Buildings and their architectural styles, materials, and configurations serve as an artifact of a point in time, illuminating political, social, economic, and philosophical priorities of people and places (Seymour & Peace, 1993). Studying architectural history and architectural styles not only informs us of those priorities and allows us to appreciate how our knowledge allows us to interpret the past, but also allows us to look forward to the future (Seymour & Peace, 1993).

This creative scholarship examines the architecture of three different Presbyterian churches in three different cities in three different centuries and three different architectural styles.

This work uses semiotics—exploring how meaning is made and communicated—as a framework for analyzing religious structures and design choices. It takes the form of field sketches executed in pen in situ at each site. Staedler pens in varying nib sizes were used on bond paper. St. Giles Cathedral was selected as it is the seat of the modern-day Presbyterian church. FPC and FPCEPC were selected as they are the primary Presbyterian churches in the two cities where the author lives and works: they also represent two different centuries and styles, providing opportunity for rich analysis.

Architectural sketching has been an accepted form of architectural research since the Renaissance (Hill, 2006); these works will each be analyzed in the context of their era, style, and site. The exercise of sketching and analyzing provides opportunity for growth as designers and educators, in part because the sketcher must analyze the subject to distill it to the forms and features significant enough to be represented. The presentation will engage audience members in live analysis, similar to a studio critique, prompting evaluation of the design choices, drawing execution, and choices made on forms and features represented.