Types of architectural drawing

Types of architectural drawing

Architectural drawings are produced for a specific purpose, and can be classified accordingly. Several elements are often included on the same sheet, for example a sheet showing a plan together with the principal façade.

Presentation drawings[edit]

Drawings intended to explain a scheme and to promote its merits. Working drawings may include tones or hatches to emphasise different materials, but they are diagrams, not intended to appear realistic. Basic presentation drawings typically include people, vehicles and trees, taken from a library of such images, and are otherwise very similar in style to working drawings. Rendering is the art of adding surface textures and shadows to show the visual qualities of a building more realistically. An architectural illustrator or graphic designer may be employed to prepare specialist presentation images, usually perspectives or highly finished site plans, floor plans and elevations etc.

Survey drawings[edit]

Measured drawings of existing land, structures and buildings. Architects need an accurate set of survey drawings as a basis for their working drawings, to establish exact dimensions for the construction work. Surveys are usually measured and drawn up by specialist land surveyors.

Record drawings[edit]

Historically, architects have made record drawings in order to understand and emulate the great architecture known to them. In the Renaissance, architects from all over Europe studied and recorded the remains of the Roman and Greek civilizations, and used these influences to develop the architecture of the period. Records are made both individually, for local purposes, and on a large scale for publication. Historic surveys worth referring to include:

• Colen Campbell's Vitruvius Brittanicus, illustrations of English buildings by Inigo Jones and Sir Christopher Wren, as well as Campbell himself and other prominent architects of the era.
• The Survey of London, founded in 1894 by Charles Robert Ashbee and now available through English Heritage. A record of notable streets and individual buildings in the former County of London.
• Historic American Buildings Survey, records of notable buildings drawn up during the 1930s Depression, this collection is held by the Library of Congress and is available copyright-free on the internet.

Record drawings are also used in construction projects, where "as-built" drawings of the completed building take account of all the variations made during the course of construction.

Working drawings[edit]

A comprehensive set of drawings used in a building construction project: these will include not only architect's drawings but structural and services engineer's drawings etc. Working drawings logically subdivide into location, assembly and component drawings.^[9]

• Location drawings, also called general arrangement drawings, include floor plans, sections and elevations: they show where the construction elements are located.
• Assembly drawings show how the different parts are put together. For example a wall detail will show the layers that make up the construction, how they are fixed to structural elements, how to finish the edges of openings, and how prefabricated components are to be fitted.
• Component drawings enable self-contained elements e.g. windows and doorsets, to be fabricated in a workshop, and delivered to site complete and ready for installation. Larger components may include roof trusses, cladding panels, cupboards and kitchens. Complete rooms, especially hotel bedrooms and bathrooms, may be made as prefabricated pods complete with internal decorations and fittings.

Traditionally, working drawings would typically combine plans, sections, elevations and some details to provide a complete explanation of a building on one sheet. That was possible because little detail was included, the building techniques involved being common knowledge amongst building professionals. Modern working drawings are much more detailed and it is standard practice to isolate each view on a separate sheet. Notes included on drawings are brief, referring to standardised specification documents for more information. Understanding the layout and construction of a modern building involves studying an often-sizeable set of drawings and documents.