How Drawings Work A User-Friendly Theory

How Drawings Work cheekily explains that what architects make is information that enables other people to make buildings. That information comes in a variety of forms: drawings by hand and computer, models both physical and virtual, and words as needed. The book reflects in witty prose on the nature of architectural drawings as tools of communication, pulling from a diverse and eclectic landscape of theories from grammar, functional linguistics, philosophy, art criticism, science fiction, popular culture, and, of course, architecture, to propose a new way to think about architectural communication.

Preface

1. Introduction: An irresponsibly brief history of drawing(s)
2. Rhetoric and persuasion
3. Direction of fit
4. Matching the world
5. Wishes and instructions
6. The Elevation: the world’s most dangerous drawing
7. Into the uncanny valley
8. Conclusions and Questions

Acknowledgements

Bibliography

Image credits

Susan C. Piedmont-Palladino is a professor of Architecture, Coordinator of Urban Design, and the Director of Virginia Tech’s Washington / Alexandria Architecture Center in Alexandria, Virginia, USA. She is also a curator at the National Building Museum in Washington, District of Columbia, and a registered architect in the Commonwealth of Virginia, USA.