Penn Station: Preliminary Sketches

These are some quick sketches 30-50 minutes each… very technical and crappy I know, but these are by no means finished. The goal was to establish mood, composition, and lighting. I wanted to critique myself on at least some of the basics. The next step is to add elements, as well as a focal point, that will enhance the composition.

Below, is a quick evaluation on the composition. The center of interest is marked with an X, but i tried to lead your eye into the painting, around, and back out. This could be the better of the three, but now i got to figure out what to put in the middle ground.

Reconstructing Penn Station: Main waiting room

Based on my preliminary research, I figured I had enough photos and drawings to construct a 3d Model. My goal of the model was to be able to construct quick perspectives and develop an overall composition. Obviously, the model is pretty simple and since it will be sketched over, only small details would be required. You can see as just an outline, the sheer size of the main waiting room and its classical forms.

Architectural Artist: Hugh Ferriss

“The rendering is a means toward an end; the end is architecture.”
Hugh Ferriss, 1940

I feel obligated to point out that I am heavily influence by the work of Hugh Ferriss. For one, Ferriss has a insane body of work. However, I must note that above his drawing abilities, he was the author of two books and a remarkable speaker. There are two things that strike me the most of his drawings. First, is the ability to see an evolution in his drawing style. For example, his earlier works we see a more formal approach to his renderings. Later, his drawings carry a more romantic nature and imperious style. Secondly, are the drawings that are done of “mid-construction”. A very interesting approach, as most people perceive architectural rendering a finished product. A later delineator, Ernest Burden mentioned; “There are two kinds of renderers: Those interested in giving a faithful representation of what a building will look like, and those interested in presenting a total artistic vision. His drawings belong in the latter, because they are expressions of architectural concepts, rather than portrayals of how a building will look. In his work, drawing and design are inseparable.” 1 When we look at his drawings they evoke a sense of Imagination. With architectural illustrations of today, we can easily miss that part with the famous “one-click” render button. “Rendering is an exercise in imagination,… the imagination must be fully controlled by a realization of the structural facts involved. It is a matter of equating artist reach to architectural grasp.”2

Ferriss' archive, including drawings and papers, is held by the Drawings & Archives Department of the Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library at Columbia University.

1 Leich, Jean. Architectural Visions: the drawings of Hugh Ferriss. New York: Whitney Library of Design, 1980.
2 Ferriss, Hugh. "Architectural Rendering", Encylcopaedia Britannica. 1961

Step away from the camera...

Yeah, I know... I’ve neglected to keep up with my blog project, but we all know life just seems to get in the way. Job hunting and procrastination can eat more hours of the day then I’d like to admit, however, my recent acquisition of a DSLR camera has yielded me another great “learning” opportunity. Since my main focus has always been architectural drawing and rendering, I figured a good camera would help me capture things of interest a little bit easier. For me, the best part of a photo is being able to examine the image over and over again. In fact, every time I look at an image I notice something new. Add in the fact that we are in the digital age and you can have yourself a fine reference collection at your finger tips.

Not the best photography, but its about the principles. When I’m taking these pictures it’s not just about the architecture, it’s also about the lighting, mood and composition. So obviously, i try to make these evident in the images.

My recent investigations with the camera...

Architectural Artist: William Walcot

William Walcot (1874-1943)

What’s probably the most interesting thing about research is realizing how much you don’t know. This is interesting because there seems to be a generation gap of architectural history. As architecture students, it seems we often fall victim of researching architects within the last few decades. Obviously, the big names will always show up in history class. I think what happens is you get a lost knowledge or skill that surpasses into today’s digital practice as a sort of dishonesty. more on this later..

A short bio, but the architect that I want to point out was William Walcot. Walcot was one of the most celebrated architectural draughtsmen of the early 20th century. He studied at the Imperial Academy and The Ecole des Beaux-Arts. He soon was producing presentation drawings for architects and exhibited at The Royal Academy. Later in his life, he concentrated on graphic art and created dramatic reconstructions of Greek, Roman, and Egyptian architecture. After his practice collapsed during the second World War, he committed suicide in 1943.

Note: that the images below were drawn as small as 3”x 5”. I’ll be sure to post more as research develops. Images from artstor.org.

Some subject matter...

I’ve given it a lot of thought in terms of what to draw/paint this semester. I wanted to work on something that is architecture related (go figure), but really put a lot of emphasis on lighting, mood, and composition. Heck, while we’re at it let’s dramatize all of the above. Also, I want to hone my drawing abilities, as I realize this is becoming a lost skill in the architectural profession. Might as well make the most of my spare time.

Something that struck me as interesting was the lost masterpiece of Penn Station. I came across some old photographs that clearly define what I want to do this semester. These photos do shed some light on architectural photography at its finest. The architecture also seems to have a little fantasy(surrealness?) to them. Shouldn’t there at least be a little fantasy in all architecture? I think fantasy architecture definitely has a place in our profession.

Sketches to follow....

The commencement of interest

What does one think of when we talk about architectural drawing? Is it a Plan, Section, Elevation, or perhaps a perspective? A copy of falling water rendering by Frank Lloyd Wight is one that comes to mind. It’s the ole myth that Mr. Wright drew this design from his head just a few hours before his client showed up that always strikes me. Besides that, I don’t really remember much about how I have become interested in this subject, but it doesn’t take long to realize why.

I’ve always had my favorites, (Etienne-Louis Boullée, Hugh Ferriss, and Tom Schaller, to name a few) but the more I dug the more information led to vast new findings (different artist and techniques). So far my research has given me a lot of motivation to design and draw, likewise being creative. Maybe it’s the visionary part; better yet, how about the fact that some of these visionaries influenced more architecture than any other men.

I’ll try to explain about what I hope to accomplish this blog. This blog is in response to a school project that I started 6-7 months ago and as ongoing research progressed, I have succumbed to a great deal of information. As with all this information, I’ve have become very much overwhelmed and disorganized. I’m hoping that this will help to manage what I have collected and done thus far and continue to do. I have met some awesome and helpful people in the field of illustration and architecture. I want to use this blog to let you follow the ups and downs as I continue to work on this project. I’ll also include drawings whenever possible, along with process to take you behind the scenes.