Architectural Note Taking Sketching

Lutyens - A tangent

Snmichele - a tangent to a tangent!

Two quick note-taking sketches from the weekend... I read a great quote and wonder what building it refers to...I look up a few books from my library(a building I know little about) and it was influenced by another building (which I know even less about) so I look that up.... 10 books off the shelf now... where is the book I started reading???

The point of these sketches is to sketch as quickly as I can (so I can get back to reading my book) and also by the act of sketching to remember the important features of the building I was researching.

By the way, the book that I started to re-read (which started this adventure) for the 10th time is
The Classical Language of Architecture by John Summerson.
The BEST book that I read in my early years as an architecture student and a book that I would recommend to anyone to read who wants an introduction to Classical Architecture. I owe a lot to that book!

Architectural Elements: Windows

Here are a few random thoughts on drawing windows (it is not how to draw perfect perspective since this page contains a very bad example of perspective...unless I am drawing a very curiously angled window!?! )

I have been meaning to do this for a while- but seeing Kate Johnson's wonderful blog post on painting windows here has prompted me. On the top left corner is my Australian version (double hung federation green window in a Sydney sandstone wall) and the doodles illustrate some things that I have been thinking about lately.

To draw windows convincingly, one needs to consider the relationship between the window and the face of the wall - is it set back a long way (deep reveals) or is it flush or proud of the wall. Also where is the glass in relation to the frame? When you look a a wall from an angle do you see more of the window or more of the reveal?
What is the relationship between horizontal and vertical members.

Happy to answer any questions... as I am sure that my own personal thoughts are probably not all that self explanatory.