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Arts & Communication Nebula rasa: The diaphanous in architectural design

readings and stimulates thinking. As Jullien argues, new the sketch becomes settled, losing the critical edge of its
elements “spring up” out of the drawing. Those elements generative power. Its incompleteness causes its efficacy:
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that “settle” are determined for the time being: “In revealing to us the power of incompletion (or by
“[T]his fundamental fact–that the determination (any revealing that plenitude is not completion), the sketch
determination) grasps what is settled and not the makes us feel the infinite richness of the indefinite, or the
springing up; that the definition is situated downstream fecundity of the beyond and of possibility—in short, what
rather than upstream, in a state of flatness that is sterile we ordinarily understand as the powers of the virtual.” 49
and not fecund.” 46 The “indefinite” is the operative realm of the diaphanous
Hence, (Greek) logos or deliberative reason can only – the domain of (visual) suggestion and springing up as
grasp what is determined. In cognitivist terms: it reads opposed to the domain of settling down and defining.
representational content as informational contents. Every sketch that is an “effective present” is suffused
However, many representations are not just vehicles for with diaphaneity. Its openness forms an integral part of
transmitting information. By definition, information is its visual texture. While the cognitivist paradigm viewed
already settled – it is circumscribed and determined. Once representations as the endpoint of a determinative process,
it is determined a flatness enters – the suggested depth Jullien emphasizes the fact that “availability” or space for
disappears, and its stimulating potential fades. development is the most effective moment in the creative
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Instead, many representations in architectural design process. Only once a designer realizes how much can still
processes are best understood in a generative sense. They be changed and accomplished and how many possibilities
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constitute an “effective present.” That is, their presence are still waiting to be worked out, can the creative process
renders creative thought effective in the here and now unfold and open up again.
(Figure 3). Rather than transmitting informational contents, Through diaphaneity, visual elements such as texture,
such architectural drawings drive the development of an border, and volume coalesce into new configurations –
idea. Their generative characteristic is because of elements worlds of fluidity and availability rather than fixation
that “spring up” and that evade the determinations of logos. and definition. In this openness, half-visible in the
This explains why some architectural sketches have such margin of suggestion resides its developmental potential.
an expressive and creative appeal: their unfinishedness The diaphanous is the opposite of definition – it is
keeps them effective. They keep exerting tangible generative nichtfestgelegtheit (not-being-defined) as a constitutive
effects, allowing the designer to dwell on the ideas that they condition. 51,52 The diaphanous opens out into new esthetic
suggest. But the more one finishes and refines, the more domains staging the “impossible ontological encounter”
previously mentioned. The fact that not every element is
determined, or that multiple readings are possible, creates
opportunities to revisit familiar ideas in a new setting –
making them literally strange and novel again.
That brings us to the issue of form. What then, should be
drawn? Should we make only vague drawings that suggest
ideas rather than representations meant to develop them?
This question is justified, but also deeply cognitivist – it
wishes to return to the process of determination, as it fears
insecurity and ambiguity. As Jullien notes, the Aristotelian
tradition saw form as the end result of a developmental
process (telos). The Chinese line of thinking turns this
thought upside down. It views the sketch as a locus of
forces and vectors, rather than a depiction or illustration.
If a sketch is viewed in this manner, it follows that the dots,
lines, planes, and scribbles possess a certain propensity, or
agency of their own – indeed, that is what renders them
effective. The sketch is no longer a neutral surface, but an
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in-between space of openness and architectural creation. 54
Figure 3. Visual filtering effect of sketch paper in the diaphanous effect
of semi-transparent paper (left of the dotted line), combined with black The art of sketching centers around evolving from one
lining and the original image (right of the dotted line). The play of property of the drawing to the other – to freely navigate
elements and suggested “depth” creates an “effective present.” the new, diaphanous space that emerges between the

Volume 2 Issue 1 (2024) 8 https://doi.org/10.36922/ac.1922