Abstract: The object of the research is the origin and development of the concept of 'visionary architecture'. The authors of the article analyze prerequisites for that branch of architecture. The authors of the article give certain names of artists and their artwork as well as contests those artists participated in. The authors also describe materials used by architects and students to create artwork for contests. They give a description of semantic particularities and analyze the graphic language and historical role of that phenomenon in terms of the development of the world architecture and education in architecture in particular. The research method is the generalization of the experience in 'visionary architecture' projects that allows to define the main cornerstones in their creation. The scientific novelty of the research is caused by the fact that the authors view visionary architecture as an essential part of the development of architecture back in those times. This branch of art is a natural process in the development of modern architecture in Russia as well as around the world in general. The authors of the article conclude that visionary architecture is not an isolated or temporary or forced phenomenon but continuation and further development of architecture fantasies started by graphics of Giovanni Battista Piranesi, Pieter Bruegel and Yakov Chernikhov.

Abstract: The subject of the research is the semantic role of architectural drawing in the creative process of an architect. The architectural drawing in the creative process carries different semantic load and performs different functional roles. This includes drawing as a travel sketch, drawing as a reconstruction, drawing as a theatrical scenery, drawing as a moment of formation of an architectural image, drawing as an illustration of an architectural project and example of a formal architectural composition, as an explanatory and auxiliary means for the transmission of an architectural project on paper, as a pastiche of the manners of an architectural image and as a projection of an architectural style of the image. The method of the research is drawing at different stages of designing an object. This may be the initial stage when the idea is just being formed, the appearance of a building is not clear but the hand is already making the first sketches on paper. Or it may be another stage when the object has already been formed and the architect wants to breathe life into the building. The special contribution of the authors is that they give a definition of the versatility of an architectural drawing, identify their common characteristics and goals. Many drawings serve to several purposes and different semantic roles. These semantic aspects of a drawing manifest themselves differently in each situation. The predominance of one of them, or a combination of several in conjunction with the individual graphical skills of an artist, gives a certain value and significance to a drawing both as a starting sketch when an artistic image of an architectural object is formed in general as well as independent works of graphic art in particular.