Drawing in Siena: The Architect’s Learning

Abstract

Based on relevant publications focusing on architects’ travel sketches, a single common framework is established: the city of Siena and specifically the Piazza del Campo as a study laboratory. The sketches made there by Erik Gunnar Asplund, Louis Kahn, Charles-Édouard Jeanneret, Michael Graves and Álvaro Siza during their time in the city have been chosen. The drawings are contextualized in time and in accordance with a particular personal instance for each one of them. The technique, the format, the framing, the system of representation, and the layout of their sketches are taken into consideration with the aim of establishing a systematic way of comparison. An in-depth analysis of these sketches helps to reveal the differences in the learning process that each of the authors experienced during their respective trips throughout the city.