Paper in Architecture: Ideas Built From The Ground Up

It’s an exciting week for architects, with the World Architecture Festival taking place in Marina Bay Sands, Singapore. Each year, over 2,200 architects from 60 countries worldwide come together to trade ideas, and glean inspiration from one another’s work.

Paper is a common tool amongst architects and designers, who use it to capture and sketch ideas that then become real-life structures. Here, we invite you to check the projects and learn more about the creative process of 5 architects in Paper’s global community.

Ben Johnson, Will Johnson Building Company, USA

Ben Johnson designs custom homes in Chapel Hill, North Carolina and uses Paper to come up with everything from the look and feel of the house, to floor plans and details like rafters and columns.

“I use Paper most often during the early stages of design. During these early stages it is all about idea generation and forming concepts, not finished thoughts.”

Lora Teagarden, L-2 Design, USA

When Lora Teagarden was an architecture student, she relied on visual notes to help her study for the Architect’s Registration Exams (ARE). Lora now runs her own architecture firm and uses Paper to test out design ideas. She also shares her ARE study notes on Instagram with students studying for their own architecture licenses.

“As an architect, the Paper app allows me to sketch both initial ideas as well as document existing conditions. The master bedroom was a blank slate and the app allowed me to test ideas easily. The full bathroom was about documenting existing studs for ease of installation as construction continued.”

Dmitry Grebenkin, Sreda Architects, Russia

Dmitry Grebenkin, an architect at Sreda Architects in Moscow, shared that Paper was instrumental in capturing ideas as they occur, and helping his clients visualize the final stages of a project while it’s still in progress.

“I use sketches made in Paper in my initial client presentation, as well as in the final description of a concept which is a fifty page document signed by the client. In both ways sketches help me communicate with people involved in the process. I described my ideas with a picture so we can discuss them right at the moment they come. Because of the scenic instruments that Paper has (and a certain effort and patience) sketches appear attractive to clients and also become a kind of a mascot for the project.”

Greg Walker, Houser Walker Architecture, USA

Greg and his team recently designed the Palmetto Public Library in Georgia, using Paper to inform the project’s overall atmosphere and materials.

“It’s pretty really important to keep our sketches loose early in our process. We don’t want to pin ourselves — and the output — too quickly by creating more realistic images. Paper can really help in that regard, giving me more options to create multiple images with some character more quickly. When we’re refinding the form later in our process, Paper allows us to mix a variety of colors quickly to try out in the image, looking at final finishes. If it wasn’t quite right, no problem. Just rewind and tweak the mix until we felt like it was right. It was much, much quicker to do than with other alternatives I use (colored pencils primarily).”

If you use Paper as part of your professional workflow, we’d love to hear from you! Share your ideas to Paper’s public stream or with #madewithpaper on Instagram or Twitter.