A short corridor connects the South Pavilion to a smaller structure at its western end. The annex is single-story, with high windows along the north wall. The room is well lit. The floor is concrete, stained in places.
The Drafting Tables
Three drafting tables arranged along the north wall, tilted at working angles, each with a T-square clamped to its upper edge. The table surfaces are pale birch, scored with faint cutting marks. One table holds a sheet of 11x17 bristol board, smooth finish, taped at its corners. The sheet shows a pencil composition in progress — a landscape seen from above, a structure on a horizon line, hatching to indicate shadow and depth. The drawing is precise, the lines confident, the perspective constructed rather than approximated. A blue non-photo pencil has been used for underlying grid work. The graphite lines over it are clean.
A second table has a sheet at a later stage. The pencil work is complete and the inking has begun — the upper third of the page finished in India ink, the lines varying in weight from fine contour to heavy fill. A dip pen rests across the mouth of a glass ink well. The ink is Winsor & Newton, the bottle's label partly obscured by dried drips. The transition between penciled areas and inked areas is visible. A few lines have been corrected with opaquing fluid, dried white.
The third table is clean. A fresh sheet of bristol is taped down but untouched. A row of pencils — 2H, HB, 2B, 4B — lies in the tray along the table's upper edge, sharpened. A kneaded eraser, grey from use, sits in a shallow dish.
Inking Station
A smaller table between the drafting stations, lower, flat. Arranged on its surface: seven bottles of India ink in two rows. Winsor & Newton drawing ink, black. Higgins non-waterproof, black. Kuretake sumi ink, 180ml. Three smaller bottles with hand-written labels — thinned mixtures for wash work, ratios noted on masking tape. The bottles are at different fill levels. Some caps show ink residue.
Dip pens in a wooden tray: six holders with steel nibs of varying point sizes, from fine mapping nibs to broad lettering nibs. A Hunt 102 nib, its tip slightly spread from pressure, in a holder with ink dried on the ferrule. Two sable brushes in a glass jar, bristles up, size 2 and size 6. A Rotring technical pen, 0.35mm, capped, beside a second at 0.50mm. A small bottle of pen cleaner, half full. Cotton rags stained black in a metal dish.
The Light Table
A back-lit surface set into a table frame near the east wall. The surface is frosted acrylic, 24x36 inches. Currently on: a sheet of tracing paper laid over what appears to be a photographic reference — an architectural image, a building at distance, the kind of composition that might have come from one of the other galleries. The tracing paper shows a selective redrawing of the image beneath it — some elements traced precisely, others reinterpreted, structural lines emphasized, details simplified or omitted. A fine-point pencil rests on the surface. The fluorescent tube beneath the acrylic hums faintly.
The Plotter
A pen plotter mounted on a low steel table against the south wall. The carriage holds a 0.3mm felt-tip pen, black. The bed is 24x36 inches. A sheet of cream-weight drawing paper is clipped to the bed, showing a completed plot: a dense field of fine lines that resolve, at a distance, into a topographic form — contour lines describing a terrain, or possibly a structure seen from an extreme altitude. The linework is precise in a way that differs from the drafting tables — mathematically regular, no variation in pressure or speed. A second completed plot is pinned to the wall above: a radial pattern, concentric but irregular, resembling a star chart or signal diagram. A third, partially complete, remains in the machine — the pen is lifted, the carriage parked at the home position.
Reference Wall
The west wall is covered in cork sheet, floor to ceiling. Pinned to it: photographic prints of architectural structures, some recognizable from the park's own collection — a generation ship cross-section, a domed settlement, an observatory interior. Beside these, pencil sketches on loose paper: studies of the same subjects, drawn from different angles or at different scales. Compositional thumbnails — small rectangles, 2x3 inches, showing page layouts in rough form. Some are crossed out. Some have notes in the margin: measurements, color indications, sequence numbers.
A cluster of pinned pages at the center of the wall appears to be a sequence — numbered 14 through 22 in pencil at the lower right corners. The pages show a progression: a landscape at distance, then closer, then a structure, then an interior. The style is consistent across pages. The sequence implies a narrative, though no text accompanies the images.
Finished Pages
A flat file cabinet — five wide, shallow drawers — stands against the east wall. The top drawer is partly open. Inside, pages are stacked between sheets of glassine interleaving, the kind used for archival print storage. The visible top page is a finished ink drawing: a view through a window frame into a landscape with no figures, rendered in fine crosshatching, the tonal range built entirely from line density. The paper is heavy — 300gsm bristol. The ink is fully dry.
On top of the flat file, a short stack of pages not yet filed. Eight sheets, interleaved with glassine, held together with a binder clip. The edges of the drawings are visible: black ink on white bristol, varying compositions, the same consistent line quality. A small adhesive label on the clip reads, in the same steady hand visible in the Archive's logbooks: Series C, pp. 31–38. Complete. For review.
Supply Shelving
Open metal shelving along the south wall, beside the plotter. Bristol board in sealed packs — 11x17, smooth finish, 300gsm. Tracing paper in rolls. India ink in bulk — Winsor & Newton, one-litre bottles, three on the shelf, one opened. Replacement nibs in small cardboard boxes. Technical pen cartridges. Graphite pencils by the dozen. Cotton rags, clean, folded. Opaquing fluid, two bottles. Masking tape. Drafting tape. Glassine sheets, cut to size, in a labeled box. A logbook on the shelf edge, smaller than the Archive's ledgers, listing supply use: Ink, W&N, black, 1L. Opened 3 March. Bristol 300gsm, 11x17, pack of 50. Opened 24 February. Nibs, Hunt 102, box of 12. Opened 11 February.
Collection Notes
- Drafting tables (3) Birch surface, adjustable tilt, T-square mounted. Scored from use. North wall.
- Work in progress, pencil stage Bristol board, 11x17, smooth. Landscape composition, blue grid under graphite. Table one.
- Work in progress, ink stage Bristol board, 11x17, smooth. Upper third inked, India ink, variable line weight. Dip pen and Winsor & Newton ink on surface. Table two.
- India ink collection Seven bottles. Winsor & Newton, Higgins, Kuretake sumi. Three custom wash mixtures, ratios labeled. Inking station.
- Dip pens and nibs Six holders, steel nibs, fine mapping through broad lettering. Hunt 102 in active use. Wooden tray.
- Sable brushes Size 2 and size 6, in glass jar. For wash work and fill.
- Rotring technical pens (2) 0.35mm and 0.50mm. Capped. Inking station.
- Light table Frosted acrylic surface, 24x36 inches, fluorescent backlight. Tracing paper and photographic reference currently in use. East wall.
- Pen plotter 24x36 inch bed, 0.3mm felt-tip pen loaded. One completed plot on bed, one pinned to wall, one partial in machine. South wall.
- Reference wall Cork sheet, floor to ceiling. Pinned: photographic prints, pencil studies, compositional thumbnails, narrative sequence (pp. 14–22). West wall.
- Flat file cabinet Five drawers. Finished pages in glassine interleaving. Top drawer open. East wall.
- Completed pages Eight sheets, binder clip, labeled: Series C, pp. 31–38. Complete. For review. On flat file surface.
- Supply logbook Small bound ledger. Ink, paper, and nib consumption recorded with dates opened. Current entries through March.