Theoretical Evaluation of Art Elements and the Relationships with Design Activities in Architecture

Abstract

Drawing is an essential tool of creativity for architects in the process of documenting imagination, information or ideas in paper for further development. Art elements such as line, shapes, and forms are channels for developing concepts which culminates into an effective presentation of architectural design. It is obvious that the importance of art in design cannot be over emphasized, but the application of these elements of art to achieve a desirable result in design is not well understood by many students of Architecture, most times it is misapplied. The paper is based on literature review as well as 26 years of autoethnographic transactions with students of architecture. It has been observed that students are unable to translate ideas through drawing into design proper. And as such this paper looks into the process of using elements of art as a panacea for solving design problems in architecture. It further goes on to explains how these elements of art can be manipulated by architecture students to produce a pragmatic design.