Summary: Several readers had a lot to say about Kevin W. Sloan’s article “Drawing Room Lost,” about the art of hand drawing as a tool for committing a building to memory.

Great article and so relevant. Having always loved the process of drawing and developing ideas by hand, I am a firm believer that there will always be significance in hand drawing. There is something to be said about the soft, human quality of a sketch. It is so personal and timeless. The direct connection between the mind and the hand is something that a computer will never replace. But yet, I do feel that both skills—computer-generated drawings and hand-drawn sketches—play an important role in our profession. In my studio, I have my drafting station and my computer station and I enjoy working at both.

—Reggie Konet, AIA
Konet Architecture, Glens Falls, N.Y.

I really appreciate the article on “Drawing Room Lost.” I have spent most of my educational and professional career (42 years) drawing by hand. Nine years ago I laid my pencil down and began designing and drafting with the computer. While I enjoy producing construction documents with AutoCAD, I feel my creative process has been handicapped by the computer. In fact, I’ve begun to feel estranged from pencil and sketch paper. So, I have recently put the drawing board back in my office to get reconnected to the design process. I found the computer limited my creative thinking … letting ideas flow from the tip of my pencil is so much easier than from the mouse. In fact, I design much faster with sketch paper and develop more ideas than I ever could with the computer. Once the design is in hand, then the computer becomes the efficient method for developing a building out of the design.

It is true that my younger staff are not comfortable with pencil and paper, and I fear for what’s to become of creativity in architecture—the centerpiece of our profession.

—Stan Bell, AIA
Berrien Springs, Mich.

Throughout my career, I have always maintained my ability to draw by hand. It’s an inseparable part of me, like seeing and breathing. The advent of the computer in the last 15 years has molded and sprung a new generation of professionals who have forgotten what it’s like to draw, don’t even want to draw, or don’t know how. Detaching one’s brain from one’s hand may work for most people in these high-tech times, but I myself find comfort that I can work my brain, my eyes, my hand, and my mouse to the PC—in that order. I’m glad I was old-school-trained in the traditional arts. And, yes, without that, I would say something is “lost”.

—Javier DeJuan, Assoc. AIA, director of design
GatorSktch Architects Inc., Clermont, Fla.

I enjoy reading the AIArchitect each week and find many of the articles enjoyable and providing insight to the many different topics of the architecture field.

I agree with the recent article regarding drawing by hand becoming an endangered activity. This process allows seeing the design as a whole and allows the architect to develop his design into construction drawings by having to go through these steps. As drawings develop, the evolution of a design turns into a reality, and the document can be bid and constructed minimizing change orders and reducing the time for RFIs—while enabling the architect to respond to field questions and still maintaining the design intent.

When you draw by hand, you are able to coordinate the various levels and phases as a total document. Inputting the additional infrastructure elements are better understood and accomplished by being able to communicate this with the different consultants/engineers.

I believe schools need to emphasize this process more and teach CAD as a drafting tool. Too many times drawings come across my desk from different architecture offices for review, and the scope is not clear due to line weights, inconsistent details, and uncoordinated legends—leaving these tasks to more consultants, contractors, or fabricators. Drawing set sizes have increased tremendously without the necessary information to clearly show design intent or constructability.

When the drawing process is practiced, it continues over to the CAD process and creates a better set of documents. It shows in presentation and in the field.

—Scott Aagre, AIA, Code & Zoning Analyst
Milrose Consultants Inc., Jersey City, N.J.

Hand drawing is the pencil wired directly to the mind of the architect. There isn’t an intermediary or CAD-monkey digitally translating to the paper. Computers are fantastic; however, in the race to embrace a new technology, our business has thrown thousands of good architects into the dumpster. Architecture can still be art; it’s just that the drawings aren’t art anymore. Don’t you tech-snobs think that you are set, there’s a computer program out there that will replace even you eventually. There is also a dumpster waiting for you too.

—Bob Bennett, AIA
New Orleans