Beyond the Building Report: On-Site Architectural History
This poster presents an alternative, graphic-intensive, and iterative assignment that integrates essential research, writing, and revision skills with the concepts of design thinking that dominate the studio-based training found in schools of architecture. The key products of this methodology, tested in a global survey course on the history of the built environment from prehistory to the Industrial Revolution (ARCH 2111/6105), are original ‘local history books.’ These synthesize research, writing, and graphic design, using both sourced images, on-site documentation, and original illustrations (e.g., architectural drawings, maps, or diagrams). These books are developed through an iterative process over the course of the semester and they aim to present a series of clear, well-supported arguments that strive to fully integrate the relationship between written and visual evidence. Students probed how and why a building tells a story, and how to interpret these narratives through primary and secondary research, and graphic annotation.