James Sterling and the act of drawing

The act of drawing was vital for the architect James Sterling (1924-92) in the creative process: 'I go through a process and makes doodles of different possibilities. Then, when one begins to understand what one is actually aiming for, one begins to intellectualise about it. It's a combination of what's coming out of the end of my fingers and what I'm thinking at the time. I generally do that in the office, sometimes in aeroplanes'. Interestingly, Sterling's approach to idea development was his use of A4 sheets of tracing laid over existing drawings, using them as a framework on which to sketch additional possibilities. In contrast, models did not form part of the office's design process. (Source: Circling The Square, Exhibition at RIBA London, 8 March - 25 June, 2017)