Instructors: Prof. Ricardo L. Castro, Prof. David Covo, and Juan Fernández González.
Dates: The course will run from Sunday, August 20, to Saturday, August 26, inclusive.
ARCH 325, Architectural Sketching:
Seven days of supervised field sketching in selected locations outside Montreal. The course develops traditional skills in architectural sketching in pencil, ink and watercolor. Sketching is explored as a process that frames the student’s encounter with the environment and as a strategy for acquiring knowledge and understanding of the world.
ARCH 680, Field Sketching:
Seven days of supervised field sketching in selected locations outside Montreal. The course reinforces traditional skills in observation, notebook recording and architectural sketching. Students are encouraged to approach the subject critically and thematically, and to treat sketching as a mechanism for documenting experience and expressing their knowledge of the environment.
Objectives:
The course develops and reinforces traditional skills in observation, notebook recording and sketching in a variety of media, and explores the kind of sketching that architects and artists do when they travel.
The emphasis is on sketching and painting ‘on location’ as opposed to in a studio, so students draw outside every day, working individually and in small groups, and under the supervision of the course instructors. Rainy days provide convincing demonstrations of the importance of public interiors (like churches), porches, arcades and roof overhangs in an urban context.
The act of sketching is examined as a process of inquiry and searching. The sketch is revealed as evidence of curiosity and the result of our attempts to understand the world by observing and drawing what is seen and experienced.
Requirements:
The course requirements are based on the development of a portfolio of work, at least 20 developed pieces completed in the field. Students are also expected to curate the annual exhibition of work produced in the 7-day field exercise, and may be asked to participate in the production of a document that serves as both a catalogue of the exhibition and an anthology of their reflections on the process and the sites visited.
General schedule:
The 2023 edition of the course will take place in Baie Saint-Paul, QC. The dates of the course are Sunday, August 20, to Saturday, August 26, 2023. For most of us, Saturday, August 19, and Sunday, August 27, will be travel days.
We will meet formally as a group seven times. There will be three morning workshops at selected locations (9 am - 12 pm), and four evening meetings / crits (6 pm - 7:30 pm). The location of the workshops will vary each day, but the four evening meetings will take place at the Carrefour Culturel Paul-Médéric.
The morning workshops: The course starts at 9 am, Sunday, August 20, with the first 3-hour workshop. Following each workshop and on free days (when no morning meetings are scheduled), students will work independently and in consultation with instructors.
The evening meetings: The first of the four evening meetings (‘crits’) will also take place on Sunday, August 20, at 6 pm.
The evening meetings are designed as opportunities for an open discussion and critical review of the work produced to date, often with the participation of guest critics, and generally run from 6:00 to 7:30 pm. The course will end with a final discussion of the work starting at 6 pm on Saturday, August 26.
Here is the schedule of the morning workshops and evening meetings:
Workshop 1: 9 am, Sunday, August 20, location to be confirmed
Meeting 1: 6 pm, Sunday, August 20, Carrefour Culturel
Workshop 2: 9 am, Monday, August 21, location to be confirmed
Workshop 3: 9 am, Tuesday, August 22, location to be confirmed
Meeting 2: 6 pm, Tuesday, August 22, Carrefour Culturel
Meeting 3: 6 pm, Thursday, August 24, Carrefour Culturel
Meeting 4: 6 pm, Saturday, August 26, Carrefour Culturel
Media / materials:
The following media and materials will be necessary for the course. For detailed information on media and equipment, please refer to the document 
ARCH 325/680 - notes on media and equipment - 2023.
Watercolours, watercolour paper, brushes, pencils, pen and ink, conté crayon, sketchbooks (including the standard 13 x 21cm Moleskine with heavy-weight paper) and drawing paper of varying size and type. Sketch pads, sheet material and watercolour blocks should range from 9" x 12" to 18" x 24".
If you need to buy a set of watercolours, you could consider a set with ‘cakes’, or you could purchase separate tubes of pigment. If you decide to buy separate tubes, you will need to develop a versatile palette. Below is one suggestion for a 12-colour palette – please note that the palette does NOT include black or white, which are unnecessary.
Red: Alizarin Crimson, Indian Red
Blue: French Ultramarine, Cobalt Blue
Yellows (difficult): Cadmium Yellow Pale, Yellow Ochre
Greens: Hooker’s Green, Olive Green
Browns: Burnt Umber, Burnt Sienna, Raw Umber
Other: Payne’s Grey
Please note: Our first experiments in watercolour (Workshop 2) will be based only on French Ultramarine and Burnt Umber, which produce a surprising range of values and colours.
As for sketchbooks and pads, we recommend, in addition to the list above, a small pocket notebook or sketchpad for thumbnail sketches and experiments with wash and watercolour. A few good natural hair or synthetic brushes will also be required: a small and medium round, with a medium to large (1/2 inch or ¾ inch) flat are always useful.
Bicycles have always been valuable additions to the standard "kit" and are highly recommended. We have also found that a folding camp stool or small foam pad can make 2 to 3 hours on the ground much more endurable.
Evaluation:
Assessment will be based on the portfolio of work produced. Criteria used in the evaluation of the work include, in addition to the level of achievement in plein-air drawing and painting, engagement with the subject, evidence of comfort with the media, and progress over the period of the course.
The deadline for submission of the portfolios will be 12 pm, Wednesday, August 30, the first day of class, at a location to be announced.
Other matters:
1. Student Performance Criteria (CACB)
The following Student Performance Criteria, as defined by the CACB, are addressed in this course:
A3, A5, A8
A. Design
A3. Design Tools
The student must demonstrate an ability to use the broad range of design tools available to the architectural discipline, including a range of techniques for two-dimensional and three- dimensional representation, computational design, modeling, simulation, and fabrication.
A5. Site Context and Design
The student must demonstrate an ability to analyze and respond to local site characteristics, including urban, non-urban, and regulatory contexts; topography; ecological systems; climate; and building orientation in the development of an architectural design project.
A8. Design Documentation
The student must demonstrate an ability to document and present the outcome of a design project using the broad range of architectural media, including documentation for the purposes of construction, drawings, and specifications.
2. Right to submit in English or French written work that is to be graded [approved by Senate, 21-01-2009]:
In accord with Ï㽶ÊÓƵ’s Charter of Students’ Rights, students in this course have the right to submit in English or in French any written work that is to be graded.
3. Academic Integrity statement [approved by Senate, 29-01-2003]:
Ï㽶ÊÓƵ values academic integrity. Therefore all students must understand the meaning and consequences of cheating, plagiarism and other academic offences under the Code of Student Conduct and Disciplinary Procedures (see ) for more information).
L'université McGill attache une haute importance à l’honnêteté académique. Il incombe par conséquent à tous les étudiants de comprendre ce que l'on entend par tricherie, plagiat et autres infractions académiques, ainsi que les conséquences que peuvent avoir de telles actions, selon le Code de conduite de l'étudiant et des procédures disciplinaires (pour de plus amples renseignements, veuillez consulter le site ).
REGISTRATION NOTE:
Students currently registered in the B.Sc.(Arch.) program are required to attend ARCH 325 Sketching School. Students currently entering U2 or U3 in Fall 2023 will register for ARCH 325 with the remaining Fall 2023 courses. Early registration is open.
Newly-admitted students / returning students to the M.Arch. (Prof.) program who choose to take ARCH 680 will register for ARCH 680 Field Sketching with the remaining courses required in the Fall 2023 term.
The regular Add/Drop deadlines for Fall 2023 will be in effect (now until September 12, 2023; with full refund).
