This course proposes a creative and critical inquiry into ink’s instrumentality in architecture to delineate a subtle story—a latent history of architecture in ink—placing ink in our world with the purpose of gaining knowledge within and for the architectural discipline. A close consideration of the varied conceptual and material aspects of ink acts as a medium to reflect upon the means by which architectural knowledge is generated, articulated, and applied. The course is structured by the abecedary, ink or “V is for Vermilion as described by Vitruvius” An A to Z of Ink in Architecture. Composed from various material forms of ink found in studio, an alphabet in twenty-six images was created and sent as an invitation to more than twenty-six architects, artists, historians, theorists, scholars, inventors and poets to write a brief entry on a discrete ink object. On the first day of class, thirteen of the twenty-six letters are selected at random and a single letter assigned to each week of the course. Each week, the class closely examines the ink objects described by diverse voices in the entries written under the assigned letter— conceptually and materially—by reading, in discussion and in drawings. Reading: Each entry describing a discrete ink object is typically brief—generally 500 to 1000 words; the twenty-six letters contain between one to five entries each on average. Weekly reading is assigned by letter to be discussed in class. Discussion: Each week the class discusses the ink entries under a single letter to create collective word images. Drawing (in-class/in-studio): Students spend time each class period using drawing to explore material and conceptual aspects of the ink objects. These drawings may provide material for the weekly out-of-class assignments. Students keep a folio of A3 loose-leaf sheets that can be pinned up and compiled for reference and review. In addition, there may be collective in-class drawings, done on larger paper that will be in response to discussion in class. They are due at the end of the class period. Supplemental ink materials may be provided by the instructor. Drawing (out-of-class assignments): Students construct an architectural drawing(s) each week for the letter discussed in class, due at the beginning of the next class (for pin-up/discussion). Students determine four parameters for each architectural drawing: scale (ie. measured drawing), view (ie. projection: parallel, oblique, orthographic, isometric, perspective), set (format), and sequence. These architectural drawings may be manual and/or digital. The Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscripts Library, a container formed of ink that contains ink, forms the basis of these drawings. Pin-ups: Weekly drawing assignments are reviewed weekly. Before each week’s discussion, students should pin-up with the rest of your studio group to facilitate an efficient discussion. Reviews: For Mid review, architectural drawing of a single entry from ink by the student’s choice (not covered in the thirteen assigned letters) are constructed. For Final review, students may delineate a new entry for the abecedary, ink. Mid and Final reviews include outside critics. Evaluation: Each drawing assignment is evaluated for technique and completion. After each pin-up and during the in-class exercise the professor gives an evaluation that is then be recorded by the TF. If a drawing needs improvement to satisfactorily meet the requirements of the assignment, the student is asked to make these improvements for re-evaluation. All assignments must meet this standard to successfully pass the course.