Study Room resource: Architects’ drawings and ideas

William Richard Lethaby, First sketches for Liverpool Cathedral

William Richard Lethaby
First sketches (including initial plan and elevation drawings) for Liverpool Cathedral
1902
Pen and ink and pencil on paper
Museum no. E.3196-1991

This is a drawing from 1902 by the British architect William Richard Lethaby, made soon after the announcement of an architectural competition for Liverpool Cathedral. The drawing reveals an intensely creative moment at the very beginning of the design process. As if fearful of losing his inspiration, Lethaby has grabbed the nearest sheet of paper - which happens to be a used envelope - and covered it, front and back, with designs for the cathedral. The 'back of the envelope' sketch is a term often used to describe the designer's first ideas, and this drawing shows exactly where the expression originates. Such drawings are greatly valued because they show the creative vision in its purest form, before the design becomes compromised by budgets, clients and manufacturing methods. The drawings on the front of the sheet include a plan, a sketch of the exterior; a sketch of the vaulting, a section through the nave and transept, an elevation of the exterior, and an elevation of the bays with the sculpture drawn in red ink. On the reverse there are two pencil sketches, a plan and an elevation. Indeed Lethaby's final designs for the cathedral incorporate the same Byzantine features and reinforced-concrete structure suggested in these first sketches. Lethaby failed to win the competition.

Lethaby was a founder of the London County Council Central School of Arts and Crafts, and professor of design at the Royal College of Art, London. He was also an influential writer on architectural subjects.

This drawing can be found in Print Room Box 10B.

John Prizeman, Ideas sketch for Flower Kitchen

John Prizeman (1930-1992)
Ideas sketch for Flower Kitchen
1972
Felt tip pen on tracing paper
Museum no. E.1142-1979

This sketch shows the first ideas for an extraordinary kitchen designed by the British architect John Prizeman in 1972 in conjunction with Westinghouse Domestic Appliances, 1972. The kitchen detaches itself from the house and moves around the garden on rails. Shaped like a flower, it rotates on its axis and its windows open like petals as it follows the sun. Prizeman's clever choice of drawing materials helps to convey its narrative. The smooth tracing paper becomes the garden and the kitchen whizzes across the surface as effortlessly as his felt-tip pen. The flower kitchen reflects both the 'flower power' culture of the period and the decorative style of early Victorian conservatories. A kitchen based on this design was manufactured as a one-off project by the American company Westinghouse Domestic Appliances.

This drawing can be found in Print Room Box 10B.

Sir Edwin Landseer Lutyens, Design drawings

Sir Edwin Landseer Lutyens
Design drawings (sketches, ground and first floor plans) for a coach house
1891-1892
Pen and ink, and watercolour on paper
Museum no. E.2-1991

The five drawings on this sheet are for a coach house designed by Sir Edward Lutyens in 1891-1892. They include a watercolour sketch, pen-and-ink plans of the ground and first floor and two pencil sketches for a lamp and a bracket. The coach house was for Munstead Corner, a house Lutyens had been commissioned to design in Surrey. The scheme was modelled on the vernacular architecture of the area, with stone walls, exposed timber and tiled roofs. It was one of Lutyens' earliest commissions and he was careful to impress his client with beautiful little designs such as these. While most such designs were kept in a sketchbook, these drawings are on a loose sheet of personal stationery (the printed address is that of Lutyens' family home in London). Possibly this reflects the ancillary status of the coach house.

Sir Edwin Landseer Lutyens was the leading Edwardian architect. He designed a large number of buildings, including country houses, cathedrals and palaces. Establishing a reputation for his imagination, originality and variety he contributed many masterpieces to the Arts and Crafts movement.

This drawing can be found in Print Room Box 10B.

Robert Heritage, Series of design drawings for a house

Robert Heritage
Series of design drawings (interior ground plans) for a house
1968
Felt tip pen on sketchbook paper
Museum no. E.877-1979

Design drawing for the interior layout of a house by Robert Heritage, 1968. Drawn in black felt-tip pen on watermarked paper and annotated with red symbols. This is a page from a sketchbook produced by the British designer Robert Heritage in 1968. Heritage was working on a series of items for the furniture-making firm Gordon Russell Ltd., launched the following year as the 'GR 69' range. The plans show one house divided in three different ways. The house on the left is traditional in that it has a separate living room, dining room and kitchen. The other two houses are more contemporary as they have combined 'kitchen-diners' and 'lounge-diners'. As a furniture designer, Heritage would have needed to consider these architectural differences.

Robert Heritage studied and taught at the Royal College of Arts and gained a reputation as a highly honoured furniture designer. His furniture projects include the QE2 chair in 1968 and designs for Heals.

This drawing can be found in Print Room Box 10B.

Brookes Stacey Randall, First design ideas for a loft conversion flat

Brookes Stacey Randall
First design ideas (plan drawings) for a loft conversion flat
1994
Black fibre tipped pen on paper
Museum no. E.1600-2000

This is a drawing by the British architects Brookes Stacey Randall. It comes from a 1994 scheme to convert a disused loft space into a flat for a celebrity client. Lofts were originally designed for industrial storage and they may be thought of as large empty boxes. As such, they are ideal shells for the open-plan, double-height spaces that are popular with flat-dwellers today. In this project the spatial possibilities were matched by a generous budget and the architects were able to produce some unusual one-off designs. These preliminary sketches show some of the architects' first ideas. They include a rotating bathroom, a sunken bed and a kitchen and bathroom that can be 'put away' after use. All 11 plans are drawn freehand on the same sheet of paper, suggesting that at this early stage of the project anything and everything was possible.

This drawing can be found in Print Room Box 10B.

Circus Architects, Drawing for a loft conversion

Circus Architects
Drawing (one point perspective) for a loft conversion
1994
Photocopy of a hand-drawn drawing
Museum no. E.630-1999

This is a photocopy of a drawing by Circus Architects. It shows the interior of an industrial loft space in London, converted into a flat in the mid-1990s. Loft conversions are popular because they frequently offer open-plan, double-height living spaces. But this sometimes means that entrance halls and bedrooms become rather enclosed. If there were any such concerns with this project, the bird's-eye view used here helps to unify these two kinds of space.

Photocopying is one of several graphic techniques employed by architects today. Here ithas been used to reproduce a traditional hand drawing. Because they can be remade many times over, photocopies are generally considered les precious than original drawings. They may be rolled up and carried to a meeting or scribbled over by the architect.

This drawing can be found in Print Room Box 10B.

Brookes Stacey Randall, Design drawing for a loft conversion

Brookes Stacey Randall
Design drawing for a loft conversion
1994
Computer aided design on paper, and pen, ink and coloured pencil on tracing paper
Museum no. E.1612-2000

This drawing by the British architects Brookes Stacey Randall comes from a 1994 scheme to convert a disused loft space into a flat for a celebrity client. Lofts were originally designed for industrial storage and they may be thought of as large empty boxes. As such, they are ideal shells for the open-plan, double-height spaces that are popular with flat-dwellers today. In this project the spatial possibilities were matched by a generous budget and the architects were able to produce some unusual one-off designs. This drawing shows a glass bridge that spans a central living area, linking the upper floor to a roof terrace. The curved roof light opens to allow access onto the terrace. The drawing consists of two sheets held together with adhesive tape. The top sheet is a tracing based on the computer-generated image beneath. Computer-Aided Design (CAD) is thought to give much cleaner results than the ink pens, drawing boards and set squares used traditionally by architects. Here the two combine: the freehand tracing serves as a quick reworking of the earlier CAD design.

This drawing can be found in Print Room Box 10B.

Fosters and Partners, Detailed 'Energy Concept' design for the headquarters for the Greater London Authority

Fosters and Partners
Detailed 'Energy Concept' design (section drawing) for the headquarters for the Greater London Authority
1999
Computer aided design on paper
Museum no. E.958-2000

This and 'Brief Fit - Accommodation distribution' are designs for City Hall, the headquarters of the Greater London Authority, built between 1998 and 2002 by the British archictects Foster and Partners. The design brief was to achieve a low-energy building. In the drawing show above, the architects detail passive energy-saving techniques such as openable windows, circulation of fresh air, photovoltaic panels that harvest energy from the sun, and the use of boreholes to draw up cold groundwater to help cool the building. Their intention that the building should use only 25 per cent of the energy one would expect for a building of this size is printed under the title. In the 'Brief Fit - Accommodation distribution' design, the drawing illustrates how the internal spaces are to be broken down. Colour coding and comments indicate the utility of specific areas; yellow areas indicate spaces open to the public and mauve areas indicate the assembly chamber. Both drawings were made using Computer Aided Design (CAD) and are known as sections. They are not the kind seductive image intended to impress a client or to wow the public. Instead they provide a means of communicating design information through simple graphics.

This drawing can be found in Print Room Box 10B.

John Prizeman, 'Her House' axonometric projection illustration

John Prizeman (1930-1992)
'Her House' axonometric projection illustration
1959
Pen, ink and Letratone
Museum no. E.1135-1979

This drawing is by the British architect John Prizeman. It was made to illustrate an article about housing that appeared in the Daily Express newspaper in October 1959. The imaginary house was designed to be economical in terms of both space and cost. This saving is achieved by enclosing all the accommodation within a tight, rectangular ground plan, bound by walls that are shared with three adjacent properties. Light, air and safe play areas are provided by two courtyard gardens. Prizeman has opted for an axonometric projection, a type of scale drawing particularly suitable for showing the insides of buildings from above. The viewer has the sense that he or she is peering into a box and given the contained nature of the architecture, this must be intentional. Although small, the house is not mean. There is plenty of room for modern goods and fashionable features. Prizeman populates the drawing with a television, contemporary furniture, a fitted kitchen, large windows and a recently launched 'Mini' in the garage. He completes the scene with a lounging father, busy mother, contented children and pet cat.

This drawing can be found in Print Room Box 10B.

William Chambers, Design presentation drawing for Marylebone Parish Church

William Chambers (1723-1796)
Design (section) presentation drawing for Marylebone Parish Church London
About 1770
Pencil, pen, ink and watercolour
Museum no. 3363

This drawing is a design for a church by the British architect Sir William Chambers showing a section through a domed neo-classical interior. It was commissioned in 1770 and was intended as the parish church of St Marylebone, just north of Oxford Street, London. The architect designed two schemes, one with a spire and one with a dome. This image shows the more expensive domed option. This kind of 'section' drawing, where the building appears to have been cut in half, is still used by architects today. Colour is used to indicate which walls have been 'cut through' and to describe the space behind. A range of drawings was produced for this project, from rough sketches to detailed plans. This is a highly finished 'presentation drawing' and would have been shown to clients to convince them of the beauty of the scheme and the skill of the architect. However, in this instance it was not enough. The clients proved so indecisive that the church was built only in 1818, to a subsequent architect's design.

William Chambers was the greatest official architect of his day. Born in Sweden he trained in Paris and Italy, and settled in England. He was appointed Architect to the King and his style was based on English Palladianism. His Treatise on Civil Architecture became an influential work.

This drawing can be found in Print Room Box 10B.