Abstract:

This text intends to show the benefits of the internationalization of pedagogical methodologies, especially when related to creative environments. In architectural education, the drawing has traditionally played a fundamental role, especially in the most radical experiments in the history of architecture, as it encourages creativity, expressiveness and, more importantly, a critical perspective on reality. In recent decades, it is disappearing from the curriculum of many schools of architecture throughout the world. One of the reasons for this progressive abandonment of “analog drawing" is the understanding of drawing as a merely representative tool. However, in our opinion, drawing as an action, is a fundamental tool when imparting an open pedagogy, that strengths the different moments of the creative discourse. Through our teaching experience we were able to verify that the use of strictly digital processes allows the generation of very complex results, but it does not promote the evolution of ideas through the critical thinking nor the complete understanding of the project by the students. In our pedagogical approach, the discussion between representation versus expression is abundantly overcome, as well as the discussion between analog versus digital techniques. Drawing is a much broader concept, which relies on analog and/or digital tools (or overlapping / interaction of both), depending on the specific stage of the creative process.

This text aims to add value to the drawing as an essential tool of expression, creation, and architectural criticism, that substantiates the design education, especially in the early stages of the degree. For that purpose, we will explain the experience developed at Woodbury University (Los Angeles), where we integrated our graphical methodology based on the drawing, with the teaching experience of the Design Studio Unit throughout the year. In the past year, we have had the opportunity to apply this methodology in a completely different environment, both culturally and linguistically, at Woodbury University, whose syllabus does not include hand-drawing as an educational tool. The initiative of this teaching and methodological exchange arises from a Teaching Unit in the Department of Architectural Graphic Ideation at ETSAM.

The exchange of teaching with Woodbury University has been, in summary, the insertion of an instrumental methodology in a conceptual syllabus. We understand that this collaboration has provided students with alternative methods of conceptualization and representation of their ideas, focusing on the process developed rather than results. Students naturally incorporated the strategies learned to the procedures they were actually developing at the Studio class, performing back-and-forth processes between analog and digital. On the other hand, we had the opportunity to test a well-developed methodology in a completely different environment, verifying that it is a flexible system, that got enriched through this de-contextualization. In our opinion, the contemporary practice of design in architecture is undoubtedly an interdisciplinary task in which the audiovisual media and digital technologies play a crucial role in the development of the spatial experience. With the acquisition of drawing skills, the spatial perception is implemented and the critical creative processes strengthened, combining analog and digital tools, that allow us to multiply exponentially our imaginary capacity.

Keywords:

International, exchange, drawing, methodology, analogic.