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  • Lines That Build Spaces

    • September 25, 2026
    Lines That Build Spaces: A Live Sketching Journey

    The Department of Interior Design at Yeldo Mar Baselios College organised "Thasrakkinte Vazhiyiloode Oru Chithrayathra - A Picture Journey Through the Path of Shadows," a one-day live sketching workshop for first-year students in Palakkad on 25 September 2026. The workshop was designed to help students experience the relationship between observation, imagination, literature, nature, and spatial representation. The programme took students beyond the conventional classroom and introduced them to the possibilities of drawing as a tool for understanding place. Through direct observation and on-site sketching, students explored how natural surroundings, built forms, light, shadow, texture, and human experience can be translated into visual narratives. The workshop encouraged them to look at spaces not merely as physical settings, but as environments filled with memory, atmosphere, movement, and meaning. A significant part of the workshop took place at Thasrak, near Palakkad, a location closely associated with the literary world of O. V. Vijayan and his celebrated Malayalam novel Khasakkinte Itihasam. The students' sketches drew inspiration from the landscape, visual atmosphere, and cultural associations of Thasrak. The novel, widely regarded as O. V. Vijayan's debut work, occupies an important place in Malayalam literature and is deeply connected with the imagined and lived landscape of Khasak. The visit offered Interior Design students a unique opportunity to engage with a place through both literary and visual perspectives. The surrounding landscape became a source of visual investigation, prompting students to observe the character of rural spaces, the rhythm of natural forms, the arrangement of structures, and the subtle transitions between light and shade. Their sketches reflected an attempt to capture not only what they saw, but also the mood and emotional resonance of the place. The live sketching activities focused on the essential principles of spatial drawing. Students practised understanding perspective, horizon lines, vanishing points, proportion, scale, depth, composition, and line-weight variation. They explored how a confident line can suggest distance, how overlapping forms create depth, and how the controlled use of light and shadow can communicate the atmosphere of an interior or exterior space. Beginning with quick observational studies and thumbnail sketches, the students gradually developed more detailed hand-rendered drawings. These exercises helped them study the structure of the environment before interpreting it through their own creative language. The process strengthened their ability to observe carefully, simplify complex forms, and communicate spatial ideas with clarity. It also highlighted the importance of hand drawing as a foundational skill in interior design education. The natural surroundings at Kollengode offered an especially inspiring setting for the students' visual exploration. Situated near the Nelliyampathy hills, Kollengode is known for its scenic village character, agricultural landscape, and connection with the wider natural beauty of Palakkad. The open views, greenery, traditional structures, pathways, and changing light provided a rich range of subjects for live sketching. Students were able to study how architecture exists in dialogue with its surroundings and how landscape can influence the identity and experience of a place. As part of the programme, the students also visited Palakkad Fort, an important historical landmark in the region. The fort, built by Hyder Ali of Mysore in 1766 and later modified by the British, is one of the best-preserved forts in Kerala and is presently protected by the Archaeological Survey of India. Its massive walls, geometric planning, gateways, bastions, open spaces, and moat offered students an opportunity to examine historical architecture through the lens of form, scale, proportion, circulation, and material character. The visit to the fort expanded the scope of the workshop by introducing students to a built environment shaped by history, function, defence, and architectural planning. Observing the fort enabled them to understand how spatial experiences are created through enclosure, thresholds, movement, repetition, and the relationship between solid and void. It also encouraged them to appreciate the importance of documenting and preserving architectural heritage. "Thasrakkinte Vazhiyiloode Oru Chithrayathra" was therefore more than a live sketching activity. It was an immersive learning experience that connected literature, landscape, heritage, and design. The workshop encouraged students to develop the habit of looking closely, thinking spatially, and responding creatively to the world around them. Through every sketch, students discovered that interior design begins long before materials are selected or spaces are constructed. It begins with observation-with the ability to notice a line, read a shadow, understand a proportion, and recognise the story hold within a place, where the students learned that every great space begins with a single, confident line.



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