From “instant pictures” to “rapidraw” systems, the items crowding the architect’s desk from the midcentury reflected a preoccupation with speed and efficiency. With a flourishing of supplies and materials that transformed the work of many in the graphic fields, this was a period in which architects engaged widely with technologies of printing and printmaking. Whether in the service of the distribution of working drawings, or in the making of carefully stamped lithographic multiples, architects worked to make their architecture print ready. Through a selection of twelve case studies, Print Ready Drawings highlights these miniature paper landscapes. Across their surfaces are expressions of control: annotation marks, enlargement instructions, manufacturer tags, and watermarks, along with evidence of any number of unacknowledged contributors.

Sarah Hearne is an architectural historian, educator, and curator. She is currently an assistant professor at the University of Colorado Denver, where she oversees the exhibition spaces in the school of architecture. She holds a doctorate from the University of California, Los Angeles with a dissertation titled: “Other Things Visible on Paper: Architectural Writing and Imaging Craftsmanship 1960–1987.” She has worked on several exhibitions including most recently as an associate curator on Architecture Itself and Other Postmodernist Myths at the Canadian Centre of Architecture and the 2017 Chicago Architecture Biennial.