Abstract

This dissertation offers a new view of architectural sketches. It portrays these sketches as playing a vital role in the thinking process of architects and consequently in the process of design. This study is not a history but an act of theorizing about architectural sketching by first finding their relationship to mental faculties: memory, imagination and fantasy. The comparison of these sketches to theories of play, caricature and the grotesque reveals interpretive qualities not formerly found in sketches. Sketches are used by architects in individual ways but most use them to discover , communicate, record, and to evaluate potential buildings. ;This study exposes some of the characteristics of sketches which all architects use but are seldom studied. Play, caricature and the grotesque reveal these qualities. The give and take of play allows, through transaction, a knowledge not before discovered. Caricature likewise uses exaggeration, transformation and deformation to reveal a truth about a character. The distortion allows a manipulation which can expose more than a one-to-one relationship. The grotesque is similar in that the ambiguous and transitory qualities reveal a truth more complex and difficult to define. The key is interpretation; whether it is shown through ridicule, paradox or satire it contains some likeness to the original and allows the observer to interpret. These elusive and transitory qualities make interpretation possible. Architectural sketches act as preparatory for something else, they are imprecise but yet interpretive. This study gives new insight into the architects relationship with architectural sketches and consequently their architecture. It explores just how elusive architectural sketches are, and how these qualities can assist the architect to interpret when designing