| From the Artist |

I am an architect by profession and an urban sketcher by enthusiasm. As a commoner, while walking alone in the streets of Dhaka, I try to visualize the shapes of the urban environment and its surrounding activities and capture the stories quickly by loosely drawn pen and ink sketches on paper. To me, the choice between what elements and activities to draw and what not to is the most important part of urban sketching that brings out the true essence of a place. I consider my architectural design projects as an end product of a story that starts with my observation of a place through on-spot sketches.

From an early age, I used to draw whatever attracted me. While travelling somewhere, I was interested in observing the vehicles, places and activities. And once I was at home, I used to memorize the places and draw them. I never had any formal education in drawing such as an art school, but it was something that I always cherished.

During my architecture education, I continued to practice on-spot sketches as a part of my studio projects. In 2015, I got the opportunity to participate in a 7-day long on-spot sketching workshop.  As part of this workshop, we traveled to different parts of Dhaka city to observe and sketch the places and activities of the urban environment. The workshop brought back memories from my childhood and since then, I have been continuing sketching urban environment of Dhaka, which has become an integral part of my architectural design process.

Urban sketching means to draw on location, indoors or out, capturing what someone sees from direct observation. The drawings tell the story of our surroundings, the places we live in and the places where we travel. Hence, the drawings are a record of a specific time and place. As an architecture student and now an architect, I have found that urban sketching has a very deep impact on my architectural design process. Drawing on-spot requires the ability to read and interpret the real world. Therefore, a sketcher gradually develops the skill to filter out the things that truly define the essence of an environment. Thus the on-spot sketches of a project site work as a point of reference for the architect. To me, it leaves a deep impact on the final output of the design, reflecting the spirit of the people, place and their collective memory.

About

Sheikh Rishad Ahmmad Aurnob graduated from the Architecture Discipline of Khulna University in 2016. Besides practicing as an ‘architect’, he is currently working as a faculty member in the Department of Architecture of Ahsanullah University of Science and Technology.

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