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Sketch
REPRESENTATION & COMMUNICATIONbeginner
Definition
A quick, freehand drawing used to explore, record, or communicate spatial ideas. The architectural sketch is a thinking tool — less about accuracy than about the speed of externalising ideas. Many great architects are exceptional sketchers; the sketch is still considered a mark of architectural intelligence.
Example
Alvar Aalto's preliminary sketches for Finlandia Hall in Helsinki are celebrated examples of architectural thinking on paper — loose lines that somehow capture proportion, material, and space before any measurement is committed.