Le Corbusier
Le Corbusier would draw to explore the contrast between large spaces and individual compartmentalised spaces, classical architecture, geometric form and the use of landscape as an architectural tool. He spent his mornings painting and drawing, always with a playful overtone before heading to his architectural office in the afternoon.82
Pete Bossley
Pete Bossley finds drawing a wonderful way to understand places and people on an intimate level. Drawing helps him explore space and capture atmosphere much quicker than on a computer. He draws to express an idea which he will develop through architecture, nothing to do with the archetype. A drawn idea generates an architectural form and then takes off in all sorts of ways. Pete uses abstract drawing to express what it is like to be inside a space while life goes on around. He enjoys the immediacy of a quick sketch; if he labours over them, they become overworked and lose their energy and spirit. Pete likes to draw with pencil, felt pens and watercolour and more lately on his iPad.
Will Alsop
Will Alsop uses painting to clear his mind, to think freely and create an uncontaminated design approach. One of his reasons for painting is that he is not really in control of what he is doing, and that interests him greatly. He will start anywhere in the design process. For him there does not need to be a series of logical thoughts as in architecture when working towards a designed building. He sees the act of painting, along with working closely with the client and local community, as an integral part of urban design and architecture.83
82 F. Choay,’Le Corbusier ’updated 17 August 2016, accessed 16 April 2017
83 Justine Harvey, ‘Summer Series Grand Tour Drawings’ Architecture Now, 1 February 2016, accessed
16 April 2017
Common threads
• All have a social conscience and draw/ paint as part of everyday life. They make use of bright colours and unusual avant-garde forms derived from strong geometry that express dramatic individuality. As a result, they have all produced controversial modernist buildings. Alsop and Bossley were strongly influenced by Le Corbusier. Alsop and Le Corbusier were greatly influenced by their art teachers at an early age. Bossley and Le Corbusier both travelled around Europe and drew and discovered:
• the contrast between large collective and individual compartmentalised spaces.
• classical proportion and geometric form.
Methodology inspired by Le Corbusier, Will Alsop and Pete Bossley
Sketch/draw/paint every day to help clear the mind so as to have an uncontaminated design approach and understand:
• the differences between large and collective spaces and individual compartmentalised spaces
• classical proportions i.e. human proportion, the golden rectangle • geometric forms
• landscape as an architectural tool • the secrets of form
• movement - thru, vertical oblique, horizontal round and round • space, size, shape, light, dark
• atmosphere
• connections – internal, external, natural and manmade.
Use drawing/painting to draw out my philosophy of architecture
• meaningful playful design for people
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Figure 57: View from SH1 towards the Coromandel Ranges and the Pinnacles, Coromandel, NZ
Figure 58: Serenity Figure 59: Belonging Figure 60: Diversity Figure 61: Sound Figure 62: Smell Figure 63: Touch
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2.3.2 Analysis of natural spaces
Landscape
The outlook: On my journey to understand space I thought about those spaces that lift my spirit. The Pinnacles in the Coromandel ranges and the views to and from them were
the initial images that came to mind. I asked myself why does climbing the Pinnacles, standing on top and viewing them from a distance evoke so many positive sensory delights? Approximately half an hour from Thames I stopped and took a photo of the Coromandel Ranges which I then later painted. The following are the conclusions of my drawn analysis of space and their meaning.
Serenity: Such an overwhelming sense of scale only mountains can provide. Nothing seems out of place. Everything fusing together harmoniously into the distance giving a sense
of peace.
Belonging: When looking at the whole landscape I can see that everything fits together like a jigsaw puzzle, nothing seems out of place. It is the same with people; we are part of
nature’s landscape. Whatever shape, size or colour we all belong. A sense of belonging is a human need, like the need for food and shelter. Feeling that you belong is important in terms of seeing value in life and coping with intensely painful emotions.
Diversity: All the assorted colours, shapes and forms that fill this landscape create a diverse environment, one that the eye can rest upon, finding something new and interesting
each time, making the scene very calming for the mind.
Senses: Besides sight we have other senses which contribute to our perception being: hearing, smell, touch and taste. For this analysis I have not included taste as I take my
journey to the top of the Pinnacles.
• Sound: When in the ranges, our voices reverberate if we call out, our voices feel part of something bigger, giving a sense of exhilaration. The sound of nature rustling and occasionally singing all contribute to enrich the experience.
• Smell: I notice subtle transitions as we climb, the smells change as the vegetation, soil and animal life changes.
• Touch: I feel the air on my skin change, the dampness of the vegetation as it brushes my legs, the terrain under foot as it become rocky and steep towards the top. These changes add to the complete sensory experience.
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Figure 64: View from our boat on the firth of Thames looking back to shore, by Louise Pirret
During the summer, we spend most of the school holidays at our Bach on the Coromandel which looks out over the Firth of Thames. Many an hour has been spent on the porch gazing out over the ocean or down on the beach swimming.
“We are beginning to learn that our brains are hardwired to react positively to water and that being near it can calm and connect us, increase innovation and insight, and even heal what’s broken…… the health and neurological benefits of exercise by water are very real.” …” Wallace J. Nichols 84
84Wallace J. Nichols , Blue Mind: The Surprising Science That Shows How Being Near, In, On, or Under
Water Can Make You Happier, Healthier, More Connected, and Better at What You Do, published in July 2015
"We came from the water; our bodies are largely water; and water plays a
fundamental role in our psychology. We need constant access to water, all around us; and we cannot have it without reverence for water in all its forms. But everywhere in cities water is out of reach." Alexander, Christopher 85
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