Drawing Architecture

We are in the second decade of the 21st century and, as with most things, the distinction between digital and analogue has become tired and inappropriate. This is also true in the world of architectural drawing, which paradoxically is enjoying a renaissance supported by the graphic dexterity of the computer. This new fecundity has produced a contemporary glut of stunning architectural drawings and representations that could rival the most recent outpouring of architectural vision in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. Indeed, there is much to learn by comparing the then and the now. The contemporary drawing is often about its ability to describe the change, fluctuations and mutability of architecture in relation to the virtual/real 21st-century continuum of architectural space. Times have changed, and the status of the architectural drawing must change with them. This reassessment is well overdue, and this edition of AD will be the catalyst for such re-examination.

• Features the work of: Pascal Bronner, Bryan Cantley, Peter Cook, Perry Kulper, CJ Lim, Tom Noonan, Dan Slavinsky, Neil Spiller, Peter Wilson, Nancy Wolf, Lebbeus Woods and Mas Yendo.
• Contributors include: Nic Clear, Mark Garcia, Simon Herron and Mark Morris.

Neil Spiller is Dean at the School of Architecture, Design and Construction at the University of Greenwich and Professor of Architecture and Digital Theory. He was previously Vice Dean and the Graduate Director of Design at the Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL. A practicing architect, he is founding Director of the Advanced Virtual and Technological Architecture Research Group (AVATAR). He is the author of many publications including Visionary Architecture (2006) and Digital Architecture NOW (2008) for Thames & Hudson. He has guest-edited 5 issues of AD since the seminal Architects in Cyberspace in 1995. He is also an AD board member.