Jim Leggitt / Drawing Shortcuts

Place Making with a SketchUp Model

I recently created a blog post about visualizing a repurposed alley in Boulder, Colorado using quickly generated hand drawings. That effort evolved into a more detailed exploration of the alley improvements in the format of a presentation SketchUp model. 

This colllection of images show how I constructed the SketchUp model which revealed a series of alternative alley uses, shadow studies and eye-level views. I learned from this exercise that there are design projects that may not require any drawings to communicate their basic concepts and that a well crafted SketchUp model may be more than adequate to convey your big idea. 

Repurposed Alleys. Many downtown service alleys are being converted to commercial uses such as restaurants, concert venues and special events. These photos are from two alleys in San Francisco that were transformed into outdoor dining spaces during certain hours of the day and then converted back to their original service use all other times. These were the inspiration for how I approached building the SketchUp model (below).

Base SketchUp Model I call this type of SketchUp model a “stage set model” for it is constructed with no more than a series of empty shapes with photographic facades applies to each face. I photographed all of the existing buildings and applied them to specific faces of the model. The resulting 3D SketchUp model was accurate enough to convey the existing neighborhood condition and spaces between buildings. The base image (streets and sidewalks) was saved from Google Earth.

Strategic Model Views. You can see from these two views that there is a large open space in the central portion of the alley. I developed several different design scenarios using that space as an outdoor food court with food trucks (shown) or as an art fair with tents, or even as an outdoor movie theater.

Each alternative was saved on a different layer in the model. I then established a series of more than 10 model scenes (views) that showed the alley from above and at eye level. Those views were very helpful for studying and documenting how the sun cast shadows at different times of the day and season.

Alley Entrance Signage.  This view angle of the Lawry Lane alley entrance was established as if I were observing from a second floor window across the street. The building facades are from digital photographs I took during a site visit. I constructed the sign, furniture and populated the model with a mix of 2D and 3D people, plants and other elements to establish the character of the alley space.

Alley SketchUp Entourage. Look carefully at the many different elements that have been placed into the basic alley model. I added 3D sign letters to the building facade, decorative “buttons” on the glass storefront, 3D and 2D people, custom umbrellas with red banding, and regularly spaced poles with banners. I added the red colored stripe on the banners to coordinate with the umbrellas and inserted images of bicycle racers that I photographed at a local competition. I fabricated the Grants Cafe sign from an image I downloaded from the internet and made into a SketchUp component.

Central Food Court. I created a scene with several food trucks (downloaded from SketchUp 3D Warehouse) surrounding an outdoor seating area with shade umbrellas. This important urban space adjacent to the alley was developed with three different design options: food court, arts festival and outdoor movie theater. I exported jpegs of the three options from these two overhead and eye-level views.

Strategically Placed Shade. This scene included a small pocket park adjacent to the alley planted with shade tress. I positioned the sun angle in such a way to cast tree shadows across the alley surface. Those shadows in combination with the umbrella shadows enhanced the setting. If I had more time to invest in the model detail, I would have added some elements to the table surfaces and seating in the pocket park. Flower pots and additional landscaping in the park would have also been worth adding to the model. 

Night Movie Scene. This outdoor movie theater scene wasn’t easy to create alone in SketchUp. I established the basic view and then added the bike race photograph and a dark gray overlay in Adobe Photoshop. Given more time, I could have created a more successful night time effect using other graphic alternatives. I don’t think this scene was very convincing - especially when you see hard shadows beneath each individual!

If you have a design project that has a high level of complexity and the need to be represented with multiple alternatives and views, consider building a semi-detailed SketchUp model and export different views for your presentation. One last note: all of my model views were exported at a high resolution 4000 pixels wide and saved as jpegs. Each had a consistent horizontal format and dimension.

Look for other interesting articles on my blog, visit my website www.drawingshortcuts.com and read my new book Drawing Shortcuts Second Edition. 

The 2010 Blog Collection , a 116-page catalog of my best blog posts from 2010 is available on Blurb! 

 

Repurposed Alley Sketches from Photography

I generated this quick drawing exercise to give a potential client a “before and after” look at what an alley in Boulder, Colorado might look like if it were to be converted to commercial uses such as alley loaded pubs, markets and outdoor dining. Even before visiting the site, I found great 3D information about the neighborhood from Google Earth. I visited the alley and took digital photographs of different views, then generated two colored sketches using a basic overlay and trace drawing method. My process is described below:

Step 1: Google Earth 3D View. I saved this aerial view from Google Earth showing the alley in context with the greater Boulder neighborhood. The red circle in the image represents the alley entrance and historic buildings that I incorporated into the first sketch.

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Sketch One

Step 2: Base Digital Photograph I selected this eye level view to create a sketch of the entrance to the alley and how it relates to the existing building facades. I printed it on 8 1/2”x11” paper and taped a sheet of tracing paper over the print.

Step 3: Ink Line Drawing. One trick for tracing over photography is to use a light table. It is easier to see the detail in the photograph when it is illuminated from behind. Another option is to simply tape the photograph to an outside window if you don’t have access to a light table! For the central detail in this line drawing, I lightly sketched in the signage and people with a red pencil. Once the drawing was finalized, I erased the red pencil linework. I used a Pilot Fineliner pen for the linework and purposely did not add any tone or hatching to the drawing to save time. 

Step 4: Final Marker. After making a record scan (300dpi) of my line drawing I colored the sketch with Chartpak AD markers. I also scanned the final artwork at 300dpi and saved a jpeg. Notice the minimal color I used in the drawing - with a limited number of markers and very basic shadow effects. This entire coloring effort probably took no more than 15 minutes to accomplish. 

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Sketch Two

Central Alley Night Sketch. I selected a digital photograph of the alley at mid-block to illustrate the potential of creating alley facing storefronts, outdoor seating and festival lighting. The overall concept would be to allow the alley to function for services and parking access, but to close it in the evenings for public activities. I used the same drawing process as the first sketch - same format, color palette and minimal drawing style.

I’ve really enjoyed the challenge of creating sketches from photographs as it give clients an easy to understand look at how spaces can change. By comparing the existing photograph with the concept sketch, viewers can easily understand the improvements to the existing conditions. You don’t need to go overboard with drawing detail or sophisticated coloring technique. A basic sketch communicates the idea with minimal investment from you. 

Look for other interesting articles on my blog, visit my website www.drawingshortcuts.com and read my new book Drawing Shortcuts Second Edition.