What happens when architecture students move from drawing by hand to communicating a project digitally?

Representation & Communication II sits at a particularly important moment in architectural education: the transition from developing projects primarily by hand to using digital tools for drawing, modelling, documenting and communicating architecture.

It is not simply about replacing the pencil with software.

It is about learning a new way of thinking about architectural information.

From Drawing to BIM

The course focused on developing the skills required to represent architectural projects through digital workflows, particularly Building Information Modeling — BIM.

Students learned to work simultaneously in two and three dimensions while understanding the relationship between the architectural model and the technical documentation required to communicate a project.

Plans were no longer approached simply as drawings.

They became part of a coordinated system of information.

Revisiting a Previous Project

For the main exercise, students returned to the project they had previously developed in Architectural Design II.

Instead of designing something new, the challenge was to redraw, remodel and communicate the existing project properly using the digital tools and architectural conventions introduced during the course.

This allowed them to concentrate on another fundamental part of architecture: translating an idea into information that could actually be understood and eventually built.

The process incorporated BIM modelling, architectural drawings, material specifications, construction techniques and digital presentation.

Projects by students Nathalia De León and Emely Romano illustrate this transition from architectural design to coordinated digital representation.

Communicating Architecture

The objective was never simply to learn software.

Students needed to understand that an architectural project moves through different levels of communication — from the initial idea to the model, drawings, material information and final presentation.

Because designing a project is only part of the process.

Knowing how to communicate it is part of being an architect.

The course was developed with the support of Graphisoft Dominican Republic, which also recognised the best presented and documented project with a renewable Twinmotion licence.

Course
Representation & Communication II

Institution
EAD–PUCMM

Professor
Sarah Tió

Featured Students
Nathalia De León · Emely Romano

Topics
BIM · Architectural Representation · Digital Documentation · Architectural Communication · Construction Documentation

Type
Teaching Archive