Annotation as Review: Graphic Thinking in Enric Miralles’ Ph.D. Thesis

Abstract

Enric Miralles’ Ph.D. thesis was first presented in November 1987 at the Barcelona School of Architecture in two small volumes, the first one containing thirty-one pages of text and the second sixty-one illustrations. The thesis, entitled Cosas vistas a izquierda y derecha–sin gafas (“Things Seen to the Right and Left, Without Glasses”), focuses on the relationship between annotation and thought in the notebooks of Grand Tour travelers. Through it, Miralles sought a thought process that was inseparable from graphic expression; the text became more the construction of a personal reflection than a strictly academic discourse. This was why the dissertation was initially rejected. Two subsequent enlargements accounting for more than 200 pages, Miralles’ insistence and his evident erudition finally led to its acceptance. It proved to be the longest document that Miralles ever wrote, and an essential insight into his design method in subsequent years.