How to Ask for Useful Feedback on Your Architectural Work
As a student, showing a drawing that isn’t done yet is difficult. When every proportion that is off sticks out like a sore thumb when someone else looks at it. But getting feedback early on is one of the best ways to improve as an architect, because it shows you what you have become blind to. A student will stare at the same plan, section, or sketch for so long that they begin to overlook flaws. Getting feedback stops this. It is just as important to ask for feedback as it is to figure out what to ask to make the feedback useful for the next iteration of your drawing.
Generally, the best feedback comments come from a specific question related to an obvious problem. Instead of asking someone to look at your drawing and tell you what they think, try to pick out one problem that you are trying to resolve. Maybe you are trying to figure out how deep to make your façade, or what the solid to void ratio should be, or how the circulation should flow through your small footprint. If you can narrow down your question, you’ll probably get a more useful response. “Do you think this entrance is too tight?” will get you a better response than “What do you think about this?” “What do you think about this?” will get you opinions. “Do you think this entrance is too tight?” will get you a response about the space, proportion, and intention.
The worst time to ask for feedback is when you have tried to perfect every line and curve. This will just lead to feedback about the drawing. While making your drawing look nice can hide major problems for a while, it doesn’t fix them. It is better to share your work when your big idea is legible and your drawing is still malleable. If your floor plan is your big idea, make sure your line weights are such that you can distinguish between the rooms, walls, and path of circulation. If your big idea is the massing of your building, show your building as blocks before worrying about what the material is or the frequency of your windows.
This will help you hear adjustments that you should make to your big idea early on, when it is still easy to make changes. Another part of getting useful feedback is being able to receive it. Try not to go into major explanations for every line you’ve drawn. Sometimes, it is necessary to explain why you drew something a certain way, but try not to.
You’ll hear a lot of “I was trying to….” and “The reason I did this was…” Take a minute to let your drawing speak for itself. If several people are getting tripped up in the same place, pay attention to that place. Even if your reasoning was correct, if that place is not working, something needs to change. Once you have heard the feedback, go back to your drawing and apply it. If you need to, redraw one side of your building, or adjust one ratio, or simplify one sequence of spaces.
Feedback is only useful if you apply it to the next iteration. I recommend practicing this. Spend 5 minutes deciding which drawing you are going to show someone, and write one question about it. Then spend 5 minutes cleaning up just the area of your drawing that relates to the question you are trying to resolve, so the problem is legible.