and sketch, routinely practice sketching could be an alternative form of practicing mindfulness.
Steven Holl, a well-respected architect, uses his water color painting as a morning routine for his meditative practice in his apartment in New York. He starts his day by simply sitting down and beginning his contemplation via water color. Sketching and drawing does not require much or involve complicated tools. It only requires ourselves, a pencil and a piece of paper or a notebook. It can be a quality moment of our day. I normally practice sketching as a tool to explore the inner part of me. While drawing, I have no expectations, no goals; I simply pick up a pencil and begin to draw without knowing what the drawing is for. I see positive outcomes from this practice particularly in the contemporary moment in which we are constantly being bombarded by extreme information overload in our environment through emails, websites, various devices, etc. It allows me to slow down and literally be there with only myself. Over time, my sketching skills have become a vehicle for my architectural design thinking and exploration. It has become an integral part of me.
If you like sketching or drawing, try it and see how you feel.
In reality, buildings are much larger than the plans used to construct them; therefore, we must reduce the drawing size appropriately in order to maximize readability and communication. In doing so, drawings can be studied comprehensively. Scale is perhaps the most common element in any architectural drawing and absolutely necessary to learn in architecture school. In order to convey a building accurately in terms of proportion and dimension, a proportional measuring system known as scale is used. In the built environment, it is an international standard that is utilized throughout all phases of a building from design to construction.
Below are some points of consideration that I normally abide by when drawing to a specific scale:
– The larger the scale of a drawing, the more information is needed to depict that particular drawing. Most likely, construction drawings will have a larger scale than design drawings.
– During the initial states of a design process, the scale of a drawing should be appropriate to the purpose of the intention of communication. I normally use 1:200 in metric scale or 1/16”=1’-0” in architect’s scale if the building is not too large to initiate my design idea. Other times, I use 1:500 if a building is larger than usual. These scales allow me to explore various design solutions without becoming distracted by all of the details in the initial stages of my design process.
– When the design ideas are clear, the scale of drawings should gradually increase allowing us to incorporate more information into our design.
I like to organize scales in architectural drawings into two types:
Design Scale:
-1/8”=1’-0” close to 1:100 in metric scale works well in initial thought processes and works well for small scale buildings.
-1/16”=1’-0” close to 1:200 is good for the initial design process such as functional configuration or spatial articulation in section drawings.
-1/48”=1’-0” close to 1:500 works well for site plans or the placement of buildings on the site relative to its context. This scale can also be used for form-finding or even to explore three dimensional studies through physical models.
– 1/165”-1’-0” close to 1:2000 is a scale for figure ground drawings. Most likely, this scale will be used to compare the relationship of a designed building to urban morphology.
