Characteristics of notational expression by decomposition of Steven Holl’s sketches

Abstract

Purpose

This study is about the expression of sketches in Steven Holl's architectural works. Holl shares his architectural ideas as watercolors with his staff, and he has established an original notational expression for the design process. This study investigates the elements of sketches as a notation method and examines the timeline changes.

Design/methodology/approach

Classification will be conducted using KJ method (Kawakita Jiro method), a method for organizing information developed by the Japanese cultural anthropologist Kawakita Jiro. Using the KJ method, this study compiled a list as a table about the pictures, letters, etc. in the sketches and grouped them together in the same attributes. The attributes that were grouped together were identified as elements of the sketches.

Findings

As a result, in the early 1970s, Holl used only line drawings for sketches, but since the 1980s, watercolor sketches have been increasingly used. Extracting the elements of sketches, it can divide them into drawing and describing expressions and classify them into three main types of pictorial expressions: Overview, Plan and Concept.

Originality/value

This study has shown that the closer the sketches were to the present, the more they combined elements of a more complex sketch with letters and symbols as well as pictorial expressions. This is the first study to investigate about sketch representations established as notations by Steven Holl. This study identified the elements that make the architectural concept visible through sketches.

Citation

Mori, Y. and Dewancker, B. (2024), "Characteristics of notational expression by decomposition of Steven Holl’s sketches", Archnet-IJAR, Vol. ahead-of-print No. ahead-of-print. https://doi.org/10.1108/ARCH-09-2023-0233