RIBA Late : Live Drawing Marathon

Throughout November, the RIBA ran two exhibitions, Pablo Bronstein: Conservatism, or The Long Reign of Pseudo-Georgian Architecture and Measure Draw Build by George Saumarez Smith. Alongside, a series of talks, workshops, films and live drawing explored questions around classical architecture, pastiche and neo-Georgian style.

RIBA Late

As part of the RIBA Late series, architects, designers and artists were invited to a live drawing marathon and tasked with bringing a building to life in front of hundreds of visitors. We were given the theme of ‘Classicism’, a 1m x 1m sheet of paper and two and a half hours to develop a drawing. I wanted to create a piece that was personal and influenced by my own observations and experiences of classical architecture. I choose to create a collage of my favourite buildings in Bath, their architectural features and overall streetscapes – from Ralph Allen’s townhouse, the Circus and St Mary’s Buildings to some inspirational front doors. In addition to these historic examples I wanted to reference Alison and Peter Smithson. The architecture department at Bath University by the Smithson’s, (where I spent the last 6 years) embodies many of the principles of classical architecture.

Drawing Preparation

The photos below illustrate how the drawing developed from the terrifying blank piece of paper to the finished piece.

The blank paper & 1 hour later

The final finishing touches

2 and a half hours later and finished!

I was very fortunate to be drawing alongside some incredibly talented architects and artists, including Will Alsop from aLL Design, Sabrina Morreale from the Architectural Association, George Saumarez Smith from Adam Architecture, Anna Gibb from Allies and Morrison and Jonathan Chan from Hawkins Brown.

An evening of live drawing, image credit : Anna Gibb

The marathon concluded with an informal mini-crit where we presented our drawings to the other participants and visitors. Beyond the event, the pieces were included in the annual 10x10 Drawing the City fundraising event for Article 25. The whole event was a great success and really rewarding to know our work went to a fantastic cause.