In our second installment of this two-part series, Tony Hsiao, AIA, LEED AP, explores three more freehand sketching styles, citing several Finegold Alexander projects.

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Loose Watercolors

“The idea for a commons was born out of the need to create a heart in a library that did not have one. The addition spoke to a place of gathering for the graduate business students in a light- and plant-filled space that blurred the boundary between indoors and outside.”  

Commons at Horn Library Babson College | Wellesley, MA

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Evocative Sketches

“For one of the largest projects in the office at the time, I wanted to evoke the sense of transparency of the law for the courthouse. The idea that the view of the courthouse would be open and not forbidding, was the driving force behind this development sketch view.”

Lowell Justice Center Lowell, MA

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Pen & Ink: Preliminary Sketches

“This preliminary sketch was one of several I created for the interview for the project. In part due to these sketches, we won the commission. Eventually the initial idea of adding a glass element and raising the grade became the solution of how to create an open, inviting, and accessible new entry to this very historical Chapel structure, transforming it into a student hub on campus. The images progress from the initial black-and-white pen and ink sketch, to a hand-colored version, then a professional rendering at a later stage of the project, and finally the finished photography."

University of Massachusetts Amherst Old Chapel

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If you missed it, be sure to checkout Sketching Series 1 here!