A Fine Line: Drawing Methods for Students and Emerging Professionals

Exploring the evolving role of drawing in architectural practice and education

Sponsored by ARCAT, Think Wood, and Vitro Architectural Glass | Presented by Manuel Cordero, Galen Pardee and Andrew Holder

Live Webinar Airing on September 22, 2026 at 02:00 PM ET

Drawings have long been used to communicate instructions for building, and architects maintain fidelity to those documents while on-site. But there are many other kinds of representation: for example, sketches help designers iterate, renderings sell clients and the public on ideas, diagrams attempt to explain, and measured drawings record important history. There are just as many techniques for producing them too. Digital modeling, a panoply of software, and increasingly AI have all added to the architect’s toolkit.

Join Architectural Record managing editor Leopoldo Villardi for a students and emerging professionals webinar with Andrew Holder (principal of LADG and chair of graduate programs at the Pratt Institute School of Architecture) and Manuel Cordero and Galen Pardee (principals of COPA) for a discussion all about drawing. These architects and educators will elaborate on their own approaches to representation, take stock of recent trends, and offer insight into how students can improve their skills.

Photo courtesy of Getty Images

	Manuel Cordero is principal at COPA and a native of Queens, New York. He began developing his construction expertise as an architect working on complex projects ranging from interior renovations for major corporate headquarters to luxury residential designs throughout the United States. Manuel has worked for Conant Architects, Leroy Street Studio, Kohn Pedersen Fox, WeWork, Artifact Development and Brandon Haw Architecture. He holds a Master of Architecture from Columbia University GSAPP and received a Bachelor of Arts from Columbia University.

	Galen Pardee is principal at COPA. Galen teaches at Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation, as well as Sarah Lawrence College where he is the Andrew Mellon Chair for Sustainable Design and Environmental Architecture. Previously, he was the 2019–21 LeFevre Emerging Practitioner Fellow at The Ohio State University’s Knowlton School of Architecture, and has taught architecture and landscape architecture studios at Barnard University and the University of Tennessee. Galen holds a Master of Architecture from Columbia University GSAPP, where he received the Alpha Rho Chi Medal, and a BA in Politics cum laude from Brandeis University.

	Andrew Holder is Chair of Graduate Architecture, Landscape, and Urban Design at Pratt Institute School of Architecture. He is a principal and co of the Los Angeles Design Group (LADG). He has held appointments at the University of Michigan, UCLA, Sci-Arc, the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Queensland, and the Harvard Graduate School of Design, where he served as Program Director for the March I degree track. Andrew is the coauthor, along with K. Michael Hays, of the book Inscriptions: Architecture Before Speech, and his writing has appeared in numerous journals, magazines, and edited volumes. Andrew’s design work at the LADG includes a series of houses in Los Angeles, a rural retreat in Maine, and a recent exhibition for the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. The firm is the recipient of the League Prize from the Architectural League of New York, two Progressive Architecture awards, multiple citations from the Los Angeles chapter of the AIA, and was nominated in 2024 for the Mies Crown Hall Americas Prize.

Originally published in Architectural Record

Originally published in August 2026

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

Discuss novel techniques to drawing and their production, either using analogue methods (ink on mylar, collage, watercolor, etc.), digital tools (software, digital modeling, etc.), or by mixing both.
Outline the unique approaches that three presenting offices take when developing, representing, and documenting projects.
Describe how students and emerging professionals can sharpen their drawing skills.
Discuss how drawings communicate in different media, from physical galleries to digital platforms.