This was true 500 years ago, as it is true today.
It makes no difference whether models are:

• mental models only, or
• mental and physical, or
• both of those plus digital

This short post is a reminder of:

• What it means “to look”
• What a drawing is
• What a model is

And it ends with a link to another post about how the software industry got tangled up in itself for 30+ years which caused the effect that these fundamentals are more or less forgotten as no one has time for them, and this at the cost of all of our certain demise.

What is drawing?

Drawing is an instrument, is -the- instrument for the close study OF MODELS, for model evaluation:

• Drawing is a lens for looking, the vehicle for looking with intent — at models mental, physical, and digital — and showing that you did.

Why does this matter?
It matters because it points to:

• What is the core work of AEC?

The answer is found in the relation between drawing and modeling:

The core work of AEC is developing models and looking at them in ways that facilitate assurance of their fitness and adequacy.

We look, for clear reasons, with specific intent.
Read  the  cyan text on black background:

What does it mean to look?

• That, above, is looking with intent, and showing that you did.
• That is what people are looking at, and what they’re looking for, when they look at AEC models. It is their specific intent when looking. 
• And it is why AE firms invest the majority of their resources doing so.
  • Looking in these ways, for these things, is primary, fundamental, and non-optional.
  • Other, machine-enabled evaluation methods (parameter checkers, clash detection, for example) are secondary, and ultimately, optional.

What is a model?

The model is the environment within which the act of looking with intent is expressed and realized. 

The digital model must be (as the mental model is) the environment within which the act of looking with intent is expressed and realized. 

This means, I repeat it because it is worth repeating:

The model must act as host for the core work of AEC and its professions: looking at and evaluating models as they develop.

Model utilization must rise in quality

1. Underutilization of models must be solved by software that increases model utility. 
   
2. Software must re-orient itself to support use of models for what they’re best suited:
   • being the environment within which architects, engineers, and builders visualize.
     
   • Specifically, the model must be the place where AEC professionals activate and express that particular kind of looking that not only just happens to be the AEC industry’s most heavily invested form of VISUALIZATION (though it is usually not thought of as such): the set of drawings embodying the act of looking with specific intent at models.
     
   • The  F O R M  of our equipment for looking  W I L L
     E V O L V E when that happens.

The  F O R M 
of our equipment for looking 
W I L L
E V O L V E

Commentary on how the software industry inserted itself, thoughtlessly pushed core fundamentals aside (arguably all the way into the margins), and effectively made everything about itself:

What if AEC software companies have no idea what they’re dealing with?

The  F O R M 
of our equipment for looking 
W I L L
E V O L V E