FREEHAND DRAWING AS A DIDACTIC INSTRUMENT

This paper was guided by the following research question: how freehand drawing teaching influences design teaching? The bibliography regarding freehand drawing as a design instrument is extensive and diverse, underlining its different associated procedures, such as perception, conception and communication.1 Less relevance has been given to freehand drawing as a didactic instrument, that is, as a means used by instructors and students for the transmission and acquisition of knowledge.2 It is intended to consider the didactic role of freehand drawing and its importance in the architectural design teaching, based on the analysis of the intersections between the courses of drawing and architectural design at the Faculty of Architecture of the University of Porto (FAUP). Considering the progressive loss of relevance of drawing in architectural curriculum plans in recent decades,3 the aim of this paper is to understand why to continue to teach freehand drawing and how this interferes or determines the way of teaching architectural design.