DRAWING a Section – part 1

10 things to make a great (mid-term) section.

1. BLOCK DIAGRAM

  • START WITH PROGRAM BLOCKS
  • CREATE SPACE FOR FLOORS AND WALLS BETWEEN BLOCKS

2. SITE CONTEXT

  • LINE UP THE GROUND WITH THE MAIN FLOOR

3. WALLS AND FLOORS

  • EXTERIOR WALLS & WALLS BETWEEN PROGRAMS

4. STRUCTURE

  • GRIDLINES AT THE STRUCTURAL BAYS
  • BEAMS SUPPORTING THE FLOORS
  • COLUMNS BEYOND SUPPORTING THE BEAMS
  • CLEANING UP THE LINES AROUND THE BEAMS

5. DOORS, WINDOWS & RAILINGS

  • SIMPLE IDEAS: WHAT TYPE OF OPENING AND WHERE

6. VERTICAL CIRCULATION

  • ELEVATOR SHAFT & CAR RAMP BEYOND

7. ARCHITECTURAL CONCEPTS

  • A SCRIM WRAPS THE THEATER AND PART OF THE FACADE

8. PROGRAM DETAILS

  • ENTRY BALCONY (BEYOND) AND STAGE IN THE THEATER
  • GREEN ROOF, TRELLIS, AND STORAGE (BEYOND) AT URBAN FARM

9. LINEWEIGHTS

  • EMPHASIZE THE CUT LINE. ADJUSTMENTS AS NEEDED FOR CLARITY

10. POCHE (AS DESIRED)

  • START WITH THE WALL, FLOORS…
  • ADDING ROOF LAYERS, SHOWING GREEN ROOF SOIL TOO
  • ADDING STAGE AND CONCEALED CEILING SPACE
  • ADJUSTING TONES FOR COMPARISON
  • SETTLING ON BLACK (BUILDING) & GRAYS (SOIL & CONTEXT)

Note that I didn’t even get to additional rendering, color toning, and entourage. You’re welcome to develop your sections further and include these added graphic techniques but if you only get to the above 10 steps you can still have a clear and very communicative section. NOTE: You might not do all 10 of these. Depends where you are and what your project is: lining up beams may not be a worthwhile endeavor for some of your projects, etc.

If you’d like a more thorough explanation of the steps and some of the assumptions made in the above example, an annotated pdf of the process of developing the sections can be accessed below.

SECTIONS-annotatedDownload

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