Throughout the course of the year I have been analysing the design sketch and its innate qualities. Throughout this study my hypothesis has remained as; 'why are the qualities conveyed in the initial design sketch are not transposed onto the final built form?' Through further investigation of this central question, this project tests my hypothesis through an attempt to design a space that renders these intangible qualities real.

In order to explore this area a number of key stages characterised my design process including; a segue exercise that bridged the research finding sof the first semester and the second semester design project, the identification of an appropriate site, conducting research into key exemplars and precedents, defining the term ‘architectural gesture’, exploring gesture in two and three dimensional realms and finally consolidating and synthesising these findings into a resolved design scheme.

Architectural gesture can be described as an ‘extension of the body, capturing the gesture of the body that creates the line/ mark. Qualities such as spontaneity, roughness and an incomplete/developing nature characterise the gestural sketch. The sketch is inherently fleeting and temporal in its nature’. This definition came to underpin my design process and primary focus.