In the architecture world, there are a handful of persistent debates that arise time and time again: the challenges of being a woman in the field of architecture is one of them, for example; the problems of a culture of long hours and hard work is another. But one of the most enduring arguments in architecture - especially in the academic sphere - is the battle between hand drawing and computer aided design. Both schools have their famous proponents: Michael Graves, for example, was known as a huge talent with a pencil and paper, and came to the defense of drawing in articles for the New York Times, among others. Patrik Schumacher, on the other hand, is famous for his commitment to the capabilities of the computer.
To advance this heated conversation, two weeks ago we reached out to our readers to provide their thoughts on this topic in an attempt to get a broad cross-section of opinions from architects from all walks of life. Read some of the best responses after the break.
One of the most surprising things we discovered in reading our readers' comments was that, despite the often heated nature of this discussion there was a surprising level of agreement among our readers. Almost all seemed to believe that CAD and hand drawing could perfectly coexist, as most seemed to feel that sketching was an ideal tool for forming ideas and design software was more suited to the precision and clarity that is required at the later stages of the project. It is worth noting, however, that almost nobody who expressed this opinion addressed the topic of hand-drawn technical drawings - which perhaps leads us to infer that when it comes to technical drawings, the computer has well and truly won.
