Hila David Accepted to DRS 2026 in Edinburgh
We are pleased to share that our lab’s paper, led by Hila David, has been accepted to DRS 2026, the Design Research Society conference, to be held 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 effect of digitization on their actual function and representational conventions remains underexplored.
The study systematically analyzes 245 diagrams drawn from 45 architectural graphics publications between 1980 and 2025. Each diagram is classified by design stage, representation technique, production method, and primary purpose.
The findings document a significant transformation in published diagram practices. In the 1980s and 1990s, diagrams were predominantly hand-produced and exploratory, concentrated in early design stages. From the 2000s onward, digital production becomes near-universal, yet representational conventions remain largely two-dimensional. By the 2020s, published diagrams are increasingly oriented toward external communication and later-stage coordination; conceptual and exploratory uses decline sharply.
The paper interprets this shift as not only technical but disciplinary. In architectural publishing, diagrams appear to function less as instruments of design thinking and more as curated visual statements for professional audiences. The study argues for a renewed focus on digital-native diagram practices and opens directions for studying visual communication as a research object in its own right.