mori ismond

February 27, 2024

Morrison (Mori) Ismond is a senior studying Architecture and Graphic Design. He works in analogue architectural concept drawings, buildings sketched with pen and paper. He was featured in Dialogue 56.1 with two visual art pieces, Cozy Cabin on pg. 27, and B/W Cottage Sketch on pg. 41-42. Dialogue’s Editor-in-Chief, Levi Huizenga, recently spoke to Mori about his work in last semester’s issue, his process more generally, and his broader aspirations in architecture concept illustration.

This transcript has been edited for clarity.

Levi: Where did architectural drawing start for you?

Mori: I grew up drawing art, not a whole lot, but just a little bit to get me to the point where I started to enjoy it. I guess, further back, in terms of architecture I remember playing with Legos early on. And you know, you were a kid, just enjoying your time with Legos and playing with them. And eventually one thing develops into another, and it's a snowball effect, which gets me where I am today. Like I'm still a kid playing with Legos. It's just pens now. And yeah, it's still a creative process. You're using Legos like 3D modeling when you're younger. And now I have AutoCAD and Blender, and other tools to help create new processes and new designs that are unique to me.

L: How do these tools fit together? Are you saying that the work in Dialogue 56.1 was modelled in Blender and then drawn?

M: I do most of my stuff analogue, just pen and paper generating ideas, where one line informs another. You make a box on the page, and then say ‘OK, let’s add another box over here.’ So you’re trying to figure out the golden ratios of the houses, and how the whole thing balances. You think through the whole thing like an engineer, or you look through the eyes of the consumer, and ask ‘Why would I want to live in this House?’ I go through a lot of why questions, like, ‘How do I use this House effectively?’, and ‘Where does the light come in from?’, ‘How does the water work?’, just all the nitty gritty stuff. Really I’m just trying to encapsulate what a house is and then draw it.

L: Would you be able to speak about any design influences? Are you inspired by any particular architects or movements?

M: Everything is in reference to something else that’s been recreated, so nothing is built in this world that's new. Everything is just refreshed, from a new lens. When I look at my pieces, these sharp buildings informed by wood and concrete, there’s purpose to it, like form follows function. That goes back to the Bauhaus movement and how everything in an environment is combined. So in those pieces, it's going to be hard lines, that’s just what it is. I can do curved lines if I would like, but that would make it more natural, and in that environment, buildings are not natural. So you have to make it more ‘civilized’.

L: You’re saying that you’re thinking about the environment the house is in as you’re designing it, and that actually informs the design of the house?

M: I mean, it has to be functional. It has to be built in a place and in a way where it can last. Everything is affected by it. It's hard to articulate, but everything influences the building. No matter what it is, from the design, to the terrain it’s in, to the animals that are there, what’s in the ground, what's in the water like, the weather patterns, and so on. Where is the door frame, and where does the sun come up? How does that influence where that light goes through the door? It's a huge list you have to think about.

L: Speaking about the issue as a whole, I was really grateful to have your work in there, it’s so different, your pieces really stand out. Do you have any thoughts about your work in reference to other pieces in the journal? What do you think makes your work special?

M: I wouldn’t really be able to speak to what other people are doing, but one thing that we think about is that it's a digital age right now, so if you're doing analogue stuff, it's it goes against the norm in a sense. Most digital renderings of houses in the last, say, 20 years have been all through Blender, through like a digital modelling program. But in 2001, 2005, analogue was the only way to go. It made sense and it looked good. Then once the digital age came, it started to transition out of fashion. But now it's starting to come back. It's a useful skill.

L: You see what you’re doing with your architectural work as countercultural?

M: Yeah, for sure. Analogue is awesome. It will always be around because it attaches you to the paper. It makes you feel at home. It’s like the idea that I’m not building houses, I’m building homes. I'm drawing homes that connect to the person, and if it doesn't then I haven't designed it to fit your needs. What we want in a home goes back to the function and aesthetics of the building.

L: I’m looking at Cozy Cabin, thinking about these guidelines that are kind of half erased, all these details that make it feel really natural, really human.

M: Right, and that’s totally part of the process. So it's like if you can see part of the process, you become part of the story yourself, of understanding how it was made, and understanding that it's just a box next to another box with a couple of triangles. Like, it's just geometry, it's just oriented in a different way that you’ve never seen before.

L: That seems like a great place to end. Thanks for talking with me Mori.

M: Sure, blessings on you man.