Part of a good architect's process: sketches

(Brendan)

I thought some of you may like to see some of the pencil sketches that my brother did when he first began formulating the conceptual schemes. I got him to scan them and send them to me (though I received them after our discussions where he presented the formal drawings of the concepts). The formal drawings, of course, are done with the aid of a computer, but any good architect (or any good artist, or any good engineer) does hand sketches or "studies" to start the creative process--almost like visual brainstorming. If you are interested to see how an architect uses their training in perspective, drawing, and conceptualization to "think" while brainstorming, you'll appreciate these sketches. I also like them on a personal level because it's kind of the first moment where an idea of our home was put to paper, and in that sense these are history for our family.

Note: For all of the pics below you can click on them to enlarge.

Here's his first thoughts on three ideas for the home, which would become the three conceptual schemes we have previously discussed on the blog:
Here's a floor plan sketch for Scheme A:
Doing some careful study of the sketch, it looks like he actually first conceived the cruciform chapel in Scheme A, though he presented it more formally in Scheme B. Also, it looks like there's a sqaure "hole" in the main patio deck, maybe for a tree? I'll have to ask him about that.

Here's another sketch for Scheme A, a study of light coming in from the infamous floor-to-ceiling windows (see the comments for this post) as you look to the right after coming in the main entrance:
A last sketch for Scheme A, here showing what I think will be a big factor in keeping the cost down--pre-built trusses supporting the ceiling that are a standard size:
Here's the original floorplan sketch for Scheme B:
And here's a sketch of somewhere in the interior of Scheme B (I'm not sure where but it's cool :-), a design only an architect could envision:
The first concepts of Scheme C:
Looks like he went through a couple of arrangements of the "buildings" before landing on the scheme on the far right.

Here's one of my favorite sketches he did, of the the "triptych" entrance to Scheme C, and in the sketch you can actually see the sightlines to the chapel on the left, and through the home and out to the wetland on the right.
Here I believe he's doing some brainstorming on the arrangement of the kids' bedroom spaces for either the boys' or girls' room:
All this makes me look forward to the end of October, when we'll be going over his re-design of Scheme C!