The Construction of

Architectural
Thinking and the
Emotional Thinking
of Construction:
SPLENDOR AND MISERIES OF

ARCHITECTURAL CONSTRUCTION
Costructing
Immagination DRAWINGS
WAAC Alexandria VA
30 January 2010 Marco Frascari

Carleton University Azrieli school of architecture & Urbanism

Carlo Scarpa's
Practice of
Construction
Drawings as an
antidote to BIM and
CAD misplaced aims
Before writing there was architectural
construction drawing

Reconstruction of a hut
 Definition (U.K.)
!   Production drawings are
defined as 'drawn (graphic)
information, prepared by
the design team for use by
the construction team, the
main purpose of which is to
define the size, shape,
location and construction
of the building and its
parts'.
 No clear definition
!   An architectural drawing or
architect's drawing is a
technical drawing of a
building (or building
project) that falls within
the definition of
architecture. (usa)
Revit Architecture
The Phoenix of Production Drawings

My aim is to look for a change in the disciplinary

matrix used for construction drawings
!   Architects express their hopes
and desires, their vision of
society and humanity
through the construction
drawings.

!   In these drawings the

architects soma-sensory brain
distils the real ineffable
nature of architecture.

!   For these reasons I hold the

somehow curious view that
architects are natural
‘neurologists.’
Architects are neurologists in nuce.
In their drawings, they conceive
the making of buildings, but also
they carry on investigations and
assessments of architectural
thinking and of the thinking
within architecture
 The first roots of cognitive neuroscience lie in
phrenology, which was a pseudoscientific
approach that claimed that behavior could be
determined by the shape of the scalp. In the
early 19th century, Franz Joseph Gall and J. G.
Spurzheim believed that the human brain was
localized into approximately 35 different
sections.
In his book, The Anatomy and Physiology of
the Nervous System in General, and of the
Brain in Particular, Gall claimed that a larger
bump in one of these areas meant that that
area of the brain was used more frequently by
that person. This theory gained significant
public attention, leading to the publication of
phrenology journals and the creation of
phrenometers, which measured the bumps on
a human subject's head.

Avere il Bernoccolo del disegno

To have the bump of Drawing
Construction
drawings as
factures
The facture of architectural drawings is not
obvious as the marketing for digital architectural
instruments is trying to convince architects,
builders and clients.
The facture does not presume what traces, lines
and scores in the drawings are worldly or
unworldly, existing or non-existing, physical or
mental, subjective or objective.. The only thing
that the facture assumes is that that which is
marked, inked, penciled, brushed, chalked, and
printed comes into being.
Architectural drawing is, in other words, wholly
based on a sapience of materialization where
material lines become the carriers of fluid and
invisible lines thoughts.
Facture in Italian is fattura and has roughly the
same meanings as in English; however, there is
an additional meaning: fattura is a highly
developed form of the evil eye; it is physical
making of singular objects based on the power
of the invidious gaze. A fattura progresses from
involuntary influences on human behavior to
reach intentional making of its singular objects
“deliberately prepared with a distinct
ceremonial, and their power is meaningfully
incredible to achieve results … and in a
particularly frightening case, the fattura done to
kill.”
A typical fattura made with egg and
pins
&
a nasty fattura a muerte
Typical Italian Fatture
 Hidden
places of
factures
Clues of factures in Architecture
The forgotten origins of
production and
construction drawings
One of the many noble beginnings of real construction drawings
Vessalius and Rusconi
both are changes of the disciplinary matrix
Why Vessalius decided to present his anatomical finding within classical
masterpieces of sculpture
Giovanni Maria Rusconi
anatomical constructions
13th century anatomical illustration Joannes de Ketham .Fasciculo
de medicina.Venice, 1507.
WHO BEGAN THE PRESENT
PARADIGM that is RULING THE
PRODUCTION OF CONSTRUCTION
DRAWINGS?

The north American architects … in an

attempt to gain authority over building
contractors
Architects’ Portfolios VS Contractors’ Pamphlets
Architectural Review 1918
 Pencil Points Magazine:
A Journal for the Drafting Room

progressive architecture 1945

Thomas Major
Architectural Graphic Standards
Wiley publishes first edition of Architectural Graphic
Standards 1932
John Wiley & Sons publishes Architectural Details, a
prototype for Architectural Graphic Standards 1924
Carlo Scarpa’s construction drawings
Main Beam “CastelFerro” (iron castle)
Lascare To Ease
Stairs exit
Terracotta, Stone of Prun & Prefabricated element
Sacello
Carlo Scarpa’s spec writing
Change of
order
as
annotation
Annotation
Annotazione per Annotation per
la soluzione for the solution
dell’asse centrale of the central
per causa dello axes; because of
errore del signor the mistake of
Castellani devosi signor Castellani
far maggiori gli the money
oneri di denaro et burden must
eziandio quelli di
increase et also
pensiero et labor!
those of thought
et labor!
 The making of an hinge
Shop drawing Scarpa’s drawings
A pregnant
selection of
a detail
Oblique future of construction
drawings
William Farish (1759–1837)
 Claude Bragdon

The Frozen Fountain (1932)

Bridge cortile Castelvecchio
Ground floor paving …
RIGHT!!! macaque
box for electric conduits
A tail or final tale
Architectural Graphic Standards
Wiley publishes first edition of Architectural Graphic
Standards 1932
 Italian Graphic Standards
or
MANUALE DELL”ARCHITETTO
1940 Italian fashion
 Villa LINA
by Mario Ridolfi George Herriman’s Krazy Kat
Thank you