Ink, Paper, Bodyminds and Ideas: Material Consciousness in Architectural Sketching

Sketching in the context of architecture has often been framed as either the intellectual development of an idea by visual means, or more recently as a heuristic instrument. In both cases, the influence of the lived body and subjective experience have been sidelined. This article investigates these material conditions of architectural sketching. I examine the notion of a “cultural technique” (Kulturtechnik), highlighting how architectural sketching is always predicated on a set of norms and practices that precede and sustain its creative potential. I provide an interdisciplinary framework drawn from philosophy of science, media theory, cognitive science and cultural studies, drawing parallels between the ways in which artistic and scientific modes of experimentation are conducted and materialized. I examine the material aspects of sketching practices, as well the defining characteristic of cultural techniques: they enable and sustain an experimental system around themselves. Such cultures are predicated on material conditions, which must be understood to gain insight into the efficiency of sketching. I consider selected material factors that play decisive roles in sketching practices regarded as a cultural technique, illustrated by a series of sketches. These are the role of fluid media like ink, enabling a seamless transmission from ideas to the physical domain; the shaping of the bodymind in gesturing and enacting architectural ideas; and the role of sketching paper, its spatial properties and its diaphaneity in developing architectural ideas. Jointly, these factors constitute a preliminary account for the “material consciousness” of architectural sketching.