Dissertation

There is a distinct absence of a theoretical method or established mode of drawing to explore concepts of ‘time’ in architectural practice, or to describe it to a wider audience. Discourse on how ‘time’ manifests in architecture, ranges from Lynch’s call for ‘future imaging,’ to Moe’s more recent coining of ‘terrrestrial’ architecture. However there has been little exploration in its tangible application to design through an established methodology. This study revisits an architectural project for the Sligo Sudbury School designed with ‘time’ in mind, and through re-drawing this case study tests methods of drawing time as a cognitive design tool, and methods of disseminating its embedded time aspects. Bringing literature on ‘time’ into conversation with cognitive, narrative and landscape drawing, this research aims to devise a drawing methodology which “document[s] the continuous flow that a building always is” (Latour 2008), metaphorically capturing ‘a gull in flight.’ The ambition of this research, in this era of climatic change, shortages and resultant despondency, is to encourage the design of more considered, joy-bringing, long-lasting and repairable architecture, itself inspiring a return to a culture of caretaking.