Three years in the making, Drawing from Practice: Architects and the Meaning of Freehand will be released by Taylor and Francis/Routledge Press in early May.

The 221-page book by J. Michael Welton explores and illuminates the ways that 26 well-known architects use freehand drawing to shape the built environment.

“Drawing from Practice is a fantastic book that sheds light on the creative process of how architects envision and bring their buildings to life,” says Wendy Goodman, design editor at New York magazine. “At a time when so much is lost to mechanization, Welton’s book reinforces the fact that nothing is as powerful and engaging as the art of the hand, especially in architecture. It is a book that every architecture student and enthusiast should have.”

In this generously illustrated book, Welton traces the tactile sketch, from initial parti to finished product, through words, images, and photographs that reveal the creative process in action.

“Many architects will say that before they dreamed of building, they dreamed of art,” says Amanda Dameron, editor-in-chief at Dwell Media. “In Drawing from Practice, J. Michael Welton explores this essential connection through his interviews with many of the most compelling minds practicing today. In so doing he establishes that architecture is art, and that through drawing, artists create buildings.”

The book features drawings and architecture from every generation practicing today, including Aidlin Darling Design, Alberto Alfonso, Deborah Berke, Marlon Blackwell, Peter Bohlin, Warren Byrd, Ellen Cassilly, Jim Cutler, Chad Everhart, Formwork, Phil Freelon, Michael Graves, Frank Harmon, Eric Höweler and Meejin Yoon, Leon Krier, Tom Kundig, Daniel Libeskind, Brian McKay Lyons, Richard Meier, Bill Pedersen, Suchi Reddy, Witold Rybczynski, in situ studio, Laurinda Spear, Stanley Tigerman, and Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects.

Included is a foreword by Robert McCarter, a practicing architect who has been the Ruth and Norman Moore Professor of Architecture at Washington University in St. Louis since 2007. McCarter is the author of books on Carol Scarpa, Frank Lloyd Wright and Louis Kahn.

Welton writes about architecture, art and design for national and international publications. His work has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, Dwell, Metropolis, New York, Design Bureau, and Ocean Home.

To pre-order a copy of the book, go here.

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