The drawing is the language of the architect. As part of the design process sketches are made all the time during brainstorming sessions,and on the building site sketches are used daily in discussions with construction workers. If the descriptive perspective drawing, legible by a lay public, that is frequently called for in architecture competitions is drawn freehand this has the advantage that, unlike finely detailed, photo realistic computer renderings, it does not yet have a final character and does not lay down a detailed architectural direction.

Here it is not decisive whether a perspective drawing is made with the help of technical drawing instruments (ruler, compass, parallel straightedge or similar) or is drawn freehand. The important aspect is the unfinished and incomplete quality of the drawing, which leaves leeway for the imagination of viewers who may have little understanding of architecture. The drawing becomes an intermediary.