A Weak School. The revival of “academic drawing” in the Spanish Schools of Architecture, 197x-199x

Abstract

The essay discusses the core ideas that inspired the recovery of “academic drawing” in the Spanish Schools of Architecture during the 1970s and 80s, as well as the contradictions that constituted this academic endeavour. Thus, it neither focuses on the different theoretical approaches to drawing, perception, creativity or to the architectural project, which characterized those years, nor historizes the beginning of the Departments of Graphic Expression and its main characters. On the contrary, the paper investigates the diverse causes that inspired the protagonist role of drawing in the Spanish Schools of Architecture, which soon extended to the architectural production at large. In this sense, it positions itself beyond the graphic aspects of drawing to constitute a reflection on the architectural discipline, the transmission of architectural knowledge, and the role of the Schools of Architecture in the last quarter of the 20thC.