Detailing Time

The Architectural Drawing as a Temporal and Speculative Construct

Abstract

This paper examines the detail drawing as a research tool for exploring speculative visions of future life, situating it as both a pedagogical and conceptual instrument for architectural inquiry. Drawing on a series of design studio and construction courses led by the author, the discussion traces how the detail evolves from a technical exercise into a lens for investigating material, temporal, and social transformation. Through references to writings from Mostafavi and Leatherbarrow, the Smithsons, Peter Salter, and Cedric Price, the paper frames the detail as a field of negotiation between design intent, material agency, and lived experience. Within this framework, drawing is approached not as a fixed representation but as a performative act; an anticipatory process that reveals architecture’s mutable continuity with time and use. The case study “Tech(no)-Cosmos” extends this approach, envisioning a technologically integrated future where architecture, body, and machine co-evolve. By tracing the micro-temporalities embedded in constructional and representational processes, the paper argues for an expanded understanding of detail as an active, temporal construct. Ultimately, it advocates an architecture that embraces indeterminacy and transformation; an architecture that is, in the fullest sense, alive.