THE ART OF ENGINEERING THE SCIENCE OF DRAWING

The act of drawing enables us to try out new ideas, compare alternatives, and capture fleeting ideas from the mind’s eye that might otherwise would be lost.
 Supported by current research in neuroscience that reveals a strong causal link between sketching and effective retrieval of information from the working memory; this talk examines the physiological process that enables us to re-fashion what already exists into something that does not yet exist, through visual analogies. 
Illustrated with prize winning examples from the recent Engineering Sketches competition, and a set of extraordinary historical drawings that picture complex structures and concepts in seemingly naive images, codified to communicate engineering insights. Drawing on anecdotal evidence gathered by Trevor Flynn in his role as a drawing instructor in large engineering offices, we will hear why large numbers of engineers still choose to sketch, despite increasing computer dependency in the workplace.

Speaker
Trevor Flynn is Director of Drawing At Work. He developed the UCL Drawing Gym programme for engineers with a Teaching Innovations Award from University College London. He is a drawing instructor in several large architectural and engineering offices and at the IStructE.