Graphic sequences and reflective processes. Four Architects’ sketchbooks

Abstract

The drawing as an action linked to the project is consubstantial to the architect. It is an exercise of thought that helps to formalize the imagined space and investigate beyond the geometrically known, exploring concepts linked to the concerns of its time. The result of these thought processes, throws a sequence of sketches often contained in a sketchbook, which reveal the obsessions of each architect. Scarcely we have access to this procedural information because it is understood as “private,” however, in cases where its analysis is possible, it is enlightening when we try to understand in depth the character of the architectural work. To illustrate this idea, this article focuses on the sketchbooks of four architects, Zaha Hadid, Peter Wilson, Lebbeus Woods and Bryan Cantley. Their pages reflect on problems that concern architecture, urban planning and the social development of its time.