7 Early Drawings by Famous Architects

7 Early Drawings by Famous Architects
Superstudio, New-New York, 1969. © Superstudio. From the Collection of the Alvin Boyarsky Archive. Image Courtesy of Collection of the Alvin Boyarsky Archive

Drawings from the private collection of Alvin Boyarsky, Chairman of the Architectural Association (AA) from 1971 to 1990, will be on display as part of Drawing Ambience: Alvin Boyarsky and the Architectural Association. Hosted by The Irwin S. Chanin School of Architecture of The Cooper Union from October 13 to November 25, 2015, the free, public exhibit will also feature panel discussions with Nicholas Boyarsky, Joan Ockman, Bernard Tschumi, Anthony Vidler, Michael Webb and Dean Nader Tehrani. Read more about this event and the drawings exhibited after the break.

Originally shown at the Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum and the RISD Museum, the co-organizers of the exhibit, Drawing Ambience features drawings from the early years of now-famous architects, collected by Alvin Boyarsky during his time as chairman of the Architectural Association. Featured are works from John Hejduk (first dean of the Irwin S. Chanin School of Architecture), Michael Webb, Daniel Libeskind, Frank Gehry, Zaha Hadid, Rem Koolhaas, Bernard Tschumi and more. The exhibit focuses not only on the roles of these drawings at a pivotal period in architectural history, but also on Alvin Boyarsky’s role in collecting them, as well as The Architecture Association and Cooper Union methodology of drawing as a form of architecture in its own right, not just a form of representation.

Nigel Coates, Ski Station, 1982. © Nigel Coates. From the Collection of the Alvin Boyarsky Archive. Image Courtesy of Collection of the Alvin Boyarsky Archive
Franco Purini, The Waste Land (La terra desolata), 1984. © Franco Purini. From the Collection of the Alvin Boyarsky Archive. Image Courtesy of Collection of the Alvin Boyarsky Archive

Boyarsky and Hejduk are both renowned for their role in the development of architectural education throughout the 1970s and 80s, and this exhibit will bring to light many of their effects on the current state of architecture. Considered one of the great centres of hand drawing along with the Cooper Union School of Architecture, the AA has long held a visual record of the transitions in architecture, both in practitioners and practice. The exhibition of these works and their emphasis on tactile and exploratory drawing will lend a renewed voice to the current resurgence of drawing, a vital link between hand and creation.

Office for Metropolitan Architecture, The Pleasure of Architecture, ca. 1984. © Office for Metropolitan Architecture. From the Collection of the Alvin Boyarsky Archive. Image Courtesy of Collection of the Alvin Boyarsky Archive
Daniel Libeskind, The Garden, 1979. © Daniel Libeskind. From the Collection of the Alvin Boyarsky Archive. Image Courtesy of Collection of the Alvin Boyarsky Archive
[Cooper Union Drawing_Ambience5-Tschumi-3_K_Series] Bernard Tschumi, Study for the folio La Case Vide, La Villette, #3 from the K Series, 1985. © Bernard Tschumi. From the Collection of the Alvin Boyarsky Archive. Image Courtesy of Collection of the Alvin Boyarsky Archive

Read more about the exhibition here.

  • Title

    Drawing Ambience: Alvin Boyarsky and the Architectural Association
  • Website

  • Organizers

    RISD Museum , Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum
  • From

    October 13, 2015 06:00 PM
  • Until

    November 26, 2015 07:00 PM
  • Venue

    The Cooper Union
  • Address

    The Cooper Union, 30 Cooper Sq, New York, NY 10003, USA

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Cite: "7 Early Drawings by Famous Architects" 02 Oct 2015. ArchDaily. Accessed . <https://www.archdaily.com/774609/7-early-drawings-by-famous-architects> ISSN 0719-8884

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