Fed up with eager young pups at work who don’t know they’re born? Or had enough of hearing how it was back in the old days? Email us with what’s bugging you about the other generations…

Young architects have forgotten the power of the pencil. With the predominance of CAD in architectural education, we are in danger of losing one of the ways in which we communicate best.

I am not knocking design software. CAD has a crucial role to play; it enables designs to be completed quicker, and it can be a great visualisation tool. But drawing by hand allows an intuitive evolution of design. The permanence of ink on paper allows us to see what lines are wrong and which are right. The best drawings can reveal a whole concept in just a few sweeps of the pen and this is an art to be celebrated. At HLM we encourage everyone to keep their sketches for our office sketch books.

CAD and hand drawing should be taught at university and both should be practised at work. It would be a loss for a generation to become slaves to the machine and forsake the power of the pen.

Paul Sutton, 50, design project leader, HLM Architects

Postscript

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