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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

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Pre-order. Available Jul 09 2026
$151.15 RRP $167.95 Website price saving $16.80 (10%)

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Description

Envisioning architectural drawing as a full-scale, bodily, and spatial practice, Marian Macken and Carl Douglas explore how architects imagine, perceive, and shape space through drawing, positioning the body not just as a subject but as an active medium 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 is defined as a verb: a matter of time and duration. Drawings are inhabited, present, and embodied-redefining how space is measured, represented, and understood. Through case studies and examples, the authors examine diverse approaches to architectural drawing, including motion-capture and immersive technologies, analogue and digital methods of scanning, and gestural drawing. They highlight how drawing can be inhabited by both the drawer and the viewer, offering a dynamic, immersive experience.

Crucially, this book reinstates drawing as a spatial, temporal, and bodily act. It 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 Jul 09 2026
Format Hardback
Edition 1st
Extent 240
ISBN 9781350385580
Imprint Bloomsbury Visual Arts
Illustrations 105 colour illus
Dimensions 234 x 156 mm
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…

Environment: Staging