Paper short abstract:

The paper will analyse the authors final year project outcomes; a series of watercolour paper models which were produced as a result of large scale drawings that questioned the boundaries of what architecture and its representation are and can be.

Paper long abstract:

The paper will look at drawing as a way of both objective mark making in the form of traditional architectural drawings; sections and plans and how they become part of the architectural process and design production. This will be done by analysing a small collection of architectural representations of the author's final year student project titled: Ocean Research Centre. The watercolour laser cut layered section models emerge from a background of an orthographic section drawing and instead of becoming physical and real, the straight lines embark into the imaginative realms. The layers are constructed of further section line drawings; the intention was to create a poetic paradigm of material cultures reinterpreted as per the new era for the site. The manipulation of light, shadow and materiality to achieve atmosphere, evoke emotional response based on concepts of material culture, historical and cultural contexts are not as prevalent in these first experimental pieces. However, the author's exploration to take the orthographic drawings as a point of departure into imagination, process and production of architectural space is an ongoing exploration through her PhD. This paper, is the beginning of a critical reflection of encapsulating narratives of material culture that will be applied to the representation of heritage architecture in South Asia as part of a doctoral research project to reveal the social, cultural, financial and architectural values of heritage architecture that is currently under threat of being demolished as a result of a lack of conservation and redevelopment knowledge of urban heritage environments.