Ellis Woodman on James Gowan’s Sketchbooks (Video)
In this short film, Ellis Woodman takes us through four sketchbooks used by the Scottish architect James Gowan (1923–2015). The sketchbooks cover three decades of Gowan’s ideas, observations, and designs. As Ellis describes, they are very broad in their range and content; while some work through design problems, others are speculative or retrospective, looking back on how projects might—or should—have been designed.
At the end of the film, Ellis reflects on his relationship with Gowan and the influence he had on his development as a writer.
This video, filmed in the space of the archive, is part of an ongoing series at Drawing Matter, where we ask scholars and practitioners to look closely at and comment on particular drawings, sketchbooks, and artefacts in the collection.
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Ellis Woodman is a critic and curator. He is the Director of the Architecture Foundation. In 2008, he wrote Modernity and Reinvention (2008), a monograph on James Gowan’s work.
