Architecture
Back of an Envelope: Architects' Sketches and the Houses They Made
There's something evocative about a hand-drawn architectural sketch that a computer just can't replicate. Here are some great examples
In the age of computer-assisted design, it’s quite wonderful to see the raw simplicity of architects’ sketches. There’s something visceral, something elemental about a sketch: it makes a house come to life, in a way an exact, millimetre-accurate rendering could never do.
Sometimes they’re detailed, sometimes they’re a scribble on the back of an envelope. Always, they speak of a building that is about to spring to life – which is helped by the fact that the drawing came from the hand of an actual human. And that’s the most lovely thing about them. This collection of architects’ sketches and the homes that came from them shows just how special this design form can be.
Sometimes they’re detailed, sometimes they’re a scribble on the back of an envelope. Always, they speak of a building that is about to spring to life – which is helped by the fact that the drawing came from the hand of an actual human. And that’s the most lovely thing about them. This collection of architects’ sketches and the homes that came from them shows just how special this design form can be.
Once they’d received resource consent, though, they discovered the old bach was too far gone to renovate. Instead, they built a sympathetic house on the footprint of the old bach, preserving the memories and habits of 40 years of family holidays in a beautifully idiosyncratic house.
Pitch perfect
On Waiheke Island, Strachan Group Architects’ principal Dave Strachan sketched out the design for a house straddling a ridge, showing the land falling away from the house on either side, complete with contour lines. A series of three monopitch roofs march along the site, showing the house both at once in and on the landscape.
On Waiheke Island, Strachan Group Architects’ principal Dave Strachan sketched out the design for a house straddling a ridge, showing the land falling away from the house on either side, complete with contour lines. A series of three monopitch roofs march along the site, showing the house both at once in and on the landscape.
Here’s the final result – a gorgeous house that is beautifully anchored to the land, which falls away from the house steeply, offering beautiful views out over the inner Hauraki Gulf of Auckland.
Sum of its parts
Auckland’s Megan Edwards has designed a number of beautiful, small additions to modest bungalows and villas around Auckland in recent years – houses that lacked access to their back gardens and were previously closed to light and sun.
With this small Mt Eden addition, she designed a modernist-style addition that slid alongside the house, adding much-needed living space and connecting the house to a flat back lawn. In the drawings, you can see her meticulous detailing of the extension, an assemblage of concrete block, plywood and glass, and you can see her thoughtful process – “cedar shiplap cladding to the ‘warm edge’”.
Auckland’s Megan Edwards has designed a number of beautiful, small additions to modest bungalows and villas around Auckland in recent years – houses that lacked access to their back gardens and were previously closed to light and sun.
With this small Mt Eden addition, she designed a modernist-style addition that slid alongside the house, adding much-needed living space and connecting the house to a flat back lawn. In the drawings, you can see her meticulous detailing of the extension, an assemblage of concrete block, plywood and glass, and you can see her thoughtful process – “cedar shiplap cladding to the ‘warm edge’”.
Here’s the result, a particularly lovely melding of old and new – the addition is both separate and connected. What’s particularly lovely is how true to the sketch the house is.
Barn life
This sketch, by John Irving of Studio John Irving, is of a renovation to a turn-of-the-century villa in Auckland. The renovation is a beautiful dance between contemporary and original architecture. In the little sketch above, the two structures are deftly delineated – the two hip roofs of the original house to the left, with the contemporary pitched-roof addition to the right, lightweight and tent-like, as if it almost wasn’t there.
This sketch, by John Irving of Studio John Irving, is of a renovation to a turn-of-the-century villa in Auckland. The renovation is a beautiful dance between contemporary and original architecture. In the little sketch above, the two structures are deftly delineated – the two hip roofs of the original house to the left, with the contemporary pitched-roof addition to the right, lightweight and tent-like, as if it almost wasn’t there.
The extension is a few steps down from the original, and open on two sides to a garden and swimming pool. While contemporary in form, the addition is an artful mix of brick and brass, with glass and timber and doors that open right up, linking the pavilion, gently, to the cottage in front.
Modernist dream
In Nelson, meanwhile, architect Jeremy Smith of Irving Smith Architects gently reworked his classic 1960s brick bungalow, designed by a local architect for a retired couple. In this sketch, you can see the way he carefully slipped a small, narrow extension off the end of the house, built on the roof of the concrete garage to save costs – in pencil, it’s clear that the extension, while modern, is also sympathetic to the original in terms of scale.
In Nelson, meanwhile, architect Jeremy Smith of Irving Smith Architects gently reworked his classic 1960s brick bungalow, designed by a local architect for a retired couple. In this sketch, you can see the way he carefully slipped a small, narrow extension off the end of the house, built on the roof of the concrete garage to save costs – in pencil, it’s clear that the extension, while modern, is also sympathetic to the original in terms of scale.
In the flesh, it’s no less sympathetic – though determinedly contemporary. The addition is clad in black corrugated steel – as opposed to brick – but is connected back to the original tone of the house with timber joinery and a small scale.
Island life
On Waiheke, Sills van Bohemen designed an elegant contemporary house to sit in a sheltered valley just back from the coast. In this sketch you can see the main living space, which has a vaulted ceiling at the centre of the room.
On Waiheke, Sills van Bohemen designed an elegant contemporary house to sit in a sheltered valley just back from the coast. In this sketch you can see the main living space, which has a vaulted ceiling at the centre of the room.
Here’s the result – a beautifully restrained room filled with art and sculptural furniture. Which is, of course, the one thing a sketch can’t provide.
Water
Then there’s the age-old watercolour – in this case a particularly evocative one depicting the design of a new family home in Auckland’s Devonport, by Michael O’Sullivan of Bull O’Sullivan Architecture. It’s not especially detailed, but it gives you a clear idea of the sense of enclosure and texture the final result would have.
Bull O’Sullivan have designed several homes in recent years that play with a loosely 1970s aesthetic, seen here in the distinctive detailed timber ceilings and vivid green carpet.
Then there’s the age-old watercolour – in this case a particularly evocative one depicting the design of a new family home in Auckland’s Devonport, by Michael O’Sullivan of Bull O’Sullivan Architecture. It’s not especially detailed, but it gives you a clear idea of the sense of enclosure and texture the final result would have.
Bull O’Sullivan have designed several homes in recent years that play with a loosely 1970s aesthetic, seen here in the distinctive detailed timber ceilings and vivid green carpet.
Here’s the result, with that beautiful ceiling and the light spilling down through mullioned windows at the end. It is a striking house – but then, one look at the watercolour and you would have known that was going to happen.
TELL US
What do you love about these sketches? Tell us your thoughts on hand-drawn versus computer generated imagery in the Comments below.
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TELL US
What do you love about these sketches? Tell us your thoughts on hand-drawn versus computer generated imagery in the Comments below.
MORE
Look Closer! 10 Costly Items Missing From Your Drawings
From the Pros: 8 Design Habits of a Successful Architect
Houzz Tour: A Playful Home Drawn Up by 8-Year-Old Twin Boys
This particularly expressive sketch is by Studio Pacific Architecture’s Peter Mitchell. The owners of a 1970s bach on a lovely site at Rawhiti, north of Auckland, wanted extra accommodation in their holiday house, and asked Studio Pacific to upgrade the old place. The practice’s response was to design a beautiful concrete ‘sleepout’ separate from the main house (at left in the sketch) across a grassy courtyard, while significantly upgrading the original house.