To kick off the OAA's Summer Sketches series, we are featuring highlights from our 2023 Conference in Sudbury. Read more about the Freehand Sketching in Sudbury session with Joel Berman.

Please give us a brief introduction to who you are. 

I am Joel Berman, a licensed architect in Chicago. I founded a design practice focusing on restaurants, franchise systems prototypes, adaptive reuse, and commercial kitchens (BermanArchitecture.com). We design franchise system retail prototypes (mostly restaurants) and design specific locations around the U.S. We use the latest BIM, rendering, and building scanning tools; we continue to use freehand sketching as a rapid iterative design tool for initial conceptual design.

I am a registered architect in multiple U.S. states and I am a member of the Association of Licensed Architects (ALA). I hold an NCARB certification, allowing simple architectural license reciprocity with all 50 American states, all provinces in Canada, and parts of Mexico. I am designated by the City of Chicago as a Self-Certified Architect.

I emphasize the use of clear and fast sketching as part of the design process. I have extensive experience as a teacher of architectural sketching at Columbia College Chicago, Thornton Tomasetti Structural Engineers, The Chicago Architecture Center, Andrews University, The Royal Architects Institute of Canada, The Alberta Association of Architects, and The Ontario Association of Architects.

Sketch of Air Canada Flight (Toronto to Sudbury) by Joel Berman

What is your own personal relationship with sketching/art?

At 10 years old, my grammar school art class simply taught replication of 2D images and photos. I knew that this was not a good way to learn how to draw, so with my allowance, I bought Betty Edwards' Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain. From this book, I learned to draw what I see. Michael Plautz, a Minneapolis architect, taught me Urban Sketching my junior year abroad – 10 architecture students spent a week in Tuscan hill towns with Michael learning to draw. Since this trip, I have used freehand drawing to think through the look and feel of spaces in rapid iterations, often in front of clients.

In the mid 1990s, I found unusual opportunities to teach: a children's program at the Art Institute of Chicago; the interior design program at Columbia College; and adult classes at the Chicago Architecture Center. I developed a simple, formulaic curriculum with exercises for teaching freehand drawing – composition, value, contour, perspective, and rapid sketching. Each of the classes stress rapid sketching on site outside of a studio. I also helped organize the 2017 Urban Sketchers International Symposium in Chicago, exposing me to artists from around the world.

Sketching is a graphic language that I use to communicate design concepts and strategies in a more focused and faster way than words. When I sketch, I relax and rebalance - most Sundays in the summer I kayak to the Chicago Riverwalk or Chinatown and draw. BIM, other digital software, and sketching are all tools that help us in the practice of architecture. I promote the use of traditional hand drawing as a useful tool in the practice of architecture in addition to the new electronic tools.

The 2017 OAA Conference in Montreal was my first OAA Conference session. These sessions are unique  – they allow me to share my love of freehand drawing with practicing architects in cities that I might be visiting for the first time. The professional camaraderie, the serendipity of the new sense of place, and the delight in working with OAA is special.

Sudbury Session (Photo Credit: Tabitha Rees)

What was it like leading the class in Sudbury?

Teaching in Sudbury was different from other OAA venues, in a good way. The class in Sudbury was six hours; most OAA sessions have been 1.5 - 3 hours. We were able to dive deeper into the exercises and to have more varied locations to sketch. Before the class, I spent a full day walking throughout Sudbury and choosing the drawing locations. There are multiple places to see the downtown from a distance, along with the unique locations of the water viewing boats and museums.

Sudbury Session (Photo Credit: Tabitha Rees)

What should architects get out of this process?

Architects will learn/remember how to use manual tools in support of architectural design. I also hope to share and inspire the delight of freehand drawing.

Sudbury Session (Photo Credit: Tabitha Rees)

This blOAAg post is an entry in the popular annual series, Summer Sketches. To see other items from this year, click here. To see all Summer Sketches, click here.