Tools of the Imagination:
Drawing Tools and Technologies from the Eighteenth Century to the Present
Susan Piedmont-Palladino

The construction of a building is fascinating to watch, as the symbiosis between man and machine turns what seem to be scattered piles of material into architecture. But before the tools of construction ever arrive on the site, the architect wields a different set of tools to design, develop, and document the building-to-be. The history of these drawing tools is one of invention and innovation. In a profession increasingly dominated by the computer, earlier tools—from the compass to the helicograph, ellipsograph, and volutor; from perspective charts to slopes and batters; from Mylar to modeling clay—are beautiful artifacts of a bygone day. Along with historical objects, the National Building Museum has collected wooden models by Frank Gehry and hand-drawn sketches by Tod Williams, showing that the tools of the imagination are still very much a part of architectural design.

Covering 250 years of design tools and technologies, Tools of the Imagination: Drawing Tools and Technologies from the Eighteenth Century to the Present takes a revealing look at how architects have produced the drawings, models, renderings, and, now, animations that show us the promise of what might be built. The book includes a wide array of these tools as well as drawings, renderings, and sketches from well-known architects such as Frank Lloyd Wright, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, and I. M. Pei.


Susan C. Piedmont-Palladino is an architect and an associate professor of architecture at Virginia Tech. Her book, Devil's Workshop: 25 Years of Jersey Devil Architecture, was published by Princeton Architectural Press.
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Editorial Reviews

Step Inside Design:
"A historical look at how architects have produced models and renderings and now animations." (Oct 2006)

The Architect's Newspaper:
"This lovely book traces the history of drawing tools, from a simple lead pencil to the intricate perspectograph to sophisticated CATIA. Like the drawings they helped produce, the tools reflect the evolution of architectural thought. Most of the tools in the book are obsolete, and are presented as object of art." (12/11/06)

Dwell:
"Long before architects were rogues with CAD they were cads with mahogany T-Squares. Tools of the Imagination chronicles the various and sundry precomputer accoutrements of the architectural trade. This slim volume reproduces extraordinary photos of ellipsographs, volutors, and perspective glasses, describing what they did, who might have used them, and why precisely, despite their appearance, they're not torture devices." (April 2007)

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