Drawing uncertainty

Abstract

Architecture is made to support certain activities. This article looks at ways in which questions of the uncertain or the indeterminate might be considered in the design process. The architectural drawing is a rehearsal of the architecture it represents. The discussion here is about how the maker and the tools search for ways of drawing to rehearse the sorts of engagement we might have with architecture that could nurture an indeterminate condition. This is studied through the invention of seven types of drawing instrument. The early versions represent an indeterminate relationship with architecture while the later instruments nurture an indeterminate engagement through the act of drawing. Indeterminacy is a condition of uncertainty. At first the instruments concentrate on working with the sublime, an existential uncertainty. In order to understand the spatial potential of picturing there is extended research into the natural history diorama. In parallel to lessons on projective geometry, the dioramas provide a convincing case for the power of the uncanny, an intellectual uncertainty. The lessons from these studies, embodied in Instruments Two and Three, achieved what had been set out in the initial question but also provided new questions, especially about the experience of making the drawing. The later instruments project paint rather than light and provide an engagement with the person who is drawing that is analogous to the condition that is being drawn. The process of drawing becomes a rehearsal for inhabiting the architecture.