31. Squiggly Line Drawings

What makes a good sketch? Most people would name things like line weight, proportion or observation skills. Others may say that a good sketch is simple, quick, and rough. While these things may be true, only an architect knows the true secret behind a good sketch: squiggly lines. It has been a well kept secret of architects for many centuries that a good drawing is made up not of straight lines, but of squiggly lines.

Architect Squiggly Line Drawings

Everyone knows architects are artists of the highest degree, and they must be allowed to draw and scribble their thoughts unrestrained. Straight lines are too mainstream; too conformist. Architects are free spirits and must rid themselves of the constraints that straight lines impose – otherwise known as mediocrity. By using only the squiggliest of lines, architects are empowered to throw off the chains of conventional wisdom, buck the prescribed methods of ‘coloring inside the lines’ and fully embrace their inner ego. Only those too weak to say ‘no’ to the status quo are left drawing straight lines for the rest of their lives. Straight lines are over rated. Squiggly lines stand for purpose – for freedom, originality and individualism; the lifeblood of the architect. Architects don’t need to deal with boring things like ‘structures’ or ‘precision’. That’s what engineers and interns are for! They’ll figure out what my scribbles mean and my building will turn out magnificently.

We architects must uphold the tradition of the squiggle. It doesn’t matter that we all draw with the same squiggly lines, it’s the fact that my squiggle is different from yours that makes it unique. Now let’s transfer those squiggly drawings into CAD and complain about how engineers are taking our jobs and interns don’t know how to put buildings together…