It’s difficult to say if any other method of representation is as intuitive as the one between you and yourself. Sketching allows for the delineation of thought, feeling, and impulse of the architecture that occurs inside the person. It opens realms within an idea we didn’t know existed until quantified in the physical. Can any other method create new ideas through unintended strikes of the pencil? It is a necessity in order to articulate the design as well as to discover any absences of the thought process.

As a student it is imperative to loosen the hand, for it is during these formative years that one dreams the most. The encumbrances during Studio pale in comparison to the realities of the practice of architecture. Sketching can be your best friend as it not only assists in representing your thought process to others but yourself as well.

Ryerson University’s Architectural Science Program was foundational and thesis year was the beginning of my fascination with the Gardiner. It is also where I realized that writing as a companion to your sketches is instrumental. The sketchbook is your greatest record and tool when considering what my thesis advisor once said “Architecture school is not learning about architecture, its learning how to learn about architecture.”

The master’s program at John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape and Design allowed for great opportunity to further push my sketching to almost a sole method of design development. A concept for a vertical zoo is seen below.


Sketches although two-dimensional excel in three-dimensional representations as seen in this Table Rock proposal for Niagara Falls, carving into and along the cliff face. It’s a joy to shade in the weathering of the OPC Generating Station. With sketching you can make almost anything an artifact—even the sketch itself!


The Sketchbook is also a great travel companion. Recording the ideas you have abroad from what inspired you. Below is a river grid proposed for gentrifying the La Boca neighbourhood in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Sketching city block case studies brings further character to the proposal.

Toronto Mid-century Modern communities occasionally struggle with accessibility and walkability. Below is a proposal that opens a suburban block by removing chain link fences, adding roads to access proposed community amenities such as daycare, infilling with more housing units, and introducing mobility hubs that connect the neighbourhood to the rest of the urban fabric. These communities have great potential for mixed use opportunities without building completely anew. Neighbourhoods such as Don Valley Village are a prime example.


Finally, we end up in Los Angeles, where communal living is explored. Sketching explores multiple options in a short amount of time by producing axonometrics, plans and sections almost simultaneously. These sketches were shown to inspire students and young architects to never give up on the most tried tested and true method of representation and delineation of dreams and thought we have ever known. It’s not a skill that should be ignored nor should it be treated as work. I have more to say in my second post.