Paper Foundations: The Blueprint’s Role in Architecture

Have you ever wondered what exactly blueprints are — and why they’re so closely associated with architecture? Well, you’re not alone. The term blueprint persists in everyday language, even though the medium itself is largely obsolete. The word carries a certain mystique, evoking rolled-up drawings, careful measurements, and the foundation of great buildings. Blueprints revolutionized the building process by making it possible to duplicate drawings. Multiple copies of critical drawings allowed the architect’s instructions to be distributed to all parties involved in the construction of a building. This advancement certainly improved quality while accelerating the pace of construction.

While blueprints have a romantic connotation, the reality was a smelly proposition. The term “blueprint” comes from the cyanotype process, a photographic printing method discovered in 1842 by English chemist, astronomer, and photographer Sir John Herschel. This process produced white lines on a distinctive blue background by placing a drawing on semi-transparent paper over a chemically treated sheet and exposing it to sunlight.  Many ‘experienced’ designers will remember the days spent in a print room whose environment was permeated with the strong odor of ammonia. 

Today, architects, engineers, and builders have not only moved away from traditional blueprints — they’ve embraced a fully digital system for creating and sharing construction documents. Most design professionals now often rely on Computer-Aided Design (CAD) or Building Information Modeling (BIM) softwares to create and share their work digitally. Gone are the days of tattered drawings bound by brittle rubber bands, piled in the corner of a furnace room. Today’s sophisticated designs are shared in cloud-based model applications. Revisions are made utilizing digital tools, greatly increasing the quality of collaboration between architects, engineers, and contractors. Even after the building opens, clients no longer wonder where the blueprints went—everything from drawings, specifications, warranties, and other project-related data now resides permanently in cloud storage, and remains easily accessible.

Like all other design firms, Schaefer used a blueline machine for many years.  It was valuable and heavily used technology.  But in 2001, as the firm prepared to relocate to downtown Wichita, it ran its last reproduction and was retired. Despite the evolution of tools — from sunlight-exposed cyanotypes to today’s cloud-based 3D models — the intent behind architectural drawings has never changed. They are, at their core, a means to translate vision into reality. Whether hand-drawn or digitally rendered, each blueprint reflects the continuity of design thinking across centuries. The methods may shift, but the goal remains the same: to bring ideas to life.