Based on an exhibit opening in 1977 at the Cooper-Hewitt Museum and entitled: 200 years of American architectural drawing.

How architectural drawings emerged as aesthetic objects, promoted by a network of galleries, collectors, and institutions, and how this changed the understanding of architecture. Prior to the 1970s, buildings were commonly understood to be the goal of architectural practice; architectural drawings were seen simply as a means to an end. But, just as the boundaries of architecture itself were shifting at the end of the twentieth century, the perception of architectural drawings was also shifting; they began to be seen as autonomous objects outside the process of building. In Drawing on Architecture, Jordan Kauffman offers an account of how architectural drawings—promoted by a network of galleries and collectors, exhibitions and events—emerged as aesthetic objects and ultimately attained status as important cultural and historical artifacts, and how this was both emblematic of changes in architecture and a catalyst for these changes. Kauffman traces moments of critical importance to the evolution of the perception of architectural drawings, beginning with exhibitions that featured architectural drawings displayed in ways that did not elucidate buildings but treated them as meaningful objects in their own right. When architectural drawings were seen as having intrinsic value, they became collectible, and Kauffman chronicles early collectors, galleries, and sales. He discusses three key exhibitions at the Leo Castelli Gallery in New York; other galleries around the world that specialized in architectural drawings; the founding of architecture museums that understood and collected drawings as important cultural and historical artifacts; and the effect of the new significance of architectural drawings on architecture and architectural history. Drawing on interviews with more than forty people directly involved with the events described and on extensive archival research, Kauffman shows how architectural drawings became the driving force in architectural debate in an era of change.

An elegant presentation of stunning and inspiring architectural drawings from antiquity to the present day Throughout history, architects have relied on drawings both to develop their ideas and communicate their vision to the world. This gorgeous collection brings together more than 250 of the finest architectural drawings of all time, revealing each architect's process and personality as never before. Creatively paired to stimulate the imagination, the illustrations span the centuries and range from sketches to renderings, simple to intricate, built projects to a utopian ideal, famous to rarely seen - a true celebration of the art of architecture. Visually paired images draw connections and contrasts between architecture from different times, styles, and places. From Michelangelo to Frank Gehry, Louise Bourgeois to Tadao Ando, B.V. Doshi to Zaha Hadid, and Grafton to Luis Barragán, the book shows the incredible variety and beauty of architectural drawings. Drawing Architecture is ideal for art and architecture lovers alike, as well as anyone interested in the intersection of creativity and history. From the publisher of Exhibit A: Exhibitions that Transformed Architecture, 1948-2000.

· Sketches from prominent architects, drawn from an international selection · A unique insight into how architects use sketches to develop and transfer complex concepts into physical form, enabling readers to improve the connection between their own ideas and designs · Reveals the secrets of the most successful sketching techniques used by architects for today's designers

The first comprehensive account of how and why architects learned to communicate through color Architectural drawings of the Italian Renaissance were largely devoid of color, but from the seventeenth century through the nineteenth, polychromy in architectural representation grew and flourished. Basile Baudez argues that colors appeared on paper when architects adapted the pictorial tools of imitation, cartographers' natural signs, military engineers' conventions, and, finally, painters' affective goals in an attempt to communicate with a broad public. Inessential Colors traces the use of color in European architectural drawings and prints, revealing how this phenomenon reflected the professional anxieties of an emerging professional practice that was simultaneously art and science. Traversing national borders, the book addresses color as a key player in the long history of rivalry and exchange between European traditions in architectural representation and practice. Featuring a wealth of previously unpublished drawings, Inessential Colors challenges the long-standing misreading of architectural drawings as illustrations rather than representations, pointing instead to their inherent qualities as independent objects whose beauty paved the way for the visual system architects use today.

Architecture through Drawing examines how drawing - as both action and object - encapsulates complex ideas relating to culture, technology, space and the built environment. Bringing together an array of beautiful and rarely seen drawings dating from the sixteenth century to the present day, all representing different geographical locations, techniques, methodologies and purposes, the book defines a new field for the subject of the drawing in architecture. It reveals the motives for architectural drawing beyond the requirement to document the processes that underpin the realisation of the architectural object. This book asks, fundamentally, whether drawings can illuminate new interpretations of architectural experimentation. Examples range from initial sketches by architects to analytical and construction drawings, perspectives and schematics, collage and more complex presentations and paintings often carried out in association with others. Dialogues include Fabrizio Ballabio on Filippo Juvarra's Ottoboni Theatre; Desley Luscombe on Ludwig Mies van der Rohe; Mark Dorrian on Michael Webb; Nicholas Olsberg on Victorian architects William Butterfield, Norman Shaw and GE Street; Charles Rice on James Gowan; Laurent Stalder on perspective in postwar housing; Helen Thomas on the covers of San Rocco; John Macarthur on clouds; Markus Lähteenmaäki on Superstudio; and Erik Wegerhoff on the Viennese Auto-Expander. The volume is rounded off with an epilogue, 'The Limits of Drawing', by Adrian Forty and Sophie Read.

How do you find out about historic buildings and places? A good place to start is with visual evidence. Original drawings, topographical views, surveys, maps, photographs and other historic visual sources help to build up an understanding of how a building or location appears the way it does today. Interpreting such material requires knowledge of historic design and mapping conventions, the place of the drawings in the construction process, the methods and techniques used to create engraved or topographical views, and the equipment and processes used in photography at particular times. In Historical Visual Sources: a guide to understanding the historic built environment the authors - professional architectural and art historians - explain the provenance, purpose and terminology of a range of visual sources from the 16th to the 20th centuries, and how they can help - or sometimes hinder - an understanding of the original form and subsequent changes to a building, site or landscape. In addition, they list the most widely used archives, such as the Royal Institute of British Architects Drawings Collection, and online and published databases of historic visual sources. This book will be of particular interest to historic buildings professionals, archaeologists, conservation architects, students of architectural history, and those involved in the preparation of conservation plans. More widely, it is hoped that the visual sources discussed and listed here may open a new and rich vein of material to different kinds of historians, genealogists, educators, students and authors.

This beautiful book brings together 300 of the best architectural drawings from the last century by the world's most prestigious architects, creating both a history of the genre and a survey of twentieth-century architecture. The book is divided into five chronological sections that are prefaced by short essays that highlight the trends and styles of that period. Each drawing is captioned with key information about the architect, the project, and the drawing. This dazzling visual feast will appeal to all students and practitioners of architecture as well as anyone with an interest in the subject.