I typically don’t give it a lot of thought – as soon as my architectural sketches have served their purpose, they get thrown away. I don’t consider them valuable or even worthwhile to keep. Am I crazy? (with specific regards to this particular item)
Unlike a lot of firms, we do have several stacks of flat files in our office and starting about a 3 months ago, I decided that my sketches might live on in these archives.
Why? I’m not really sure if I’m being honest. Keeping my sketches seems a little odd to me and I am trying to make a slight mental shift in my thinking, so that my sketches go from temporary thoughts destined for the waste bin, to archived treasures worth hanging on to forever.
So, keep my sketches or throw them away … I am struggling with that idea.
I know when the shift in thinking happened – on September 29th, 2014, I wrote a post titled “Architectural Sketchbooks” and in that article I featured the sketches of my business partner Michael Malone. He’s been sketching for decades and while most of his drawings are archived within sketchbooks, he has a number of them stashed away within the flat files of our office as well. As I was searching through his sketches for possible images to use for that article, I was very nostalgic for all the sketches I have thrown away over my professional career.
While a vast majority of the sketches I create aren’t worth hanging on to for any sort of extended period of time, it would be nice to be able to look back at them after a chunk of time has passed. Besides, it would make things so much easier for the people who will want to archive my life for the Museum of Bob Borson (affectionately known as MOBB).
All of this is fine and well for crazy architects like me, but am I alone in thinking that these sketches are worth keeping? It’s not like they are art, they are created as part of a problem solving process. I will concede (to those architects out there that think everything they touch is art) that they are artistic – but that’s about as far as I can go.
Is this floor plan sketch art? Hardly, I think it’s a stretch to even say it’s artistic.
This is a sketch I did when working on my “Lantern Playhouse” … is it worth keeping? I do like it despite the fact that I didn’t create it to live beyond the weekend when I drew it.
Or does it?
It exists digitally on this website. Is that any different from existing in a flat file? I can still go back and look at it as often as I want … assuming that I can find it. As I sit here and write that last sentence, I am looking across the room at an old computer of mine that hasn’t been turned on in several years. My wife wants me to recycle it but since I haven’t gone on there and cleaned off the hard drive, I am a little hesitant to get rid of it. What treasures exist on that computer that I’m getting rid of? Pictures, old resumes, project files, scans of sketches – you name it. I am really good about creating digital copies of stuff but finding it later – or even remembering that it exists – is a different matter. My memory probably isn’t going to be getting better in the future, I’m kind of counting on it getting worse.
My wife Michelle: (walking into kitchen) What are you doing?
Me: (standing over the kitchen sink eating ice cream directly out of the tub) Huh? What’s that?
Michelle: You are eating ice cream at 9am. I told you to stop doing that.
Me: Sorry, I didn’t remember that. (taking another bite)
Michelle: You just took another bite! Quit it!
Me: Quit what?
I can promise you that I WILL have that exact conversation with my wife at some point in my future.
This is really the sketch that started it all – Michael sketched this over 33 years ago and this digital image was made from the original. Pretty cool in my opinion.
This is MY flat file, I have claimed it … for now. I am going to give this little experiment of keeping my sketches for posterity a chance, even though I don’t know what I will do with a massive pile of trace paper drawings. I have thought that it would be nice to frame one or two of the important ones from a project and give them to the homeowners as a move-in present – although that seems a bit presumptuous. Based on the size of this flat file and the speed at which I create these sorts of drawings, I figure I have about two years before I’ll run out of space.
I curious – what do you think of keeping sketches? Do you keep yours – or if you are not an architect – do you think you would want to keep them if you had any sketches to keep?
Cheers,
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I am really not good at throwing sketches or “art” away from my kids or I and I consider that a problem because we have limited space (until we open the GQO Museum for my youngest who has basically been saying the same thing as you said for several years now) but I have seen that the kids are much better at editing their own stuff than me trying to do theirs. I was pretty good in school at getting rid of a lot of trace and that is too bad because hey were probably much more interesting. For my work project sketches, I usually save them til the end of the project and then go through and only save several. For my own house projects I save them all because it’s ongoing and for my playhouse competition design I’m saving it til next year when I have more time to get it together to submit it!!! if you have the room…
I’m a junior in architecture school, I tend to keep only some trace paper sketches. My favorite sketches to keep are those “aha” moments that gave me that extra push I needed for the project. I also keep most of my sketchbooks because they have created a sense of comfort that I can go back to when I am stuck in a project.
We tend to keep the initial sketches, a few overall sketches, and major direction changes; usually in the job folder. While I appreciate the artistic aspect of the sketch, they are used as part of the design process in our firm, so no framed sketches (not me that is sketching, I’m the drafter).
On the digital archive side, especially regarding sketches and notes, I like Evernote. It is multi-platform, Mac, PC, and mobile, I can create “notebooks” of scanned items, and some text is searchable.
I’m an architect university student in my first year. In my opion, I would not throw away my sketches because I could bring forth new ideas for a project I could be working on. New innovative ideas could come from unsuccessful sketches that I could further improve and upgrade it. Plus, the amount of work that architects put on sketching and gathering ideas are irreplaceable.
I think we architects like to keep the things we work on. I don’t keep sketches, but I have kept my construction documents, way to long. I really don’t want to give them up, but I really think I need to toss them. My solution is to scan them and save them in a digital format. I have seen some real “Blue Prints” that I would love to frame and hang in my office. I do consider them lost works of art and I can see how one might feel the same about a sketch.
Hello Bob ! i have been following you right before i choose to study architecture, you have been really helpful with your posts. I’m from mexico currently studying a bachelor in architecture, from this side is a must that you have to keep them even though any mathematical operation no matter how big or small you did at the time of the sketch why ? because if anything goes wrong you can prove, what have you done when and why on court,otherwise the government will start an investigation and if you did´t keep those files oh boy you are going to be in big troubles.
cheers ! Interesting post as always.
I was keeping sketches all the time from uni and i just have that much already it’s ridiculous. So my parents got me an equil smartpen and now I have a digital sketchbook and can throw out all of my paper stuff I don’t need. I find them good to look back on to see the development in both my thinking and my sketching skills
I tend to be a pack rat and keep every scrap, but I reach a point where I have generated so many options or variations that I have to purge just to be able to think straight. So I file what I want to keep (usually just the starting idea and the finished drawing,) and put everything I think I don’t need anymore in a ‘pre-trash’ pile. If after 6ish months I haven’t rummaged through that pile to rescue anything, I figure its safe to recycle it.
i have a folder with my favourite sketches.. there’s maybe 20-30 total. i go through it every now and then and generally end up adding one or two sketches, or throwing one or two out that i no longer think are very good.
I tend to keep sketches until completion of the project. Then, with the perspective of history, it’s easier to sort out the throw-aways from the more significant ones. I have also found it a nice gesture to have an attractive sketch framed for presentation to the customer as a “housewarming” gift upon completion of their project.
I am a Landscape Architect and also a bit of a hoarder so I tend to keep everything (both digitally and physical). Do you keep physical files for each project or just digital records? We have a bookshelf of folders for each project and all relevant sketches, letters, etc go in there. It would be nice to be more paperless, however I can’t seem get myself to totally rely on digital copies of things. (What if the system goes down, etc?!)
But then again, the more digital rubbish you keep, the more storage space you require…… hmmmmm. I need to start deleting stuff….
Keep up the great work Bob! Your posts are always enlightening and entertaining!
As long as you have the space, why not?
For sure, I’d keep digital copies.
After a certain amount of time, you’ll know when they’re ready to go.
While cleaning my apartment, I found a bunch of old sketchbooks with blog ideas. I realized that I’d written them all years ago.
Until that moment, I felt the need to keep the thought process alive. Then I knew it was okay to let them go in the bin.
[Cues “Taps, bows head, takes a moment of silence.]
Another great post, Bob.
I’ve only made one hand sketch of a project I designed four years ago and I still have it. Since I started my quest in becoming an architect at this junction in my life, I have taken to putting down my ideas directly into the computer. When I do graduate from college and start working with the big boys, I’m sure hand sketching will come into play. My final project from last semester in my design class had our instructor insist on a hand sketch for his approval prior to implementing our ideas into the computer.
Quick question for you, Bob:
Pros and cons of either working for yourself or working for someone else? Would you consider owning your own firm as opposed to working in an established firm? Thanks!
David,
About working pros and cons. I’ve done both. Depends on whether you like knowing you will have income on a regular basis, size of projects, taking direction or giving direction, etc. You will have to find out what floats your boat.
About sketching. I find if you go to the computer too soon you spend lots of time making a precise drawing instead of having the freedom to think with your mind and “hand”. There is a direct feedback from the motion and “effort” to actually draw a line vs making a colored line on the right layer with a cursor. I like what you can do with a computer once you know where you are going. I became an architect because I like to draw and still do. However, I get little please making colored lines on a screen.
Yes, I weighed the pros and cons, at least when it comes to either receiving a guaranteed pay or pulling the BTO – love to work for nothing all day. It seems it would be wiser to work for an established firm at first. You will then learn all of the nuances related to operating a firm on you own. But, I would like to eventually try to establish my own company. There are, obviously, the good and bad in both scenarios.
Since I had taken to designing using a computer, and being self taught, I can understand needing the ability to sketch, especially when out in the field. But I can usually design an entire house via the computer in a matter of hours, usually around 8, if I had an idea from the beginning. If I only had a partial idea, it usually takes me longer. But the whole design will include, materials, fixtures, furniture layout and a few renderings to help capture the image in mind.
“A drawing, by hand or computer, shows what you know; a sketch shows what you are thinking.”
Now THAT’S well said!!
Thank you Gene for great insight. After 38 years in the business, I still start a project with the trace and pencil. The computer is a wonder once you know where you are going. I always hated to erase with pen on velum.
As fellow dinosaur. Do you remember when the latest and greatest technology was Letraset press on letters?
I know there are still some in a bottom drawer, gave me a good chuckle.
I also still have some in a “bottom” drawer., and Bob is trying to decide to keep or toss sketches. Still good for a sheet number now and then otherwise easier to print on clear stickleback sheets.
scan and toss. If it’s not in my sketchbook, it’s scanned and tossed.
same here.
my cheap 3-in-1 copier works great for that.
On the flip-side however…
As an observer, I always wanted to get a look at well-known/established architects’ crap-sketches, and working sketches.
I want to see the ones they don’t keep, cause they weren’t very good, or were stream-of-thought sketches and aren’t very clear without deep inquiry.
Scarpa-like sketches where half the time you don’t even know what you’re looking at… I love those, and most Architects don’t share those at all.
My thoughts on this are, you keep what’s important to you. Things that you feel especially good about, or proud of.
My guess is, as people get better and better, and sketch more and more, the really good ones that stand out in our minds become less frequent, but those are the one’s I’d keep.
All through school, I kept every sketch I made on trace or in a sketch-book, even 3-4 years after the project was finished… A month after graduation, all but a few were in the trash because I’d realized a few things…
First, I’d become much better with my sketching, and some of the older ones had served their purpose.
Second, Only the best of them needed to be kept, and the rest which were merely OK – good, were at least scanned and filed away, so I didn’t need the originals cluttering up everything.
I think you need to scan in your sketches and put more of them on your blog, with your viewers voting to keep or not keep.
Otherwise I would maintain them for future use when you have that book deal in place and you can determine which ones are needed or not.
Beyond sketches, I am having a hard time deciding what to keep and what to throw out in the office overall. I ended up having to recycle (but basically get rid of) a drafting table and slide rule after years of sitting idle, only to have someone that could have really used it show up a few months later. I think we as architects are pack rats by nature but I need to get rid of some clutter as well…
A lot of my sketches are in sketchbooks, but those that are done on trace (if I feel they are any kind of good) get kept. It gets to be a bit of a pain to find storage for them all, but I feel it’s worth it.
“Architect and Blogger Bob Borson’s Complete Sketch Archive Acquired by The University of Texas” does have a nice ring to it. Hold on to ’em until 2025.
I know what you mean about the nostalgia factor. I often have to root through old projects for one reason or another, and when reviewing RFI’s in particular, I am often fascinated by my old sketched responses to various issues that occur in the field. These days, most of my sketches are scanned and attached to some other document, so they are usually preserved one way or another. Fun to revisit years later.
Do you keep all the original sketches in a single place? I don’t think my objectives would be fulfilled if I had to go back and sort through all the different projects and documents to find my sketches.
Each of my projects has a digital Sketches folder (subfolder?), where the original scan (or the occasional SketchUp or Bluebeam sketch) resides, from there it’s usually attached to an RFI, ASI, or whatever…but the Sketches folder is quite useful. It’s like an evolving stream of consciousness. Each sketch is filed by date and then a memnomic name, like today’s “2015-01-12_KAV_Entry-Vestibule-Study.pdf”
I trash sketch overlays used to “figure something out” but if I do a full/finished/presentation sketch I at least scan it to keep in the job’s computer archive. A lot of the time I have to scan it anyway to e-mail to the clients or to put it on title block, or to clean up the occasional mistake. I prefer layering sketches in Photoshop to show multiple options rather than redrawing non-changing stuff.
Having at least a computer record of the sketch can come in handy for future marketing purposes, competition entries, or even for just illustrating the design process for new or potential clients who haven’t worked with an architect before. Bits are cheap, and you don’t have to clog up your flat files then.
Sketch, scan and file………..repeat.
While I no longer work in an architectural firm I still
generate a significant number of sketches to clarify for my superintendents the
construction methods needed to accomplish the architect’s intent. These
sketches are not as nice as they once were, when the hand had daily practice,
nor are they as nice as yours but they are still critical communications in the
continuing design process called construction……and the architects still
compliment the graphic quality which helps my ego.
I still use a sketch book for most of my sketching/detailing
with the results scanned and filed digitally. To my wife’s chagrin there are
boxes of sketchbooks in the attic……….saved for posterity, reminiscence, and the
joy of turning the pages….esoteric yes, but oddly relaxing to wander the pages.
The point here is to say “save your sketches”. They remind
us who we are, how we have matured, and, on occasion, can used to revisit
issues post occupancy and defend our decision making process……but mostly
reminiscence.
Thanks for a great blog.
Always love seeing your hand-work and sketches Bob. They have a signature about them that is detailed and refreshing. I hope your flat files stay filled with many good ideas.
Thanks Erik – I wonder if (over time) the sorts of sketches I create will change as a result of changing my mindset from trashing them, to keeping them. Maybe instead of just details and plans, I’ll start sketching proper building perspectives … who knows
pretty sound argument for a process of evaluating worth and the record keeping process. There are a ton of process sketches that I know I won’t keep – how to get from point E to point F – it’s the more complete sketches that I think I am planning on keeping for now. For me, complete means that someone else can look at it and understand the message without further explanation – no more, no less.
Thanks Gene
I try my best to keep some of the better sketches and drawings and save them in a flat file. I find that it is helpful to refer back to these when I am teaching students about drawing and sketching, and using the examples to show different techniques and means of design expression.
I keep sketches in the project file folder, but then again, I do not have the volume of sketches you do.
As a future homeowner, I love Steve’s idea [below] of framing sketches for the client. What a terrific memento to be able to hang in one’s home!
didn’t I write that idea in my post? Don’t give Steve a big head for his idea
Yep. Kudos to you, Bob. I re-read your post a little more in depth and you did, indeed, have the same idea.
I guess that old adage is correct: Great minds think alike…or is it Monkey-see, Monkey-do?
I have gotten a very positive response from clients when I do this. I’ve seen them hung in the Den of Office of a residential client and in the Conference Rooms of commercial clients. The biggest challenge is narrowing the whole project down to 3 or 4 sketches that really represent the development of the idea. It is a fun way to celebrate the completion of a project.
Great post – keep up the good work.
Just keep the ones you are proud of and the pretty ones!
I only keep paper records if there’s a chance I might need them in the future. You know, for something catastrophic. Like an IRA audit. Otherwise it gets filed away digitally. If not possible to do that, it’s recycled after being “scrubbed” of name, address, account number etc. However I used to keep everything. Then in my early 20s I came to the realization that I never went back to look at or use any of the stuff I’d been saving. None of it even had any particular sentimental value. So it was all chucked and I gained a nice amount of closet space. For a while.
yes, for a while! I am not particularly nostalgic so holding on to things is not normally an issue for me. These sketches are something different, at least I’m starting to think that they should be.
Sketches show the thinking process. I find looking at someone’s sketches vastly more interesting than the final “all worked out” final hard line drawings/renderings. As time goes by we ususally start to forget how we arrived at the final design but by reviewing the process sketches the thinking history is preserved which may help one for other future projects.
I agree. Too often the ideas are better than the buildings. Most buildings look better partially built, and more exciting because there is still potential there. Sometimes I see some of my construction photos and say to myself”Why didn’t I stop there?” A pile of 2×10’s or bricks stirs feeling when later they don’t. A pile of potential.
Or, the Borson Museum (BM). Just sayin’. 🙂
Yes, BM … very nice.
I couldn’t help it, Bob. A BM visit would be a great way to spend some time reviewing your sketches, I’m sure.
I have the same conundrum regarding sketches; I oft find myself holding onto petty scraps for far too long and the important sketches for less time than I ought. I did recently watch a TED Talk with Bjarke Ingels and they suggested that the sketches, models, etc. should be used as a type of archive of ideas. I find that to be somewhat true–but it is always difficult to know whether the idea you had 5 years ago is as good as it is going to get until it is proven. All things in cycles, I suppose.
Bob, NEVER throw away your sketches! They should never be put in the trash. They, along with all discarded paper, should be recycled.
I don’t make the distinction between trash and recycling, everything get recycled.
You know, in some offices, the sketches get recycled in to different projects
how true. any architect that says that is not a fact is not being truthful.
uh…yeah…keep them for the Borson Oeuvre Complete someday and keep the ice cream at work…geeez
ice cream at work wouldn’t work, there are 8 other ice cream eaters up here who wouldn’t think twice about eating mine.
the problems I have – sheesh!
For every project I keep the very first bubble sketch and add them to a few other sketches that show the evolution of the design/idea. I have them framed and present them to the client when they move in. The homeowners love it.
In my former office we always held on to development sketches until we were certain that we would need them no longer. Even then I liked to hold on to some of them as a record of design evolution. Others we held on to for more practical reasons: client sign-off on a plan, elevation, detail, etc. We have kept drawings that started as Scheme A and have progressed to Scheme M or more, frequently to remind the client that his changes have cost us time and him money. There are good reasons to hang on to some drawings beyond nostalgia or the temptation to frame them but, as some have noted, a lot of them would definitely be worth framing given the state of freehand sketching in the profession today.
that’s what I was thinking … although in a moment of selfishness, I think I might actually want to keep them for myself.
on looking back and being That Cleaning Intern: sometimes I have looked back with wonder, as in what is it all about Alfie? Some rare time’s I’m like wow, that really did include some good ideas, I’m glad it got lost in here and not thrown out after all. The cleaning/moving offices project for architects is somewhere between OK where’s this box go now? and OMG! this is almost as bad as cleaning out my grandparent’s house of 50+ years together. I’m not sure there’s a rule to be made for general trace ideas, though I understand the light awe of a sexy illustrated sketchbook. Is it partly the collection process that comes along with being included in a book: it’s Bookness? or the fact that the Illustrated Idea rated inclusion that captures your attention? Either way, happy saving!
who says you can’t bind these sketches into a book? Certainly every sketch isn’t worth keeping but I currently throw them ALL away so there is certainly some sort of happy medium
As an office, we keep the important ones to reference back to the original thought, intention or concept. It also becomes a great learning tool. I personally tend to trash all of mine because they become a cluttered mess, though i wish i spent the 30 seconds to file it or keep a book.
I think I fall into this camp currently – the ones that are of value seem to make their way into a project drawer but eventually they disappear into some storage locker, and after 10+ years, they are supposed to get destroyed. I am thinking about the need of some sort of archival system that allows me to hold on to them (other than sketch books)
Some architects keep sketches (and models) as a way to preserve an idea. Where you may have sketched a detail for a project but didn’t end up using it, instead of throwing it out you hold on to it and then you may find yourself referring back to it for another project which could use that detail.
However I don’t think it’s worth keep every piece of trace your sharpie graced, probably just major important ones?
Some ideas are worth keeping even if there is no application for them at the time they are drawn. I tell my students that they should not be afraid to “throw away” a good idea if it just doesn’t work for their current project. Instead, stash it somewhere and maybe, at a later date, they will find a use for it. This allows them to move on and not put all their “great ideas” into one project. They will have plenty of time to stretch out and use their ideas appropriately if they realize that good design doesn’t come from a conglomeration of cool stuff but from appropriate responses to a program.
You can re-generate CAD drawings. With hand-made sketches, you can’t. So I keep mine.