Hey, Eric here with 30 by 40 Design Workshop, I've been doing a lot of travel lately maybe
you have too, the holidays are here and I thought I'd take a moment to talk about how
I travel as an architect, the lens through which I kind of see the world.
We'll talk about travel sketching, photography and how you can get more out of any trip you're
taking whether that's near or far.
I try to keep my camera out in in my hands as often as I can when I'm traveling because
for me it's kind of like a signal to pay attention to my surroundings.
So on this layover on the trip out I was hunting around for patterns in the airport, of movement,
of activity and I turned what could have been an hour spent scrolling through social media
on my phone into a short creative exercise.
So, don't wait for the destination to begin documenting you can start anytime.
Travel essentials for me are: a sketchbook, a pencil case filled with a few of my favorites,
my camera gear, and a laptop.
For camera gear I have my Canon 6d mark 2 and with that for my latest trip I brought
four lenses and that was just way too many.
Of the four I brought I used only the medium zoom and the macro prime probably most of
the time.
The zoom is great because the 24 millimeter end, on a full-frame camera, is wide enough
to capture landscapes or interiors and the 70 millimeter is perfect for details.
Then, of course, you have the mid-range for any portraits you might want to capture.
So, this one lens covers a lot of situations.
So I don't spend any time sketching really while I'm actively traveling.
I use my camera to document details and patterns and then at night or when I'm between destinations
that's when I'll sketch things out using the photos as source material.
The sketching component of this habit is really important though because it helps you better
understand the proportions and details of design and this is how you can use travel
to expand your own architectural vocabulary.
Notice how a guidebook was missing from my gear list?
Well, introducing chance into your experience of a place allows you to discover things you
won't find in a guidebook and in many ways I learn more from the mundane sites than I
do from the architectural meccas.
And not everything in your diet has to be architectural either.
I shot a series on the beach that was completely un-architectural and they’re amongst my
favorites from the trip.
Color, texture and form can be found everywhere and these can help inform your work in the
same way a building can.
One interesting creative challenge, especially if you're on a budget and you don't have a
lot of nice lenses, is to limit yourself to a single focal length and that constraint
can often produce some pretty cool results.
Think about the full range of drawing types for your subjects too: plans, both large and
small, sections, elevations, you know perspectives aren't the only types of sketches that belong
in a travel journal.
Just remember, it's yours so you get to choose.
More than anything, the details of a space, of a place, describe how it feels to be there,
they're kind of a tell.
And, if you're an architect or interior designer I know you'll appreciate this because every
connection, every material intersection, every turn of a corner, it's a decision point.
It's a chance to be intentional and think things through or simply a missed opportunity.
So we stayed in this hotel during a recent trip and it was a fantastic example of how
architecture and interior design can shape our experience and how it doesn't have to
be universal.
You know, I don't want every hotel I stay in to look the same and yet most are these
generic experiences.
As I studied the details and finishes in this hotel room the combined effect was just way
more luxe than the room rate I mean this wasn't a luxury hotel but the experience really was.
To me, the materials and details, they all signified home and that's unusual for a hotel
room, right?
Everything from the distressed wood floors, to the worn leather furnishings, the tables
and the nightstands, they were all custom pieces.
There was a throw at the foot of the bed.
I mean, you could well be at home here, right?
The walls were plaster, there are hooks where you need them, the mirror has a brass frame.
Now, this is a hotel room but the point here is you can do this in any place you visit.
Learning to observe and catalog the built-world around you, it's like one giant precedent
study.
Learn to see what works and what doesn't, from a functional standpoint, an aesthetic
one and an experiential one.
You can break it down on every level.
The intentional act of noticing this, documenting it in photos and sketching out the plan, the
details.
All this reminds me why I love design and architecture so much and of course why I travel,
to experience new things and to see things through the lens of others, to think like
they think, if only for a day or two.