Epsilon Archive for Student Projects

Abstract

What is sketching for a landscape architect? Does it involve anything else than the sketching process, the tool with
which we work and carry a project through? The answer is yes, it is a process but one that includes many functions
like making notes in drawings or words for remembrance, a way to convey your ideas to others and to clearify
ideas for yourself or together in a group. This thesis aim to give a broader picture of what sketches and sketching
is through many voices, and images made by architects, a psychiatrist, a teacher, and landscape architect students.
The focus is on the hand made sketch and show many examples of what a sketch can look like.
What is a sketch? A sketch can be many things, but the general consensus is that it is made fast and as a draft. It
can be made in any material, two or three dimensional. The sketching technique you use while sketching does not
defi ne whether it is a sketch or not but only which technique you used. The function of a sketch changes and it will
look differently depending on the reason why it was made.
Why is it important for a landscape architect to sketch? If the tool is the sketches that I make in order to make the
sketching process run smoothly, how do I go about to improve my sketching process? Well, four older well known
architects tell stories about how important it is to sketch, all the time, in order to start saving images in your head
that you can access at any time, in any sketching project. Then the reason for sketching becomes unimportant,
only the fact that we do it, will make a difference. One way to help us sketch more is to think about how we
can improve our ways of registering the outside world. For instance the use of the digital camera. By making
a conscious choice to use the sketch book rather than taking pictures, you learn to interpret what you see into a
sketch.
As the landscape architect school around the world differ, they can be scientifi c or artistically dominated. Does
this mean anything in the way we communicate amongst each other? 19 students from Sweden, Slovakia, Estonia,
England, Czech Republic, Canada, Germany, Austria and China answered questions on how they defi ne, use,
learned to sketch, fi nd joy in and are inspired by sketches within the landscape architect profession.
The sketching process is a method of working that can be learned by any person. The landscape architect have
taken this method and learned to excel in it. But this process takes many years to master. That is a reason why
constant refl ection on the process of sketching is so important.