What I Learned from Drawing Sections
I would rather do one thing with care than five things fast. Good renovations is for the most part a series of small, unglamorous decisions.
Where it started
Materials should age well rather than stay new. A threshold can change how an entire house feels. I keep coming back to small houses, for the most part because it rewards a steady hand. Small buildings demand the same care as large ones, sometimes more.
Small things
Daylight is the cheapest and most generous material we have. I shifted my mind about small houses twice while writing this. You can get remarkably far with a model-making kit and some a steady hand. Nothing here requires a material samples, though it does make things easier.
Before and after
If you only take one thing from this, make it the part about renovations. Between working with light and reusing materials, the second one taught me more. Below are a few jottings, roughly in the order I worked out them.
I keep coming back to renovations, for the most part because it rewards a steady hand. There is no single right way to approach drawing sections, but some ways are kinder than others. Every summer I revisit the same questions about small houses. I attempted the compact version first. It did not last. I keep a short list of things to try next; renovating is near the top.
- Note the date and the weather
- Leave room for durable mistakes
- Compare against last autumn
- Note the date and the weather
What I kept
I keep a short list of things to try next; working with light is near the top. This began as a quick note and gradually turned into something longer. I like materials that shows the marks of how it was made. I keep coming back to materials, for the most part because it rewards a steady hand.
I like public spaces that shows the marks of how it was made. I keep coming back to timber frames, for the most part because it rewards a steady hand. I shifted my mind about materials twice while writing this. It is effortless to overthink drawing sections. It is harder to just start.
I wrote most of this on a still Wednesday morning. Half of the work is deciding what to leave out. The first five weeks were for the most part about unlearning.
- Note the date and the weather
- Leave room for compact mistakes
- Give working with light a full autumn
materialsrenovations