Technology erases need for architectural hand-drawing

Over the past 25 years, technology – most notably in the form of computer-aided design and drafting – has dramatically changed the way architects work.

Where once paper and pencil drawings brought architects’ ideas to life, today computers and software are employed by many in the field from start to finish.

Designs may go from sketch to blueprint all on computer, transferred between architect and client via files over the Internet. Completed drawings are archived on computer as well.

AutoCAD software has been around since the early 1980s, said Amy Ski of CommTech, a Frederick-based business that sells AutoCAD products and provides training and support for users.

“This has pretty much taken over the pencil-to-paper approach,” Ski said. The software system has applications for drafting and design purposes in varied fields including architecture, engineering and land planning, Ski said.

Using computer-aided design and drafting systems is “more proficient, more profitable and overall, more time-saving,” Ski said.

Technology may have nearly usurped paper and pencil in his field, but Wayne Roberts, an architect of 35 years, still uses those original tools of the trade when he begins a design.

The self-described “old timer” and head of Greeley-based Roberts Architects acknowledges the ease and speed of using computer-aided design and drafting tools in later stages of his work. But for Roberts, hard-drives and monitor screens can be obstacles to the creative process.

“Design is kind of a function of several things: a little bit of knowledge and understanding about what we’re doing, some talent, but also accident,” Roberts said. “In the initial stages of design I’m always working on napkins, the backs of crossword puzzles or what we call bum wad (a tissue-type paper). The accidents happen when you’re scribbling on those things. There are no accidents on the computer; it’s always yes or no.”

Roberts finds clients frequently covet those earliest hand-drawn sketches. “My clients often will ask me for the napkin sketch,” he noted, adding he sometimes has those early drawings framed.

Computers from start to finish

Angie Aguilera, a licensed architect for five years, said the computer is integrated into her creative process. Aguilera’s firm Edge Architecture is based in Fort Collins.

“I do a lot of my sketching on the computer. I’m pretty computer-based all around.”

Some times, Aguilera said, clients come in with their own sketches that she turns into drawings using the computer.

“The computer is so much more accurate,” Aguilera said. “It’s accurate up to 1/64 of an inch. With a pencil drawing, just the line width of your pencil could mean the difference of an inch.”

As a result, she said, “you can get more detailed with a project.”

Even with her heavy reliance on CAD, pens and pencils are still in evidence in Aguilera’s practice. When Aguilera meets with clients to review designs, changes are indicated on paper copies of drawings.

Even so, Aguilera said, the ability to e-mail Adobe pdf files to clients means they have more time to review and are likely to come to meetings better prepared to discuss their projects.

Whether or not computer-aided design is faster than paper and pencil depends on the operator, Aguilera said. “I know that there are people for whom hand-drawing is faster. For myself I sketch faster on the computer.”

Because the computer is detailed and drawings are easy to change, Aguilera sees the design phase of a project potentially extending throughout the process of creating drawings. “I think you can still be designing all the way through.”

Changes easier, faster

Perhaps the biggest day-to-day benefit of technology’s advent into the world of architectural design is the ease with which changes can be made, something which old-timers and newer architects alike agree on.

Before CAD, “if it changed drastically we had to do a lot of erasing. Either that or start over,” Roberts said. “That is probably the biggest value.”

“I think the biggest thing with CAD is you’re able to change things easily,” Aguilera said. “If you hand-drew something you almost have to start over.” This allows for continuation of the design process, Aguilera added. “It’s easy to just change things here and there and not start over.”

It also means the architect can create and store several versions of design for presentation to clients. “I can do four or five different options and it’s really easy to save all those options and look at them all and show them to clients.”

Aguilera said using the computer has streamlined other aspects of the work, as well. “A lot of manufacturers of products will provide us with actual details already drawn in CAD. If we’re working with a window manufacturer, for example, they will give us their head and sill details for their product and we can just incorporate them.”

Rogers said he has worked to prevent the isolation that doing everything by computer can cause. He makes a point of working with local consultants – structural, mechanical, electrical and civil engineers, for example – face-to-face.

“Some of them I see almost every day,” he said. “I still prefer to communicate face-to-face.”

Rogers also makes a point of continually producing hard copies of the designs he is working on. Looking at a small piece of the drawing on a computer screen isn’t the same as scrutinizing the entire drawing all at once, he said.

CommTech’s Ski said learning to use CAD software systems isn’t difficult and doesn’t take long. “We can teach an AutoCAD fundamentals class in four days.” Ski said CommTech trains about 100 people each year from all over Colorado and Wyoming.

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