Drawing is a muscle that needs to be exercised to remain in shape, and mine had surely atrophied by the time I was ten or so years out of graduate school.  The sad truth is that drawing by hand has all but disappeared from commercial, and even residential design.  A tragedy:  the connection between mind and paper through the hand is stronger than a mouse or keyboard can ever match. 

At that time I was attending the mandatory weekly staffing meeting typical of large architectural firms, which provided the perfect opportunity for exercise.  With nothing but three hours of mental inactivity, a stack of otherwise useless spreadsheets and notes, memory, and a pen,  I strengthened the shrunken muscle.  After a few weeks I may have been the only one who looked forward to the meeting. 

Although I am as tied to the computer as anyone (and actually love building computer models) hand-drawing is still an integral design of my process.  Intelligence in design can never be artificial. 

Few of these drawings are of “real” places but I hope they all depict a reality with which you are familiar.