Building a Collection

Are architectural drawings art? No matter--they are the latest covetable on the market. With all the attention given these days to architects, it should be little surprise that there’s a burgeoning market for their work.

No, not that work. Not shining riverfront condominiums or big-budget museums, but far-more-affordable architectural drawings. Everything from a rough idea sketched on a napkin to the meticulously crafted final illustrations used to present concepts to clients are being purchased by people who admire the buildings, appreciate the historical value of the depictions, or simply think they are beautiful in their own right.

“We can’t collect buildings,” says Chrysanthe Broikos, a curator at the National Building Museum in Washington. “So these are the next best thing. They’re works on paper that breathe life into what the architect was trying to say, what he saw as the inherent possibilities of what he wanted built.”
Credit:Portfolio.com