STOÀ Journal n. 2, Year I, Issue 2/2, Autumn 2021
[Drawings]

The drawing is one of the most ancient and widely used tools for teaching architecture. «Through his hands, man establishes contact with the austerity of thought. They quarry its rough mass. Upon it they impose form, outline and, in the very act of writing, style». Thus wrote Focillion in his In Praise of Hands — hands that think, one could add. The subject of drawing in architecture has been the subject of several thematic journals ranging from Vittorio Gregotti’s 1982 edition of Rassegna 9 – Rappresentazioni to OASE 36 and 105 whose titles were respectively On the architectural drawing (published 1993) and Practices of drawing (published 2020). The journal’s second issue wishes to contribute to this rich and ongoing debate by examing the role of drawing in architectural pedagogy. It focuses on teaching methodologies, theories and practices of drawing to investigate the ways and reasons for which architectural design continues to be taught through drawing. To do so, three thematic sessions have been identified: drawing and reality, drawing and ideas, and narrative and drawing. Each section will provide the basis for new critical investigations around the foundations and possibilities of drawing as a form of architectural knowledge which is at once practical and theoretical.

1. Drawing and Reality: in what ways and through which techniques does drawing become a fundamental tool to understand, interpret and reveal the hidden structures of the world? To what extent are the analytical powers of drawing (whether these be analogically or digitally made) relevant to architectural design, practiced and taught?

2. Drawing and Ideas: what are the mechanisms and graphical operations through which design ideas can be conveyed and articulated through drawings? How do practices of drawing shift as design ideas take shape and evolve? In what ways can ideograms and diagrams be brought into relation with one another? In this sense, how do digital and analogical practices diverge?

3. Narrative and Drawing: ideas developed through drawings which behave as vectors for their transmission and comprehension. What inventions are permissible when an architectural design is (re)presented? How do narrative expedients or communication strategies permit appreciation of the cultural frameworks underlying a specific pedagogical project? In its making, can the drawing be considered as a theoretical construct?

 




We are interested in contributions that specifically engage with the following:
→ recognizing common traits in contemporary international experiences;
→ understanding and describing approaches and cultural references, as well as inferences derived from other fields, such as history, art, philosophy, anthropology, literature, geography, sociology and economics;
→ exemplifying, through their conceptualization, specific didactic experiences, capable of becoming synthetic and effective expressions of a teaching knowhow;
→ intertwining narratives and research, theories and conjectures, verifying the starting conditions by comparing them with the results;
→ tracing a limit that can be shared by the scientific community, within which to critically and tendentiously “position” ideas and (didactic) projects, in order to build a a recognizable system by substantiating the reasons.

Abstracts in English or Italian (max. 2500 characters) should be submitted to: redazione@stoajournal.com

︎︎︎Download the call

︎︎︎Guidelines
︎︎︎Deadline: 30/05/2021

Accepted abstracts will be announced by 15/06/21. Contributions accepted for publication in the printed journal are expected in the form of a scientific essay, accompanied by notes, bibliography and images, for a maximum of 20,000 characters (spaces, notes and bibliography included) and 10 images/ pictures (of which you own the copyright of if they are free for use). Accepted essays in their final version will undergo a process of Double-Blind Peer Review.

︎︎︎ITA