HAND DRAWING AS A MEANS OF ACQUIRING VISUAL KNOWLEDGE

In this paper we research 'blended learning' in design disciplines. Key issue is the 'blending' between digital and analogue techniques of drawing in landscape architecture and urban design and new insights into the crucial role of hand drawing in design and design education.
Since the Renaissance, in architecture the drawing has been introduced as an intermediary step between program, idea and realisation. Already in the 70-ies of the last century, Ferguson (1977) has made clear the importance of 'thinking with pictures' in engineering and technical design. In this paper we will focus on the cognitive aspects of drawing in design processes; drawing can be a way of acquiring new knowledge.
We start with a short survey of the state of the art in teaching drawing in design education and the functions of drawing in design disciplines. The last decade shows a remarkable come back of hand drawing, in the 90-ies of the last century almost completely disappeared from educational programs in design education. Apparently there have been practical, maybe also didactic reasons for this 'come back'.
In the second part we give some examples of our own teaching experiences at the Faculty of Architecture in Delft. It is interesting to see the variety of solutions, students have come up with and the learning effect such a diversity can have. Here we see interesting interactions, new relations between analogue and digital drawing that can lead to new insights, new representations and new knowledge.
In the last part we will pay attention to a recent research domain of drawing research, cognitive science, psychology and design science. Gradually the outline of the above mentioned 'come back' seems to find a scientific basis from 'outside' the design disciplines.
In the results and conclusions of this paper we have put forward three points. Drawing not only has a mechanical, reproductive side but has also cognitive aspects. Drawing can also be a way of 'acquiring knowledge'. Drawing by hand and by computer, both have advantages and disadvantages; the future is hybrid where also most new developments will take place. In the course of the design process, most drawing by hand, sketching will take place in the beginning of the design process, towards the end, the focus will be more on computer drawing.