TEACHING FREEHAND DRAWING AT THE FACULTY OF ARCHITECTURE IN THE CONTEXT OF TECHNOLOGICAL CHANGE

Freehand drawing is indispensable to the formation of future architects. It is instrumental to the communication within a team and plays an important role in discussions with investors. In the curriculum at Faculty of Architecture, drawing serves as a language in the dialogue between students and their teacher. It supports the double-loop learning process (according to Chris Argyris and Donald A. Schön’s terminology) – a method that enables students to acquire task-solving skills by remedying the inconsistency between the goal (action plan) and the outcome (solution) in a mental feedback-based process. Freehand drawing teaches them how to think, and is necessary for the understanding of the step-by-step process inherent to design. A teacher must show how to search for solutions to the task at hand with the use of the sketching method. Student’s drawings are being discussed and improved in the correction process.

Apart from freehand drawing, computer software tools play an important role in architect education. However, state-of-the-art technologies are also the source of new challenges and threats for the formation of future designers. The prevalence of computer-aided design over freehand drawing, especially at the initial stage of the design, can restrict the role of student’s personality or even erode their individuality and creativity. What is more, it can also contribute to the unification of the artistic message.

Teaching freehand drawing in a Skype-based distance learning system poses special difficulties. A pilot distance learning preparatory course for candidates has brought to light specific difficulties regarding the observation of forms to be drawn. When a student is present in the art room, they can always approach the model and analyse it from various angles. They can also touch specific elements to better understand their place in the entire structure. Drawing objects from nature activates deeper perception levels that go beyond simple visual stimuli. An attempt to teach a distance learning course has also highlighted the observable deformation of perspective of forms, similar to that typical of photography. In the image displayed on a computer screen the points of convergence are approximated, which changes the foreshortening of horizontal planes. What is more, verbal discussion of mistakes cannot successfully substitute a drawing correction, which shows the differences and explains the structure of forms in the best and most appropriate way. Drawing opens a possibility for both teachers and students to look for solutions together - a preliminary sketch by a student is followed by a teacher’s drawing that introduces relevant changes to the original concept of the student. Freehand drawing is one of the skills that are best taught in practice, in the course of direct interaction between teachers and students. Both the mastery of computer tools and the teaching of freehand drawing play an important role in the development of future architects. Modern technologies may speed up and streamline the design process, but those simplifications sometimes come at a cost and have their negative sides.