Affective Drawing

“Could it be that theory in and of architecture could take up residence in territories that are perforce ill-defined and indeterminate?” David Leatherbarrow, “Foreword,” in The Contested Territory of Architectural Theory, edited by Elie G. Haddad (Routledge, 2023), xxii. This essay charts the implementation of an affective drawing practice, with the aim of registering and gaining greater insight into the premise that a dialogue, or ‘correspondence’, exists between building and occupant. Working within the domains of intuition, unknowing and affect these works employ analogue and digital strategies – drawings-on-glass, writing, scanning, projecting, and filmic sketches – to determine the ineffable, abstract qualities and traces of previous occupancies that could be crucial to the locus of a specific place. Through these studies, we begin to re-witness echoes of actions and habitual patterns of movement around and through a former joinery workshop. The act of casually cleaning a paintbrush is revealed by paint on the timber-lapped walls, a gentle curve deeply worn into a stone threshold sculpted over time shows where so many feet have passed. The transient daylight, and the enfolding darkness of night, are subtlety registered and find potential in the abstract marks of architectural representations. Speculative enquiries begin to unfold, and in so doing they reveal unchartered territories and unforeseen possibilities, proposing new perceptions of being and meaning within this utilitarian and modest space. Read the full article online at: https://drawingon.org/Issue-04-01-Affective-Drawing