Drawing and Presentation

Soledad Garcia Ferrari

Technical drawings
There are two different methods of producing technical

drawings: hand drawing and CAD or similar

Hand drawing is carried out in special drawing boards fitted with sliding
rulers set at right angles or with drawing rails fitted on to a desktop. Both allow
drawing lines

parallel or at right angles

Hand drawings are usually made with pencils or ink pens.

Pencils are available in various hardness grades, which affect the thickness or
visual effect of a line: the harder the pencil, the finer the line. Ink Pens exist in
various forms. Various grades of pencils are needed for

drawings to be able to make lines of different widths

A variety of rulers, protractors, triangles, set

squares,

templates and stencils are available to make drawing simpler.

CAD drawings are made using a computer. A Computer Aided

Design programme is needed and these are intended also for construction
and detailed drawing. There are various programmes on the market.

Top view and Roof plan

Top view
drawings
present a view
or projection of
the building
seen from
above.

Roof
plans are
also important
to define the
buildings
position on the
plot.

Plan view
A plan shows a
single floor of the
building at a
height of about 1
to 1.5m above
the floor to
include as many
doors and
windows in the
masonry as
possible

The Box 1942 Lissma, Sweden

For Ralph and Ruth Erskine

Plan views are generally designated according to the floor (or

level) they apply to (e.g. cellar floor, ground floor, 1st floor, 2nd floor,
etc.)

Elevation
Elevations show the outside of the building with all its apertures.
They provide information about the relationship between the building and
its environment, its form and proportions and the construction type and
material qualities that where applicable. Along with the plan views
and sections, elevations complete the overall design.
Geometrically, elevations are parallel projections, seen from the
side, onto a building faade. The projection lines run at right angles to
the projection plane, so offset sections are not shown in their true size.

An elevation generally shows the immediate surroundings, with the

lie of the terrain and links to an existing building development where
appropriate.

Elevations are identified according to their position on a point of the

compass. The north arrow on the location plan and on the plan
views defines the orientation of the building

Moore House"
Pebble Beach"
California USA"
1954-1955"
Ink/watercolour"
760x570mm"
"
Built for his mother."
Japanese inspired."
4x17m + 4x7 porch"
68m2 + 28m2=96m2"

Bonham House"
Santa Cruz CA USA"
1961-1962"
Ink/watercolour"
760x570mm"
Charles W. Moore"
With Warren Fuller"
50m2+15m2=65m2

Section
A section is created by making a vertical cut through a building and
considering this as a view in parallel projection. Sections are
intended to provide information about floor heights, material quality and
the building materials to be used for the planned building.
The section line must be entered on the plan

view or all plan

views. It is identified by a thick dash-dot line and is accompanied by a

symbol indicating the direction of view. Arrows and two capital letters of
equal size fix the direction and the designation of the section. Generally

section A-A, B-B or C-C

Important elements shown in a section include the structure of the

roof, the floors and ceilings, the foundations, and the walls with their
apertures. The section should also show access to the building via
stairs, lift, ramp, etc.

Sections taken parallel through a main axis of the building are called
longitudinal and cross sections. A longitudinal
section cuts the building along the longer side and a cross
section along the shorter.

Axonometric projections
Axonometric projections are plan views or views with a third
plane added height. They are generally used as three-dimensional
views at the planning stage and give a spatial impression of the
building. They are used as construction drawings only in exceptional
cases for example to show the design of a particular detail.

Perspective drawings
differ from axonometric,

isometric and dimetric

projections in that they do not
present the lines lying on an axis
as parallel but in perspective.

Isometric diagram

Jobson House 1961

Palo Colorado Canyon, California
Charles Moore with Peter Hopkinson"

Villa Savoye Le Corbusier

Paper formats and types

There are various paper formats based on a page ratio of 1:V2.
The advantage of this page ratio is that a large sheet can always be
divided into smaller formats without waste.
There are also various paper types. Tracing paper is used for
hand drawings as it has the advantage that other drawings can be
placed underneath it to be traced. Tracing paper also facilitates
duplicating the original drawing simply using blueprints. For technical
drawing made with CAD programmes, normal white

paper in roll or
sheet form, is usually used for plotting. Coated papers or
photographic glossy papers are often used for presentation
drawings as they have high-quality surface.

Scale
Every type of drawing mentioned is a reduction in a certain ratio of the
built reality, i.e. it is drawn on a particular scale. The scale
used must be marked on every drawing in the form: Scale

1:100

A scale describes the relationship between the dimensions of an

element in a drawing and in the real size or original scale. There is a
distinction between: original

scale as the natural scale;

enlarged scale in which the element is drawn larger than its
natural size by a certain multiple; and reduced scale in which the
element is drawn smaller than its actual size by a certain multiple
A wall drawn on a scale

1:100 will be 100 times smaller than the

original.

General conventions: location

plans and rough surveys are often

drawn on a scale of 1:500 or 1:1000, design drawings on scales
of 1:200 or 1:100. For working plans, the scales of 1:50, 1:25,
1:20, 1:10, 1:5, 1:2 and 1:1 are used
Converting scales: if a wall 5.5m long is to be represented on the scale
of 1:50, its length must be divided by its reduction factor: thus 5.5m/
50=0.11m. The length drawn is thus 11cm.

Lines
A technical drawing consists of lines which differentiate things according
to their type and width.
There are four principal types

of lines: the unbroken line, the

dashed line, the dash-dot line and the dotted line

The following

line widths are used: 0.13 mm, 0.18 mm, 0.25 mm,
0.35 mm, 0.5 mm, 0.7 mm, 1 mm, 1.4 mm, 2 mm

unbroken line is used for all visible objects and visible edges of
building sections. When parts of a building are cut in sections on the
scale of 1:200 or 1:100, unbroken lines 0.25-0.5 mm wide are generally
used. On scales from 1:50, a width of 0.7-1.0 mm is recommended.
Unbroken lines for auxiliary constructions, dimension lines or secondary
top or plan views are drawn more finely: 0.18-0.25 mm wide for a scale
of 1:200 or 1:100, and 0.25-0.5 mm from 1:50

dashed lines are used for concealed edges if building parts (e.g.
the under-step when drawing a stair) in line width of 0.25-0.35 mm for
scales of 1:200 and 1:100, and 0.5-0.7 mm for scales from 1:50

dash-dot lines define axes and section runs. A section run needs
to be immediately recognised on the drawing, they are drawn at a line
width of 0.5 mm for scales of 1:200 and 1:100, and 1 mm for scales from
1:50. Axes are usually drawn in lines 0.18-0.25 mm wide for scales of
1:200 and 1:100, and 0.35-0.5 mm for scales from 1:50

dotted lines identify the edges of building section that can no longer
be represented because they are placed behind the section plane. Here
a line width of 0.25-0.35 mm is used for scales of 1:200 and 1:100, and
0.5-0.7 mm for scales from 1:50

Hatching
Hatching is intended to simplify representing individual elements in a
drawing and to make them more intelligible. It appears in section plans and
provide information about the nature of the representation, and the qualities
of the materials and components used in the planning. Different types of
hatching represent the material used. Hatching can be represented as
lines, dots, grids or geometrical figures.

C. Ferrater

C. Ferrater

Sea Ranch
Condominium
1963-1965
Charles W.Moore,
Donlyn Lyndon, William
Turnbull, Richard
Whitaker (MLTW)

Presentation
presentation plans are prepared
independently of the classical construction drawings. Presentation
plans are usually drawn up after a preliminary design has been
completed. These are intended to explain the design idea and
concept
To present a design,

It is important to be able to understand design

concepts and

ideas quickly. If it is the case of a design competition it would be

necessary to think ways in which the ideas make a clear impact on
the jury as well as making the design stand out from other submissions.

As well as classical elements such as location

plans, plan
views, sections and elevations, presentation plans
often contain three-dimensional representations of
interiors and exteriors. Photographic elements may also help
to represent the design idea or the functional context of the design.

Plans submitted are usually confined to the particular scale.

However for presentations there is a greater degree of freedom
than for technical construction drawings. Dimensions can
be reduced to a minimum, structural elements represented graphically,
or the whole scope of a drawing can be reduced essentially to elements
of composition. There are no limits on creativity. However
clarity and accessibility for the person looking at the work are essential.

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