From thumbnail sketches to detailed construction drawings, architects and other design professionals produce all sorts of drawings. While these drawings are often quite amazing in their own right, their purpose is twofold.
First, they help flesh out ideas, enabling us to test different design strategies. In fact, by shifting what is in our heads to something that may be researched and subsequently built, drawings save money and time by ensuring that we chase the best direction given our goals.
Second, they convey the design goal and clarify how a design is to be built, of what stuff it’s going to be made and also how building codes are accounted for. This way a set of drawings is not merely the menu, but also the recipes for each dish too. A pair of drawings explains and describes the whole experience, also tells what each component is and how much of that ingredient to utilize.
Let’s look at some drawing types and determine how each is utilized.
Bud Dietrich, AIA
Thumbnail sketch. The fast thumbnail sketch is a favourite style tool of many. This sketch, occasionally known as a back-of-the-napkin sketch, can really help define the general design direction and intent. Often enough, the sketch may evoke where the light comes out of, what materials are utilized and, most significant, the quality of space needed.
Bud Dietrich, AIA
Schematic design. During the schematic design phase, architects and other design professionals utilize rapid floor-plan studies in combination with thumbnail sketches to test ideas and make sure rooms link to one another as well regarding the site. By going back and forth between the two, a designer can easily communicate to a homeowner just how a specific design management solves the design problem in hand.
Bud Dietrich, AIA
Occasionally these sketches resemble nothing more than chicken scratches, but that’s misleading. They give us insights into where the sun is coming from, where the views are to be had and the way the general shape and character of the site will impact a home’s design.
AIA, Bud Dietrich
Layout development. Though often overlooked, there’s a very significant drawing step involving the preliminary sketches and the last set of construction drawings. Here is the aptly named design development phase, as it’s when we develop the design. While still sketchy and loose, design development drawings are where we really start to pin down dimensions and details, materials and more.
AIA, Bud Dietrich
During design development we’ll get in the design effect that heating, cooling, plumbing, electrical, safety, audiovisual and all the other myriad systems have on the project. And we’ll start to specify other custom items that can make the house along with built-in pieces.
Bud Dietrich, AIA
Construction drawings. The most extensive set of drawings that an architect or other design professional will prepare yourself to be called the blueprints, but now the more common term is building drawings, or CDs.
These drawings are the result of all the design decisions that have been made; they convey with the building official, builders, material suppliers, lenders and others exactly what they have to understand more about the project.
By way of instance, they signify to the building official how the finished home will be in compliance with the building codes. To a window manufacturer, these drawings explain the quantity, style and type the windows of all. For a carpenter they supply the dimensions needed to build the house as well as how many timber studs and other elements will be necessary.
AIA, Bud Dietrich
Permit Collection. Many places of construction drawings consist of the necessary floor plans, four elevations and a part or two. Here is the basic, or permit, set of building drawings. And while a permit set is great enough to get a home’s building began, it will not have all the info that’s needed to actually finish the project. Finishes, built-ins, cabinetry, special details, appliances etc. are things that is going to have to be decided on but will not show up in the permit set.
Naturally, there will be a cost difference between a basic set of building drawings and a comprehensive set of building drawings. Finally that extra cost will save yourself money time and aggravation. Having made all the design decisions before beginning to build allows the construction — a project’s time — to go.
AIA, Bud Dietrich
Total set. In addition to these basic strategies, elevations and a wall section or two, a complete set of building drawings comprises detailed sections, interior elevations, specifications for all the materials and layouts for all the plumbing, heating, heating, electrical and other systems. Coordinating the work on paper is always less expensive and time consuming than coordinating the work in the area during construction.
Be sure to have a complete comprehension of exactly what the design professional provides and if that’s what you need for your own project.
More: How to Read a Floor Plan | Find an architect near you