Projects / Architectural sketching

Architectural sketching

Watercolour sketch of a temple among rocks, India
Drawing from life, Aleksei Ivanov · India
Type
Sketches
Places
India, Vietnam, Thailand, Laos
Technique
Hand drawing
Author
Aleksei Ivanov
Why draw

For me a sketch is a way of analysis, not just a record of what I saw. The line helps to read a city: the proportions of squares, the scale of facades, the neighbourhood of buildings from different eras.

What I look for

Street scenes, courtyards and markets show how people move through space and where public life is born. Most often it appears in the gaps between buildings.

What it gives to projects

Hand drawing keeps a sense of measure, the balance of function, beauty and memory of place. This experience then carries over into projects for clients.

IdeaMethod

The art of seeing and thinking

For me architectural sketching is not about capturing images but an analytical process. Drawing a city, you learn to read its layers, from historical context to the rhythm of new development, to understand the proportions of squares, the scale of facades and the dialogue between buildings of different eras.

A sketch teaches you to see not only objects but also the voids between them, where public life is born. Drawings of streets, courtyards and transport hubs show how people interact with space.

In the age of digital renderings, hand drawing preserves a sense of measure, the balance of function, aesthetics and urban memory that cannot be reduced to an algorithm.

Project materials12 images

Domed temple, India, ink drawing
India, ink
Temple pavilion, India, ink drawing
India, ink
Street scene, Vietnam, ink drawing
Vietnam, ink
Modern building by the water, India
India, ink
Pavilion, Thailand, ink drawing
Thailand, ink
Veranda of a colonial house, India
India, ink
Palms at night, India, watercolour
India, watercolour
Street with motorbikes, Vietnam
Vietnam, watercolour
Temple, Thailand, watercolour
Thailand, watercolour
Coloured houses, India, watercolour
India, watercolour
Market under awnings, Thailand
Thailand, watercolour
Boats on the river, Laos
Laos, watercolour

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