Expanding the senses of drawing through colour

Abstract

By equating the creative use of colour with the disciplinary boundaries of architecture, this paper integrates observations, reflections and insights on a variety of alternative graphic strategies, and also expands the meanings attached to a drawing when the significance of colour is highlighted within the creative process of architectural design. Through the observations of numerous drawings from Portuguese architects we have already detected several functions or uses of colour in the design process. Colour can be used in a more straightforward way as a graphic element that can add meaning to a drawing. However, the plethora of meanings include, but do not exhaust, such functions as the exploration of a tool for operative modes or the expression of subjectivity attached to the project, as well as to the author, through complex arrays of colour meanings and expressions.