Spoiler alert: This is not a about nostalgia for drawings. 

When we began using BIM eighteen months ago, we did so a little starry-eyed. BIM was clearly powerful—an industry standard in architecture and engineering. It promised a single source of truth, coordination clarity, and error-free documentation. A complete workflow. A one stop shop. Many of its advocates speak with the zeal of a movement. And fair enough—it has transformed how things get designed and built.

So, we committed. We invested in training, subscriptions, built resources, hired new people. We delivered large scale and complex projects through the collaborative BIM workflow. And while we gained new capabilities, we also ran into a truth that’s been long whispered in our profession: the tools weren’t built for landscape architecture. Not for how we design. Not for how we document. How we need to document. 

Ironically, BIM showed us something else. It reminded us of the power of 2D drawings. That humble, ancient technology. A language spoken fluently by architects and engineers for centuries. The technology where 2D drawing content expresses intent, explains sequence, provides measurement and instruction.

In trying to replace the drawing, We ended up re-discovering why the drawing endures.

2D drawing is not BIM’s poor cousin. 2D drawing is the fastest way to test and resolve detail. Drawings are design tools. We think through drawing. We communicate through drawing. We coordinate through drawing. And we do all that quicker, much quicker, than via the BIM workflow.

So, now, we’ve shifting to a hybrid workflow. One where drawings lead, and BIM supports. Design develops quickly and clearly in 2D. The BIM follows—used to check geometry, validate coordination, and ensure alignment. But the model no longer dictates the process. It aligns to it.

This lets us work fast. It gives consultants clarity. It acknowledges how information actually moves through a project. And it respects how landscape architecture works: precise in some places and open-ended in others. 

BIM still has value—especially in multi-disciplinary coordination—but its usefulness is narrower than the hype suggests. It’s a good tool for a certain set of tasks. 

Let the model support. Let the drawings lead.