Hello from New York and notes for Workshop G

Hello everyone!

I woke up this morning, in a bit of a panic, thinking that I was leaving for Barcelona and had not packed or gotten ready. Luckily, there are 3 more days before I leave.

 Some notes and a big favor:

If you're taking Workshop G (welcome!), I'm posting the sequence and an outline of the workshop exercises to avoid printing (there may be some changes, but don't worry. Also it looks like a lot of walking, but most of our time will be spent in La Plaza Reial).  I'll bring some sheets along just in case. If you want me to email them, or you have any questions, let me know (richard.alomar.la@gmail.com).

And now the big favor...I'm working on a sketching/urban sketching presentation for a professional conference with Jim Richards later this year. I would like to talk with landscape architects and architects attending the symposium to get information on how urban sketching informs their work. It would be great to get perspectives from the urban sketcher group.

Thanks so much and see you all next week!

Richard Alomar

Meet the Instructor: Richard Alomar (New York, USA)

 

Richard Alomar
New York, USA

Richard Alomar is an assistant professor of Landscape Architecture at Rutgers University and founder of the Urban Field Studio in New York. He leads weekly on-location sketch crawls and workshops for New York City Urban Sketchers and uses the sketchbook to document place, time, movement and thoughts on the relationship between people and urban space. His research focuses on practical applications to global climate changes. He holds a B.S. in agronomy from the University of Puerto Rico at Mayaguez and a Masters in Landscape Architecture from Louisiana State University. He is a registered landscape architect in New York.

Blogs: http://the-landscape.blogspot.com and http://nycsketch.blogspot.com/

Workshop G: Sketching Urban Place: People, Space and Street

Sketching Urban Place: People, Space and Street (Workshop G)

Instructor: Richard Alomar (New York, USA)
Location: Plaça Reial

Workshop description

Urban spaces are designed by architects, landscape architects and engineers and, for the most part, used and experienced by non-designers. These manmade spaces have been conceived as “Places”. More than walls, streets and trees, they are outdoor rooms for people to move, talk, see and experience: They are the “Place” where life happens.

Sketches and sketchbooks can be used as a way to record these “Places”, beyond the traditional perspective cityscape or ornamental object drawing. Regardless of skill level (something that may take a while to develop) a sketcher can begin to experience “Place” and compose richer, more personally meaningful drawings by understanding the role of spatial structure, personal recollection and observation in the sketching process.

The workshop is structured around 3 activities:

• Connect: Walk around the space. Understand the patterns, forms and urban elements, including people, void space and structures. 
• Collect: Record your impressions of the space informally through words, mental mapping, thumbnail sketching, sequence sketching or other “reportage” formats.
• Compose: Soak it all in. Talk it over with another sketcher. Start to sketch the space as a “Place”: A record of your experience of it. (This can be done in groups of 2 or 3 if needed).

Participants will be given examples of how different elements work in urban spaces and different ways of recording initial impressions. A short explanation session will begin each activity. At the end of the session, rather than laying the sketchbooks on the ground, each sketcher will talk about their impressions and techniques.

Learning goals

Student will:

• Learn the spatial components of urban space.
• Learn various sketching techniques to record initial impressions of “Place”.
• Understand how to frame and compose a sketch to reflect their individual impressions.
• Share with others their impressions and techniques.
• Strengthen the importance of individual expression in sketching

Supply list
Supplies are simple, a sketchbook and whatever you usually use to sketch.