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Bodies and Space in Architectural Drawing

Line, Movement and Scale

Bodies and Space in Architectural Drawing cover

Bodies and Space in Architectural Drawing

Line, Movement and Scale

Quantity
Pre-order. Available 11 Jun 2026
$122.41 RRP $153.01 Website price saving $30.60 (20%)

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Description

Reimagining architectural drawing as a full-scale, bodily, and spatial practice, Marian Macken and Carl Douglas explore how architects perceive and shape space through drawing, positioning the body not just as a subject but as an active tool for design.

Bodies and Space in Architectural Drawing challenges conventional scale relationships and advocates for full-scale, performative drawing methods that expand the boundaries of architectural practice. Drawing becomes a verb-inhabited, present, and embodied-redefining how space is measured, represented, and understood. The authors examine diverse approaches to architectural drawing, including motion-capture and wearable technologies, movement-based drawing, and the role of time and duration. They highlight how drawing can be inhabited by both the drawer and the viewer, offering a dynamic, immersive experience. Through case studies and examples, the book reinstates drawing as a spatial, temporal, and bodily act.

Crucially, this book reframes the role of scaled artefacts-models, maps, and drawings-as intermediaries that mobilise architectural thinking. Rather than treating the body as a static reference point, it explores how moving, thinking bodies generate and reside within drawings. This is essential reading for students, practitioners, and researchers in architecture and spatial design seeking to rethink drawing as a performative and conceptual tool

Table of Contents

List of Figures
Acknowledgements


Introduction. Architectural Bodies
Chapter 1. Drawing in Space: Expansions of Architectural Drawing
Chapter 2. Drawing Out: Scale and the Displaced Body
Chapter 3. Drawing in Time: Tracking Lines in Motion
Chapter 4. Inhabiting Drawing: Fields of Encounter
Chapter 5. Drawing Room: Embodiment in Studio
Conclusion. Thinking Through Drawing


Notes
References
Index

Product details

Published 11 Jun 2026
Format Ebook (Epub & Mobi)
Edition 1st
Extent 240
ISBN 9781350385603
Imprint Bloomsbury Visual Arts
Illustrations 105 colour illus
Series Drawing In
Publisher Bloomsbury Publishing

About the contributors

Author

Marian Macken

Dr Marian Macken teaches in design and architectur…

Author

Carl Douglas

Dr Carl Douglas is a senior lecturer in Spatial De…

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Environment: Staging