Architectural Plans Explained

Summary

Architectural plans are an essential tool in design, serving as a language for architects to think through spatial concepts. From their roots in ancient Egypt to their formalization in the Renaissance, plans have evolved to represent an imaginary cut through a building. These orthographic drawings allow architects to visualize spatial relationships, construction details, and movement within a building. While they are perfect for organizing space and illustrating geometry, plans have biases and limitations, such as not capturing physical experiences or the landscape. Understanding these strengths and weaknesses is crucial for architects as they navigate the design process.

Takeaways

• 😀 Architectural plans are essential tools for architects, allowing them to visualize and design buildings through a universal, geometric language.
• 😀 Architectural plans have their origins in ancient Egypt, but became formalized during the Renaissance, evolving from a tool for marking foundations to a comprehensive design method.
• 😀 For architects, reading a plan is like speaking a second language, enabling them to think critically about space and design before construction even begins.
• 😀 An architectural plan is not a direct footprint of a building, but a result of an imaginary cut through the structure, typically around four feet off the ground.
• 😀 Orthographic drawings are used in architecture to eliminate perspective distortion, providing an accurate, dimensionally true representation of the building's geometry.
• 😀 The concept of 'poche' (the space between walls) is an important element in architectural design, creating both functional and aesthetic possibilities.
• 😀 Circulation spaces, or areas dedicated to movement, are an integral part of architectural plans, with different architects having varying approaches to their design and importance.
• 😀 Plans offer a god-like, omnipresent view of a building, allowing architects to see multiple spaces simultaneously and even look inside the walls.
• 😀 Architectural plans are often biased toward static elements like walls and floors, and are less effective at capturing dynamic aspects of a building like movement or experiential qualities.
• 😀 Despite their biases, architectural plans are incredibly useful for organizing space, defining relationships between rooms, and determining adjacencies and flow.
• 😀 Plans can depict changes in material conditions and topography, allowing architects to show variations in ground surface, room finishes, and other material transitions that impact the design.

Q & A

What is the primary purpose of an architectural plan?

The primary purpose of an architectural plan is to serve as a blueprint for the design and construction of a building. It organizes and visualizes the space, relationships between rooms, and circulation paths, allowing architects to plan and communicate their design ideas effectively.

How do architectural plans differ from actual physical spaces?

Architectural plans are abstract representations of spaces, focusing on geometric relationships, measurements, and circulation, rather than depicting physical spaces as they exist in reality. They are governed by conventions that ensure consistency and clarity but may not fully represent the lived experience of the space.

What is the historical significance of architectural plans in architecture?

Architectural plans gained significant importance during the Renaissance, when they became essential tools for pre-planning the design of buildings. While they existed in early civilizations like Egypt, it wasn't until the Renaissance that they became a standardized method for creating and documenting architectural designs.

What does the term 'poche' mean in architectural plans?

'Poche' is a French term referring to the space between two walls or rooms in a building plan. It often represents changes in wall thickness, material transitions, or structural elements, and is typically shaded in black in architectural drawings to distinguish these features.

Why is the four-foot cut used when creating architectural plans?

The four-foot cut is used in architectural plans to show a cross-section of the building at a height where most people would typically engage with the space, such as through windows or doors, while avoiding the distortion of features like countertops or stove tops that might occur at different heights.

What is the difference between a perspective view and an orthographic drawing in architectural plans?

A perspective view shows a building from a viewpoint that includes foreshortening, where objects closer to the viewer appear larger. An orthographic drawing, on the other hand, removes foreshortening by using a view that simulates an infinite distance away, where objects are seen in true dimension and scale, with all angles at 90 degrees.

What role do circulation spaces play in architectural plans?

Circulation spaces in architectural plans are areas dedicated to movement, such as hallways or corridors. These spaces are crucial for connecting different parts of a building and ensuring smooth flow. Architects may design circulation spaces differently depending on their approach—some may prioritize them, while others may minimize them.

How do architectural plans help in visualizing material changes within a building?

Architectural plans allow architects to depict different materials in various areas of the building, such as tile versus carpet or wood versus concrete, using specific notation or shading. These visual cues help to convey the intended material choices and their functional relationships to the space.

What is the difference between a plan and a section in architectural drawings?

A plan is a horizontal cut of a building, typically taken at around four feet off the ground, showing the layout of spaces and their relationships. A section is a vertical cut through the building that reveals the internal structure, levels, and height relationships between different spaces.

Why are architectural plans considered to have inherent biases?

Architectural plans have inherent biases because they prioritize certain aspects of the design, like geometry and spatial relationships, over others, such as the lived human experience of a space. For example, they often fail to capture the emotional or sensory aspects of interacting with a building, focusing instead on the abstract, functional elements.