Why every project still starts with a pencil

Our studio runs on 3D models, energy simulations and cloud drawings. Yet every project still begins at a long table covered in tracing paper. The first week of design is drawn by hand, and we think that is one of the reasons our buildings feel calm.

A pencil is a thinking tool

A computer asks for precision too early. Draw a wall in software and it immediately has a thickness, a height and a material. A soft pencil line on tracing paper is allowed to be vague. It can mean a wall, a hedge or a change of floor level – and that vagueness keeps the options open while the idea is still forming.

Layers instead of versions

Tracing paper lets us stack ideas. We lay a fresh sheet over yesterday’s plan, keep what works and redraw the rest. At the end of the week the pile of sheets tells the whole story of the design, which is very useful when a client asks why the kitchen moved.

• Thick pens for the big moves: circulation, light, views.
• Fine pencils for the first dimensions.
• Colour only for what really matters, such as the sun path or the garden.

Drawing together

Hand sketches are also the best way to design with clients. A pencil on the table invites everyone to join in; a polished rendering on a screen feels finished and closes the discussion. Some of our best ideas were drawn by clients themselves, on the corner of a sheet, during the first meeting.

When we switch to the screen

Once the plan, the section and the main materials are settled, the model takes over. Now precision is exactly what we need: structure, services, costs and planning drawings all depend on it. The hand sketches stay pinned to the wall as a reminder of what the project is really about.

The first sketch should be loose enough to be wrong. The model’s job is to prove which parts were right.

Manuel Douglas

We do not draw by hand out of nostalgia. We do it because it keeps the first, most important decisions where they belong – in the conversation between the architect, the client and the site.