Hila David Accepted to DRS 2026 in Edinburgh
We are pleased to share that Hila David has been accepted to the highly competitive DRS 2026 conference in Edinburgh.
Her paper, “Architectural Diagrams: Mapping, Classification, and Digital Evolution,” examines how architectural diagrams have changed across four decades of published architectural graphics.
Diagrams have long been central to architectural design as tools for reasoning, communication, and visual synthesis. While their historical and conceptual roles are well established, the impact of digitization on their function and representation remains underexplored.
The study systematically analyzes 245 diagrams from 45 architectural graphics publications published between 1980 and 2025. The diagrams are classified by design stage, representation technique, production method, and primary purpose.
The findings show a major transformation in published diagram practices. In the 1980s and 1990s, diagrams were often manually produced and exploratory, especially in early-stage design. From the 2000s onward, diagram production becomes almost entirely digital, while representational conventions remain largely two-dimensional. By the 2020s, published diagrams increasingly serve external communication and coordination in later design stages, while conceptual and exploratory uses decline sharply.
The paper argues that this shift is not only technical but cultural. In architectural literature, diagrams increasingly function less as cognitive design tools and more as curated visual statements for stakeholders and professional branding. The study points toward the need for digital-native diagram practices and opens new directions for understanding visual communication in architectural design.