Drafting Knowledge

On an unseasonably chilly London afternoon in May of 1887, architects from around Britaingathered in the galleries of the Royal Institute of British Architects at Conduit Street for theEighth General Conference of Architects. Several of the papers took issue with drawing as amediator in the architectural process and as representative of the architect’s knowledge andposition. Richard Phené Spiers, Master of Architecture at the Royal Academy of Art, shockedhis listeners when he boldly declared:“Ceci tuera cela, le dessin tuera l’architecture.” “This will kill that; the drawing will kill architecture.… In these days of expert draughtsmanship this [the drawing]…is what we have tofear most.”1

Volume Editors
Robert Corser & Sharon Haar

ISBN
978-1-944214-03-6