Often this is a subject which is danced around by construction professionals rather than the public or our clients. Here we want to highlight to both industry professionals and the lay person alike the process we go through in deciding what to draw, and how to draw it.
When we sit down to draw up a particular plan, section or detail, we need to think in three dimensions; what is the constructed element, how does it fit with its context, and how do its constituent parts fit together?
A working drawing is fundamentally a method of demonstrating how to build something and not simply showing what it should look like, but crucially without having to say a single word. We should be able to give you the drawing, and together with your trade experience you should be able to construct what is shown, without us having to explain what is on the drawing. For the most part this happens without any problems. With advances in what is possible to be built, and new material technologies, construction drawings are getting harder and more complex.
Take a typical wall section, for example. Here we start with the principle co-ordinating guides – gridlines and levels. These form the basis of all our details as they allow us to co-ordinate and line up all elements so that they correspond across all drawings in the set. We like to take our time in working out how principal levels and dimensions so as to save us from costly re-draws later on.
Sometimes our drawing sets can take on a life of their own, often ballooning to tens of sheets. But in all cases, we don’t draw more than is absolutely needed. At first glance some drawings may look the same, but look closer and you’ll see that they are not. There will be an important detail or junction which is a variation from those shown elsewhere – and something that we need to bring to your attention.
There is no reason why a construction drawing cannot be beautiful as well as informative. When setting up a drawing sheet we really consider the best use of space on the paper, the most appropriate scale, how many views or details can fit together, and their relevance to each other. Little things like making sure all line thicknesses follow a strict hierarchy, or that all text and arrows are the right size and aligned. This has a very functional reasoning behind it: if a drawing is easy on the eye, then its likely the information will be understood.
If something doesn’t serve the function of the drawing then it should be left off. Sometimes we have to make the decision on whether to show more or less of the context around a detail in order to simplify the message. This can be as straightforward as leaving off some lines which show an object in elevation beyond a section cut or even some hatching or shading. We normally don’t add colour to our drawings, again unless it serves a purpose. The lack of colour on working drawings stems from when they were hand drafted. Speed and ease of production was important, as was the technology of reproduction and printmaking from the master sheets. This has carried over into the digital world – for better or worse many traditional drafting techniques have stuck around as drawings have moved entirely into digital.
What of the fundamentals of architectural drafting in education? I remember the best instruction in setting up drawings was taught to me when at college. My drawing class lecturer was a former structural engineer. He insisted that we all learned to draft steel connections by hand on a traditional drawing board. To understand what we were drawing, and how it should fit on a physical sheet of paper. These lessons I still carry with me whenever I set up a drawing on CAD. This was taught much less during my degree course, and it does make me wonder whether over a decade later this is being taken more seriously at universities. Maybe the assumption is that graduates will pick up these basic skills in employment, but the ability to hit the ground running when landing your first job in a practice is very welcome.
Frustratingly, we often get feedback from contractors on the quality of our drawings much after the time they were issued. Usually if something is missed on site, the reply is oh, we couldn’t see that on the drawing. Other times the level of detail is waved aside as unnecessary – but we don’t produce these drawings for the sake of producing a larger set. We’re simply trying to answer as many questions as possible before construction begins. If many of our details were left out at the pre-construction stage, often what could have been priced with confidence ends up costing more to rectify or to produce a workaround solution which leaves the overall aesthetic wanting.
Despite all this, we all really enjoy producing construction drawings. Often, we have our own little flourishes or ways of drawing, so much so that you could tell who has drafted the sheet without looking at the title block. It’s the time when all the detail comes together to flesh out the design, to prove a detail can work or, equally to prove it won’t work as initially imagined. We spend the greatest amount of drafting time on our working drawings so why not enjoy this time spent?
Should more drawings mean more fee? Stay tuned, as we’ll have a look at how we charge fees in an upcoming post.
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