How To: Design and draw like an architect

Take a lesson in architecture from renowned architect Doug Patt by watching this video tutorial. If you want to learn about drawing and designing, without going to school, Doug's just the teacher. Watch to see how to design and draw like an architect.

In this episode, Doug thought the best way to talk about design would be to create a dream home for someone, but first, let's talk about the design process. An architect, like any design professional, draws on a wellspring of information. How we design is based to some extent on what we know. What we know can be based on the school we went to, the books we've read, the magazines we like to look at, where we grew up, our friends and relatives, the occupations we've held and in general, our life experiences.

A professor named Edmund Bacon (actually the father of the actor Kevin Bacon) told Doug something once that he will never forget. He said, It's in the doing that the idea comes. That is, we must sit and work through something before we can find the best way to solve a problem. Solving a design problem is essentially taking what we know and putting it together with that particular challenge. When an architect sits down to problem solve, they frequently sketch. Sketching is one of the best ways to work out the solution to a problem. And Doug believes that it's exactly what Edmund Bacon meant when he said it's in the doing that the idea comes.