Things I got wrong about sketching on site
We draw by hand early on; it keeps decisions loose. None of this is new, and that is partly why it works. There is a version of this that is much more complicated. This is not that version. Small buildings demand the same care as large ones, sometimes more.
What changed
Materials should age well rather than stay new. There is no single right way to approach sketching on site, but some ways are kinder than others. The best renovation keeps more than it replaces. Here is what changed, and what stayed exactly the same.
I changed my mind about thresholds twice while writing this. In July the light changes, and so does the work. The best advice I got was just to slow down. A threshold can change how an entire house feels. I keep a short list of things to try next; sketching on site is near the top.
Small things
Somewhere between an old warehouse and home, the idea finally made sense. This began as a quick note and bit by bit turned into something longer. Most of what I know about public spaces came from getting it wrong first. Below are a few notes, roughly in the order I worked out them. The trick, if there is one, is to leave sufficient room for errors.
The result is not perfect, but it is truthful. The shift showed up bit by bit, then all at once. If something here is unclear, that is on me, not you.
Thanks for reading, and for the gentle notes that keep arriving. Small, repeatable steps beat big plans nearly every time. It took me four attempts to see the pattern.
- Start with daylight and nothing else
- Note the date and the weather
- Do less working with light, more renovating
- Leave room for calm mistakes
Trade-offs
I tested the modest version first. It did not last. I like courtyards that shows the marks of how it was made. I keep a short list of things to try next; reusing materials is near the top. In April the light changes, and so does the work. It is simple to overthink detailing. It is harder to just start.
The calm part is rarely the hard part; consistency is. Every spring I revisit the same questions about daylight. Every spring I revisit the same questions about staircases. Every winter I revisit the same questions about retrofit.
First steps
Half of the work is deciding what to leave out. There is no single right way to approach reusing materials, but some ways are kinder than others. In June the light changes, and so does the work.
- Start with small houses and nothing else
- Note the date and the weather
- Write down what you change
- Compare against last spring