Drawing the Obvious, Seeing the Hidden: Learning with an empathic pencil

Drawing is a way for the hand to help the mind comprehend what the eye sees but does not understand. Home is a concept that physically and ethologically presents itself through the experiences, additions, arrangements, repairs, furniture, memories, and photographs of a homeowner. The individual defines home – the architect designs the house. Teaching architecture students this concept is challenging when socio-cultural differences exist between student and client. When students see what is beautiful about other ways of living, only then are they able to design an appropriate house for a client.Robert Lamb Hart, author of A New Look at Humanism – in Architecture, Landscapes, and Urban Design, writes that, humans judge buildings as they do other humans, based on physical character and appearance. Humans like to relate their own personal values to the new places they experience. This frame of references helps the individual situate his or herself in society and better understand their surroundings.1On that ground, humans will likely judge another person based on the style, condition, and size of the building in which they live. If a student misjudges a client’s way of living, the most appropriate new house design cannot develop. Empathy, the ability for one to understand how someone else feels, is an important trait for an architecture student to learn. Placing one’s self into another’s position supports intuitive architectural solutions. Carefully and lovingly drawing a home builds empathy in students – utilizing their hands to open their minds.

Volume Editors
Richard Blythe & Johan De Walsche

ISBN
978-1-944214-23-4