FINDING THE SUBJECT: Majestic, intricate, dominating, mysterious, complicated. These are the words that I look for when I’m at the foot of a building. They then become solid ‘nuts to crack’ when it comes to drawing them. They are a feast of hidden proportions that I need to solve, like a code passed from architect to architect. To add to that, I want to view them as if there is no other building around them; as if I’m am viewing their full spender from afar when perspective takes no hold. It’s an architect’s dream for their work – and I want to share that with them, even from their grave.

THE TOOLS:

Tea, cigarettes and a pen. Three vital ingredients to a successful drawing. I’m armed with a Rotring 0.2mm Isograph and mild stimulant. I’ll have to study the chosen buildings extensively so I head to the city centre each day to sketch and take photos from every angle. I view the buildings from inside shops at every level possible. The Neues Rathaus (New Town Hall) is my first subject. It is so wide, high and complicated that I am determined to draw it. The challenge is to know it’s proportions so I turn to the Gothic architecture’s tool of the ‘golden mean’ to discover it’s height and breadth.

NEUES RATHAUS:

Endless coves, arches, cornices, statues and stone details all sit in their own place. Get one of these the wrong and I know it will throw the whole picture out. The details repeat to form patterns and formations that spread across the page. I’m certainly putting my ruler and calculator to good use. The ‘golden mean’ rectangle formula mirrored throughout and I unfurl the shapes and dimensions. Designed in Gothic revival, Georg von Hauberrisser would have known that the facade would be a feast to the eyes. My drawing is on A3 sized paper and piece by piece the drawing comes together. The spires, glockenspiel and ever ascending tower (85 m of it) stamp their mark in this building, giving Neues Rathaus it’s prominence in Marienplatz. When every outline is drawn the monochrome shading gives the stone work its tone and the structure its depth. The finished piece spurred my to seek my next challenge.

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