Architectural sketches are different from, say, artist’s sketches in that they include things like scales and keys for cross-referencing information; they often show their subjects from unusual angles (for example in a floor plan, which places the architect above a building, or in a section, which imagines a building cut in half); and when hand-drawn, they tend to be made on a particular size and type of paper.

Architects generally use concept sketches to explore their initial responses to a brief. The sketches are ‘broad sweeps’ that don’t necessarily take into account practical restrictions. Nevertheless, they can also be used to think through layout, site limitations, circulation patterns, solar paths and so on.