Purcell Drawing Programme 2023: Drawing X SCALES

The groups completed a collective site analysis at the London South Bank Centre – the original Festival of Britain site – and a partner site at The Rocks in Sydney, to identify opportunities to develop on the existing architectural characters.  

From these opportunities, individual concepts for a new festival exhibit were sketched and later tested and detailed through orthographic drawings with ideas collected in the group drawing sessions. Individual composite drawings were created ahead of the final session held in the London and Sydney studios which explored a large-scale collective drawing that pieced together the designs into a site-wide festival proposal.

The groups can be seen presenting their composite drawings to each other, a way of finding common themes such as playful levels, natural structures, and engagement with the waterfront that were later drawn out in the festival design. 

In London, a lunchtime trip to the nearby Peveril Gardens and Artist Studios by Sanchez Benton Architects provided inspiration for reimagining underused pockets of space to activate the public urban realm.  

Fuelled by the inspiring site visit, the group brought their festival proposals to a colourful conclusion with interwoven paths and creative performance spaces dotted throughout the landmark buildings. The completed drawing is seen as a study piece of ideas from which the group have decided to meet once more to produce a final physical model for display in the studios and perhaps an exhibition or two. 

In Sydney, the team produced a single drawing communicating their experience of the area around The Rocks and Barangaroo areas. There were plenty of similarities in the drawing style of the group, which allowed the sketches to sit well together in an interesting composition to explore scale and typological differences within the site area.