Designers often draw space digitally, and virtual reality creates vivid illusions of spatial experience. In an age of AI, this course uses freehand drawing to reconnect with the direct, here-and-now, bodily sensations that structure and inform not only these digital “spaces,” but also the actual environments produced by architects, landscape designers, and urban planners. Architectural historian and theorist Zeynep Çelik Alexander calls these wordless experiences of space “kinaesthetic knowing” and notes that they are a strong undercurrent in design practice and education. Visually articulating physical space-sensations can enrich any mode of creativity.

No experience is required; arrive willing to “play messy” with charcoal, and to prioritize process over product. Units of the course focus on Mark, Tone, and Line to explore how freehand drawing can function differently from digital imaging. Various drawing experiments cultivate different ways to see, feel, and represent spatial dynamics. Topics include interior spaces, intervals between objects, air itself, the volumes in/of trees and human bodies (incl. live models). Spatial adaptations enrich traditional drawing techniques, to press beyond our habits of looking. Brief slide lectures, and studying selected works at the Harvard University Art Museum, enrich our visual vocabularies. Homework and sketchbook drawings build on class activities; optional readings in fiction, criticism, and philosophy contextualize the drawing practices and the works we’ll study.

Over the semester, students will develop a final project that expands on a technique from the course. Conferences with the instructor, before and after midterm, support students’ individual development in drawing while building toward the independent project.  These drawings can relate to research interests (incl. another course), personal curiosities, and future endeavors.