drawing as research?

This drawing is a series of sketches I made for my last Architecture project, which was located on the south bank of the Clyde in Govan.  My brief was to design a sea- plane terminal.  Throughout the design process, I explored the idea of 'journey' and was keen to consider not only the immediate context of the building, but also the approach to the site.  

These quick pencil sketches are quite rough and were done as part of an investigation into the journey to the site.  Rather than one or two more detailed drawings, I decided to do a series of sketches as I thought it would be an efficient way to depict the approach over a period of time.  I was able to quickly record how the surrounding buildings along the journey move in and out of sight, and at which points along the route my proposed terminal would be visible.  I chose to shade darker areas and overemphasise the contrast be leaving out mid tones in order to study the effect of light and shadow.  

I found these drawings were more helpful to look at when considering the journey throughout the development of my scheme, than say detailed measurements or more technical sketches/drawings.  I would say that as a piece of research the drawing was effective as it allowed me to filter out the unnecessary information that would be present if I had photographed the same route, and focus only on the aspects of the approach that were relevant to my research.